Preview: Walk Cycle Gen 5

A woman walking, the swing of the hips. The sound of  high heels. She looks at you knowing, only a woman can do this.

The project this time was to make her face easier to track, a request from walk-cycle guru and Founder Aqua Faba. I reduced the bird-like head movement from Gen 4, the Walk in the Clouds. Great, now I can't unsee it! But that's how it goes.

Even in this one, being based on a fashion show runway model, there's gonna be that up and down movement of the head which is natural. Could be smoother, something for Gen 6!

Another thing for next time: camera movement that is a smoother experience. The camera movement is smooth, but the walk we are watching speeds up and slows down based on the stride. This is natural. But should the camera be connected to the model and just move forward at exactly her rate? No, because then the whole world feels like it is speeding up and slowing down. I think I'm convinced that the camera should have its own movement. Like a cameraman following nearby, smoothly tracking her.

The Gen 6 cycle will be a better cameraman. Right now the camera is a robot, smoothly going from the beginning to the end at a constant speed. She catches up with it when she speeds up, and falls behind when she slows down. A mix between following her exactly and this perfectly linear smooth movement is probably where the most comfort will be found.

Why is this "Gen 5"? Well I number the advances in SkinRays walk cycles this way: 1 for the "Vault: First walk cycle" from 2017, 2 for the first SkinRays walk cycle back in December/January ("Snowbabe Holiday Walk", "It Finally Happened") , 3 for the "Through the Torii" first serious walk cycle Aqua helped with, and then 4 being the most recent "Through The Clouds" walk.

Other plans for this character, location and outfit:  some martial art moves since I have some keyframed animations with kicks and spins, and she has two swords, one for each hand! The wrapped arms and legs are from a fighting outfit that includes a jacket. I tried simulating the jacket flowing in the breeze as she walked, but it just slipped off of her somehow. : )

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