Tutorial: Anatomy of a Walk
Have you ever tried to create a walkcycle only to find that it didn’t ‘feel’ right? George Maestri, the original animation producer of “South Park”, explains how to do it properly.
Walks are very complex. Not only do the feet have to move across the ground, but the hips, spine, arms, shoulders and head all move in sync to maintain balance in the system. Though complex, if you break down each of these movements joint by joint, the mechanics of walking become clear.
Let’s break down a basic walk, step by step. For clarity, I’ve animated a simple skeleton so you can see exactly how each joint moves.
The main issues seem to be knowing where the center of gravity is, how the weight is shifting and how the body maintains its balance during the cycle.
Easy eh? I know for a fact that I still suck at it, but I’d love to see how you did after reading this tuto.
If you think walking is hard, you should see what Anthony Tuttle can do for a dance. This future dancing star can move his joints in unimaginable ways that will shock and amaze you. Watch out for him in an upcoming television show, kicking ass like Chuck Norris.
He makes it look so easy
This is great! It is really nice knowing that when I’ll get to walk cycles, I’ll have such a tut to help.
Clear and prezise tut of walkmotion.
The knowledge of a Animation Pro in a few words. Great.
Kind of ironic that the animation producer of soutpark is teaching us about walkcycles :)
I have got the book (translation of the french title)”Create and animate your 3D characters”, by George Maestri, and I think that it is the most usefull book of my library, related to 3D and animation !
Thank you very much, M. Maestri !
Philippe.
its is ironic that there is tut from the animators of south park wen they have the worset walkcylcles on television, reading the introduction made me laugh at first but the show rules
Oh my god he animated kenny! you bas..!