- [Instructor] We will start polishing the torso
with the hips controller.
As mentioned in the previous video,
you should always start polishing the controllers
that have the most influence or that move the most.
In the case of the hips controller,
it's gonna be the tilting motion and twisting motion.
And those are driven by the rotation,
I've hidden all the other key.
Now I'm testing each curve
to check what channel does what.
The Z curve twist, the Y curve tilt.
So I will start with the Y curve.
I can now hide all the other curves.
The hips motion is pretty critical on the walk cycle.
If it's off, it won't be convincing.
If you add too much motion, it will look too feminine.
If you don't add enough motion,
it won't look realistic or convincing.
But there are some common rules
whatever the weight
or whether your character is a male or a female.
The hips will rapidly tilt
as soon as the leg is supporting the weight.
So basically, one frame after the contact pose,
you will have a drastic change in your curve shape.
And as soon as you get over the passing pose,
it will slightly rotate the other way.
A bit like the side to side motion we add
with the center of gravity.
So this is what I'm working on, onto the curve right now.
I'm getting a fast change in the motion
over a couple of frame
before transitioning into a slight plateau.
So I'm done with the first half of the cycle.
I will remove all the keys after frame 16.
I will then select all the keys
from frame 0 to 16 and duplicate them
and offset them between frame 16 and 32.
My 2D cursor is already aligned with the zero value.
I can switch the pivot point to 2D cursor
and then scale the keys from 16 to 32
by minus 1 onto the Y axis.
Then I will duplicate frame 0 onto frame 32,
and I will clean my curve.
This way I have a perfectly mirror motion of the hips.
Then you can scale this curve on the Y axis
to whether increase or decrease the tilting motion.
Don't forget this is something
we will be able to edit later on
as we also work on the twisting of the hips.
So I'm considering this as a decent polish of the Y curve
and I will jump on the Z curve.
As a switch to the Z quaternion rotation curve
of my hips,
we must admit that this is quite a surprise
that the curve already looks pretty cool.
I think I've nailed the twisting motion of the hips
during the blocking stage.
Since I don't really know what to do,
I've doubled check the reference.
If we have a closer look,
we can see that the hips twist has a slight delay
compared to the foot contact.
As the character on the left reach its contact pose,
we can see the hips twisting forward
for a couple of frames.
So what I will do is simply offset the whole curve
for a couple of frame
and insert a keyframe on frame 32
and then set it to 3
and duplicate it on frame 0.
I will then get rid of the keyframe on frame 34,
and I will call the Z quaternion rotation polishing done.
The X rotation is super subtle.
I will just push the key on frame 8 a little downward,
back foot is pushing,
it pushes a bit the hips forward
and then it goes the other way.
The X rotation motion is super subtle.
Just duplicate this revised frame 8,
16 frame later on frame 24
and I will call the X rotation curve done.
We can now jump onto the chest controller
and work on its rotation.
I will start by working on both Y and Z quaternion rotation
at the same time.
The Y rotation will drive the tilt
while the Z will drive the twist.
My goal is to build a bit of contrast on the motion
and slightly delay the motion of the chest
compared to what we have done during the blocking.
It's about one frame or half the frame.
Meaning that will push up a bit the key
where the curve is starting to get down
like on frame 8.
And I will push a bit down the keys
where the curve is starting to raise
like on frame 24.
Have a look to both polished curve,
we can see that they are pretty smooth,
meaning that they are going from one extreme to the other
in a smooth fashion,
without big changes in their shape.
But we still recognize our usual pattern
when we try to bring contrast between two extremes,
with a slight plateau between those two extreme,
and then the value of the curve changing a little faster
during the passing or during the transitions.
The fact that we get this plateau
make the shoulder easing into the extreme
as if there was some kind of momentum
during the swinging of the shoulders.
And the result is pretty close to what we have blocked.
Just trying to get linear curve
with a bit more contrast.
Swing a bit with the timing,
whenever the shoulder should raise or twist forward.
Just double check the reference frame by frame,
and you should find the right timing.
Then regarding the shape of the curve,
been following all the lessons so far,
you should be a little more comfortable
with editing those curve
and those S shape with a slight plateau
will be read as for the Z quaternion rotation
and hold forward and backward
during the twisting,
and for the Y quaternion rotation
and hold upward or downward during those extremes.
Once I was done with the Z and Y quaternion rotation,
I switched to the X quaternion rotation
to be super subtle,
because if you go extreme on this,
your character will look drunk or unbalanced.
And we will input more up and down
using the Z location of this controller.
In the end, I'm just taking the whole curve
and offsetting it by two frame.
But the character bend a bit forward just after the impact.
And as it's pushing,
then it will start bending backward after the up pose.
And the bend backward will be pushed as it fall down
as his body is getting lower and lower.
So, there is not that much editing on that curve
but just offsetting it in time on the X axis
by two or three frame.
Then I will duplicate frame 32, set it to 3,
move it on frame 0
and then get rid of any keys
that goes beyond the frame 0 and the frame 32.
Explain before, one extra detail I'd like to add
is the up and down motion of the chest controller.
It is currently driven by the Z location curve
of the chest controller.
The curve is currently flat
because I haven't posed any location
during the blocking stage.
The idea is to animate the Z location curve
based on the motion of the torso root.
So I'm tracking the motion path of the torso root
to double check whenever it's accelerating down,
but you don't really need to do it.
By simply going frame by frame,
you will feel the moment the body's accelerating down,
and the moment the body is accelerating up.
The idea is to create an overlapping motion of the chest
whenever the body hits its lower pose,
we will then, one frame later,
or two frame later, push the chest down.
We will hold a bit this pose for a couple of frame
as the body is raising.
And then just after the up pose,
when the body is falling down,
we will raise the chest.
As the chest is dragging,
it's falling, but with a bit of delay.
I've mainly work the curve between frame 14 and frame 22,
because this is the time where we have a big change
in the cock position.
And this is your to work on this segment
and then duplicate the keys around frame 0 and 32
then working the transition from frame 32 to 0.
In the end, this bouncing motion will occur twice
during our walk cycle.
So once I've polished the one between frame 14 and frame 22,
I can duplicate my keys so that it repeats 16 frame later.
It's a very subtle bounce
but it brings a bit of texture to our motion.
While we need to bring a bit of motion
in the neck and head,
we will keep it as subtle as possible
unless you want to build a goofy walk cycle
that could fit a drunk guy or even the babies
that has a lot of trouble to hold his head in position.
You don't want to move the head and the neck too much
during your walk cycle
or your character will look like a chicken.
So for the neck,
I will only work on the X quaternion rotation.
When the character is moving up,
clean a bit forward to make the head dragging.
And when the body will be falling forward,
the neck will move backward.
And I will apply the same principle for the head.
Right now I'm just making sure
that my cycle is repeating over my whole curve.
Though each time I find a spot
where I feel like my animation is right,
I can duplicate the keys and move them by 16 frame.
This way I'm sure I get a consistent cycle
that look right.
Then I will do exactly the same thing,
but this time with the head controller.
Just track the tip of the nose
or the chin of your character
as a point of reference.
And again, keep this motion as subtle as possible.
You may not see it, just feel it,
like the head is a bit wobbling but very subtly
so that we feel like the character is in control.
If you feel comfortable enough,
you can add a bit of Z quaternion rotation
to create a bit of side to side delay
in the rotation of the head
but it has to be super subtle.
Even more subtle than this X rotation curve.
So in the end,
if you don't animate the other channel,
that's perfectly fine.
The torso polishing done.
I'd like to add extra bit of details
and to add a bit of bouncing
on the pectoral muscle of the character.
If you display the torso tweak layer of bones,
you will find a controller for pectoral muscle.
The idea is that we will be only animating one of them
on its Z location,
and then we will copy and paste its curve
onto the other one.
I will only animate direction of the pectoral muscle
on the impact.
If it was a female character,
there will be a lot of motion,
whether up and down, side to side,
because women breast is mainly made of fat.
In the case of our character,
I only want to create motion
whenever we are reaching the impact frame.
So as the torso travels fast down
before the contact frame,
I will slightly raise the Z curve
to push the pectoral muscle up,
hold for a couple of frame,
and then I will push it down super fast.
We create a slight S curves that goes up and down
with a smaller and smaller amplitude
will create a slight bouncing effect
that is losing strength over time.
I was happy with this first bounce,
as usual, I've duplicated all the keys
and moved them back by 16 frame.
From there, I can copy the curve,
select the other controller,
then double-click its Z location channel,
get rid of all the key
but the first and the last,
and just press Control + V to paste the motion.
Now both pectoral muscle move with the same bounce.
If you want to push a bit your walk cycle,
you can apply the same effect
on the butt of the character.
But I will call the torso polishing done,
and now we need to polish the shoulders and the arms.