Background characters from Pixar's UP help to demonstrate ‘Andrew Gordon's walk cycle tis ropns© DaneyPur ed imation 4 are Wa \ ‘OS COVERED" ? ieving clean 10 better walk cycles Pixar's Andrew Gordon helps you improve your character animation with advice on personality, weight and more up pl down 5 Now es ” alo€h 4€ DISC ing videos steps to . (O) 7 Plan your walk ieee oe mores smearoae re anna S Soatraiaees erernats Tenmasmeyanonas tase Caceeranyoa Zapereencaneeinmaee! soenatcrniment Secpatostrmeyet ener ae oer eta econ Senna iene 1S LL Before you even start ta map out your walleye, ty tp think ofa person or charactor ina fm that your characteris similar to and dig up some footage. Matching physical typesis helpful ofcourse, but try to match up porsanalites as wel. For ike Wazowst, the one-eyed green critter from Monsters, Ine, looked at alt of New Yorker types ~ Unik Joe Peschi or George in Seinfeld, for exam - and watched a few Looney Tunes for inspiration. Although Mike's walks jovial it also neadad to convey that he might have issues about his se, Bofore doing anything, you need to consider who your character 's Think about the’ five Vie: who, what where, when and vay ‘nether thing you should dois hop on a tread nl act the walle tut infront ofa camera, Try a bunch of diferent walks. The main thing is that you rely think about your wall 4 0 *) Start clean J a Wary poopie ackif thoy should be animating a wakin 3 place or moving in space, I don't shnk it makes mach sonse to do a walkin pace, because you get alot of fost slippage. Instead, start ata value of 0 in tho Y (Zin some packages, of cause) so that yu can measure exactly how far the character traveling. You shoud set up the warkspace so that yau can see the character from every angle you need to. ice sot up, start making poses. “ind that putting the charactor inthe goreral attitude ofthe Wal: helps me see it more clearly when Tloegi refining it. An ‘examgle ofthis would be when Twas animating a walk for Edn Mode cing the Inevecibies, [put her in a pose that was regal ‘wth her nose up inthe air and her am out as if hong along ‘cigarette, The next step was to start blocking the lags.Expert Tips TRAINING mt 0 The limbs Think ofthe ame ac ppenduums, Block in one sce with basic poses nen massage the timing in the spine editor “Think ofthe succossive breaking cof ois ~ something Wak Disney's Nine td Wen perfected ~ to create fluid movernent. Tirk about how tho arms ease in and out of thir cectremes. Pay attention to arcs, TF you track the wrist it wil mast Healy move ina igure of eight Think about how the shoulders play ints the arms: they wi rake ww Asm Swing yoramsaakmeeomme | Tiratabtertogeorten, | oktmeretinteomct | Eloow Miscarg four wh ou tomake the right decision. ‘Once Thave one side done, usually copy it to the other sido hy and offset in time and pose. Hand Front | (1These splines show this walk's ~ Mand Left | ‘arm movement: nate where they ‘converge and diverge je 5 Look for areas: to.use abit af squash ‘end stretch ina we 0 4 Use bend bows Sod P Bond bows are controls that lat you push around the ‘geomatry between the joints in order a get amore exganicfesl toa pesa A.great example of a band bow in the «ris The Jungle Book, when King Louie's shaking Mowgi's hand, Just ‘rame through that scene ta see this ‘echnigue in action. (95 Sauash and stretch SD Adsing squash ard stretch to eres ike the torso, nck and feet ean realy loosen upa wal, _-Squash and stretch is meant to be felt, not seen. Use TErnvch Thea spice ana chicken: when you overdo ittastes bad... Squesh and stretch s alsoin pose. [Adding shape to the arm using ‘bend bow in the shape can help, with the rhythm |The frst pose is generic; the next two are abit more in character but still need work 0 Vary the cycle (nc0 you create the walk oye, its your jb to make it ‘ie within a scene, The ast thing you want itt look ike sa repeating cycle Manipulate the path you put itor. Vary the arms, ad links and looks and anything in general that wilbreak up the walk. Remember, the oyciis only starting coat ‘Most scenes that require wals ‘are done by hand. The cycle is usedyour walk will set you on the way to assessing distances [Y7 Block the legs (DF Tho age are arguably the most cificut part ofthe walk animating them invalves getting the proper stride length to match wth the distance baing travelled. Some use mathematics to figure this out, but F just eyaballit.T start witha stride pose then continue to the passing pose, do anather stride pose and continue util I get afl two-step walk. Once Ihave those tent ‘pole poses, T try to match the First and lst frame, You can do this, by ether attaching a camera ta the charactor so you can soe it mary aspects ‘STheupanddaun movenent na waco srry septs ‘of a walk as you stivetormake it feel more organic and physical 19 Overtap body parts L3G vosnant tre bay to fslasifits sce and bone To make tho two fea erga ae he bod pars ova bt 50 you can fe thecompresionof th sone Dependng on how you have your mde! aged ther ae many ways todo bts Some people we ts start wt the upd down wanton copy tat th resin the sie and seal ane fest thr Ts ted technique tt requres some spine doth 1 peer ost Gain ity oy rn go baci he spine eto and work ve ines Io th estes cures together oT an oe ome rake themcomplmert each othe ate sire you cet th ontappcstocpposton of hes to sroulde and of souder ts os Hp moverent rpotant. Tho base ue en the gt tsvedest sie the & drooping on the fet ey Aso werk or le pater or tees ung te nose as ference pont Remeriser your character's weight and how it affects al those elements. Flapping the knee on the passing pose helps to suggest the transferral of weight fram ane foot to the ather ‘move in place, o by copying the transiation int the tap oot translation and reversing the value soi stays in place. (Once the lags are roughly in, you need to do the breakdowns. Making the walk feo! ke it's transfering weight is key. How the foot pusties aff and how the eg contacts are very important |While animating the logs, I pay attention to the hips land the reat control, checking how the translation up and down is locking ina spline editor Place the key bbody zones in ‘oppositions the character walks \ at movernent eyele remains nice and clean BPN a lc the arcs on the legs to ensure the f 39 Track your arcs j 1S Pay aterton ta the rs on al yur cof wal the head, shoulces log are 59 your atc can 30 importa, Make sre a -work in three dimensions, If you work too Tunis tho do, tho walc wont ok good from ote [bes polish ha) ke 0 x ne pops wing 6 igo mand eyebait. Talea eto Top th abit onthe paring pose to got mor of Change nthe leg, Ten vse rotation en “rverseKinematies in order to hyper-0x fram the Spine Doctors 2010 Walk hich included Andrew Gordon on its