Walk and Run Cycle

#1

This is my first post in the focused critiques area of CGtalk. I’ve read over the guidelines and trolled long enough to build up the nerve… :slight_smile:

Here is a walk and run cycle, with transitions between the two cycles, that I have been working on. I am using reference footage (that I shot) to build the initial poses and timing, then I’m pushing the poses further (refining the line of action) to add ‘more’ to the animation. I’m aiming for realistic animation, not cartoony. However, I’ve been staring at the frames for too long and I can’t figure out what looks ‘wrong’. The transitions between the cycles seem strange as well, but I’m having a hard time pinpointing why. Any&all feedback and critiques are welcome, be brutal.


Here is the animation link (H.264 .MOV @ 720x405 30fps @4.44mb non-streaming).

And yes, that’s a Clone Trooper. I like to call him ‘Clone Trooper Bob’.

#2

During the walk part, his second right step seems off. There is a point during that step where his right knee is a little bent then suddenly straigthens out… I know it’s supposed to do that but the transition seems too quick and jarring. Also, when he slows down from the running sequence he looks like he is going to fall down. I could understand why the shoulders and the body would be leaning back like that because he is trying to slow himself down, but there should be no reason why the butt should fall down as much as it did…

Good work so far.

#3

thanks for the comment, ejayM2. I agree with your input.
I’m going to spend some more time with the keys and post results soon.
I also have some other animations using ‘Bob’ that I’d like to post for crit.
I’ll post those when they reach a presentable status. :slight_smile:

#4

I’m not an animator myself, so it’s a little difficult for me to describe my impressions since I don’t really know all the terminology.

For me, both cycles look a bit floaty, they’re missing a sense of weight. This is more true of the run cycle, but it applies to the walk cycle too.

In the walk cycle, his torso is far too stiff. It looks like it’s just moving directly along the axis instead of actually moving with the body. When men walk, their shoulders move a lot with their bodies (as opposed to women, who walk very heavily with their hips). So as a foot moves forward, the shoulder on that side should move forward slightly too. I agree with the previous person’s comment about the second step too, it’s almost like his knee has an injury or something, causing him to slip slightly.

The transition to the run looks very strange, and I am not sure that it’s even physically possible to do that, at that speed, and with that momentum.

The run cycle also needs a touch more shoulder shifting like the walk cycle, and it needs a lot more of a sense of weight, since running is more strenuous and has a lot more impact with each footplant.

#5

Moving this out of the Focused Critiques forum as the original poster has not responded.

#6

Leigh,
Sorry about not replying earlier. I’m a fan of all of your posts. :slight_smile:
I’ve been working on the animation, trying to add in weight, but failing miserably.
When you mentioned weight, I thought of this animation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zmd4gQuQdw
I hope to post some progress soon. :slight_smile:

#7

Hey man, this is almost there I think, but you just got to the most frustrating part of cycles lol. I say before you try to add weight (which is really just adjusting your poses and timing between them) You have to work out the IK pop&lock on the legs. If you just grab the COG controller and your two feet you should be able to adjust the translation on them so they wont pop. Other than that it looks like a good cycle. I would just say work the y rotation on the torso and hips a bit more, also for realism don’t bring his torso down so much on the transition.

Cheers Brother

#8

These guys covered most of what I saw, and I don’t think you have much more to do. I love your transitions, especially the walk to run one. Some nit-picky stuff I noticed: On your walk cycle the right toe penetrates the floor noticeably right before it lifts off the floor. I see some other floor penetrations too but I assumed it was to show foot compression. On frame 521 There is a pop in your hip in the y-axis that causes your right leg to suddenly straighten, easy fix. That might be the knee injury everyone is referring to. There’s not too much overlap in the head in the bigger motions either. In realism I can understand keeping the head pretty still during the cycle but the transitions could use a little more.

One thing that sticks out a lot is I noticed you don’t rotate your hips that at all in the y-axis(?). Rotating the hips isn’t something we do very much in a walk cycle but leaving it static makes it a focal point (static in moving environment, moving is a static environment etc.)

Last thing I’ll talk about here is weight. All the previous posters have mentioned something about it so I won’t say much. The big area I want to talk about is your transition from running to walking. This is where you’re going to see the most weight. Heavy footsteps, fighting inertia, the whole bit. In your transition his hips do this smooth arc down into a stop and back up again. This needs to be staggered, because every footfall is a jarring change in velocity that’s going to affect the entire body.

You have a good animation here, I was really impressed by the transitions. It’s going to look amazing when it’s all done. Good Job.

#9

@ R1c00 and dpumpa: thanks for the crits! :slight_smile: I’ll be working on this a lot this weekend, and hope to post improvements on the animation after that.

#10

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