Walk Through Space - Maya

After getting used to posing and moving Buckid, I then felt I could finally start animating him, starting with a walk through space, however in order to better understand how specifically the feet work and move in a walk cycle, I first animated simple cubes representing a foot each, which moved from A to B in a similar fashion to the way feet would. The main area of focus was the rotation, and after looking through some secondary sources, I realised that as a foot lifts off the ground, the heel kicks slightly behind, before rotating in the opposite direction outwards before making contact with the ground and flattening. Making each step even was also essential to giving a realistic feel for the animation, which the grid visible on the ground assisted me with. After completing this animation, I feel more confident to work with more complicated rigs, however one amendment that I would make in following animations is the final step of the foot, because as it covers a smaller distance than the other steps, the rotation and lift of the foot also have to be reduced, something which I didn't take into account in this animation.

https://vimeo.com/207766381

After that I applied the same principals to the 'Buckid' rig, however this time with the increased complexity of having the rest of the body react accordingly to the foot movements. I started off with a very simple and emotionless walk, which I could then implement some character and life into later.

https://vimeo.com/207780510

This is my most recent addition the the Maya walk cycle experimentation, and there are a lot of improvements and additions from the previous one. 

1.  I realised that as I am no longer dealing with simple cubes, the feet should realistically bend at the heel before lifting off.

2. There is a very subtle 'bob' of the head as the body comes down, which is following the 'Follow-through' animation principal, which I feel gives it a more lively and less robotic feel.

3. The body now reacts more realistically to the movements of the leg, as the lift side of the hips raise with the left foot and vice versa. The shoulders also move with the arm movements more realistically. These adjustments I feel prevent the body from appearing as one big inanimate entity tagging along with the legs.

4. The final step is fixed by having the decreased distance compensated by a reduced rotation and lift from the foot.

5. Arm movement has been slightly reduced, as I felt they were too exaggerated when compared to the leg movements

https://vimeo.com/212127108

These amendments have combined to make a walk cycle that I am relatively pleased with, however I will likely come back to this animation to adjust the mood of the subject during the work, after analysing how mood may effect the walk, as well as making some overall improvements to the walk itself if I feel that they are necessary.