How to Break Down an Animation Walk Cycle

The walk cycle looks simple to those that don't have to actually animate it, but the animation is trickier than it seems. Break down the cycle to get at the key frames and be able to pull off this stunt of visual trickery.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Pay attention to the character. Animation walk cycles vary, depending on the character and mood. Watch for a good starting point, such as when a forward foot first contacts the ground. If the character has more than two feet, you may have to divide the walk cycles into sections, such as "front" and "back" for a quadruped, for instance.

2. Sketch out the walk cycle to give you a firm grasp of what happens when. You may not have all the steps exactly right, which could take a frame-by-frame analysis, but you should get the general idea.

3. Compare your sketches to the basic steps of contact, recoil, passing and highpoint. If your sketches don't have four elements, you've done something wrong. Go back and review your source material again.

4. Look at your source material again, this time paying attention to the upper body of the figure. If it's a humanoid, pay attention to the arms and remember whether they counterpose the feet. Regardless of anatomy, a head is pretty likely. Watch its motion.

Tips & Warnings

• The motion is supposed to look, for lack of a better word, "natural." Your final results should produce something repeatable and smooth to watch.
• Don't let the head bob too much.