Here we go over key aspects of polishing a walk cycle, and in this blog entry I will be going over what I had produced so far and what I want to improve on.
Although it has decent posing, the movements don’t feel like they have much weight to them. I have some of the toe roll mechanics down which looks good, with the toes and feet reacting to the movement imposed on them with swings and anticipation.
Here I am instructed to pay close attention to the curves, ensuring that the rotation is and stays consistently fluid. Tz is a little too jittery and betrays any sense of fluidity wheres Ty needs to be more clean and smooth. I snap the feet to the floor in order to give the movement weight but am instructed to use toes in order to create the same effect but in a more subtle manner.
The knees are a good indicator of momentum, as is evidenced in the video above. How knees sweep past each other communicates intentional yet relaxed movement and is key to a realistic, believable walk cycle.
Pointing out the knee and producing a wave-like cohesion will produce better results. The character is moving in 3d space and even though this may look okay from a side angle, I should push to develop a solid overall set of movements here.
I try to draw a figure 8 with the walker’s middle point here, in the front view. It still looks a bit unnatural and robotic due to how I have everything set up. Right now, the animation is also quite rigid. I’ll integrate a squash and stretch to convey weight, making it so the body reacts more to when the feet are planted on the ground.
Overall, it looks good but not perfect. Iterative improvements and self analysis is key.