Maya Run Cycle Tutorial : Character Animation Tutorial | Step by step animation process | Part 1

hello and welcome back for another exciting tutorial so today we will be looking into run cycle and we're going to use this character named bonnie and he or she is our superstar today so where to get it so firstly you go to google and you search bonnie ultimate rake and you should see there are quite a few links right here you can click on the first one that it will direct you to a new website it's under behance and you scroll down like this is our character bunny so just go ahead and download it all right and for the second thing you need to prepare it's the reference so you can go to google and search for references like for run cycle and then maybe you can also go to pinterest to get whatever info that is necessary all right so and we'll be using this picture to to start out with okay and it's also important to to go to youtube's and and get some reference like for example this one okay so we can see that movement like clearly like how does the step moves and in case we need a real people reference okay to kind of uh get a better idea on how the the shoulders are moving and how the hips are moving so this is the one and then we need to download this and how to download a youtube video without using plugins you can just go to here okay click on the address and just write after the triple w dot you type ss okay and it should direct you to another website that's named save from.net just click download and that's it okay so i have this uh video with me all right and i'm using a quicktime player to to play it so if you doesn't know like where to download the quaytime player you can go to here google and search quicktime player for windows 10 and click inside the website you can just get the latest version okay so what's good about this quicktime player it's you can use your arrow key and do it like frame by frames okay you can even click this and switch to frame number and you can see that it shows you okay which frame all right so you can go like back and forth and check every every you know like movement in details okay so here i have quite a few references which uh i gather it so there are okay wait hold on now let me close this first right so there are a few different types of run cycle so you can see that it's running on seven for each step and 13 for the whole cycle and this is running on night and for each step and then to complete the whole cycle it will be 17 okay and this is running on seven of course this is even slower this is the slo-mo and this is running on nine so total will be about like 17 18 but we always do it at 17 or i'll explain later okay and in my experience running on seven it's a little bit quick it is kind of a enemy a timing all right so that where the character runs really fast and then what we're doing is uh the nine okay and then but we will based on the gas charge that we have here because uh comparing this and this the the action doesn't seem to have much okay the hands are moving a little bit it doesn't move in a big swing but this one swings larger and better so it's clear whenever you want to refer to the post okay so let's go ahead and do it right now okay so um for your case like this is uh fk okay for kinematics and we will be using fk to do it and firstly i do not want the hands to be looking so stiff so i have to select the fingers by clicking shift and select all three controllers together and we will bend it alright we'll ban it and make sure it looks slightly more natural let's close the thumb okay and let's do it for the other side select one two three by holding down shift key and get it rotated like this one two three and go all right and this one should be closing in one two rotate okay we're good to go so next if you look into the pose uh one of the like it's going straight and then it's touching the ground and in the other one it's going backwards and it forms a z you know like z for zebra so let's do it right legs should be straight so we have to move the right legs in front okay all right we have to move this lick back and do it like this rotate okay we can turn this to channel box so that we can get a more accurate angle like how many degrees we want it nope not auto safe all right and you can see that the the legs are kind of floating okay so whenever the legs get floating you should drop them down a little bit more okay and push it in front like so and then if you look at the picture again so this is that the heel is touching and then that the toe is facing up so this is what we should be doing okay and many people get this wrong where they always like to use this to rotate okay if you're using this to rotate the ankle to rotate this is wrong okay whenever the foot is on the ground you have to use a heel rotate okay a heel rotate which in this rig it's called a u-ball okay make sure you use the heel ball because whenever you walk or you run okay whenever the foot is on the ground you're using this heel to rotate and walk and you're not using this ankle to kind of scratch your heel towards the ground okay make sure you get it right okay and then it has to be kind of straight okay but and my experience i prefer not to make it completely straight and the reason behind of it is because it will most probably creates a jagging animation or kind of a tripping issues whenever it gets like it runs fast okay so this is kind of our first uh pose that we got here and don't forget to set this right so uh we mentioned that we have to follow this timing which is um knight frames for each step so both if you nine plus knight it will be 18 but usually we do it 17 okay we do it on the odd numbers all right so it should be 17 17 tap 17 sorry another thread okay all right and the body should be leaning forward like this so you should be going straight you know it looks kind of weird it looks a bit like you know narrow toes uh run where the body gets straight but the the leg gets crazy super fast you know like wind spinning like blowing that he's running like really godspeed okay but yeah this is this is kind of getting better all right so yeah we lend it forward and so that it kind of follows the the the flow the curve okay so i think that's good for now and let's tidy up the the angle so maybe let's do it for 130 and down it's like 3.3 negative 3 see how it goes okay negative 3 it's it's probably too much all right let's put it negative two point five then and then how about this negative three point five it's fine it's it's fair like negative three it's probably too much negative 2.8 okay that's good okay so we have to key the important stuff first and then we'll leave the arms like later or as long as the the steps are correct you shouldn't have any problems it's that and it depends on how you want to do with the arms it's it's still it is still fine okay so let's go ahead and set this and this and this okay there's three things it's very important okay set press s to set key okay for the first one and to get the the kind of a cycle looks right so this is the important things okay so we always set the first the last the middle okay so imagine there's a 17 picture 17 picture right here so we set the first which is one frame one we set the one that is number 17 and then we set the one that is at number nine okay all right so the first and the last is always the same because it has to be a cycle if it's not the same it won't be a cycle all right it won't be looping correctly seamlessly okay so we set first and last number nine it's the middle so for the ones that is at the middle we'll have to do the opposite one so okay all right let's move it up let's rotate okay so here's the thing right now whenever the leg gets off the ground you shouldn't be using heel ball okay and reason why because if you're using heel ball it feels like you're stepping on an invisible wall okay or invisible things which is not correct so it has to be feeling like you're rotating your legs your foot using the ankle and for me are normally because there are two types of people that where they like to keep all the values exactly the same for both both sides but for me sometimes i like to make it you know a little bit more random and make it looking more towards using the art sense okay the gestures because we are artists you know like as a as an animator you are an artist you are looking at art so using your eyes to judge it's probably better and more natural compared to by copying paste copying paste for everything okay so you could try to practice this okay kind of the the way all right and then the body doesn't change so let me try and see how is this work coming along let's go to labview okay by the way if you don't know how to go to left view so that is your holding space bar left click on maya and slide to upper left okay that would be lavi and we shouldn't have any translate y at all because we're not flying okay simple as that okay kind of kind of there so check it out like so a little bit different it's fine okay all right so make sure select all three press s okay to set a key so right now if you play it goes like okay so is is doing some weird stuff but that is fine all right so next uh we're gonna work on the middle okay so the first the last the middle and the middle and then the middle will be a past pose so how does the passpose looks like in both of the pictures so the past pose okay whenever you reach the past pose it means uh the other leg gets kind of passing over crossing over so one of the leg it's kind of being bent but it's pushing pushing the bodies up and then compared to the first pose and the the last pose okay we call it the contact or the extreme so this is slightly higher slightly higher okay so let's move to the middle about five because five fits the past post all right but as we say we have to follow how it looks like over here so knowing that this leg has to be straight and it has to touch the ground y must be zero okay and because it is still touching the ground there is no rotate from the ankle and then we should be using this heel ball to push the bodies up right but of course if it reaches up to here the body still looks like kind of low and we have to move it slightly backwards okay you could imagine like there's a straight line here so this is kind of fused one or two steps back so should be behind and by seeing what we have here and there is a need for us to raise it up slightly higher slightly okay but actually there's quite a lot okay and then it's forming a kind of a h you know like a h ladder and remember what i told you guys about you shouldn't have heel ball whenever the leg gets off the ground and we should be using just purely the ankle to rotate this okay kind of cool all right there's two press s to set a key boom okay boom right so you're starting to get the feeling if he's running because he raises and he pushes the body up okay down all right pop pop pop okay which is good all right now we're right we would like to replicate this and put it on the 13 okay so for this one we have to kind of like copy let's copy this okay how to copy keyframes shift middle click to highlight the keyframes right click copy and then let's go to 13 right click paste on it okay and whenever it's it's the opposite this left leg should remains on the ground which is zero right and then it shouldn't have any heel rotation and we should raise this up a little bit and push it backwards so let's check again so it's it's kind of the same all right but just that this one will have to okay 4.35 all right is it this one it's about 4.3 okay that's okay not too bad and this leg should be going in front and there's no heel bone because it's off the ground should be using anculturity okay back okay so select all of that press s to set a key again make sure they are all set well and let's play all right we start to get there okay as you can see let's go to perspective view okay still very steep okay but don't worry we're getting there okay all right so once that first last medal and then the passport the passports for both sides are correct the rest will be easier okay so next we look into the to the blues okay after the past post after the raid we goes to the blues which is the downs and then the up all right the for the rest we'll just let it flow along and then it should be good okay because you see you can see from here it doesn't seem to have much changes so it's better that we follow this okay but we know that which frame we have to do it and this one should be down okay number two it's down so number three it's the low okay number three is a low so low means okay it goes down so down means it is at its lowest position throughout the whole thing all right so number three it's the low it shouldn't be going up and during the the downs it has to go down boom all right so from here goes down so there are changes it goes down and the leg should be flattened okay so flatten means zero okay heel ball zero and that that lake doesn't squish so much okay but instead it goes down it's preparing for the speed to kind of push us in front so from here to here let's make it a little bit more natural all right rotate back press s to set a key go all right go okay that looks fine so let's work on the downs for the other one so number three it's a down and then let me set a key for that press s to set a key shift middle click right click copy and the next down should be happens at 11 okay paste goes down make sure this left leg doesn't have any heel ball values and that doesn't squeeze up so much relax a little bit and rotate backwards okay and clicking back and forth in between three and number 11 to check is there any big differences in between these two so i think they they both looks just fine okay so let's play again okay you could feel like that the jumping port seems to be a little bit strong but that's normal okay that's normal to a run right because whenever you run it plus a little bit of jumping uh elements in it all right so that is perfectly normal okay so let me save with a proper name ultimate bony b1 run cycle all right so next let's look at the upper the high part so whenever it's coming to the high part the leg it's kind of completely straight okay and then he's he is at his highest point throughout the whole cycle so number five right here it equals to number seven okay the actual frame should be number seven but for the post we follow this all right let's get back to here number seven seven okay so in this case i'm gonna move it here and i wanted it still to be on the ground okay so that is why we put our y down to zero and we shouldn't be having any rotate act x at all and this one should be getting a lot higher okay which is which is about like maybe okay you should have put it to maximum so when i put it to maximum it feels like oh no my i cracked my my toes and that the ball joint breaks okay we and whenever we're working on animation we try not to to give the audience like that the bad visuals right here that it's not looking smooth and whenever you look at it you feel like ouch that kind of a thing so we we kind of put it here all right but from the picture it seems that this this ball joint it's slightly in front like it leaves quite a large areas at the back and which this is not okay so there's one more way to to to make it feels better by tweaking this okay this is the control like even though you know this feels like whole thing like fly up just like that floating but it helps on the overall visual okay if you do not want to tweak this like too much okay you just want it to look beauty okay so that's what you can do okay and we will we will look into that later okay right now like we just stick with the the basic stuff for now okay so highest point all right back to here let's set it about the six okay six or maybe seven it's it's the most i should should go okay and then let's raise it up higher just like so okay and how about the other legs so the other leg is opening wide you know like straight out straight down straight out that kind of a a pose so that's what we should do right here okay we shouldn't have the heel ball as we've spoken before and go straight out just like so okay like an arrow playing kind of a feeling okay so click ask for one ask for two s for three let's copy this right right click copy and number 15 right click paste on it this one should be on the ground this one should be seven it shouldn't be half any rotations at all all right and this one should be straight out without heel balls rotate slightly upwards and let's push it back straight down okay so compare nine oh sorry not nine number seven number fifteen number seven number fifteen i think we're good all right so let's play okay so it's looking pretty solid for the basic footwork but just that this one feels a little bit stiff so and the reason why it's looking a little bit stiff like whenever you play you feel like okay how come i feel this this liquids keep you know like wobbling kind of like shaking right here and suddenly it kicks back it is because of this so watch this so you can see that from number five and number seven that the leg doesn't seems to to kind of move much but certainly at number nine food it goes like this so it shoot up that high so which in this position this lake should be here somewhere okay so you can see that every moment like it's been moving kind of large so from number three to number five it's moving quite a lot number seven not really okay so we gotta tweak this so number seven it should be getting far like this all right so this time we have to use the the the figures okay and then it it shouldn't be maximum pull so that is why we need to lower him down just a bit to fix this okay kind of like that so 0.05 or maybe just zero sorry not not this guy okay should be the y okay now let's do this again copy 13 paste it sorry not 13. i've been making the same mistakes sorry guys it should be this okay and then how far it's gonna go so it's it's three all right so for this guy it should be negative three then you will feel like okay how come this is the passing pose and we're supposed to go higher but our character is not it's going it's going lower so which means we have to get back to here okay get back to the past pose and we let him drop a little bit okay drop it down a little bit okay if you are unsure about what is going on let's go into graph editor okay with that circle selected click on translate y okay this point number seven should be the highest okay which means we have to drop this to the same level or slightly lower so to have a quick fix of that you can click r for scale okay which is this button hold down shift key and hold down the mouse key and drag for them to reach to the about the same position okay and then we can drop it lower by using w but instead like we can kind of move this slightly higher to make a balance and this is not going smoothly so we can select the point and select the handle click w and do a quick fix on it okay and this one shouldn't be like this kind of do a little bit of tweakings here but we're not we're not going in that crazy yet for now okay so let's play okay so right now it's looking better okay even though we still feel the shaking part okay but that's something that we can fix it later not now all right most importantly we get the timings correct okay timing is very important the spacing is very important all right so let's get the arm fixed right now so for the arms it should be easy okay so whenever the right leg goes out the left hand goes out whenever the left leg goes out the right hand goes out okay simple as that so back to here all right so this is going down okay you know what like to make it easier i'll just turn on discrete rotate hold down e key left click turn on the script rotate so that it will snap so you can see that whenever i rotate it snaps to 5 like 10 15 25 30 40 but if you're just not snapping five degrees each time you rotate but instead you snap 15 degrees you can go to here okay double click this rotate and you can go to here rotate settings step snap and change the five from 15 if yours is running on 15 okay all right let's go for that and go for that go for this rotate down rotate like so okay looks pretty nice with that looking alright select one two three and shift select one two three first frame set key last frame set key metal number nine we just have to rotate this front okay but you can see that the angle looks slightly different okay we can kind of tweak it to make it roughly the same i actually remain this is better and go backwards rotate outside a little bit all right and then reselect all this and set a key for that press s to set a key and whenever i rotate it automatically sets key but probably maybe some of you guys am i still not too sure what is auto key that is the button right you can click whenever you click on it you activate it and when you rotate it detects the movement it will set a key for you okay all right let's play okay looking great all right so that will consider the first step of how we create a walk cycle sorry a run cycle okay we got the timings done we got the spacings done we got the posters done okay all the key poses are done alright and then make sure after you have done all this you could get probably something similar to what i have

Channel: LEARN CGI with Yawyee

Views: 31,338

Keywords: animation, run cycle, animation tutorial, maya tutorial, smooth run, maya animation tutorial, step by step animation process, learn cgi with yaw yee, yawyee, best animation tutorial, 3d animation, maya run cycle, simple maya tutorial, animator's survival kit, maya run cycle tutorial, basic animation, cg animation, autodesk maya, 3d character, introduction to animation, how to, video tutorial, tutorial on animation, video tutorial animation, how to animate in maya

Id: JlGPlu8vPqs

Length: 33min 52sec (2032 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 29 2020