Walk Cycle Tutorial

This 5 part video tutorial takes students step-by-step (no pun intended) through creating a walk-in-place cycle.

Part 1: Planning and Keys

This demo highlights the key poses of a walk cycle through real world observation, then takes them to the drawing board in a first pass.

Part 2: Inbetweening and Plotting arcs

Once you have your key poses, how do you connect them. This demo will help you keep your limb length consistent and moving on a smooth arc and 

Part 3: Adding Arms

Animators work in passes when doing complex motions. Save the arm swing until after you get the body and legs correct. 

Part 4: Troubleshooting common problems

Analyze your work in progress so you can fix any problem areas before cleaning up.

Part 5: Clean up and overlapping action

Once the underlying action is satisfactory, add little details like overlapping action that are driven by the main action. 

Bonus tutorial: 

Adding a panning background to your cycle:

Contributed by Corrie Francis Parks