Walk Cycles [Locomotion and Mechanics for Animation - Unit 02 to 05]

Walk Cycles

05/10/24 - 20/10/24

Introduction

This blog post explored theory analysis, research and animation exercise experimentation for character walks. As seen in the contents below, there are numerous different sections that explore different types of walks. A 'back-to-basics' approach has been taken to revisit core theory and focus on quality of outcomes. The goal is to refine animation skills and absorb as much animation theory in the interest of producing quality animation.

Contents

• 01 - Ball with Legs
• 02 - Human Biped Walk
• 03 - Characterised Walks
• 04 - Characterised Walk : Angry
• 05 - Gender Walk

Animation Exercise 01 - Ball With Legs Walk

This animation focused on the core movement of the hips and feet to understand the basics and focus on the transfer of weight from foot to foot.

Thumbnail Reference

The thumbnails from The Animator's Survival Kit (Williams, 2009) were used as the core base for this animation.

(Williams, 2009, pp.108 - 109)

The image above shows the key poses that build the foundation of any walk.

(Williams, 2009, pp.128 - 129)

The image above focusses on the tilt in the hips and shoulders, particularly how the hips and shoulders oppose one another.

Animation Development

First Pass :

Polish Pass :

Final Outcome :

This animation was good and integrated the key poses and rotation in the hips well. The feet could travel back a little further as they ready to come forward because currently they feel a little static. This would be easier to analyse with some forward translation on the character opposed to a loop on the spot.

Animation Exercise 02 - Human Biped Walk

11/10/24

This next exercise evolved from the previous one by using a full biped rig opposed to just a ball with legs. The goal was to create a natural 'normal' human walk that could be later stylised to add emotion. In the interest of improving animation skills, The Animator's Survival Kit (Williams, 2009) was studied in a greater degree of depth than the previous walk animation.

Animation Theory Study

The following images are taken from The Animator's Survival Kit (Williams, 2009) accompanied with study of the key elements.

(Williams, 2009, p.103)

• Analyses the scientific motion of locomotion through weight transfer. This discusses how we raise our feet as little as possible and control our feet as they land with the heel leading.
• "Art Babbitt taught us to look at someone walking in the street from the back view. Following them along and ask yourself :

• Are they old?
• Young?
• What's their financial position?
• State of health?
• Art they strict?
• Permissive?
• Depressed?
• Hopeful?
• Sad?
• Happy?
• Drunk?"

(Williams, 2009, p.107)

• Arm Swing at its widest on the down position.

(Williams, 2009, p.108)

• Demonstrates how the head raises and lowers across a walk.
• Demonstrates the path of the head to create arcs across a walk.

(Williams, 2009, pp.112 - 113)

• Shows how you can add a lot of personality through altering the passing pose.

(Williams, 2009, pp.120 - 121)

• In our contact positions the shoulders and hips oppose one another in the forward and backward positions as well as tilt. The passing position is where everything is straight and in line. Furthermore, we can use more overlapping action on the head by having it oppose the shoulders.

(Williams, 2009, pp.136 - 137)

• This analyses the paths of the foot with the key idea being that the heel leads and the rest of the foot follows behind. It also showcases the key path of action for the foot.

(Williams, 2009, pp.138 - 139)

• This further analyses the paths of action and how we can modify the path of action to make it more cartoon-like or more realistic. It looks at how we can control the speed and pacing to create differences in the foot motion and goofy-like actions.

(Williams, 2009, pp.142 - 143)

• This analyses how the cushioning of the up down movement can be controlled and similarly varied to stylise.

(Williams, 2009, pp.146 - 147)

• This section builds on hip and shoulder rotations to help us further understand how the weight shifts between the two legs. One of the key themes is still that the shoulders and hips oppose one another, however, we need to consider the vertical line through the character that shows the centre of gravity.

(Williams, 2009, pp.148 - 149)

• This looks at analysing the arm motion that tends to replicate a pendulum motion with ease in and ease out at each extreme. It also explores how these can range from subtle swings to extreme ones - again depending on the characterisation of the walk.

(Williams, 2009, p.151)

• Next it analyses the flexibility in an arm and how overlapping action can be used to make this more natural. The core concept here is how we can drag the hand behind to create that overlapping action. Interestingly we can push this a little further by 'breaking' the elbow to achieve a progressive breaking of joints that whilst cannot happen in reality will make our arm motion more loose in animation.

(Williams, 2009, p. 153)

• This example shows a highly exaggerated arm swing using the theory discussed previously.

(Williams, 2009, p.163)

This last section features some key theories to really create a good walk and act as a 'recipe' that can be modified to stylise the walks. This will be a good checklist and act as a reminder when reviewing the quality of a walk cycle.

(Blair, 2020, p.74) 

This last image is from the Character Animation with Preston Blair (Blair, 2020) book which presents an array of useful thumbnails in the key walk cycle poses (Contact, down, passing, up). 

Research and Reference

This section demonstrates the research used to support the development of this animation exercise.

This first video (100 Ways to Walk, 2017) features an array of stylised walks on a treadmill making it very easy to study. This enables us to look at the key posing and timing in a realistic setting which, in addition to the theory analysis, will support the development of animation outcomes.

This next video (how to animate a walk cycle (100% polish), 2019) is an in=depth animation development tutorial with lots of a views that breaks down the production of a natural walk cycle.

Animation Development

12/10/24

This section shows the process and development of this animation exercise. The characters body has been animated in parts to develop the full animation over time. The approach for this animation has also been a loop with the character walking on the spot. The world mover controller could be used to add forward translation. Multiple angles have been shown for each stage of the animation's production.

The timeline has been colour coded to help easily recognise the key poses : 

Pink = Contact

Blue = Down

Orange = Passing
Green = Up

This animation start with the hips and feet movements :

Next the shoulders and arms were animated :

Final Outcome

13/10/24

Further tweaks have been made to the hips and shoulder to relax them further and make the walk appear more natural.

This outcome is good and achieves the goal of creating a natural 'normal' walk. The feet flow much better than the ball with legs animation showing a more natural process. Hips translate well to help  you feel the transfer of weight between each feet. The arms are natural and have some flowing motions to the fingers to help make this animation feel loose. A more reserved posing approach has been taken in the interest of not creating an animation with too much exaggeration, which can be a common pitfall. 

Animation Exercise 03 - Characterised Walk

This section modifies poses in the previous 'normal' walk to create characterised walks. 

Double Bounce Walk

The double bounce walk is a simple modification that adds additional up pose poses into the walk to give the walk more energy and bounce. Typically used for happier, energetic cartoon characters.

(Williams, 2009, pp. 118 - 119)

Double Bounce Walk Outcome :

Sad Walk

The next modification is a sad walk. The below image looks at the key timing per step to create various beats for a walk.

(Williams, 2009, p. 110)

Sad Walk Outcome :

These were some interesting exercises that showed how simple modifications to key poses or adjustments of curves in the graph editor can quickly create variations on a walk cycle. This demonstrates the power of the key poses in any walk cycle and how mastery and experimentation of these is vital to creating quality walks.

Animation Exercise 04 - Characterised Walk : Angry Walk

This next exercise creates a charactised walk from scratch opposed to modifying an existing walk. This approach has been taken to craft a more exaggerated walk that cannot be done within the existiing keyframes of a 'normal' walk. The focus was to create an exaggerated angry walk cycle.

The following images are taken from The Animator's Survival Kit (Williams, 2009) and demonstrate the core theory and thumbnails that will be followed for this animation.

(Williams, 2009, p. 125)

(Williams, 2009, p.126)

In addition to the thumbnails, reference from YouTube was gathered to help support the development of the animation. This first video (Young Adult Male Angry Walk - Slow Motion. Animation Reference Body Mechanics, 2011) looks at a young male angry walk from real life.

This next video (Walk Angry Reference. Grid Overlay. Animation Reference Body Mechanics, 2010) looks at an angry walk from a heavier built person.

Animation Development

This section shows the development of this animation over time.

Initial Posing

Contact Pose :

Passing Pose :

First Animation Pass :

18/10/24

Final Outcome

20/10/24

The outcome is good, extremely cartoon-like but good! The main exaggeration is in the large swinging arcs of the arms. This paid with the forward lean make the character look angry but also determined and focus. The character looks like they mean business! The theory showed an invert of the spine arc, which has been included, however, this could have been toned down slightly to make the character look a little less loose and more rigid, which may have helped with the angry posing. The feet motions are good, however, would need to be tested with forward translation to see how they stay rooted on the ground. It was definitely easier to create this animation from scratch opposed to modifying an existing walk because the key poses were vastly different even though the theory was the same.

Animation Exercise 05 - Gender Walks

This next section looks at variations in walks based on stereotypical gender trait. A neutral character model will be used to recognise that gender is a spectrum and that anybody, regardless of their biological sex, could walk in a different ways that might be considered more traditional masculine or feminine. These are the notes gathered from the associated lecture (Williams, 2012) within this module, which informed the creation of more traditionally masculine and feminine character walks.

• Length of stride
• Masculine : Longer and more of a stomping action.
• Feminine : Shorter and more gentle.
• Distance between feet
• Masculine : Wider.
• Feminine : Closer.
• Shoulders
• Masculine : Arcing from side to side, with a high point in the middle.
• Feminine : Much less motion, almost stationary.
• Hips
• Masculine : Much less motion, almost stationary.
• Feminine : Arcing from side to side, with a low point in the middle.
• Body lean
• Masculine : May lean more. Forward to look determined or backwards to puff the chest out.
• Feminine : Leaning less, more elegant.
• Feet rotation
• Masculine : Rotated outwards to accommodate for the wider more stomping walking action.
• Feminine : Pointed forward, as if on a tight rope.
• Up and Down translation
• Masculine : Much more up and down to exaggerate the stomping action.
• Feminine : Much less, almost a glide.

Screenshot from module lecture (Williams, 2012)

Masculine Variation

Feminine Variation

These animations further demonstrated how a 'normal' walk can be modified to include a traditional gender bias. The lecture theory has been well implemented to create two distinct animations. The masculine walk appears more rigid, which is good, but further subtle overlapping action might make this appear more natural. The feminine walk is much smoother, instantly creating a contrast, which is good. Overall, these animations explored core animation theory to quickly produce animations that feature a gender bias to help create more charcterisation. This theory could be used in collaboration with characterisation to create further modifications such as an angry female or a happy male character.

Conclusion

Overall these animation exercises have developed animation knowledge through theory analysis and animation skill through practical exercises. Whilst all animations could be improved further and some are more successful than others, they have provided a good exercise ahead of this module's assignment, which will feature a walk. The back to basics approach has developed stronger knowledge that have influenced these animations and raised their overall quality. Moving forward, these exercises will act as a cornerstone, guiding future projects and inspiring continued growth in animation skill and quality.

Reference List

1. 100 Ways to Walk (2017) YouTube video, added by Kevin Parry [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEoUhlesN9E (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
2. Blair, P. (2020) Cartoon Animation with Preston Blair. Mission Viejo, CA: Walter Foster Publishing.
3. how to animate a walk cycle (100% polish) (2019) YouTube video, added by Alessandro Camporota [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynXadXE9UjU (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
4. Walk Angry Reference. Grid Overlay. Animation Reference Body Mechanics (2010) YouTube video, added by endlessreference [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcHcxmUWUM8 (Accessed: 03 January 2025).
5. Williams, A. (2012) ‘Gender Walks’ [Online Learning Platform Video], 7WCT2010-0901-2024 : Locomotion and Mechanics for Animation. University of Hertfordshire. 20^th October.
6. Williams, R. (2009) The animator’s survival kit. London: Faber and Faber.
7. Young Adult Male Angry Walk - Slow Motion. Animation Reference Body Mechanics (2011) YouTube video, added by endlessreference [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmvMIKcTvqI (Accessed: 03 January 2025).