3D Character - Run Cycle Renders

Another project from the ALIVE! animation course, this is a run cycle for a human character (the model and rig are provided by the course). This combines animation methods I've learnt from previous projects. Firstly there's animating groups of body parts all at once to refine the form of a character, then focusing on individual bones to really refine the positioning and timing.

This particular set of tutorials focused on using references to truly understand how each body part moves throughout the run cycle. The run cycle is broken down into four major poses: straight leg; down/passing; push; and the up pose.

To start off, I blocked out the four poses. I really needed to pay attention to the positioning of the limbs and the way the torso twists to develop strong poses. It was particularly interesting to observe both the similarities and differences between the way people run in the different references. For the arms and legs, I only needed to animate one side as I could mirror the movements onto the other side (I would offset the timeline for the opposite limbs so the run cycle looks normal).

Once the blocking was complete, I had to adjust the timing of each of these keyframes for the animation to flow better. To give it a more exaggerated look, the up pose was slightly prolonged so the character stays in the air for a little longer and the steps are faster.

After that, it was about refining the movements of the bones. This would be mostly done one channel at a time to allow for greater focus. For the torso, hips and chest, it was important to pay attention to how they twist due to these movements leading the motions of the limbs. For the legs and feet (controlled via IK), it was very important to pay attention to the arcs and timing to create satisfying yet realistic movements (paying attention to the references really helped in shaping the overall motion path). The refinement of the arms (controlled via FK) is similar, except I have to use rotation channels to control the arm movements while considering how each bone affects the next one in the chain.

This animation taught me valuable lessons. In particular, it's taught me how valuable it is to observe various references to plan, refine and adapt my own animations. Next on the course is a walk cycle, developing the skills I've learnt to create precise and accurate movements.