- Modules
- Four-Legged Walk-Cycle Animation
- Understanding How Four-legged Animals Move
Understanding How Four-legged Animals Move
T-EXC-002-001
In order to create a believable animation of any living creature, you must carefully research and study the creature’s movements when it's in motion and when it's at rest. Only by doing this will you be able to record and later animate the subtle differences that will give your animated character its own specific personality. Even watching a subject for a few minutes can give you insight into its motion. But where do you start?
There are many sources of reference for four-legged creatures, and many ways that you can use this information to enhance your animation. Some of these are mentioned here, but you just need look around your surroundings and you will soon find examples of four-legged creatures you can study. For example, if you want to animate a cat or dog, you may encounter one outdoors that you can easily observe!
Time Estimated 5 mins
Difficulty Level Beginner
Topics List
- Understanding How Four-legged Animals Move
- Anatomy of a Four-legged Walk Cycle
- Photo and Video References
- Four-legged Walk Basics
- Analyzing Four-legged Walk Animations
- Rough versus Clean
- Activity 1: Observation
- Activity 2: Drawing the Key Poses
- Activity 3: Adjusting the Paws for a Pan Background
- Activity 4: Creating In-betweens
- Activity 5: Cleaning and Painting Your Animation
- Activity 6: Creating a Background
- Activity 7: Setting the Animation on a Peg
- Activity 8: Animating a Bear and Dog (Optional)