Integrating 3D models with photography
Interested in integrating your 3D work with the real world? This might help
# 1 01-12-2007 , 09:35 AM
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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How to loop a walk

Hi folks!

I finished creating a skeleton and binding it to my character and now I want to animate him. I started with a simple walk. Ist there any opportunity to loop this walk.
When I copy the keyframes the character starts at the start position again.

Would be nice if anyone could help me!

Thans a lot

# 2 01-12-2007 , 12:06 PM
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Location: San Francisco
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You need to first act out or better yet, record yourself so you can get a better understanding of the movements you want to capture with your character. I do this with all of my animations and keep an archive for future reference.
Walk cycles take a while to master. Time each step with a stop watch or by counting in your head and Time how long it takes you to take a step with each foot to get a rough estimate.

I usually start off with the root translating it in the path I want it to take. Then moving the right and left feet. Move the feet so they look like the character is ice skating on the floor, keeping them properly apart to not cause undesired deformation. Then I translate the up and down movement with the root. After you get the bounce for the body looking looking right, I proceed to translate each foot up and down. I follow then with the foot roll. When everything looks about right I proceed with the hip rotation, followed by the shoulders. I usually leave the arm swing to last. The trick is to block out all the major movements first and follow then with the subtle movements of the hand, head, feet etc. Always remember that!

I included a break down of a simple walk cycle so you can better understand it. If anything this will take practice. You should definitely pick up "The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams. This is the bible of animation.

After you get the first steps of your character you can go into the graph editor and copy and paste your key frames in order to get a loop. I usually just a copy and paste the blocking movements because if you copy and paste every little thing it can get very confusing. Remember: ANIMATION IS CONCENTRATION!

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Last edited by djknucklez1; 01-12-2007 at 12:10 PM.
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