How to Evaluate Walk Cycle Animation

Evaluating your walk cycle animation is the process of reviewing the finished product to ensure that the walk cycle plays in a smooth, unbroken progression from beginning to end, and recycling the frames so the character walks continuously until you tell it to stop.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Watch your finished walk cycle animation carefully.

2. Look to ensure that all the inked frames you've captured are in the right order to produce a smooth, unbroken walk cycle.

3. Check that all the rough keys are sufficiently cleaned up. They need to be crisp and clear, so the result is a clearly defined character movement rather than a muddy movement.

4. Verify that you've added enough "in betweens" between the keys to produce a tight animation walk cycle.

5. Look to ensure that the "in betweens" are sufficiently cleaned up and inked to match the crisp clean lines of the rest of the walk cycle animation frames.

6. Pay special attention to the arm and leg positions you initially shaped in the rough keys and then cleaned up in the rough frames. The arm and leg movements need to flow smoothly and naturally throughout the animation walk cycle.

7. Notice the way the mechanics of walking are reflected in the flow of the character's movement to ensure there are no stiff segments and that the walk flows properly with no segment out of order. A poor job of breaking down the mechanics of walking produces a character that appears stiff and unnatural when moving through the animation walk cycle.

8. Loop the animation walk cycle with a background behind it. The effect should be a continuous, smooth walk cycle that makes the character appear to be moving through an area or landscape.