Animation - HELP - walk backwards cycle

FanieG

Hi,

Can anyone help me with a walk cycle like this image:



but for a figure walking and running backwards. My google skills are failing me. The help would be much appreciated.

IceCliff

Why don't you record a video of yourself doing it and then go through it frame by frame?

FanieG

@IceCliff guess that's what i'll end up doing, was just kinda hoping that someone has one lying on their desktop to save me some time. Thought I would spend my xmas leave learning how to do a bit of 3d animation, and wanted to get through as much content as I could in the little time I have available.

farsicon

I wonder if it's not just the reverse of walking forward (unless the pace is different). Have you tried inverting the forward cycle to see if it looks normal / reasonably accurate?

FanieG

@farsicon, it is similar but not exactly the same, as you tilt your torso and neck a bit differently (especailly if also running while aiming two guns). I got an animation done, for both walking and running backwards, but to be honest it's kinda crappy. Not going to worry about it too much though. As I said above the exercise was more just to learn how to model and rig something, add some animation (even if it's crappy) and then import it into unity. Turned out to be a fun little game jam, and I will post the final product when it resembles more of a game.

FaraiV1

@FanieG. What software are you using for your backward walk-cycle?

FanieG

@FaraiV1 i did the modelling, rigging and animation in blender, cause free :) know you can get premade animations for models in some software packages but I wanted to learn how to do it myself. Damn animation is hard (but stragely relaxing).

Zaphire

@FaraiV1 What software is recommended for animations? I also do the same way @FanieG does by manually doing everything in Blender

Elyaradine

I'm not a great animator, so I've been avoiding posting. Though, based on the little I've learnt from people who are animators, you should be capturing as much video of yourself as you can, even just to capture nuances in acting. Not all walks are the same. There will be different weight distributions because of body type, or personality, whether macho or lithe, excited or fearful. (Of course, it's fair to practise body mechanics too; but this is something that mocap seems to do fairly well, so there's not quite as much gain in the professional market for it, unless you're applying it to non-bipedal or non-humanoid bodies that are more difficult to mocap.)

Again, I'm not an animator, but from what I've seen the overwhelming majority of studios seem to enjoy animating in Maya. It has less to do with how easy it is to animate (the act of animating seems to be pretty much identical in all of the 3D software I've seen), and more to do with how easy it is to create a decent rig. And, frankly, I think Softimage easily won at that until Autodesk shut it down. :(

I think it's worth keeping in mind what you're trying to practise. If you're practising animation, then find a ready-made rig online, and practise animation. It really won't matter what software you're using. It's only when you're practising rigging that software matters more. Even though the theory transfers directly, having to re-learn what the terminology is between programs (e.g. null vs dummy vs locator), and where the different pieces of software fail, or have gotchas, or deal with gimbal, or layer corrective shapes, etc. is a pretty big deal.

FaraiV1

@FanieG, thanks for letting me know. The reason I asked is exactly what you mentioned. There are premade animation rigs and models you could use to aid in your animation. Blender, of course, is hard to get into but I think it was a good choice on your part to use that as a learning experience. I think Elyaradine's idea is completely sound. Capturing as much footage of actual, physical animation would give you a much more realistic bases into animating characters. It's a long, tedious road, though, that will take some getting used to.

Another idea would be checking out some YouTube channels and learning from there (I suggest Darin Lile, as he has full free courses with Blender on character creation, animation, physics, Unity import and character scripting).

Also, if you do decide to go with Elyaradine's idea and don't want to spend a long period of time working on an actual self-made, physically exerted walk-cycle, you might want to look into investing in Poser Pro. Make no mistake, this software will cost you money, but it uses Xbox Kinect Technology (Please download the Kinect SDK if you're going this root) in conjuction with your computer's webcam to mimic your movements and incorporate those movements into any character you've made. This saves you a HUGE amount of time and it makes sure that you get the exact animation that you needed. Poser Pro also has it's own walk-cycle assist, making it easier for you to fine-tune your animation to anything that suits your fancy.

I know it sounds like I'm advertising the latter, but I am aware from experience that this product is worth the cash. Keep note that Poser Pro does not allow you to create characters - or anything for that matter - from scratch, only edit.

@Zaphire, I would recommend Poser Pro for animation. However, I'll stress that different people prefer different software. Some swear by Maya or Maya LT (Maya LT is specifically for game development and has it's own game engine dubbed 'Stingray') which both cost a lot of money, unless you go for their three-year student subscription package. Others prefer Blender because it's free, fully-featured and open-source. Hell, even I prefer Blender because I'm used to it. But If I had to be objective, and focus sorely on animation, then Poser Pro is the way to go.