Skip to main content

Animal Locomotion for Animators - Doctor Stuart S. Sumida

To start things off here is an invaluable resource for any animator looking to get there head round quadruped locomotion.

The document linked down below allows an animator just making there first steps into animating four legged creatures to begin to understand the subtleties of four legged movement.

The Writer, Dr. Sumida frequently consults with many animation studios from Disney to DreamWorks so his understanding of both animation and the science of animal movement proves invaluable in bridging the gap between the two areas of study.

Here are a few excerpts from the pdf, while I strongly suggest you give the whole thing a read these two pages should already offer some insight into the wonderful world of quadruped locomotion.


I chose to include a page comparing a trot to a gallop to help illustrate just how varied four legged movement can be. Too often it seems inexperienced animators assume the front and back legs move in a similar fashion to our own. This can result in very uniform movement that is not at all convincing.
The reality couldn't be further from this as Dr. Sumida discusses, even in the slower walks all four legs can leave the ground. Not always but it does show a difference to bipedal walking which is defined by one foot being on the ground at all times.


Here is the long awaited link : Animal Locomotion for Animators

Happy Animating!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Resource - Video Tutorial (Ape like Creature)

Came across this series the other day and thought it was worth sharing here. I find its always quite interesting to see other folks workflows in action. This particular series is fairly old but seems relatively unwatched which I think is unfortunate as it is fairly informative and free which is always a bonus in my book. I would recommend watching the videos at around 1.5x to 2x speed as there is some slow periods, I didn't find I missed anything of what was being said either but each to there own. PART 1 Part 2 Part 3 I also found this very quick video with a tip on using video reference directly in Maya. I will include it too as this wasn't something I had considered in the past however after trying it out Ive found it really can speed up the animating process. 

Truong CG Artist - Great Rig Resource

Creature rigs (for free) can often feel rather scarce, when looking for a job it can be especially necessary to save costs wherever you can. However when the goal is to show your awesome creature animating abilities it  cant hurt to showcase the widest variety possible.  If you havent heard of Truong CG yet then your library of great creature rigs is about to get a lot bigger.  (A few of the rigs on offer from Truongs Gumroad Page) Free Rig Versions Here! Truong offers  an extensive library of rigs they have created themselves amazingly for free. So long as its for non commercial purposes naturally. Whether its dinosaurs, songbirds or demons Truong CG really offers an incredible variety of rigs  that allow animators to just put that wonderful creature knowledge  to use. If you like what Truong is offering and would like to support his efforts you can always add any amount of money to your free rig order. Or if his rigs help your...