Pivot Tutorials

Todays Tutorial: Walk

Here's how to make a simple walk in pivot.

Below is the basic starting position for your walk, with the legs in this position. See how the back leg is slighly bent to make it look as realistic as possible?, also the front leg should not be bent more than 180 degree's. This makes the stickfigures pose look as natural as possible. This is what yuo stickfigure should look like on the first frame:




On the second frame, you need to bend the back leg slightly upwards and bring it in towards the other leg, also the front leg needs to be moved backwards slightly, also, you need to make sure the front foot is placed on the same spot as on the previous frame, pixel perfect. Along with this you need to remember to bring both arms inwards slightly towards the body. If you have done it correct, it should look like this:




On the third frame, you need to again, bend the backleg slightly up and move it towards the other leg slightly, again, the front leg needs to be brought backwards and the foot needs to stay in the same place as it was in the last frame. In this frame, the 2 legs cross over in the middle. The arms again need to be moved slightly closer to the stickfigures body but not too much. If you have done it right it should look like this:




The 4th frame is the middle frame in the walk, it is mabye the most important. This is where the arms cross the body and the legs have just passed each other. The front leg is brought backwards slightly and the backleg is now bent the most, after this point, it will strt to straighten out. Ypu must make sure that the front foot stays in the same place in every frame until it lifts of the group, then its the other leg that takes over. If you have done it correct then it will look like this:




Now the walk is past half way, the front leg is now becoming the back leg, again you must move the new backleg backwards slightly to continue it on but the foot still stays in the same place, also the now new backleg is bending slightly up. The new front leg is moved forward slightly and is bent down slightly so its heading to being straight and is also moved forward infron tof the other leg. The arms continue on moving closer to each other and in this frame, are not visible If you have done it correctly it should look like this:




On frame 6, the back leg needs to be bent up and moved backwards, although the foot needs to stay in the same place as it was in the last frame. The front leg should be bent down (getting closer to beign straight) and moved forward a bit, away from the other leg. The arms need to be moved out from the body, one each side slightly to make the walk look natural. It should look like this:



Frame 7, the legs are nearlly finished there cycle, back to where they were at start. The back leg is moved backwards slightly but is not bent up this time. The front leg continues to unbend, in this frame you need to bend it out more so its about 20 degree's from being straight then the front leg needs to be moved forward again but only a tiny bit. The arms continue to move aout but the movements outwards should be small and less than they moved the last frame. (e.g: Frame 6: ...| Frame 7 ..|) the dots mean pixels and the | is the frame. if you have done this correct, it will look like this:




Frame 8, now back to the start position ready to start the walk again. The front leg is now straight and the back leg has moved towards the front leg and has bent upwards slightly, so it looks like frame 1. The front leg has been moved backwards towards the back leg and the arm has nearlly stopped moving outwards, it should only be moved 1 pixel in this frame. If you have done this correctly it should look like this:




Now thats all the frames of a med- high beginner walk, it is only one step, if you wish to make him walk more, simply go from frame 8 to frame 2 and continue the walk following this tutorial from stage 2. Simple.

If you wish to add the body movements this is how.

Frame 1: Start Position (body straight)
Frame 2: Body is moved forward slightly using the middle joint on the body. (moved about 1 pixel)
Frame 3: Body is moved forward slightly more, again using the middle joint. (moved about 2 pixels)
Frame 4: Body is moved forward even more, again using the middle joint. (moved 3 pixels)
Frame 5: Body is moved forward slightly but not as much as in previous frame, again using the middle joint. (Moved only 1 pixel)
Frame 5: Body is moved backwards toward the start position slightly, again using the middle joint. (moved only 1 pixel)
Frame 6: Body is moved backwards towards the start position slightly more, again using the middle joint. (moved 3 pixels)
Frame 7: Body is moved backwards towards the start position slightly, but less than the previous frame. (moved 2 pixels)
Frame 8: Body is moved to be the same as frame one, the body should end up being straight. (ends up beign about 1 pixel movement)

here is what it should look like:

Looped: http://www.truploader.com/view/153687

Not Looped: http://www.truploader.com/view/459161


Hope it helped, more tutorials to be added soon!


Key points:

The first frames front legs foot should always be positioned in the same place in frames 1 to 7 in 8 the new front leg takes over.

The arms must be eased when they are moving away from the body and are about to change direction.

thanks btw im towing ur car away...

Nice, I want to go make a Walk Thing now.