Sunday, 11 June 2023

Animate a Military Walk With "Monty"

One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk.  In this latest tutorial, we show how to take a basic walk cycle using the "Monty" rig (free for download from highend3d.com) and make Monty march like a goose-stepping soldier on a parade ground.  

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

About "Monty"

Start by Animating a Basic Walk with "Monty"
The tutorial takes a basic walk cycle (see this blog post on how to achieve this) and shows how to make very small changes that give the walk character and personality.

Rather than creating a character walk from scratch, a much more efficient approach is to complete a basic walk cycle and then adapt it.  Just a few small changes can make all the difference.   Start your journey by learning how to animate a basic walk cycle. You can find the links below. The password is the same as for all our videos.

Monty Walk Pt 1

Monty Walk Pt 2

Monty Walk Pt 3

Monty Walk Pt 4 

"Military Walk" with Monty
To make Monty feel like a goose-stepping soldier, we need to adjust his walk so his feet kick up high in the air, lean him backwards, and also give him a helmet, which we can download for free from Turbosquid.

Miliatary Walk Tutorial
You can find the Military Walk Tutorial below:

Walks and Character Walks
"Journey of Life" by Robin Herrmann
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? 

Animators must 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. 

Goose-stepping "Monty"
Follow the links below to find out more about walks and character walks.





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