Unit Two & the Leopard Walk
Updated: May 14
02/01/2026
In this second brief of the module, we will develop our skills by focusing on the fundamentals of different quadruped locomotions. The exploration into different four-legged animals' anatomies and their effect on movement and behaviour will provide us with the necessary information to achieve realistic motion.
For this project, we are required to study the leopard walk and to create an animated quadruped walk. We were suggested to use the free Leopard Maya rig by Truong, CG Artist, which can be downloaded from Gumroad. It is a great rig designed for quadruped animations.
The simplest way to approach a four-legged animal's anatomy is to divide its body into three solid masses connected by a flexible spine; however, for a realistic animation, we must consider the animal's underlying skeletal structure, as this will affect the outcome. Different quadrupedal animals exhibit varying degrees of spine flexibility. Cats and rabbits have very flexible spines, while a cow has a rigid one. The leopard, similar to cats, is elegant and flexible, but also has a heavy, almost stealthy, low-to-the-ground gait.
It is advisable to create thumbnail sketches before starting our animation work, and the best approach is to keep our shapes simple. It is also important, when exploring the animal's anatomy, to focus on how the muscles function.
The brief requires us to create a 33-frame quadruped cycle walk. It is good practice to stick with the industry standard process and set up our frames from 101 to 133, in case additional frames need to be added to the project. Following our thumbnail sketches, we start with the key poses at frames 101, 109, 117, 125 and 133. The first and last frames need to have the same pose, and the animation will loop back.
Once my key poses were set, I added the in-between frames to achieve a fluid motion.
After I set all the poses, I started to tidy up the animation. To fix feet slipping, clicking, and possible irregularities, I had to look at my waves in the Graph editor. I focused on specific controls and made necessary adjustments to achieve natural bends and muscle flows.
Once I was satisfied with my walk cycle, I went further and focused on the tail. Here, I used the previously learned principles from Unit One about the overlapping motion of the tail. The tail had to follow the movement of the leopard's back end; however, this resulted in a synchronised motion. In order to achieve a natural flow, I needed to offset the tail's frames by two frames. This way, the back end's motion was followed by an overlapping movement of the tail.
Following tutor feedback, I went back to the project and adjusted the movements in the legs, the feet, and the head as the initial animation looked a bit over animated.
Comments