Walking a dog in Anime Studio?

[braj]

I am very confused trying to understand how to get a dog to walk (or any 4 legged critter). I have the Animator's Survival Kit book but I can't get my head around applying it to AS. Any help is appreciated. I can de 4 legged cartoony walks ok, but they are not accurate.

[braj]

This is basically where I'm at, ok for a cartoon walk I guess but I feel stupid that I can't figure out a proper dog walk cycle.

[Greenlaw]

That's a cute clip and, yeah, it's perfectly fine for a cartoon dog. I like it.

But if you really want a realistic dog walk, you might first want to shape and rig the rear leg to what an actual dog leg looks like. Right now, it's shaped and it moves sort of like a human leg but a dog's leg would have the heel extended back and raised high off the ground--it's what some people mistakenly call a 'backward bending knee' but it's actually the dog's heel in the air. Think of it as walking on its toes rather than flat of it's feet.

For the motion itself, don't rely on illustrations in an animation book, study an actual dog in motion (or whatever animal you're wanting to animate.) Shoot your own video reference or download some clips from YouTube and step through the motions frame by frame. Take note of the extremes, and count the frames between poses to get the timing. Then, practice it--once you've done it a few time, animating a general walk for a creature should become second nature. And once you've mastered that, then you can focus on how to make the motion unique to a character.

G.

[braj]

I took my dog for a walk this morning but she's no help at all Yeah that cartoony dog wasn't the best choice to try and do realistic dog walking, just it is an example of the better results I have had, even trying to draw a realistic dog leg is not as easy as it sounds for my poor brain. I get confused by all those legs. But thanks for the advice, I'll keep trying.

[Greenlaw]

If you have a backyard or if there is a nearby dog park, set up a video camera on a tripod and play with your dog in front of it. I did just that several years ago when I needed to animate a playful dog for a commercial. When you're trying to animate something realistic, there's no better reference than looking at the real thing.

Good luck and remember to have fun with it!

G.