Turd Complaint Office

Final hand-in for the ANI107 Walkcycle.
He's easily annoyed, though gives people chances. Two to be exact.

I think i could still tweak this further, possibly make him round a corner, more interesting camera angles etc.
I'm (hopefully) going to keep adding cycles to this blog for a good while, or create another.
Though those will probably just be playblasts, as this took a little while to render.

Rant over.

[edit] This is the only render you're getting Dan. I'm tweaking it, but don't you dare think i'll be rendering it out again! Oh no!

Naughty Man.

Ok, so i haven't uploaded any tests using the trax editor because i was busy finalising my walk cycle, desperately trying to finish it in time.

Issues i had: Now i thought creating an indirect slow walk, would contrast nicely with a fast direct walk...though i ran into a few problems with translating the slow walk. I wasn't translating at an even pace (a linear spline) as the feet would slide. To combat this i went for the obvious (as it seemed to work for the fast walk) which was making a wiggly spline for the Z translate.
This gave me this..

Very odd. I stressed about whether the cycle was right, and if the weight would be vastly different for a slow walk.
Then i finished off the book i should've finished reading before ( -.-# ).
So i edited the walks to have linear translate Z for the feet, calculated how much he should move per frame, and multiplied it, then made it a clip.
Hurah!

Traxy business

Made a test with the trax editor. Just to see if i could layer up animations, and control the master translate separately.

So the ball itself was animated using the trax editor (shown in screeny below), and it's translate across the floor was a parented group.

Oh the shame.

From this naff research vid, i think i'll be looking at basic stances, some of the follow through on the arms, and trying to match the pacing of the steps.

The Plan

Ok, so i've knocked up a little plan in photoshop.

Dude walks in, indirectly/strolling/slow paced, spots the briefcase, looks about, picks it up, then scarpers quickly.
Think i'll do a little filming next.

Evilness..

Having fun now.
Made the 'evil servant'. His mouth even gapes a little as a follow-through from the contact position.
I quite like this one, as a test, though if i were to make it properly i'd start from scratch and use different timings.

The reason i'd start from scratch is from recent experience.
It takes A LOT of work to correct stuff you move about in the dope sheet to re-time animation.
This is what happened when i tried to re-time it a little AND after trying very hard to correct that awful 'click'

The lift.

This was one from my research vids (below) of me lifting my heel as the passing position.
Gives a weird 'upbeat' feeling to the walk. It feels very strange to walk this way too..i think it's best suited to small children perhaps.

possibly just a 'silly walk'.  

A bit more pride..

Tried to add layers of character onto my previous 'neutral' walk.
Seems a nice way to work..except if it's changing the timing..but more on that later.

It's a bit of a prideful walk, shoulders back, spine arched. Looks a little like a cowboy strolling down the street. Big kine-sphere, and now actually using that long stride properly.

One polished, sir

Polished walk cycle #1
Quite relaxed and neutral, did this one without the tut help, and also at a slightly longer timing, so i'm not regurgitating numbers.

for the last week i was a little worried as to whether i'd like animating when it got down to it...but this is ace.
Spent my whole morning in my graph.
time for a break..
[edit] my only comment now, would be the length of the stride being a little too long. but i still like it. One banked.

It's clicked.

Really think im getting this now.
LOVING the graph editor, end up making my new keys in there, or using the channel box. The gizmo seems so clumsy now.
Also just realised i can make the character do anything, and with 'snap' and 'weight' (ish..weight is one of those things that's gona take some real practice).
Here's a playblast of a simple walk in progress with a lovely snap of follow through head movement.

loving the bonkers comments, eh?

3D trial

Went through half of each tutorial, then got fed up and tried the whole thing from what i'd learnt.

It's rough, so will finish the tutorials and then try again.
Don't see too much point of rendering and uploading tutorial files because it's a guided process...it's not me.

Final 2D profile walkness...yeh.

Final walk with a few adjustments. Has a little more bounce, hands cycle in the right direction, and i added a slight limp (he had an accident with rubber gloves and mayo...).

Perspective sucks bum.

Didn't really enjoy these, they were damn hard.

Not sure if i can make a decent one that fully shows character. We'll see.

This was the first test. 

This is the second using geometric shapes. I think i prefer the first :/

Some Character.

Ok, i THINK im getting this a little. Still a wee bit confused, as i've been silly making different characters, and not specifically thinking about how they walk.
So this is more of a character. Going to be using this git for a few more.

I was tracing over it, to form a better character, but caught myself...my time would be better spent CHANGING the walk style/pacing. Though i do like how he stumbles forward on each step. Am i getting this subconsciously?

Cheating is WAAAY Quicker.

I think i get better results too, as you can monitor the drawings more, hence why i went for something with more of a spindly line.
I'm liking keeping the body quite 'full' because i dont want to play with different colours, i find it a tad confusing.

Also i think im liking animating fat people too much...

Note, stupid youtube stretched it. now he's even fatter >.<

Edited vid because youtube sucks $£%$£!!

The Ballet Instructor.

Another test. One i didn't really feel like doing. Was forced to animate in class, because other lazy students didn't finish the homework. AND it took FAR too long doing it the 'traditional' way, of drawing the poses NEXT to each other, and not on top. If drawing them on top is cheating then i am SERIOUSLY gona start cheating.
rant over -

Being honest..

Thanks for the links to this dan
Walk Cycle Depot 
Great help, also pointed towards Muybridge.

A photographer-turned animator researcher. (im seriously boiling that down :P)
Nice to see some of the initial research.
I think, based on these two, im going to be taking some video footage of a particular walk for my last 2D cycles. As it's such a great way to get the poses down properly, and it's super fast.

Thanks Eric.

Whipped through a tutorial from this Kind Gentleman here.
Was quite fun, and nice not to give too many 'values' during the tutorial, always feel like a robot when im just copying numbers in.
Here it is :)

I think it's still a little 'sticky, and possibly has a harsh transition or two in there, but i think it's a nice start.

Cheers Dan.

The Research Cometh...

This is what i've started with, a short movie of me walking to and fro in a 'slight' manner of ways.
Just to see where the differences in character were (passing/contact/posture etc).

As a side note, the characters i was inventing while walking felt much more pronounced than when i watched them in the film. They seemed more subtle when watching them back, still..you can tell they're not 'normal/marching' walks, like the first.
I felt like a scientist doing a 'control' test o.O
(Left) A screen shot of the dissection in photoshop.

This was me analysing the walk. It basically proves most of the theories that were talked over in the richard williams movie. The 'Wave' of the moving heel, the slight bob through the passing position, and the flowing wrist, with an ease in/out.

 
And these are some 'roto' animations taken from the research to really break the walk down further. The first is the 'control' walk. A march. The second includes a slight 'lift' on the passing position.

They're playing at a higher speed because photoshop is rubbish at keeping the same fecking damn frame rate.

walky 3

Ok, so last walk before i delve into research.
It has a 'little' character, but nothing was too intentional with this one, as i don't know how to make it intentional yet. I'm hoping the research will give me that.

I'm always a little scared by 2D animation, so this is still a bit beyond me.

Another

Just another quick test.

Is a bit slower, on a 16f step. Also a bit of an odd character, to make things a bit more interesting.
Really trying to think about the 'passing' position more, and trying to understand how this affects the walk.

Heads first.

I though like getting to grips with the actual animation really quickly, just to get myself over the initial fear of a walk cycle.
I'm going to do some serious research soon, but this was more to break a few barriers.
And i LOVE hats.

P.s. Vimeo are bastards. They don't allow small uploads >.<