Animate a Run Cycle with "Heavy"

Human run by Edward Muybridge

In this tutorial we show how to animate a simple, basic run cycle with a human biped.  

The tutorial uses the "Heavy" Rig which you can download for free at HighEnd3D.com. 

Animators must master the art and craft of basic locomotion, including walks, runs and jumps.  These are the "scales" of animation, and should be on every animator's demo reel, demonstrating that the student has mastered these basic steps.

Runs

A run is an efficient gait, somewhat similar to a walk, but with the difference that it is faster, and at some point in the cycle both feet are off the ground.  

9 Frame Run Thumbnails

Slowish 9 frame run cycle

The thumbnails above show a simplified slowish "9 Frame Run" on an 18 frame cycle (1 step every 9 frames), easy to break down into sections.  

Start with the Right Foot Contact

Start by following the thumbnails to place the Right Foot Contact position at frame 1, then set a keyframe at Frame 19. Then do the mirror image Left Foot Contact at frame 10, and then fill in the down position at frames 4 and 13, and the high points at frame 7 and 16. Once this is done, tidy your curves in the Graph Editor. 

Heavy Rig

Meet "Heavy"

The tutorial videos use the low poly "Heavy" Rig, based on the Team Fortress character, and free for download at HighEnd3D.com.  Heavy is very good for learning the early stages of animation; he is low poly and will give real-time playback in your Viewport, even on older laptops.  

Heavy's control curves are simple and easy to use; it is a stable rig which is unlikely to cause Maya to crash.  To read more about how to use the Heavy rig, follow this link.

Heavy Run Cycle

Animate with a treadmill for best results

You can find the Heavy Run cycle Tutorial below

Heavy Run Cycle Tutorial

https://vimeo.com/showcase/10553065

The password is the same as for all our tutorials.

To see some examples of runs animated by students at Escape Studios, watch the videos below:

Run Animation by Rich Jeffrey

Run Cycle by Nick Dimitriades

Locomotion Resources at Escape Studios

To see more about how to animate walks at Escape Studios, read the blog posts below:

• "Stewart" Walk Tutorial with Marc Stevenson
• Animating the ZigZag Walk with Alex Williams
• Learn to animate a basic walk with "Monty" by Alex Williams

• 

  • Animating the "ZigZag Walk" with Alex Williams

  Basic Walk Cycle Tutorial using "Ultimate Walker" with Amanda Costa
• Character Walk Tutorial with "Monty", with Alex Williams
• 100 Ways to Walk with Kevin Parry
• How to stop feet sliding in a walk cycle, with Alex Williams
• Character walks with Houman Soroushnia
• Basic Run Cycle Tutorial with Marc Stevenson
• "Monty" walk tutorial with Marc Stevenson

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our BA/MArt follow this link. To apply for one of our intensive 3 month animation short courses, click here.