Tuesday 9 February 2010

Final WalkCycles Evaluation


This is my profile walk.
I feel, as a final submission, it isn't too bad. I like the overlap and follow through on the wrist, adds good flow and movement to the action.
One criticism I have is the proportions on the neck, it seems to stretch ever so slightly out of place, and this is the main lack in the animation, apart from that I'm fairly happy.



This is my Perspective Walk.
I used the 3/4 type of perspective as i thought it would be a good way to showcase my whole characters movement, from front, side and occasionally top and bottom views. I exaggerated the flow by breaking the elbow to add to the arcs.
I also exaggerated the foreshortening to add to the effect of coming towards the screen.

Perspective 2D Walk Research

When researching ideas for the character of my perspective walk, alot of things were thought about.
I wanted a character that was both simple, yet charming, but also flexible enough to reach my degree of exaggeration.
The film 'Robots' was a great help with character design, and I used the clip below to help me further.



Another material that I used, and found was very helpful was the 2D feature film 'The Iron Giant'.



Monday 8 February 2010

Profile Walk

For my profile walk I used a number of images and vids to help....
I also recorded my self walking past, slowed it down, just to get a mild idea of the key poses.

A major help was muybridge.


Along with muybridge and of course Richard Williams, Expert Village.com provided some very helpful information.




Perspective 2D Walk

I used a number of images and videos to help with my perspective walk.
One of the main problems I had was to try and keep everything in proportion.

Again Richard Williams' Animators survival kit was very helpful, but I also called upon my days at school in which I learnt about perspective in my graphics class. I learnt about vanishing points and construction lines and this came in very handy.

Here are a few of things I used to help me along the way.


Richard Williams shows how to easily set up a walk cycle in perspective view


How to draw the human body in perspective view

Apart from these two main sources of information, most of my perspective walk was down to me. I found it quite a challenge to just go and draw straight into perspective but, after a few practice tests, I started getting the hang of it.

Richard Williams Influence

I found Richard Williams' book, The Animators Survival Kit, extremely helpful and insightful. It showed a number of different techniques used to produce a walk cycle and how different techniques produce different results. The book also explained the fundamentals of walk cycles for example: overlap & follow through, exaggeration, and how to incorporate perspective well.



This video not only helped me, but also inspired me. I think its an amazing 'masterclass' of what is possible with really good quality animation.

How do we walk?


Basic frames spaced out & Basic frames with correct spacing.



Inbetweens added & Setting the tempo.


Changing the passing frame, gives a whole new dimension to the walk.