Cat Run Cycle 1st Attempt

Before I committed to animation paper, I did a quick thumbnail animation using the reference video of the slow motion cat. This animation was a lot more successful than I thought it would be as I was drawing it. The movement is clearly a run and although the body stretches a bit too much and the images again don't match up, I am happy with the finish.

 

After a promising start, I began another cycle on animation paper. This cycle is a lot more fluid although it is a bit too slow for a run. Again there is a jump between the first and last frames and the legs slip again. I think one of the problems is that the lines are just too far apart which makes it difficult for me to keep the feet to the lines. To help improve the fluidity of the loop, I am going to try and re-arrange the frame order by starting the sequence halfway through (e.g 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), This should help me get a better inbetween between the first and last frame.

Cat Run Cycle

Although I haven't quite perfected the walk cycle of a cat, I do also need to animated a run cycle. Personally I think this looks a lot more simplistic to animate than a walk as the legs seem to walk more in unison with one an other. To begin with I again watched videos as reference materials for my run.

This video in particular was extremely helpful in seeing exactly how a cat runs. By watching this over and over again and trying to mimic the movement every few frames, I have created a quick test for my own run cycle

 

 

After looking at these reference videos, I have once again created a step by step cycle diagram. Looking at this diagram, it does appear that run is more simplistic but I won't know for sure until I begin animating.

 

 I have also created another dot diagram indicating where the legs are during a run cycle



4th Cycle

Below is my 4th attempt at a cat walk cycle and you can see a lot of improvements. There is a lot more squash and stretch in the movement that makes it feel more like a cat's walk rather than a general quadruped walk. The head also feels a lot more like part of body where in the previous one it seemed to have a life of it own. The tail also has a look more fluidity although it does grow slightly as the animation progresses.

The front legs work very well as a cycle as opposed to the back. The back legs seem to need a few inbetweens near the end of the cycle. Instead of a nice fluid movement, the back legs instead seem to just simply switch places, creating a hop. I would say there needed to be at least 2 more inbetweens to fix this problem.

 

 

3rd Attempt

With there still being problems with my cat walk cycle, I decided to stop thinking about my cat as an outline and instead try to imagine what is going on underneath. I thought less about details like facial features and instead focused on the muscles underneath and how the react as the cat walks.

Although this has been more successful, the are still flaws - the most obvious still problem being  with the click between the first and last images in the cycle. They don't match up well enough for a smooth loop.This again is down to the footing. As the animation progresses, the cats feet still don't stay consistent. By the last frame, all feet rest upon the top line instead of being evenly spread between the top and bottom lines. This makes it difficult for a smooth transition. There is clear movement within the body although I think I need more squash and stretch in order to get a more feline attitude. I need to be aware of where my feet begin and end to make a successful walk cycle and also think 'cat' when I'm animating instead of just trying to animate a general quadruped.

2nd Attempt Walk

After my first attempt, I decided to make a more detailed cycle that more resembles a cat. Although it looks more like a cat, it doesn't walk more a cat. If anything the walk is worse than previous. Once again, the lags don't keep to their lines.This makes for a a bad loop and again a lack of weight.

 

If you play it back frame-by-frame you can see that the cat does something very strange. As you can see from the image below, the back leg does something unnatural. It lifts up too much as it cycles making it seem as if it separated from the body; almost as if the cat has broken its leg. It also looks as if the back legs are a lot smaller than those in the foreground. I've tried to show all the information in the back legs which you see in the front legs which in reality just wouldn't happen.

  

 

 

In order to fix these mistakes, I think I should start my cycle from scratch and instead of looking at the cat as an object, I will instead use what I learnt from drawing the skeleton and draw the muscle movements and bones of the cat. Maybe this will help give me a more fluid cycle.

1st Attempt At A Cat Walk Cycle

After watching tutorials and observing how my own cat walks, I have finally committed myself to paper and created my first feline walk cycle. To begin with I focused solely on the legs. By ignoring the entire cat and focusing purely on the leg movement, I was able to get a real feeling for how the legs move. The cycle works pretty well. The leg movement is quite fluid although there is a slight kink between the first and last frame. Watching the cycle frame-by-frame I noticed that the forelegs and the back legs don't cycle evenly. There isn't good symmetry which throws the cycle off.

After focusing just on the legs, I then went on to animate the whole cat. As my first attempt it's not bad. The basic cycle is there but it is far from perfect. The tail moves up fluidly but then seems to stay frozen in the air before quickly falling back down again. I need to think more carefully about how gravity will be acting on the cat as well as ensuring that the cat stays along its walk lines. At the moment, the legs seem to all move to the top line and this creates the illusion of a float or lack of weight. Because of this, the cycle doesn't loop perfectly and clicks.

Feline Walk Cycle

I've been struggling a bit to grasp the concept of a quadruped walk so to help me feel more comfortable I've been watching a few online tutorials. One in particular has really helped open my eyes to the way a cat moves. Using a comparison to a human walk cycle and adapting it to a feline walk, i can see exactly what needs to alter in order to create the right attitude.

 

Another informative tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYCGMdQgs-I

After looking at the reference videos, I have drawn a step by step walk cycle diagram showing what the feet are doing at each point in the cycle. This will act as a guide for me when I begin the animation process. If I stick to this diagram I should find it a lot easier to create a functionally and fluid walk cycle.

This diagram shows the position of the feet at each stage of the cycle. The black dots indicate when the foot is in contact with the floor (if the black dot has a F it means the foot is flat on the ground) and the open dots tell us when the leg is in the air.

Duped Vs. Quadruped

The diagrams below show the differences between the human bone structure and quadruped bone structures. Seeing various bone and muscle structures together in one diagram really helps show the difference in bone size and the angles in which the bone stands. The longer the leg, the less of a 'spring' the animal has; a cat will get a lot more height in a pounce than a horse will get in a jump in relation to its size.

 

The human bone structure and muscle is almost identical to that of a gorilla's. The only noticable difference is that a human stands erect whilst a gorilla stands huntched over. However, the basic mechanics are the same. Seeing that a gorilla's structure is a lot like a humans will make it a look easier to animate. Having already animated a human walk cycle last year, I can adapt my knowledge of what I already know to fit the movement of a creature on four legs.

 

This diagram will also help me adapt what I already know about a walk cycle. By showing a human's foot/hand in line with various quadruped's you can see where each point varies. Comparing a man and a cat you can see that the femur is a lot more arched up which in turn means the elbow is a lot higher. This will help me give the right personality to my quadruped ensuring that it won't only look like right, but also move realistically.

 

 

Observational Drawing Of A Skeleton

As a start to the advanced animation skills workshop we are studying quadruped locomotion. Looking closely at how four legged animals move, I should be able to pick up the rhythms of animal movement and be able to animate various gaits. To begin with, I have been looking at quadruped skeleton's. By observing the bone structure of a quadruped, I will be able to get a good sense of what is underneath the animal's and work out the mechanics of how they move. This will make it easier for me to eventually animate a walk cycle.

This observational drawing is of a monkey skeleton. I spent 45 minutes looking and mimicking what I could see in front of me. By doing this exercise, I am already a lot more informed about how a quadruped moves. Looking at the skeleton you can see that the back legs are a lot longer than the front and are therefore more bent. This extra length and bend gives momentum. All the power comes from the back legs which push the rest of the body forward. This is something that all quadrupeds share.

In the case of a monkey skeleton, you can see that the feet closely resemble that of hands. Unlike a horse or pig which have simple hooves, the monkey has various bones which allow the feet to work just like human hands. This is what gives the monkey great grip when climbing trees &C.