Why Animation Demo Reels Need a Walk Cycle

Character walk by Ben Swallow

Every animation demo reel should include at least one good walk cycle.  It might seem too basic, but a well executed walk tells a recruiter a lot about your animation skills — timing, weight, character, and appeal — all in a few seconds of motion. 

You can have a number of walk cycles on your reel, as long as they show character and personality, and as long as you keep them short and snappy.  

Why Animators Need Walks on Their Demo Reel

"Monty" in the gym by Sam Baker

One common mistake junior animators make when cutting a demo reel is to leave off basic exercises like walks, character walks and runs. 

Walks and runs can be (and should be) on an animation demo reel - for just long enough to show that these exercises are firmly inside the animator's skill set.  Every animator needs to be able to animate a walk and a run. 

Animate a Military Walk with Monty

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

In this latest tutorial, we show how to take a basic walk cycle using the "Monty" rig (free for download from highend3d.com) and make Monty march like a goose-stepping soldier on a parade ground.  

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

Animate a Cowboy Walk with Monty

Cowboy walk with Monty

One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk. In our latest tutorial, we show how to take a basic walk using the "Monty" rig (free for download from Creative Crash) and make Monty walk in a masculine way - with just a few clicks.

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

Animate a Slow Sad Walk with Monty

Animate a sad walk with Monty

Every animator needs to learn how to animate a character walk; fortunately we have 100s of animation tutorials for our students at our Vimeo Channel

In the tutorial below, we show how to take a basic walk cycle using the marvellous "Monty" rig - and then make Monty sad and depressed - with just a few clicks.  The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

Animate an "On the Spot" Walk with "Monty"

Monty Strolling in Cartoonland

Our newest Locomotion Tutorial Video explains how to animate a basic walk cycle "on the spot" (on a treadmill) with "Monty", the green pea, at our Vimeo Channel, available to all our students and Escapees.

The new tutorial videos add to our growing series of animation tutorials, hosted at Vimeo, with a tutorial on how to animate a basic walk, cycling the walk "on the spot". 

The tutorial uses the free Monty rig, one of the rigs that we recommend for student use in the early stages of learning animation.  

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.

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.

How to Fix Knee Pops in a Walk Cycle

In the video above, we show how to fix knee pops in a walk cycle. IK chains can "pop" if the leg on a character gets over extended, so the trick is not to completely extend the leg. Straighten the leg on the contact position, then slightly dial it back and relax it. That way, the leg won't "pop" on the bend. To find out more, watch the short video above.

Character Walks with the Bio Motion Walker

Bio Motion Walker

This week our first year undergraduate students are studying how to animate a walk cycle, creating a successful biped walk and then giving it character and personality.

One very useful resource is the Bio Motion Walker from the Bio Motion Lab, located at York University in Toronto, Ontario.

The Bio Motion Walker allows animators to move a range of sliders showing how to make a walk cycle feel masculine or feminine, heavy or light, anxious or calm, happy or sad.  

Animators study live action, and then incorporate - and exaggerate - real life in their work . The Bio Motion Walker is a useful tool for analysing how people walk and move in different ways.  

You can find the Bio Motion Walker here.

"Stewart" Walk Tutorial with Marc Stevenson

We've uploaded a new Walk Cycle Tutorial, part of our series of online animation tutorials, to support our students' online learning.

The tutorial, recorded by Escape Studios tutor Marc Stevenson, uses the Stewart rig, which is free for download.

"Monty" Walk Tutorial with Marc Stevenson

We've added a new series of tutorials to our Vimeo Channel Tutorial playlist; this latest is a basic walk cycle by Escape Studios' tutor Marc Stevenson.

Using the basic "Monty" rig, Marc shows how to animate a successful basic walk cycle.

Animating Character Walks - The Zig Zag Walk

Above is a series of shots I animated during my two years working as an animator on "The Thief and The Cobbler", the not-quite-finished feature film that is sometimes described as "the greatest animated film never made". The ZigZag walk was my one of first assignments as a junior animator, and it remains one of the sequences I am most proud of.  It was very complex to figure out; and contained many different elements all moving together in sequence - but on different timings.

Learn to Animate a Walk at Our Vimeo Channel

Learn to animate a basic walk cycle with "Monty", the green pea, at our Vimeo Channel, available to all our students and Escapees.

The videos have added to our growing series of animation tutorials, hosted at Vimeo, with a tutorial on how to animate a basic walk.

The tutorial uses the free Monty rig, one of the rigs that we recommend for student use in the early stages of learning animation.  Monty was created back in 2007 by Raveen Rajadorai, and is free for download at Highend3D.com.

Quadruped Transitions by Maria Robertson

Free tiger rig from Truong

We're adding more animation tutorials to our Vimeo channel, including now a full series on how to use the Time Editor in Maya to animate locomotion transitions.

The tutorials were created by Escapee Maria Robertson, and build on Maria's existing tutorials on quadruped locomotion, such as walks, trots and runs.

Maria's transitions tutorial explains how different gaits can be combined using Maya's Time Editor.

Students who want to learn how to animate transitions should first learn to create a successful quadruped walk, trot and run cycle, before attempting to combine them into one piece of animation.

Character Walks Tutorial with Monty

Character Walk with Monty

We've added to our growing series of animation tutorials, hosted at Vimeo, with a tutorial/webinar on character walks.

The tutorial uses the free Monty rig, one of the rigs that we recommend for student use in the early stages of learning animation is the Monty Rig.

Monty was created back in 2007 by Raveen Rajadorai, and is free for download at Highend3D.com.

Walk Cycle Tutorial by Amanda Costa

Walk cycles are part of the foundation of the study of animation. Animating a walk cycle introduces student animators to the basic principles of human locomotion.

Adding to our growing body of tutorial videos at Vimeo, we now have an introduction to walks by our very own Studio Assistant Amanda Costa.

The tutorial uses the Ultimate Walker rig, free for download, and can be found at our Vimeo Channel here.

Dinosaur Walk Animation Tutorial at Vimeo

"Indominus Rex" by Truong

Escape Studios have released a new series of animation tutorial videos at our Vimeo channel; this time on dinosaur locomotion.

The video can be found at our Vimeo channel, along with the rest of the digital content we're creating to supplement our classroom studies.  Missed a class due to illness? We've got a video tutorial that covers the same - or similar - ground.

Using the excellent  free Dino rig by Harry Geoghegan, available for free download at Creative Crash, the tutorial explains how to create a believable dinosaur walk cycle and performance.

Animation Masterclass at VIEW Turin 24 Oct

Escape Studios are running an animation masterclass at VIEW, the 20th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference that takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin).

VIEW is a week long event showcasing the best of animation, games and visual effects.

Speakers this year include Paramount Head Mireille Soria, and music legend Hans Zimmer. 

We'll be there running a one-day workshop in Maya on Wednesday 24th October, demonstrating some sophisticated but very simple animation techniques.

The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.

Free Character Walks Webinar on 5th June

"Monty" character walks

I'll be hosting a webinar on character walks at Escape Studios at 6pm on Tuesday June 5th. Like all our webinars, this one is completely free, and there will be plenty of time to take questions during the demonstration.

Character walks are one of the most important parts of the animator's toolkit, and I will be showing how you can take a basic walk cycle and, with just a few tweaks, completely change the character's mood and personality.