๐
2025.06.09 - 2025.06.16
Qistina Nuralya Maria Binti Azly / 0354180
Animation Fundamentals / Bachelors of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
PROJECT 2A: WALK CYCLE
Table of contents (Quicklinks)
1. MODULE INFORMATION BOOKLET (MIB)
1. MODULE INFORMATION BOOKLET (MIB)
This is the Module Information Booklet for this module:
2. LECTURES
Week 8
This week we held an online class because Mr. Kamal was sick with the flue so he couldn't attend physical class. We learned about the animation principle of Pose-to-Pose and Straight Ahead.
- Pose-to-Pose technique involves creating the main keyframes first and then adding the in-between frames later. This method gives animators greater control over timing, structure, and storytelling.
- Straight Ahead technique involves drawing frame by frame in a continuous flow from beginning to end. It creates more natural and spontaneous movement, but can be harder to control in terms of timing and consistency.
After the lecture, Mr. Kamal demonstrated a rough walk cycle from scratch.
Week 9
We learned about the animation principle of Anticipation.
- Anticipation is a principle where a smaller preparatory action is used to set up a major movement, making the motion more believable and dynamic. It helps the audience know what’s about to happen, like a character bending their knees before jumping. Without anticipation, actions can look sudden, confusing, or weird and unnatural.
3. PROCESS
Task: Study vanilla walk cycle that includes poses and timing from the book of Animator’s Survival Kit. The animation should show the quality of being appealing, fluid and flexible which you have mastered in the previous exercises.
3.1 Rough Animation
I adjusted the rough animation we did in class to match with my character's shape. Noticeably, I made only her arms as "sticks" because I wanted to make sure I got the body form properly so it would be easier for me to draw on the clothes. That and additionally, I could animated the arm sticks separate from the body to have more freedom to space out the swings/arcs of the arm.
3.2 Tie Down
Next, I began to do the Tie-downs for each part of my character (Hair, Body, Arms etc); all of which were in their separate layers so that my workspace wouldn't get too messy. I also had my turnaround sheet in the background set as a reference for the mostly side profile walk.
I squashed and stretched the extremes (the up and down) slightly to exaggerate her movement a little but not to much as to not make those frames stand out too much.
3.3 Clean Up and Colors
Afterwards, I simply erased parts of the line art where it logically wouldn't be able to be seen during the walk. Though separating the parts of the walk into different layers, it became a bit tedious when it came to erasing since, as organized as it seem to be, I still had lines in layers it shouldn't have been in. But I powered through it and finished the clean-up.
I brought up her colour reference for the coloring part of the animation. At first, I colored in by hand using the brush tool which hurt my wrist like hell but halfway I found a better coloring method whereby I duplicated the line art and flatten the duplication to then colour in it below the original line art layer. It may sound simple but when I realised it, I was genuinely relieved (>﹏<)
Finally, I exported everything through Adobe Media Encoder.
4. FINAL
View/download all files (videos and Animate files) here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WnvTMgvKqPVCwCVougIyaWcMbSddPgWy?usp=drive_link
5. REFLECTION
For the first proper animation of my character from Project 1, Mira, I'd say it went quite smoothly! I liked adding attitude in her walk even if just a little. Of course, I learned a lot about timing and spacing when creating the cycle, ensuring that the whole walk cycled properly without any awkward movements. The thing I feel made me a bit annoyed were the clothes since I had to make sure it flowed nicely with Mira's body movements.
Overall, I think I managed to create a nice walk animation with as few hiccups as I could have in this Project! I'm a bit overwhelmed to try and do a jump animation next (Project 2B) but I hope it goes as smoothly as this project! เดฆ്เดฆി ห͈̀꒳ห͈́ )✧
๐
Comments
Post a Comment