Legs animation

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My model is finally rigged, skinned and ready for animation. I would like to animate a basic walk cycle; however, since there are a lot of hanging objects, this process will be time-consuming. By creating this animation, I want to add a lot of character and personality to the house. I think that the key is to show the heaviness and instability of the building, by making the whole building swing from one side to another and placing foot heavily on the ground.
There are many ways to create animation. I could use the Unreal animation system; however, I am familiar with 3Ds Max, this is why I choose this software. I started by making a basic leg movement. I searched plenty of websites and found multiple videos of a chicken walking, I also spent some time observing how birds walk in real life. I found one video with an animated chicken model in side view, so I was able to pick up the key poses. At first, I established key poses where the hips are at the highest and lowest point. Ther is one very distinctive feature about a birds walk cycle, they tend to bend toes when the foot is above the ground. I really wanted to make it right, so I spend a lot of time bending each toe separately.               
Key poses

The key was also to get heaviness right, so the transition of the foot from highest to lowest point should be quite fast. Also, the whole build should bend forward and sideways.
I made a key poses only for half of the cycle, so this way I was able to save each one and then use it to get the next half of the period by applying them with a mirror option selected.  With the basic movement ready, I could offset specific frames to make it less repetitive. Next, I smoothed everything by working with curves inside 3Ds Max.

motion curves showing the movement of the pelvis bone



Leg movement


I spend a lot of time tweaking the animation, but I feel that it was worth it. I really like the weight transition and the way it quickly goes down when placing the foot on the ground. I think that I captured the heaviness and instability right. 

Trello Board


Chicken walk cycle video
PixelBoom, n.d. White Chicken Walkcycle Side Green Screen 3D Rendering Animation. [video] Available at: <https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-30343312-white-chicken-walkcycle-side-green-screen-3d> [Accessed 1 March 2020].




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