How to Film Walk Cycle Reference Footage

Shooting reference footage for a character's animation walk cycle is a necessary step in accurately and smoothly capturing and animating the character's personality, mood and situation. Reference footage gives you a frame-by-frame guide to work from while animating the character and bringing that character to life.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Decide whether you will act out the character's particular walk or if you will recruit an actor or friend to act out the walk cycle.

2. Take time to understand the character so the walk cycle footage accurately portrays him. A character's walk is influenced by stature, physical formation or malformation, health, mood and environmental circumstances.

3. Coach your actor, friend or yourself on the inner and outer circumstances that influence the character's walk so the footage you shoot will accurately reflect these circumstances.

4. Note and include any personal characteristics of the character that display themselves in the character's walk, such as confidence, posture, walking speed, leg placement, arm movement and head motion.

5. Film or record the animation walk cycle reference footage with a video camera or digital camera set to video mode.

6. Review the animation walk cycle reference footage frame-by-frame after you record it to ensure your footage is adequate for use in animating the individual frames that comprise a full walk cycle.

7. Reshoot the footage if any portion of the original reference recording is unclear or is in any way unsuitable for use as reference material for the walk cycle animation project.