• The pelvis is the most important part of the rig since it forms the line of action, and that at the root of the spine, it needs to be the source of, or respond too all body movement.
  
• Motion is created in the pelvis, but the legs will support and cushion the movement of the ball.
  
• Weight shift is an essential component of the walkcycle since the pelvis controls the movement and is directly connected to the legs.
  
• Weight is transferred through the legs into the rest of the body, creating rotation in the body of the ball rig.
  
• Squash and stretch is added at the very last as a secondary action.
  
• Will use IK when a character contacts a surface and needs to respond to that. It allows you to lock to that spot.
  
• Always animate the root and spine first.

Mostly animating 4 controls:
Main Ball Control
Left foot Control
Right foot Control
Vertical Squash and Stretch added last, along with knee aim constraints if needed.

Basic walk=1 second for 2 steps to occur, 15 frames per step as we will animate this cycle at 30fps

Heres a look at the rig we will be using:

• Prep Stage:
  Start at frame 0, not frame 1!
  
  
  
  Step 1 for a walk cycle: Space feet apart so at even distance. This is referred to as the contact position or the extended position. In this case, our rig has had his Left leg moved forward, so that the distance between root and feet is half way in each direction. The distance between the two feet can be changed according to expression of mood.
  
  
  The Right foot is moved back -1 unit
  The Left foot is moved forward 1 unit
  
  The Translation channels are now keyed for the feet.
  
  
  Step 2 move root joint down so that the midpoint is down enough to allow the feet to touch the ground:
  
  
  Step 3 Holding down Shift while using the QWERTY correspondent keys only that movement. So Shift-Wcan key just the Translation for instance. Or we can right click and key just the channels we need.
  
  
  Heres a close-up look at the individual channels you will need to key at Frame 0 for this step:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Blocking Stage:
  
  Step 4 and 5 A normal walk is about 1-second per stride, so lets go half way and add the inbetween step At Frame 15 using the values listed in the chart below. Then we can go all the way to the end of the 2-steps first by "copying" the original pose forward to Frame 30. Below is a look at Steps 4 and 5, and the values associated with them that need to be keyed, displayed as both a chart, and an image:
  
  MAKE SURE TO KEY ALL VALUES!!!!!!
  

  At frame 15:
  	Main_Ball_Ctrl	Translate Y= -0.3 (SAME AS FRAME 0)
  		Translate Z= 2
  	R_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0 (SAME AS FRAME 0)
  		Translate Z= 3
  	L_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0 (SAME AS FRAME 0)
  		Translate Z= 1 (SAME AS FRAME 0)
  At frame 30:
  	Main_Ball_Ctrl	Translate Y= -.03 (SAME AS FRAME 0 and 15)
  		Translate Z= 4
  	R_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0 (SAME AS FRAME 0 and 15)
  		Translate Z= 3 (SAME AS FRAME 0 and 15)
  	L_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0 (SAME AS FRAME 0 and 15)
  		Translate Z= 5

  
  
  
  
  
  And now, after setting up the blocking, our animation should look like this:
  
  Looks kinda crappy doesn't it? Well, there is a lot more to do. Don't forget, we aren't even at the animation stages yet, we've just got the basic timing blocked in.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Animation Stage 1:
  Step 6 Lets start adding some additional complexity to the movement by animating the motion of the hips going up and down during the walk. The Body is already in the down position (and keyed there... remember, we keyed the Translate Y of the Main_Ball_Ctrl earlier). Now we need to get into those inbetween beats (frames 7 and 22, which are half way between 0, 15, and 30) and add an up position.
  
  

  At frame 7:
  	Main_Ball_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0.03
  At frame 22:
  	Main_Ball_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0.03 (SAME AS FRAME 7)

  
  Heres a look at how moving the body up during "crossover" will play out. Compare it to the animation test in the blocking stage above if you'd like:
  
  
  
  Step 7 Now we need to create the pass position, also known as the crossover position. A proper crossover will look like a number 4 as the leg that lifts passes the stationary, planted leg. So far the legs have been glued to the ground, but now we need to get them elevated. We will now also be keying the Rotate X value for the foot, which we previously had not been doing.
  
  IF A VALUE IS CHANGING IT WILL BE MARKED IN RED... however, all values should be keyed!!!!
  
  

  At frame 0:
  	R_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0
  		Translate Z= -1 Rotate X= 0
  	L_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0
  		Translate Z= 1 Rotate X= 0
  At frame 7:
  	R_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 1
  		Translate Z= 0.9 Rotate X= 40
  	L_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0
  		Translate Z= 1 Rotate X= 0
  At frame 15:
  	R_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0
  		Translate Z= 3 Rotate X= 0
  	L_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0
  		Translate Z= 1 Rotate X= 0
  At frame 22:
  	R_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0
  		Translate Z= 3 Rotate X= 0
  	L_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 1
  		Translate Z= 2.8 Rotate X= 40
  At frame 30:
  	R_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0
  		Translate Z= 3 Rotate X= 0
  	L_Foot_Ctrl	Translate Y= 0
  		Translate Z= 5 Rotate X= 0

  
  
  And here's a look at the steps:
  
  
  Step 8 now we need to get some side to side movement happening for the main ball. This will allow the character to lean into each step, hopefully helping to make the animation start to feel less rigid and robotic. Again, all values listed here need to be keyed at this step
  
  

  At frame 0:
  	Main_Ball_Ctrl	Rotate X= 0
  		Rotate Y= -10 Rotate Z= 5
  At frame 15:
  	Main_Ball_Ctrl	Rotate X= 0
  		Rotate Y= 10 Rotate Z= -5
  At frame 30:
  	Main_Ball_Ctrl	Rotate X= 0
  		Rotate Y= -10 Rotate Z= 5

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Animation Stage 2:
  Now that the body and leg basics are in place, we can finally get down to the task of starting to finesse our animation. This round of animation starts with the feet. Here we will concentrate on getting the foot to roll off the toes when the heel lifts up into a step, and to come down hard on the foot, heel first, when ending a step. We also need to make sure that the feet stay planted to the ground....
  
  Step 9 Lets make sure the feet stay planted when the toes lift off the ground
  -Select the Right foot Control
  -Right click on frame 0
  -Choose copy
  -go to frame 2
  -Choose Paste: Paste (this will plant the foot for 2 frames while we lift)
  -repeat the process for the Left foot Control, except on frames 15 and 17:
  
  
  Step 10 Here we will key the Heel Lift and Heel Pivot channels for the Right and Left Foot.
  
  CRITICALLY IMPORTANT: The Left foot is the same as the right foot in terms of values here. The time in which
  these actions take place is just 15 frames later, so that whatever values we enter for R_Foot at frame 0 get
  entered for L_Foot at frame 15, and so on......
  
  

  At frame 0:	L and R Foot Controls
  0=15 for left foot	Foot_Ctrl	Heel Lift= 0
  		Heel Pivot= 0
  At frame 2:
  2=17 for left foot	Foot_Ctrl	Heel Lift= 35
  		Heel Pivot= 0
  At frame 7:
  7=22 for left foot	Foot_Ctrl	Heel Lift= 0
  		Heel Pivot= 0
  At frame 12:
  12=27 for left foot	Foot_Ctrl	Heel Lift= 0
  		Heel Pivot= -40
  At frame 15:
  15=30 for left foot	Foot_Ctrl	Heel Lift= 0
  		Heel Pivot= 0

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Step 11 time for some secondary action! We wil squash and stretch the ball to create extra movement and bring a sense of character to the walk cycle. Notice how this is set at an even cycle, and is still on beat with the other key frames (0,7,15,etc...). We will offset these keys later in the graph editor if need be.
  

  At frame 0:
  	Vertical_Squash_Stretch	Translate Y= -.05
  At frame 7:
  	Vertical_Squash_Stretch	Translate Y= .15
  At frame 15:
  	Vertical_Squash_Stretch	Translate Y= -.05
  At frame 22:
  	Vertical_Squash_Stretch	Translate Y= .15
  At frame 30:
  	Vertical_Squash_Stretch	Translate Y= -.05

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Animation Stage 3:
  Final stages here, its time to continue the walk past frame 30. To do this we will have to enable Cycling. Then, we will finish up by cleaning up the tangency handles for our keys in the graph editor.
  
  
  
  Step 12 lets select all of the handles that we have keyed so far, then open the Graph Editor (Window-Animation Editors-Graph Editor)
  
  
  Next, go to View and check Infinity so that we can see the curve when it goes beyond the range we set keys for.
  
  
  
  There are two different options for creating a cycle....
  There is Cycle, which continues to place keys in an absolute sense. If it was 1 unit up in the first cycle, it will be 1 unit up in the second.
  Then there is Cycle With Offset. This method is a relative one, so that if it was 1 unit up in the first cycle, it will be 2 units up in the second.
  You can see the difference in the curves below.
  We will use Cycle for any up-down, or side to side movement, but all movements that we made going forward (Translate Z) will need to be offset to keep the character moving forward.
  
  
  Here's what to input. Now the animation is cycling, but since the curves aren't tangent at the end, there will be "glitches" in the movement ever 30 frames.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  STEP 13 ok...getting close now. Its time to fix our curves so that they cycle properly and don't glitch the end by making out curves exit on a tangent note.
  The easy way to do this is to select all of your curves, and then all of their curve points, and flatten the tangents:
  
  
  We will do this for EVERY curve in the animation
  EXCEPT the Translate Z of the Main_Ball_Ctrl.
  We want that one to continue smoothly forward:
  
  
  And as we close in, here's a look at the animation:
  
  
  
  
  Step 14 the final step!!! Our last issue here is that we need to offset some of the secondary action so it overlaps, shifting the keys so that the animation doesn't look as robotic. By taking the keys off 1 beat, everything will look more fluid.
  
  To do this, lets just grab some of the curves for
  Main_Ball_Ctrl: Rotate Y and Z
  Vertical_Squash_Stretch: Translate Y
  
  
  We can use the move tool (w) to move the curves over slightly to the right in the graph editor.
  Then to make sure the start of the animation works correctly, we will go to Curves-Pre Infinity, and say Cycle as well.
  
  
  
  This should be it, barring minor design tweaks for mood, emotion, or general speed that you as the animator might want to consider. But here we have a fairly simple, basic walk cycle: