Here it is my first completed walk cycle with marvellous rig Vincent from Blender Cloud. I know animation is bad but for the first time I think is okey, please I’m welcoming any critique.
It looks very nice!
Walk cycles are like facial expressions. You can figure out what almost any of them mean, and then use them in the appropriate situation. So there’s nothing wrong with your walk cycle, as long as you have a sense of what you’re conveying, and it’s what you want to convey.
For the one you’ve created, I think Vincent is in a playful mood. Very bouncy and active. But at the same time, almost sneaky and hesitant. There’s a lot going on in this walk.
One of the most expressive parts of this walk, for me, is when the front foot hits the ground. He seems to be almost jamming his foot down in a decisive way, while at the same time straightening his leg in a way that seems more like what a child might do, who is thrilled with the mere act of walking. An adult might be afraid of hurting their knee if they walked that way, but a child might not care.
At almost the same time, the back foot seems to be giving a little jump as well, as though it’s really planting itself, before coming up to take the next step. This goes along with my interpretation of Vincent as feeling playful, and it’s also what gives me the sense that there’s a slight bit of sneakiness to him right now. As I said, there’s a lot to this particular walk.
Meanwhile, the arms are swinging very far in the front and back directions, which would usually indicate that the person was really throwing their weight into each step. That’s the natural reason for an arm-swing during walking - to balance oneself out. But in Vincent’s case, because of that tiny pause/bounce at the planting of each forward foot, it doesn’t seem that there is much forward momentum to the walk, and thus, not much need to swing the arms front and back. This is also visible in Vincent’s torso - he’s clearly not having to use his torso to add power to the walk. So why are his hands swinging so far? For me, this seems like further indication that he is in a playful mood. He enjoys swinging his arms, like he enjoys having a little bounce to his step.
That’s what I get out of this walk cycle. I like it! If I had a criticism, it would be that the front knee really does seem to straighten a bit too much - I think even a child might be in danger of injury at that point. I might try to soften it up just the least little bit, so there’s still the same bounce, but just not as much danger to the meniscus.
Be well,
Zack
Thanks Zack for your detailed feedback. I really appreciate it:cool: I will next try to make something like slow-depresive walk.
Is it possible to swap my character model for existing model with walk cycle ? Say here is Walk cycle with modest mesh character and I want to swap the one with mine. Is it possible ?
You can, but if the joints and bones are in different positions, you will have to rearrange them to match.