Credit: Anna McKee - Screenshot from “Animating a Walk Cycle (Basic)”

Animating a Walk Cycle (Basic)

Click below to play video

Credit: Video by Anna McKee, Internal Tutorial created by Kingston University

Tutorial: Completed

Software used: Maya, Tween Machine

Personal Difficulty Level: 7/10

28/02/2023 -

The goal of this internal tutorial was to create a simplistic walk cycle using a very basic rig. This would allow for a greater amount of focus to be placed on the overall fundamentals of animation during the walk cycle.

Tips -

Phases of a simple walk cycle:

Contact Pose > Down Pose > Passing Pose > Up Pose > Contact Pose

• Contact = Both feet on the ground - Toes and Heel can be peeling off the ground

• First and last frames should always be the same within a cycle

Studio Library: BEFORE ANIMATION

1. Before animating, make sure to highlight all of your rig controls, and add the default pose to Studio Library.

   • Select rig > Right-click within Studio Library > New > Pose > Title pose + add image > SAVE

2. Next add the ‘Mirroring’ pose to Studio Library - (This pose will be the same as your default pose, although with different options selected)

   • Select Rig > Right-click within Studio Library > New > Mirror Table > Title pose + add image > Set Mirror Plane to YZ > Option ‘Left to right’ > SAVE

Studio Library: DURING ANIMATION

1. After you have created you Contact Pose, save it to your Studio Library

   • Highlight rig > Right click within Studio Library > New > Pose > Title Pose + add image > SAVE

2. IMPORTANT - How to Mirror your pose using Studio Library

   • After you have created your contact pose > Highlight rig > copy + paste the pose to the middle of your timeline >

   • Double-click ‘Contact Pose’ within Studio Library > Ensure rig is selected > Press ‘S’ to set key

   • Select your ‘Mirrored’ pose within Studio Library > Option > Swap > APPLY

   • Your pose should now be Mirrored, although clean-up will be necessary

3. Create your ‘Passing Pose’ (This is the Pose in between your Contact Pose), then create a snapshot of it within Studio Library

   • Highlight Rig > Studio Library > Right-Click > New > Pose > Title Pose + add image > SAVE

4. Create your ‘Down Pose’ and save it to Studio Library, then you can mirror it + add it to timeline

   • Highlight Rig > Studio Library > Right-Click > New > Pose > Title Pose + add image > SAVE

   • (You can now Mirror this pose and place it on your Timeline)

   • Go to the key on your timeline that you want to add the mirrored ‘Down Pose’ to

   • Double-click ‘Down Pose’ within Studio Library > Ensure rig is selected > Press ‘S’ to set key

   • Select your ‘Mirrored’ pose within Studio Library > Option > Swap > APPLY

5. Create your ‘Up Pose’ and save it to Studio Library, then you can mirror it + add it to timeline

   • Highlight Rig > Studio Library > Right-Click > New > Pose > Title Pose + add image > SAVE

   • Go to an area on your timeline that you want to add the Mirrored ‘Up Pose’ >

   • With all rig controls highlighted > Double-click on the ‘Up Pose’ from within Studio Library > Set Key > Mirror (within Studio Library) > Apply

Graph Editor - Turning on Infinity to create a continuous walk cycle

1. Open Graph editor

   • Highlight Rig > Windows > Animation Editors > Graph Editor

2. Turn on Infinity

   • Graph Editor > View > Infinity

3. Creating an infinite walk cycle

   • Highlight entire Graph Editor > Curves > Pre-Infinity > Cycle

   • Highlight entire Graph Editor > Curves > Post-Infinity > Cycle

Tip- Engable Stepped Preview within the timeline, instead of changing the Tangents.

• Select Rig > Double-click on timeline > Right-click > Enable stepped preview

Graph Editor Tip -

To reduce extremes, ie rotations:

1. Select the control you want to smooth within your rig >

2. Go to Graph editor > go to the Tangents that you want it smooth, ie, “Rotate Z” >

3. Highlight all keys within Graph Editor >

4. Type in ‘ *=.75 ‘ into the second purple box at the top middle-left of your Graph Editor

5. This will smooth your keys slightly, making them less extreme

Creating the walk cycle -

Credit: Screenshots - Anna McKee, Internal tutorial provided by Kingston University

SyncSketch Link - Please feel free to review and leave feedback

Feedback received via Support Session with Constantinos Sophocleous - 02/02/2023

“Fantastic animation, although be aware that there is some ‘popping’ within the left knee joint when the character is putting weight on their left leg. You will need to add more ‘bend’ to the knee to fix this issue”. - Constantinos