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| Walk cycle with "Heavy" by Jeff Smith |
In our newest tutorial, we show how to animate a simple walk cycle using the "Heavy" rig. (free for download at Creative Crash). The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners.
The videos use the excellent "Heavy" Rig, based on the Team Fortress character, and free for download at Creative Crash.
Start your journey by learning how to animate a basic walk cycle, carefully following the thumbnails above. The timing of the walk is a 32 frame cycle with one step every 16 frames, a leisurely walk.
One of the first challenges for junior animators learning their craft is to learn the art of locomotion, specifically how to animate a walk cycle, and later a character or personality walk. What makes a walk happy, or sad? Angry, or fearful? Masculine, or feminine?
The tutorial is designed to be easy to follow, and to use simple thumbnails that show all the main poses in the walk, and can be easily broken down.
Heavy Rig
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| Jaunty walk by Mark Lawson-Hall |
Heavy is very good for learning the early stages of animation; he is low poly and will always give real-time playback in your Viewport, even on older machines.
Heavy's control curves are simple and easy to use; it is a stable rig which is unlikely to cause Maya to crash. To read more about how to use the Heavy rig, follow this link
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| Jaunty walk with Heavy by Lee Caller |
2024/25 Update - if you need an updated version of the Heavy rig that renders in Arnold - send us an email and I'll share the updated rig.
You can also use a different biped rig, just make sure you know how to use the controls.
Thumbnails For a Basic Walk
Below are thumbnails for the Heavy walk cycle. It is a 32 frame cycle, a slow leisurely walk.
Start by Animating a Basic Walk with "Heavy"
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| How to use the "Heavy" Rig |
Start with the right leg "contact" position at frame 1, then set an identical keyframe at frame 33.
Now do the mirror image pose at frame 17 (Left Leg Contact).
Then do the passing position at frame 9 and 25, and then the other breakdown positions at 5, 13, 29 and 29. You should now have a functioning walk cycle, ready to add flexibility and follow-through.
"Heavy" Walk Tutorial
Heavy Walk Part 1 - Set the Scene
Heavy Walk Part 2 - Create your Key Poses
Heavy Walk Part 3 - Add the Passing Position
Heavy Walk Part 4 - Add the Breakdowns
Heavy Walk Part 5 - Tidy it Up
The password is the same as for all our tutorial videos.
Walks Compilation Reel
Below is a selection of some of the best walks and character walks completed by students at Animation Apprentice:
Walks and Character Walks
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| "ZigZag Walk" by Alex Williams: "Thief & The Cobbler" |
Animators learn to observe how humans act and move, and be able to replicate that character and personality in their motion.
Locomotion Resources
There are many free resources on walks (and locomotion generally) at Animation Apprentice. Follow the links below to find out more about walks and character walks.
- How to Animate a Basic Walk with "Monty"
- Character Walks with the Bio Motion Walker
- How to Fix a Floaty Walk Cycle
- How to stop feet sliding in a walk cycle
- Why animators need treadmills for walk cycles
- Why Walk Cycles Need Sine Waves
- Animating the "ZigZag Walk" on "The Thief & The Cobbler"
- Two Ways to Animate a Walk Cycle - Which is Best?
- Character Walks by Alexander Savchenko
- Why animators should always take two steps
- Character Walk reference by Houman Sorooshnia
- 100 Ways to Walk by Kevin Parry
To find out more about Animation Apprentice, click here for a link to Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for our next classroom at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.
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