Walk cycle

A simple four-frame walk cycle

In animation, a walk cycle is a series of frames or illustrations drawn in sequence that loop to create an animation of a walking character. The walk cycle is looped over and over, thus avoiding having to animate each step again.

The walk cycle is an essential fundamental within the animation industry since it is performed by most characters and thus very noticeable to the viewer. It can convey the personality and background of a character. The cycle demonstrates the animator's proficiency as it requires the application of more than half of the Twelve basic principles of animation as well as accurate observation and understanding of the character.

Creating a walk cycle

Walk cycles can be broken up into four key frames: the forward contact point, the first passing pose, the back contact point, and the second passing pose. Frames that are drawn between these key poses (traditionally known as in-betweens) are either hand-drawn or interpolated using computer software.

Key frames of a walk cycle

Besides the apparent move of the legs, many more details are necessary for a convincing walk cycle, like animation timing, movement of the arms, head and torsion of the whole body.

There exist many techniques to create walk cycles. Traditionally, walk cycles are hand-drawn, but over time with the introduction of new technologies for new mediums, walk cycles can be made in pixel art, 2D computer graphics, 3D computer graphics, stop motion, and cut-out animation, or using techniques like rotoscoping.

External links

• The Walk and the Whip(archived) sample animation with video (awn.com)