Final research on 'The Animator's Survival Kit' by R. Williams - Part 3


The heel (page 136)


‘The heel is the lead part.
The foot is secondary and follows along.
The heel leads and the actual foot drags behind and flops forward – but the heel controls it.’


For walks and runs one should keep the heel flat on the ground until the last possible moment before lifting it. That will give the feeling of weight to the animation. There is an illustration that demonstrates this also:



The following drawing serves as a guide for a correct heels motion during a ‘normal’ walk:



Also setting a tempo:



            Weight shift (page 146)


‘The weight shifts from one foot to another in a normal stride.
Each time we raise a foot it thrusts the weight of our body forward and to the side over the other foot.
And the shoulders mostly oppose the hips and the buttocks.’


As discussed in a previous post, walking represents a series of controlled falls. As a result, the weight shifts from one leg to another constantly. The shoulders oppose the inclination of the hips and the buttocks in general.



We could also exaggerate the weight shift formula:



‘Tilt the belt line back and forth favouring the leg that is lowest.’




‘Normally the belt line is down with the foot that is down and up with the foot that is up.’


Arm movements (page 148)

While the shoulder rises up in the passing position, the hand is at the lowest part of the arc. Essentially, when the shoulder rises up, the arm should be in the straightened (middle) position, between arching back and forth.


Another thing to keep in mind that I have already mentioned before is that the arm swing is at its widest on the down position, not on the contact position (as can be seen in the next illustration).



‘To get some flexibility in an arm swing we’d drag the hand – ‘




Runs and jumps and skips (page 176)

‘In a walk always one foot is on the ground. Only one foot leaves the ground at a time.
In a run both feet are off the ground at some point for 1, 2 or 3 positions.’



The same goes for a run. With some more leaning and bigger arm swings the walk turns into a run. The feet are still off the ground for only one frame. The next illustration is of a ‘normal’ run on 6’s (4 steps per second).


For a more ‘cartoon-ish’ approach – a cartoon run on 6’s but with the feet off the ground for 2 positions and violent arm swing:


And a ‘real’ version of the same illustration with little to no arm action or up and down motion of the body:



‘In ‘reality’ the faster the figure runs the more it leans forward.
(and it doesn’t have to be in balance all the time)’





Jumps (page 212)

‘In a broad jump the person starts with a run and while running works into an anticipation.
(nice to have the spine shape keep reversing)’



‘Get lots of lean into the bodies.’



An image in the book I have found to be extremely useful for when I will have to create the jumping animation for my project. The image helps capture the up and down positions on the different parts of the body from a point of view.













To avoid floating, weight needs to be applied. If a person jumps in the air, it is good to get the arms or the feet going within the general jump. ‘This helps give weight and avoids floating’.






References:

Williams, R. (2001). The Animator's Survival Kit. Unites States of America: Macmillan USA, pp.136-216.

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