If she walks, it's a Blimmin Wunda, Bruce!

Introduction

Walks are complex with many factors contributing to their flow.

The Whimsy Wunda Walker - Walk Cycle can help you decide how your character should walk.

The Whimsy Wunda Walker can change the gait of the Walk Cycle at the touch of a button.

Enough of the sale's pitch ... let's get down to business

Load or Merge

At present, there is only one scene.

Future releases will have a scene you can align to your model.

Of course, you could always rip this scene to bits. :-)

Walk Cycle Duration

The first setting is the Walk Cycle Duration.

No surprise, this controls the duration of the Walk Cycle.

Independent of your playback, rate the W_C_D sets the Walk Cycle in frames or parts thereof."

The Stride Cycle

The Stride Cycle group deals with the position of the COG and rotation of the Hips

COG Advance - Retard - Shifts the COG forward or back from the centre

COG Height - adjusts the height of the COG independently of the looping UP Down keys

Sway - Moves the COG from Side-To-Side, from the Centre and over the Feet at the Passing Frame.

Up Height - Adjusts the COG's Height at the Weight Up Frame.

Down Height - Adjusts the COG's Height at the Weight Down Frame.

Twist - Rotates the Hips forward as the Foot Strides forward.

Roll - Rotates the Hips up at the Passing Frame.

Stride Length - Adjusts the Length of the Stride as an Offset from the current position.

Stride Width - ditto for the Width.

Stride Mid Height - Lifts the Foot as it moves to the Contact position.

Stride Mid Advance - Adjusts the Foot Forward or Backward from the centre of the Foot's forward movement. At present it also shifts when the Mid Point occurs.

Stride Mid Width - Adjusts the Stride Width As the Foot returns to the Contact position.

Foot Splay - Pigeon toed or like Chaplin's "Little Tramp", Foot Splay rotates the Toe in or out. The correct offset roll off the Toe is not implemented at this time.

Knee Splay - Knock kneed or sore from the saddle, Knee Splay spreads or closes the Knee Gap

The Step Cycle

The Step Cycle group holds the controls to adjust the Foot rotations as they make Contact with the Ground, Roll Up onto the BOF, onto the Toe, and finally and Lift from the Ground.

Contact Angle - Foot angle as it makes Contact with the Ground.

BOF Angle - Ball Of The Foot angle, lifting the Heel.

Toe Angle - Rotates the Foot off the Toe before leaving the Ground.

Toe Drop - Rotates the Foot, Toe-down, just after leaving the Ground.

Save, Stop, Load, & Go

The Save button save the settings to a temporary file.

• N.B. Each press overwrites the existing file.

The Stop and Rest button stops the playback and brings the rig to a neutral pose.

The Load button loads the settings from the temporary file.

Click the One Walk Cycle button and the Whimsy Wunda Walker springs into action.

Coming Soon

Add a change from a Walk to a Run Cycle. <thinks> May be I should put that out as the Whimsy Wunda Wunner. :-)

The Whimsy Wunda Walker Deluxe

Walk through your scene on a Path or manually Key framed.

Not designed to create a full body walk but as a short cut to getting all the Hip, Leg and Foot keys in place, ready for an animator's fine-tuning.

Written By Craig Miller

http://www.whimsy.co.nz/

craig@whimsy.co.nz

Thanks to ...

There are too many people to thank but here goes ...

Bobo - Mr Petrov, sir, you are, as always, there with clarity no matter how dumb our questions are.

Every one at CG Talk and ScriptSpot. You are an inspiration.