Creating a walkcycle

This is a global description of how i create a basic walkcycle in general - Squill

• Once you've got your rig you can setup the scene. For a "normal" walkcycle i usually take 36 frames.
• Start with placing the feet in the "contact pose" at frame 1
• The foot behind is lifting the heel a bit so your character is standing on the ball of his foot.
• Copy the keys of the feet to the last frame (36) so it loops
• Do the same on frame 18 but with the feet posed reversed.

• At this point i'll check the Z-axis transform of the feet in the graph/curve editor.
• From the moment a foot first hits the ground until it lifts up again, the transform curve should be a straight line because it's flat on the ground.
• You can take 1 or 2 frames for the foot to rotate flat on the ground after the contact pose.
• At frame 10 select the foot that's moving forward and move it up a bit and rotate the heel up with the toe's pointing down. That's your basic passing pose, you may have to lock the other foot on the ground if it's floating.
• About 4 frames after the contact pose i rotate the foot behind almost vertical and place it just above the ground which creates the illusion of the foot pushing itself off the ground.
• Now you have the basic movement of the feet and you can start working on the hips.
• First focus on the up & down movement. After the contact pose it moves slightly down, from the passing pose it goes back up.
• If you exaggerate the hip movement you can exactly see what it's doing. Observe and learn how people are walking, everyone walks different, adding weight to your animation makes it come alive.
• I go back and forth between the legs and hips until i'm satisfied with the movements. Only after i've got the global movements of the hips and feet right i'll move on to the upper body.