Moho Forum

Any tips on what needs to be done to make a good walk cycle would be appreciated.

TY

With his short fat legs I didn't have much room to make it look more real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62s6GyD38WE

Here is the fixed one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GW33VTCexw

Hi Sbtamu,

You've made it difficult for yourself with such fat legs
However, you could improve it a lot by lifting him on his toes. At the moment the body just glides alnong and the feet don't appear to be resting on the ground. Bending the arms on the way back would help and some follow through on the hands always makes a huge difference. Maybe look for a walk cycle in an animation book such as Preston Blair's for guidance? Walk cycles are quite difficult so it's best to view some sort of reference before attempting one.

Yeah, Amigaman is right that walk cycles are really tough and having a book to guide you through it helps a lot. I have Animator's Survival Kit and I think it covers walks really well. The explanations are just as valuable as the reference drawings. But there are some pages from the Preston Blair book here: http://www.animationarchive.org/2006/05 ... n-1st.html This is really helpful if you don't have a book at your disposal: http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/02w/walk1.shtml

All that information can be overwhelming so I'll explain how I get started. I'm a beginner, so other folks may have a better way of doing this. I'd love to hear other methods because I learned to do it this way through trial and error.

When I start a walk cycle in Anime Studio, I animate one body part at a time all the way through the cycle. Then I go back to the beginning to animate the next body part. I also pay close attention to the coordinate positions of things and the percentage of scaling etc. But you could also just eyeball it. Another thing is that I do this using stepped interpolation because it's just easier for me to see what's going on. This is basically how I do it:

1. Figure out how many key frames there will be. For a "generic" walk, I use a multiple of 8; four for each leg stepping. (Sometimes I also draw in a track or grid in a separate layer as a reference for where the character's feet should be)

2. Then I put in bounce. I move the parent bone of the skeleton (abdomen for me) up and down according to the basic walk cycle. (contact = mid height, recoil = lower, passing = mid height, high point = higher)

3. Then I go through and animate the legs. This is usually the most involved step and it helps a lot to look at a reference on the first few walk cycles. Since I already moved the torso up and down, I'm building squash and stretch into the legs without thinking about it. Something to look out for is the arc paths that your feet follow.

4. Then I add squash and stretch to the torso. On "squash" frames (recoil), I shorten the bone length and then go into the vector points of the torso and widen it. On stretch frames (high point), I lengthen the bone, and make the vector shape thinner. This looks awesome on chubby characters!

5. Then I go through and animate the arms. Again, a reference/book is helpful.

6. Last I do secondary motion, like hair bouncing.

Thanks for the tips guys/gals.

I added somewhat of a bounce and bent the arms more and hands, i tried to make the feet "tippytoe" but if i went to far it looked like he didnt have ne legs. I added a road. He still looks like he floating tho......

Now i know why alot of animations i see are shown from the waist up when they walk lol.

edited fatman below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC_I3w_fkcU

I think that bounce helped a lot. :D It will also make a big difference to have a reference line (maybe in another layer) to act as the ground. Then make sure that your feet don't go below that line. They should flex and deform onto the top of the ground. It may be tough though because your character has large feet and ankles.

lwaxana wrote:I think that bounce helped a lot. It will also make a big difference to have a reference line (maybe in another layer) to act as the ground. Then make sure that your feet don't go below that line. They should flex and deform onto the top of the ground. It may be tough though because your character has large feet and ankles.

Thanks
I think the line helped alot.

I think i got this fatman starting to look ok. I will work on making his shoes bend when they hit the ground and he pushes off. Also i should slow the grass and fence down about 50%. fatman is walking but background is at a running pace.

Now i need to come up with a head.........

3rd edit below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEoSyT3pS8I

that is much better than the previous two, but you're not quite there yet. One good suggestion to get a reference is to walk around a bit and watch your self. Notice that at certain points, your whole foot will come in contact with that ground, not just your heels and toes. Right now your fat man never really comes in contact with the ground, making it seem very unnatural. Take a look at the Preston Blairs book, it's a lifesaver. Then you will be well on your way at having a great looking, fat man walk cycle.

Oh sorry, I don't think I was very clear. The line is representing the ground. So when the foot is down on the ground, it should be resting right on the line. During the step the foot should bend. This Preston Blair image shows how the feet and the ground interact: http://www.animationarchive.org/pics/pbanimation26.jpg

btw, your background is really nice. I love the sky!

lwaxana wrote:Oh sorry, I don't think I was very clear. The line is representing the ground. So when the foot is down on the ground, it should be resting right on the line. During the step the foot should bend. This Preston Blair image shows how the feet and the ground interact: http://www.animationarchive.org/pics/pbanimation26.jpg

btw, your background is really nice. I love the sky!

I think i got it now, i might have to add an extra bone to the shoe and a extra point to get the bend i need.
I did some experimenting with that. And TY for the tips

This is about as good as my limited skills can do.

I changed background and added a cheap head.

Anymore tips will be appreciated.

TY Iwaxana, Amigaman, and Acochran_89 for the tips. I think it paid off.

fatman 4 below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GW33VTCexw

You're improving really quickly! I think walk cycles take a lot of practice to fully master. It's a journey and a lot of us are working on it. Very nice walk cycle.

TY for the nice responses.

It's kinda funny that I gave this toon absolutely no thot at all about what it should look like. I just doodled a toon to experiment with walking.

But i kinda like the way he looks and even changed the shoes to boots and added a vest to him and a sherrif's star and made a western style side kick; a 1849er barefooted redbeard skinny guy with one tooth and a torn staw hat and named him Willy.

I been sketching willy and an old western style background. I would like to add a horse kinda like the one in "toy story 2" but would like it to be my own idea not to have to trace one.

PS. I also used this walk cycle to test backgrounds and the use of layered colors and opacity

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GW33VTCexw

Just drew this skinny guy and used the same rig, works just as well as it did for fatman.
:again thanks for the walk cycle help, I learned tons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYBSWBxMssY

Haha, I like the skinny and fat men together. It's cool that you were able to reuse the rig. I might just have to try that!

I noticed that the belt line of the skinny man is always at the same height. If that line were to move up and down with his body, it would give him some more visual weight and make him feel more natural.

Good stuff! I agree with lwaxana about the belt line. There is also -- dare I mention it? -- something odd about the crotch.

But it looks like all the hard work is done! Someday maybe I'll have the courage to try the dreaded walk cycle myself.