The Walk Cycle

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.

The walk cycle is one of the most important learning concepts in animation and also one of the most technically difficult, because it requires so much attention to the movement of opposing limbs.

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.

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. Also the bottoms of the feet must squash slightly, meaning stretch out, when the pressure of the body is placed on them.