Noob-friendly walk cycle

Have you come up with a good Moho trick? Need help solving an animation problem? Come on in.

Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger

Post Reply
vivekchakraverty
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:16 am

Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by vivekchakraverty »

Is there any decent walk cycle that you would recommend for people new to the world of animation and Moho. I tried the Preston-Blair model but cant seem to get the proportions right

in terms of body part location!
User avatar
MrMiracle77
Posts: 181
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2019 2:30 am

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by MrMiracle77 »

I like a simple contact/pass/contact/pass cycle. Contact keyframes are heel/toe. Pass keyframes are one foot flat, the other foot pointed slightly aft while off the ground.

When I do this cycle, I'll do the contact keyframes first, which kind of looks like a shuffle. After than, I'll do the 'pass' keyframes in-between and make small corrections. I like to add a little upward movement of the while body on the 'pass' frames, since one of the legs will be at full-extension beneath the body at that point. It's a small detail that really sells the cycle.

Arm movements for a basic walk cycle should mostly be at the shoulder, with the elbows consistently at a slight, natural bend.

If you practice your walk cycles on a moving background, you don't have to constantly match the foot's contact point with the ground.

Consider enabling 'auto-freeze keys' to help synchronize the arms and legs. This will key the entire bone structure when you manipulate it.
- Dave

(As Your GM)
vivekchakraverty
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:16 am

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by vivekchakraverty »

can you share an illustration of the walk cycle you are talking about? being a newbie, much technical details you shared sounds French to me(no offense meant for French).

Thanks in advance!
vivekchakraverty
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:16 am

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by vivekchakraverty »

Sorry, if i asked for too much, if you can even point me towards google images that resemble the walk cycle you were talking about, that too will help a lot!

:)
Daxel
Posts: 996
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:34 pm

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by Daxel »

Maybe a video could help you more if you are a begginer. There are plenty of youtube videos teaching walk cycles specifically in Moho. Just searching walk cycle moho:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... cycle+moho
vivekchakraverty
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:16 am

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by vivekchakraverty »

I do understand the process behind a walk cycle but just need help in figuring out the touch and pass positions for characters larger than the popular Preston Blair illustration. is there any particular illustration you know that can potentially help me!
Daxel
Posts: 996
Joined: Wed Mar 27, 2019 8:34 pm

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by Daxel »

vivekchakraverty wrote: Thu Jul 20, 2023 1:30 pm I do understand the process behind a walk cycle but just need help in figuring out the touch and pass positions for characters larger than the popular Preston Blair illustration. is there any particular illustration you know that can potentially help me!
I'm sure the Preston Blair walk cycles work for larger characters too. Here you have the first example I saw on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVSTH7OB6s4

And looking at your video I see you are doing a few things wrong in the process, like your character body not advancing for a moment (probably some mistake with the keyframes) or the feet dragging through the floor, so I totally recomend you to specifically watch Moho walk cycles tutorials that will teach you how to use target bones to not drag the feet through the floor and many more useful things.
User avatar
slowtiger
Posts: 6081
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:53 pm
Location: Berlin, Germany
Contact:

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by slowtiger »

I'd recommend the Richard Williams walk cycle:

Image

If you google "Richard Williams walk cycle" you'll end up with lots of variations all lifted from his book.

To translate this into Moho: first you key the contact and pass positions for 3 steps (last one is a copy of first). You can create the up and down body movement with translating the body bone - that's what I do first, before creating any leg position. The first frame after contact is the one I place the foot on ground. Some one or two frames before contact is where I adjust the leg in the air: it should overshoot the contact position a bit, and maybe the knee rises a bit. This basically is all I do: 6 keys for each leg, then cycle the whole thing.
AS 9.5 MacPro Quadcore 3GHz 16GB OS 10.6.8 Quicktime 7.6.6
AS 11 MacPro 12core 3GHz 32GB OS 10.11 Quicktime 10.7.3
Moho 13.5 iMac Quadcore 2,9GHz 16GB OS 10.15

Moho 14.1 Mac Mini Plus OS 13.5
vivekchakraverty
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:16 am

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by vivekchakraverty »

Thanks a lot! :)
vivekchakraverty
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:16 am

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by vivekchakraverty »

I personally found this reference image to be particularly simple to implement in the capacity of a beginner!

https://imgur.com/VI7e4zO
vivekchakraverty
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Jun 28, 2023 7:16 am

Re: Noob-friendly walk cycle

Post by vivekchakraverty »

Thanks to everyone for the help!
Post Reply