Double Bounce Walk Tutorial with Monty

Double Bounce Walk with Monty

Every animator needs to know how to animate a character walk.  In this tutorial, we show how to take a basic walk cycle using the marvellous "Monty" rig (free for download from Creative Crash) and give Monty a sunny, upbeat personality with just a few clicks.  

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners.

Double Bounce Walk with "Monty"

Every animator needs to know how to animate a character walk.  In this tutorial, we show how to take a basic walk cycle using the marvellous "Monty" rig (free for download from Creative Crash) and give Monty a sunny, upbeat personality with just a few clicks.  The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners.

Double Bounce Walk

Start with a Basic Walk Cycle

The Double Bounce Walk tutorial takes a basic walk cycle (see this blog post on how to achieve this) and shows how to make very small changes that give Monty's walk character and personality.  Rather than creating a character walk from scratch, a more efficient approach is to complete a basic walk cycle and then adapt it.  A few small changes will make a big difference.

Monty
The videos use the marvellous "Monty" rig, free for download.  Our students at Escape can also find Monty (along with hundreds of other useful assets) in UG Shares.

Start by Animating a Basic Walk with "Monty"
Start your journey by learning how to animate a basic walk cycle. You can find the links below. The password is the same as for all our videos.

Double Bounce Walk

Double Bounce variation on basic walk cycle

Once you have animated the basic walk, the next step is to add the "Double Bounce". This is a pretty simple adaptation of the existing walk cycle, but it gives Monty plenty of personality. To see how to do it, follow the thumbnails to the right.

Change High Points to Low Points
Instead of frame 13 and 25 being the high point in the walk cycle, they are now an extra low point - give Monty a "double bounce".

Walks & Character Walks

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 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.