I was familiar with how the Walk Cycle works within animation before I joined this course, but had forgotten it over the last year, so this project was useful to refresh my memory on it. I was used to the idea of using keyframes to create the person's movement, so I decided to challenge myself and use multiple methods of animation to experiment with and create walk cycles. Initially, I made a stop-motion armature walk towards a door with a partner, just before filming took place for the World in a Room project. This allowed me to get used to using the facility and equipment, and also learn how to move the armature's joints and feet. Though I didn't particularly enjoy the process due to its slow and tedious nature, I was glad that I was able to have a go with the armature and add some footage to this project.
From there I then created a similar walk cycle, albeit one that could be looped, with the use of Maya. As I had intended to have my character walk in the World in a Room project, I first created a general repeatable walk cycle so that I could reuse it if need be. Much like with 2D animation, I created the key poses with the use of keyframes, but thanks to the convenience of automatic in-betweening, there was very little need to create many more movements, with the exception of slight adjustments and details such as the movement of the hands and eyes.
Once satisfied with the general walk cycle, I was able to alter it and add a stopping animation for the project. I also had to figure out how to make the character's footsteps seem realistic and not sliding around on the floor, which originally happened as I only had 2 keyframes to move it from A to B. I figured out that moving him on every keyframe in line with his footsteps was the solution to this problem, therefore giving a much more realistic sense of movement.
Finally, I returned to traditional 2D animation during the Animated Reality project. As a warm up before actually creating digital animation, I created a simple walk cycle on paper using similar techniques of copying keyframes as I did in Maya. As I had not used 2D animation in a while, I was not used to creating smooth clean singular lines for the body and shapes so therefore I was able to practice to a good enough standard before moving onto the character animation for the project.
Overall I found this optional project a very useful opportunity to experiment with different methods as well as catch up on the technical aspects that I felt I had been left behind on due to the fact I was not present for First Year, therefore building my confidence to create more complicated character animation for my films. I enjoyed having the chance to refresh my memory whilst trying something new and I feel that it taught me the importance of using keyframes in 3D Digital and 2D animation before in-betweening, allowing me to save time by creating more correct frames instead of having to go over and redo older ones that didn't work proportionately.
Once satisfied with the general walk cycle, I was able to alter it and add a stopping animation for the project. I also had to figure out how to make the character's footsteps seem realistic and not sliding around on the floor, which originally happened as I only had 2 keyframes to move it from A to B. I figured out that moving him on every keyframe in line with his footsteps was the solution to this problem, therefore giving a much more realistic sense of movement.
Finally, I returned to traditional 2D animation during the Animated Reality project. As a warm up before actually creating digital animation, I created a simple walk cycle on paper using similar techniques of copying keyframes as I did in Maya. As I had not used 2D animation in a while, I was not used to creating smooth clean singular lines for the body and shapes so therefore I was able to practice to a good enough standard before moving onto the character animation for the project.
Overall I found this optional project a very useful opportunity to experiment with different methods as well as catch up on the technical aspects that I felt I had been left behind on due to the fact I was not present for First Year, therefore building my confidence to create more complicated character animation for my films. I enjoyed having the chance to refresh my memory whilst trying something new and I feel that it taught me the importance of using keyframes in 3D Digital and 2D animation before in-betweening, allowing me to save time by creating more correct frames instead of having to go over and redo older ones that didn't work proportionately.
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