I did this several weeks ago and never got the chance to upload it until now!
So here's my very first [ok, the "Kevin and the Video Game" walk cycle doesn't count!]
walk cycle animation...
Assignment Description:
We had to animate a Walk Cycle.
It's basically the study of how a human male walks. Keep in mind that males and females walk in very different ways! No man's walk is EXACTLY the same, so the goal here was just to create a kind of "semi-exaggerated" look with regards to the body mechanics in an average male walk.
Completion Time:
It took me about 5 days to complete [I had to go back and fine tune all the little areas so that it looked perfect in the end!]
How It Was Made:
[By the way, the rig is downloaded from www.11secondclub.com. Just go to the resources section and search for the Norman rig...it's absolutely amazing!]
I was watching a short video on the making of "Toy Story 3," and came across a very obvious but captivating answer from one of the Animation Leads when he was asked "How do you animate?"
Here's what he said: "Imagine you are doing a painting. You won't start off with a little tiny brush and start painting all the details in a corner. Instead, you start with a huge brush and put down all the basic information first, then you build up on top of that, layer by layer, until finally you have a work of art."
I couldn't have said it better myself. Not only in animation, but in almost all the areas of our lives do we follow something related to this approach!
So...[before I start off on a lecture], I started off by observing how people walk [in real life and in reference videos]. I even tried walking and looking at myself in front of the mirror...whatever works to get you to understand exactly how the body is moving, which part is moving where, how it is moving and the timing of that movement. Now, once this is all clear in your head, you start off with the process of "BLOCKING" [laying down the general, basic movement]. For example, put in the movement of the feet and legs [contact position, passing position, ups and downs, etc.]. Then move on to the hips, the spine, the head, and then the shoulders, arms and finally hands and fingers. After the blocking is complete, you go back and start refining the movement [adding layer by layer of detail].
That's all there is to it...animation is just the art of HOW OBSERVANT ONE CAN BE, and how one can extract as much information as possible from reality, and insert it into a whole new world in order to create a new life. That is ANIMATION. [Well, in my words...]
Rendered in Mental Ray, composited in After Effects.
Final Words:
Please forgive me...I think I've said way too much here...I get so engrossed that I can't even control how much I'm typing! Ok, enough said. This turned out quite exceptional for my very first animation walk cycle...and I will be posting some more animation videos soon!
Hope you like it!
Thanks :)
