Anyway, I’ve been having a hard time with this. I tried making a walk based on my video reference. But it came out pretty bland and not very appealing. And, it isn’t conveying the personality that I want it to. Here is the rough draft:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/personality_v01.mov 480 360]

It sucked… a lot. So I started exaggerating some of the key poses and sort of ‘fell into’ a new idea. As I was tweaking his ‘extreme ups’, I saw that it kind of looked like a skip. So I decided to run with the idea of having him in a brisk walk with one skip toward the end. I really suck at sketching out my ideas, so I didn’t bother. I just started blocking straight ahead. Here’s the second result:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/personality_v02.mov 480 360]

It’s better, but the timing sucks badly. I’m not really sure how to fix it without re-shooting the video reference with the new idea and recalibrating the timing. Ugh… It’s a lot of work any way you slice it.

Here is the same animation but with smoother timing on the extremes. Overall, the whole thing is shorter.

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/personality_v03.mov 480 360]

I still have a quirk with the knees, but not in the forward movement. Check out frames 5-8. The knee actually moves backward for a frame. The only things I can think of to prevent that is either cheat and stretch the leg, or not have him dip down so much on the extreme down. In my reference footage, I notice that my knees bend very little when they aren’t off the ground.

My second pass. Still working out the kinks in the knees.

My first fluid pass of the walk cycle. It sucks, yes, I know.

So here is the animation (2nd blocking pass):

• Contact frame for push-off – Does the tail do the job or the body or the hip?

yes, add contact frame. not just a ball. It adds a nice feeling of weight to the push-off.

• Tail movement – Completely flappy or stiff with little overlap (tense muscles)?

Whatever looks better and fits the character’s personality.

• Walk – Does extreme pose require lifted contact heel? How does the person reach higher without it? Ballie’s example in the lecture doesn’t lift?

for the extreme up – stretch the leg in some cases. or just lift the heel.

• Extreme down – How to not look like he’s stomping?

Just mess with it for now. Follow the curve of the head line.

• Z rotation – Does the hip rotate down forward/backward during walk?

It can a little bit. In RL, not so much. You can even get away with not adding it, but when you do add that rotation, it provides a little more texture to the walk.

• Does the hip lift on cross-over side?

It depends on the person walking. A good way to tell how your hips move is to walk with a broomstick (or some equivalent). Watch the tips of the handle and how they move.

I’ll clean up the questions and answeres later. I was typing in a hurry.

Oh, and this week is only a blocking pass in Pose-to-Pose style animation. I don’t have any reference footage yet. Hopefully, I can score some footage soon so I can double check my work. Yeah… I already started animating. Hey, I can’t help it!

Here is my first pass:

[qt:http://animation.redforty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/walk_181.mov 480 360]

Oh, and btw, the pose for this week is STRENGTH. So sketches are incoming soon!