Walk and Run Cycles
The looping base of character locomotion
Also known as: Walk cycle · Run cycle · Locomotion animation · Contact down passing up · Character walk animation · Game walk cycle
Definition
A walk cycle is a looping animation of a character walking, built from a few key poses: contact, where the front heel touches the ground, down, where the weight sinks, passing, where the legs cross, and up, where the body rises, repeated for each leg. A run cycle follows the same idea with a moment where both feet are off the ground. Cycles must loop seamlessly, and in games they form the base of locomotion that blends with idle, turn and stop animations.
In production
Study reference, set the stride length and speed to match the character's movement in the game, and add personality through posture, arm swing and head motion. Make the cycle loop with matching first and last poses and a consistent root speed. Game locomotion usually needs several cycles, such as walk, jog and run, blended in a blend space, with extra animations for starts, stops and turns.
Tools that use Walk and Run Cycles
See also
Foot Sliding in Game Animation
Feet glide over the ground while walking
Blend Space and Blend Tree
Mixing animations by a parameter such as speed
Looping Animation Has a Hitch
A stutter at the point where a cycle repeats
Root Motion
Movement driven by the animation, not the controller
The 12 Principles of Animation
Foundations of believable motion
Animation State Machine
Graph of animation states and transitions