Spider Gwen Walk Cycle

#1

Hi guys,

Thought I’d post my Spider Gwen female walk cycle here. I would love to improve on this animation if possible. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated, thank you:)

https://youtu.be/yte3U8oXRE0

#2

Hard to tell at the moment. Its too short.

I would do a much longer cycle and a much slower orbit of the turntable
to get a nice long look at all angles.

#3

Hi.
Thank you for replying. I’ll try increasing the cycle length.

#4

Had to play it a few times to get a good read of it.

I would say, after a few views, that you could definitely tweak your f-curves some. It’s a little obvious where you’ve placed your keys. Smooth out the transitions so that it doesn’t look like your ping-ponging or hitting the keys too hard.

Also, don’t be in such a rush with the right arm actions. If each limb is an actor unto itself, it’s hard to understand that the arm is “saying” when it behaves in such a jarring, janky way. Actions, even those performed in a small time frame, need to breath and be given clear purpose from start to finish and follow through.

If I had one final suggestion, and it’s mostly one of personal preference, I’d probably dial back on the vertical hip action just a little. It’s the sort of exaggerated motion that’s more prevalent on a runway at fashion week than on, say, a casual stroll.

All personal opinion. I’m sure that others here have their own takes on your clip. Good start either way. :+1:

#5

Thank you for your feedback:) I agree with the comments but wasn’t 100% sure if my own assessment matched with others’ opinion.

#6

I think it would be helpful to have a chosen camera angle to watch rather than the turn-table. Or perhaps two angles one with the turn-table and one with a fixed camera. Youtube however allows you to loop videos, so I feel it’s a proper length currently, if people want it to be longer, just enable the loop by RMB on the play button and select that feature.

I think you did a great job and a decent amount of effort went into this I can tell, really well done and high five from me.

First observations

  • Personal pet peave: Hands are in a awkward pose throughout, really get them into a relaxed pose, the gaps in the fingers feel irregular and unnatural currently. I would recommend looking at good reference for hand poses that make them come across as more relaxed and natural.

  • There’s significant popping in the CoG control of the character, if you want to animated on 2s, really make sure you’re paying attention to the spacing in your keys there. Treat it similar to a pendulum and ease in and out of the apex points. The up and down doesn’t bother me, it’s the side to side motion creating the popping, if you clean those apex positions up with some eases, it will really help the fluidity of the motion without losing the animated on 2s feel. Work on this first before addressing anything else, and I think you’ll find the motion of the other limbs will either start working better with the motion or break and then address those concerns. But start with the CoG and work you’re way out.

  • The feet could be animated a bit better currently, there looks to be a wobble in the rotation of them. Really go through and work those so it feels like she’s pushing herself forward. Or, you could perhaps push her CoG forward a bit, so she essentially is catching herself with each step, walking is essentially controlled falling.

These are my initial thoughts, there could be more work done other areas, but I would focus on these first and really get something working and then address any additional concerns after you get the foundational stuff working.

Again, really great effort, look forward to seeing an update on this one, keep rockin!

#7

Hi, thanks for the detailed feedback. I will definitely look into these areas! Many thanks.

#8

Hi everyone,
I’ve had another go at my walk cycle. Taking on board the feedback recieved. Do you think I’ve managed to improve it at all?

#9

Having a little trouble seeing it on my end. (Wonky net connection today.) However, I will offer you one more piece of advice. Record yourself or a friend doing the same walk. Record it a few times. Watch it and pick out the crucial differences between yours and the footage. Using references for animation is as crucial as using them for modeling or texturing. If certain animated actions seem too slow, too jerky or whatever, you’ll quickly spot them when comparing to the reference material.