For this task we have been made to make a 3D walk cycle in Maya using a pre-made model and rig. to do this we had to add the model in and animate it using the principles of animation and the steps of a walk cycle like Contact, Passing, and Up Down.

To start with this task I researched the steps of animation to find out what the basic actions that the walk required to be blocked out. from the research, I saw there seemed to be a few main steps mainly Contact, Passing, and Up & Down. To help me to keep these in mind I found some images containing these steps one by Richard Williams and one from the AngryAnimator.com.

After This I worked on blocking out the basic steps in Maya and to do this I started by following a video by Game Cottage: Let’s Animate! - Blocking out a basic walk cycle using Maya. To make sure to get the basic steps into the right time point I made a tiny sheet to keep on plan.

The first thing I got ironed out were the contact poses as they are arguably the main poses of the walk and what makes the walk work. here is a playblast from that step:

The last basic pose that needed blocking out is the up and down as it is the pose that make the walk more fun and bouncy here is the playbast from that step:

For the step after blocking I moved on to adding polishing/personality to start this step, I found a video of a person walking to base my animation as the final step and I followed up the video by Game Cottage:Let’s Animate! - Polishing a basic walk cycle using Maya

I also researched what made a walk animation feel and look polished.

In a video on common mistakes that beginners make while animating a walk cycle, the points  they listed that applied were:

Arm and leg movement: for this, they said that the arm and legs on the same side of the body should not move in the same direction and at the same time instead, they should move in the opposite direction.

Simultaneous movement: here they stated that when the body moves all the body parts do not at the same time instead gravity takes effect and limbs fall behind when the torso/ hips move the limbs follow after a small delay.

Indistinguishable up and down: in this point, they stated that if the character being animated isn't moving up and down enough then it would make the character look unrealistic and inanimate.

Here is the video that the points came from:7 Common Mistakes in Walk Cycle Animation - Tips to Detect and Fix them

The first thing i did to add polish to the animation is add hip and shoulder twists to add smoothness and balance to the animation as a person shifts weight as they walk:

The next thing I did to add polish to the animation is add shoulder movement to add smoothness and I added some drag to the arms to add the feeling of gravity:

For the last step, I started making my animation look like the reference video of the man walking the reason I did this last is so I have done all of the basics and can simply shift them to fit the reference instead of starting with the reference and missing the fundamentals:

To start i got images of each pose that i had already blocked out but from the video for i could use them to get closer to a real walk:

Next, I start following closely along to the images starting by getting the poses and comparing mine to the walk reference then adjusting them to fit.

I reduced the foot roll to align more with the walk video.

Next i widened his stance which streched out his leg to fit more like in the original video.

Next i moved the arm to add more action to the character her is a before and after:

Next i added the features from the front view and i remover the head tilt and added some to the shoulders:

Other than a few small differences from the video both the passing poses and up and down were similar and the rest of the work is left to do in the graph editor. Here is the final animation after using the reference video and before I begin polishing it using the graph editor:

Here is the final animation after the polishing of the graphs: