Deadline: 21 April 2008
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The
Personality and the mood of the character can affect the stride and pace and posture of a walk cycle (Blair, 2008). A walk cycle is full of exaggerations to emphasize personality, thought, emotions, actions and mood. It is up to the animator and what they want to portray as the walk cycle basic rules are allowed to be broken. This allows for interesting walks.
For my emotive walk, I chose a sad walk to express a sad, depressed mood. The character’s body is slumped with its head facing down more often than up. The head hangs slightly and follows the movement of the body. The body leans forward with the shoulders slouched. The arms swing from side to side, but they swing lower than the normal walk. On the down position the arms are furthest apart. On the passing position the arms meet on the sides.
The feet are reluctant to leave the ground. The pace of the walk is slower than a normal walk cycle. Sad walks have more time spent on the ground than in the air, dragging feet and never lifting them high (Blair, 2008). There is less exaggeration for the feet unless the character is dragging them then the toes being bend over can be exaggerated. A tired walk can also follow these guidelines. My emotive walk had 6 steps and each one was different because when walking we don't walk exactly the same for each sep. This added some variation to the movement which is usually looped.
The arc paths in SoftImage should be kept smooth, curved and natural to give the walk cycle less jerk. Every joint of the body has an arc path (Idleworm, 2008).
Walk Variations
Happy Walk
Happy walk cycles are usually light-footed, bouncy and spend more time up in the air than down on the floor (Blair, 2008). The character has an upright posture with the shoulders back. The head follows the movement of the body and tends to bob up ad down. The pace is quicker than the regular walk. The stride is large and the arms swing freely from side to side.
Walk in the Wind
A character walking and facing strong wind would have to have a lot of contact with the ground and only have quick momentary lifts of the foot to take a step (Blair, 2008). The posture for this walk can have the body leaning forward to maintain its balance. The toes can flop below. This type of walk cycle also works well if the character is pulling something heavy. The pace for this walk requires a slow movement because it gives it a greater sense of the force it is pushing or pulling. A twist of the pelvis makes it more believable (Blair, 2008). The stride can be wide or small for this walk because both work well.
Angry Walk
This walk requires a fast pace. The character is stomping its feet on the ground and almost kicking the air. The arms are swinging in a way that makes it look like it is punching the air. The elbows should be at right angles to the body. The arms still meet on the passing position. Because the arms are swinging briskly, the body should twist. The up position has the knees very far from the ground. On the contact position, he toes can be pointing upwards or quite far from the ground. The posture for this walk is leaning forward and head jutting out. The nose should be pointing upwards.
References
Blair, P. “Animation Studies”. 2008.
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/04_walkcycle_project.html
Accessed: 16 April 2008.
Idleworm: Walk Cycle. 2008.
http://www.idleworm.com/how/anm/02w/walk1.shtml
Accessed: 16 April 2008.
