Walk This Way

Click image to see large walk cycle (24 frames, 300k).

"Vanilla" Walk. Sounds easy, right? What a load of hooey. This week, we get a second leg and a whole lot of trouble to boot. I'll never take walking for granted again! Or at least I've definitely gotten a much clearer understanding about just how complicated a walk can be, even in it's most basic form. I'm sure if you asked my 18 month old if "walking's easy, what's Dad all bent about?" She'd probably tell you to back off, walking's a real pain in the diapers! Then she'd probably try to point out a "birdie" somewhere. She likes to do that. I think she's doing psychological testing on us. It's how she decides if she's still in control. If she can point at something that is absolutely NOT a birdie, but still get us to go along, or to try to find a birdie, she knows we're still wrapped. Anyway, more on that in the OTHER blog. Here, we're interested in WALKS. So, the link above is an attempt at blocking a 24 frame walk cycle. For those of you who don't know what I was working on, here's a brief synopsis:

1. It must move across the screen.
2. It must be a full walk cycle, and cannot be more than 24 frames.
3. It's in blocking form, meaning only the frames that show key changes, i.e. the "passing", "contact", "high extreme" and "low extreme" positions.
4. Attention should be paid to rotation, overlapping action in the body and shifting of weight.

That's some of the stuff anyway. We had a really great video to watch from AM on this subject as well as reference materials, like Richard Williams "Animator's Survival Kit" and Disney's "Illusion of Life".