Animate a Basic Walk with "Heavy"

Animate a Basic Walk with the "Heavy" Rig

Every animator needs to know how to animate a character walk. 

In this short tutorial, we show how to animate a simple walk cycle using the "Heavy" rig. (free for download at Creative Crash).  The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

The tutorial uses simple thumbnails that show all the main poses in the walk.

Heavy Rig

The videos use the excellent "Heavy" Rig, based on the Team Fortress character, and free for download at Creative Crash.  Heavy is very good for learning the early stages of animation; he is low poly and gives real-time playback in your Viewport. 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.

Start by Animating a Basic Walk with "Heavy"

How to use the "Heavy" Rig

Start your journey by learning how to animate a basic walk cycle, carefully following the thumbnails above. The timing of the walk is a 32 frame cycle with one step every 16 frames, a leisurely walk.  

Start with The Right Foot Contact

Start with the right leg "contact" position at frame 1, then set an identical keyframe at frame 33. Now do the mirror image pose at frame 17 (Left Leg Contact). Then do the passing position at frame 9 and 25, and then the other breakdown positions at 5, 13, 29 and 29.  You should now have a functioning walk cycle, ready to add flexibility and follow-through.

"Heavy" Walk Tutorial

You can find the "Heavy Walk" Tutorial here at Vimeo. 

https://vimeo.com/showcase/6316953

The password is the same as for all our tutorial videos.

Heavy Walk Example

Below is an inventive walk cycle by one of our animation tutors, Lee Caller.

Walks and Character Walks

Character Run with Homer

One of the first challenges for junior animators learning their craft is to learn the art of locomotion, specifically how to animate a walk cycle, and later a character or personality walk. What makes a walk happy, or sad? Angry, or fearful? Masculine, or feminine? 

Animators must learn to observe how humans act and move, and be able to replicate that character and personality in their motion. 

Animation Basics in Maya

Maya Basics Tutorials at YouTube

To see more about how to master the basics of animation in Maya, read the blog posts below:

• How to Use the Graph Editor in Maya
• How to Use Maya's Motion Trail Tool
• How to Use the Layer Editor in Maya
• How to Copy and Paste Curves in Autodesk Maya
• Maya Basics Tutorials at YouTube
• Basic Lighting in Arnold in Maya - Physical Sky
• Create a Starry Sky in Arnold and Maya with Arnold Skydome
• Animate a Ball Bounce in Maya 
• Animate a Lamp Hop in Maya

Animation with Monty

Monty The Green Pea

To see more tutorials about how to learn to animate with Monty The Green Pea, read the blog posts below:

• Animate a "Double Bounce" Walk With Monty
• Animate a Head Turn with Monty
• Animate a Run Cycle with Monty
• Animate a Jump with Monty
• Animate Monty saying "Smokin'"
• Animate Monty Singing "Oh Yeah"
• Animate a Weight Shift with Monty
• Learn to animate a basic walk with "Monty" by Alex Williams
• Character Walk Tutorial with "Monty", with Alex Williams
• How to stop feet sliding in a walk cycle, with Alex Williams
• "Monty" walk tutorial with Marc Stevenson
• Meet Monty - The Green Pea

Vimeo Tutorial Channel

The Escape Studios Vimeo Tutorial Channel is our main hub for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easy for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies.

Animation & VFX Tutorials

Our tutorials cover Animation, 3D VFX, Compositing, Rigging, Motion Graphics, Storyboarding & Character Design, Unreal Engine and Cinematography.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects.  To apply for one of our courses, follow this link.