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Feet won't stay in place between actions

Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 5:16 am
by Klay frog
Hello, me again, with yet another question. So I've been messing around with actions and am currently try to make a double bounce walk cycle, the second one from here:

Image

HOWEVER, when it's all put together and usually around steps 2-4 (where the body rises/sinks and changes angle slightly), the feet sink below ground level in between actions. It happens slightly before I rotate the body (to angle it like is shown in the cycle) and happens much more dramatically when I do rotate the body. It seems like this is likely to happen with all the rotating going on, but still, there must be a way to fix this right? :? By the way, I draw each step as a separate action.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 9:49 am
by slowtiger
Uhm, create a key and correct the foot's position?

Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 1:48 pm
by GCharb
Like slowtiger said, just create a key then correct the foot position.

I am curious though, why make an action for each step, why not make an action for the whole cycle that you could then reuse as need?

G

Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 3:31 pm
by VĂ­ctor Paredes
When you create two keyframes, the bones will always inbetween in the short way possible, they don't know about ground or anything, they only move from one position to another directly. For this reason many times you won't get exactly the movement you want, so, as slowtiger and GCharb said, just create an intermediate keyframe to correct the position.
I'm curious about the actions for each step too. If you haven't any specific plan which justifies that way of work, I recommend to avoid it. GCharb advice is good, create the whole cycle in one actions, then reuse it as many times you want. At least that is the way many users work.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 5:22 pm
by lwaxana
Ohh! Double bounce walks are fun. :D Just wanted to share a great double bounce walk link in case you haven't seen it yet:

http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/10/ ... -walk.html

Animator's Survival Kit also has great info on double bounce walks.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 8:48 pm
by Klay frog
I was hoping there was another simpler/lazier way since creating a cycle is still a bit of a challenge for me and I'd rather not deal with more key frames, but alrighty. lol There's no specific reason why I create the actions separately actually, since I'm just experimenting and don't plan to reuse the character for anything else except the cycle. I can see now it's pretty obvious that I should combine them all as one action when something, inevitably, doesn't behave right.

Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 9:31 pm
by slowtiger
My walk cycles in AS usually have a key for every frame. Because they're repeated again and again it really pays to create them carefully. After all, the cycle does all the work.

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 3:17 am
by dueyftw
A short explanation on how to rotorscope a walk cycle.

Copy the action of film or as here an image of a walk cycle using bones or point motion or frame by frame.

Make you character walk in place.

Don't move the camera but your character or the background, If more than one character walking, move the character.

Set you timing by changing the cycle time, more frames the slower the walk. Render to see if it is the right speed. AS will not play at the true speed of the walk cycle. It has too much to do when just playing back.

Add small vector boxes on another layer to mark your characters feet. The maker should be the length of the toe lifting off to the heal landing one step. Use the markers to control and remove any foot sliding.

Dale

Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 4:16 am
by GCharb
dueyftw

Every time I see your avatar I get a headache! ;)

G