Walk cycle

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In animation, a walk cycle is a sequence of frames representing a (usually human) walk movement. Walk cycles are important, because when a walking person appears in an animation, the walk cycle simply can be looped over and over, without having to animate each step again.

Walk cycle of a galloping horse animated by rotoscoping from Edweard Muybridge's 19th century photos.

[edit] Creating a walk cycle

There exist many techniques to create walk cycles, for example in pixel art and 3D computer graphics. Different poses can be modelled in a 3D modeller, and frames in between interpolated. Or they can be hand drawn, using techniques like rotoscoping.

For a human walk cycle, poses like passing point, high point, contact point and recoil point can be identified as important frames defining the walk (For example in ^[1]).

Besides the apparent move of the legs, many more details are necessary for a convincing walk cycle, like arms, head and torsion of the whole body.

There are different types of walk cycles, for example for a slow striding walk, for walking up a staircase, or for running. Walk cycles also differ for the type of person to be animated, like adults/children or male/female.