Study Task 8: Walk Cycle

In this task, our goal was to create two types of walk cycles. A walk cycle with the puppet we made during the model making workshop, and a walk cycle with any digital software.

Moreover to making the walk cycle, we also learnt about the walk cycle itself; key frames and key steps that a walk has.

Walk cycle reference [via http://www.angryanimator.com/word/2010/11/26/tutorial-2-walk-cycle/]


In a walk, the key component is to have a these 4 main points. Contact between the feet and the floor. Recoil from the contact, lifting the back leg and pushing forward, this should be the lowest point of the walk cycle. Passing between the hind leg moving it forward. High-point, where the person should be at the highest point of their walk, almost up-straight with their hind leg pushing them upward.

In progress [Walk Cycle]


Even with the reference and the key idea of what the walk should consist of, I still found it incredibly difficult whilst animating the walk with the puppet. Not only did I find the balancing of the puppet difficult, I found the orientation of the arms and legs difficult which took 3 tries to get just a grasp of what a walk should be with the puppet.

Stop motion walk cycle [3D]


After showing the walk cycle to my peers, this is their feedback;
- The feet could leave the ground in a circular motion, making it more believable as it looks more like a slide
- Good arm movement, illustrates the weight of the right arm and the left arm has a good pump

Although the arm shows heft, I did not really realise there was an arm pump that made the character more confident which fits to his personality. However I do agree with the legs being more like a slide rather than a walk. As I did have a lot of trouble handling the puppet due to the imbalanced weight of the arm and leg, made it impossible for the leg to lift up even with the help of support stands.

After completing the puppet walk cycle, we were taught how to use TV paint, a 2D animation software. This software is solely created for the purpose of animation, therefore it should be a lot easier to use compared to Photoshop in terms of creating an animation.

TV Paint [progress of 2D walk cycle]


Although this software has it's perks as it's solely for animation, I still feel more comfortable with Photoshop in terms of animating as I am more familiar with the shortcut keys and functions that Photoshop has that TV paint (might) lacks. In the future I would want to explore more with TV Paint as the only real issue I have with TV paint is the navigation of the frames, and brush types and size that I can use to draw with.

TV Paint walk cycle [2D]
Although this software is purely for animation, I still have yet to get used to it. The walk cycle created is repeating the same 4 frames, key frames, of a walk cycle and repeated in different spots to make it animate. The lack of familiarity with the software hindered me to create a more refined version of the walk cycle, therefore I will try to create one using Photoshop in the future.

Semi-rendered walk cycle [2D]


This task was overall quite difficult as I am still getting used to the key frames of a walk cycle. Moreover the lack of skill I have with human anatomy, drawing the character was in general difficult, and animating it was even more so. I will improve upon this through creating rough line animations of the character in action scenes with the antagonist so I can get more familiar with drawing the characters, making it easier for me to animate the action scene in the future.