Lesson 10: part 7

Now that you have the animated guides it’s time to animate the legs and feet.

Before you ask... THERE IS NO EASY WAY TO DO THIS WELL. It’s tedious.

Here’s the strategy:

Work on one leg at a time
Hide the layers and guides of the leg that you are NOT working on
Look for segments of your timeline where you use the same symbol over a number of frames. First try to see if you can get away with a motion tween. If not, tweak and adjust by adding keyframes.

[IMPORTANT NOTE: Motion tweening only works when the symbols on each end of the tween are the same symbol. This means that you cannot motion tween between a "straight leg" symbol and a "bent leg" symbol. If the symbols are the same on both ends, you can try to motion tween the movements. It is unlikely that you will be able to motion tween for more than 3 frames.]

[IMPORTANT NOTE 2: Before you make any changes, make sure you've created a keyframe or you are on a frame that has a keyframe.]
Use the transform tool to rotate, stretch and squash the legs and feet as necessary.
Only animate frames 1 through 9 - DO NOT alter frames 1 or 9
Frames 10-17 are made by strategic copy-pasting.
Swap symbols where necessary - see chart below.

Swapping symbols

The pushing leg in frame 1 is a straight leg. On the 2nd frame we're going to swap the straight leg symbol with the bent leg symbol.

Add a keyframe in frame 2.
Select the leg symbol on the stage (as opposed to selecting it on the timeline)
Look at your properties panel and look for the “Swap” button. click this button and select your bent leg symbol from the list that appears. It will replace your straight leg symbol. If necessary, adjusts it's position and size. The leg symbol remains a bent leg symbol until frame 5. This means that you can try to motion tween between frames 2-5. Then add adjustment keyframes as necessary.
At frame six the leg symbol should be a straight leg symbol and continues to be a straight leg symbol through frame 8. Use the leg position guide and the chart below for reference.

The Pushing Leg:
frame	foot symbol	leg symbol
1	straight	straight
2	straight	bent
3	straight	bent
4	straight	bent
5	straight	bent
6	toes bent up	straight
7	toes bent up	straight
8	toes bent up	straight
9	toes bent up	bent
	REMEMBER Frames 1 and 9 should not be altered.

The Swinging Leg:
frame	foot symbol	leg symbol
1	toes bent up	bent
2	straight	bent
3	(optional - toes bent down)	bent
4	(optional - toes bent down)	bent
5	(optional - toes bent down)	bent
6	(optional - toes bent down)	bent
7	(optional - toes bent down)	bent
8	straight	bent
9	straight	straight
	REMEMBER Frames 1 and 9 should not be altered.

GOOD LUCK and work hard. It'll be worth the effort.

Also see diagram: Position Guide for Legs
Also see: project example: walk cycles

Continue To Part 8