Once that was done, we moved on to learning how to block out a walk cycle using the same character, ‘Walker.’ We were told the main key poses that are needed for a walk cycle:
- Contact Pose
- Down Pose
- Passing Pose
- Up Pose
These poses form the foundation of the walk, and we were told to create a simple 24-frame walk cycle from left to right and also from the front view before extending it to 48 frames. For reference, I also used “The Animator’s Survival Kit” by Richard Williams, which helped me understand the movement better later on.
I started by referencing the walker into my scene. For this assignment, we also played with the lighting by adding two directional lights to make the scene look better. I then proceeded to place the Contact Poses at frames 0, 12, and 24. Then, I added the Passing, Down, and Up Poses, spacing them evenly with 3 frames between each. This structure helped create the rhythm for the walk cycle. Then it became easy to replicate these initial 24 frames and changing the values to create an opposite walk. At this point I had a basic walk cycle ready with 48 frames.
After laying out the basic poses, I went further and added some character to the animation. I used the front view of the character and applied the principles of weight shift to make the walk feel more realistic by moving it along the x axis on the leg that it shifts its weight on. I also incorporated a slight rotation with the weight shift on the sides to enhance the fluidity of the movement. Additionally, I brought the feet a little closer together and turned them slightly outward to make the walk appear more realistic. These subtle adjustments helped the cycle feel more grounded and natural.