Sine waves are the friend of the animator, especially when you are working on a walk cycle. Not because we are good at maths (it was my worst subject at school) but because in 3D animation, a sine wave typically shows that your animation is smooth and flowing, without bumps or mistakes. Watch the very short video above to see how to look for a sine wave in your walk cycle.
Sine Waves are especially important when you are animation a walk cycle. This is because in a cycle, the motion should be broadly symmetrical - else it will likely feel as if the character is limping. Each step should be like the other step, and this means that the curves should be smooth and flowing.
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Walk Cycles
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| Sine wave in Maya's Graph Editor |
What is a Sine Wave?
A sine wave is a curve describing a smooth periodic oscillation, a continuous wave. In Maya, in the Graph Editor, animators can show how a curve will flow over time by turning on Infinity Curves, and then making sure that the curve is smooth and flowing, as in the example above.
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| A sine wave oscillation |
Walk Cycles Love Sine Waves
If you are animating a walk cycle, and you can see bumps and clicks in the animation, then most likely you need to check your animation curves in the Graph Editor, and ensure that most (but not all) of your curves look more or less like the example above.
Sine waaves are the animator's friend.
Animation Basics in Maya
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
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
To see more tutorials about how to learn to animate with Monty The Green Pea, read the blog posts below:
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| Monty The Green Pea |
- 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
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.
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