I never do blocking, but i think i’ll start, seems the best way to go. In the past i just do pose to pose on top of walk cycle.
What i would like to know is when blocking do animators copy and past walk poses from their cycle animations as they are going through the blocking process, or do they add it later on?
Also do they move the character from the root bone, which can result in foot slippage, or do they move it with ik feet, leaving the root behind?
Ive been wondering how the pros do this for sometime.
Question is not clear. Blocking is basically key framing.
There is tool In Blender that helps with stowing pose. It is called Pose Library. If you have particular pose that comes up frequently, you can stow it there and recalled later.
Yes but a walk cycle may be 50 poses. If a character is pacing up and down, how do the pros do it. Thinking now you could create a pose libray with every key frame in a walk cycle, grab the one you want and paste it to the hips down.
A walk cycle usually consists of 4 poses, these being:
Pose 1: The outstretch pose (This being where the character is about to put weight on the foot that is sticking out in the front)
Pose 2: The down extreme (This is where the character puts his weight on his leg and his body goes down a slight bit)
Pose 3: The passing position (This is where the character’s legs are passing each other)
Pose 4: The up extreme (this is where his other foot is swinging forward, ready to repeat the poses on the other side of his body)
If you’re aiming for a simple/stylized walk where detail isn’t of the essence, I’ve found that only the 1st and 3rd poses are necessary-the frames generated between the two poses will work good enough.
While you could put these poses in a pose library if you felt the need to, (it’s always comforting to have something backed up somewhere ) I find it easier to just to throw new a pose together, so I don’t have to dig through pose after pose after pose. I do recommend the copy and paste pose feature, accessed by selecting the bones you want to copy the location/rotation/scale of, and hitting CTRL+C. You can paste with CTRL+V, and paste opposite with CTRL+Shift+V.
As for your question on character movement, root bone movement vs. IK foot movement, it all depends on the animator. I’ve seen some people who like moving the root bone, and others who use the 3D cursor to mark the position of the feet, then ‘walk’ the feet off the root bone. (I fall into the second category.)
) I find it easier to just to throw new a pose together, so I don’t have to dig through pose after pose after pose. I do recommend the copy and paste pose feature, accessed by selecting the bones you want to copy the location/rotation/scale of, and hitting CTRL+C. You can paste with CTRL+V, and paste opposite with CTRL+Shift+V.