0

How to Animate a Walk Cycle?

Whenever we watch animated movies or cartoons, there’s a crucial factor that never fails to impress us, among countless other things.

It’s the way those cartoon characters walk, of course!

Look at how graceful Mickey walks!

Animating such a walk cycle may be considered a highly complex process even by expert animators. But it needn’t be frowned upon like this!

At the end of the day, moving the characters from point A to point B elegantly is all we need to do. And this article teaches you just that! 

1. What is a walk cycle animation?
2. Four stages of Walk Cycle 
3. How to create a Walk Cycle?
4. Why is Walk Cycle important?
5. Best Practices for Seamless Walk Cycle Animation

Read on to learn everything you need to know about walk cycles!

What is a walk cycle animation?

Walk Cycle is a loop animation consisting of a series of frames drawn in a sequential loop to mimic the style of a walking character. 

A walk cycle is created when these sequential frames are played in a loop.

Four stages of Walk Cycle 

The walk cycle has four different keyframes – 

1. Forward contact point – The first step on the ground is called the forward contact point. In this position, the character’s back foot is positioned halfway to touch the ground, and the front foot is posed heel down, more like hovering just above the ground.
2. First Passing pose – The first passing pose is the expression of the motion when the back leg passes the front leg or vice versa. This is the reverse of the forward contact point, where your character shifts the weight from one leg to another, thereby creating movement.
3. Back contact point – The back contact point is the exact opposite of the forward contact point, where the back leg is in the front firmly on the ground, and the front leg is in the back raised on the ground.
4. Second Passing pose – The second passing pose is the opposite of the First passing pose, where the character moves to the second step. Here, the front foot moves back, and the character is positioned perpendicular to the ground. 

Here’s a picture of these frames to make you understand better – 

Source: https://bit.ly/3PXiZZe 

Without these fundamental frames, a walk cycle cannot be created. 

Now, let’s move on to learn how to make a walk-cycle animation.

How to create a Walk Cycle?

Usually, once the fundamentals of the walk cycle are framed out, additional details like animation timing, walking speed, movement of body parts, etc., are added, resulting in a walk cycle like this…

Source – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36977219

The above-shown example is a short walk cycle that consists of 4 frames in total. But an intricately animated walk cycle can range above ten frames by adding more detail to the walking style. 

A detailed Walk Cycle Animation is something that cannot be learned in a single day. Instead, it requires a vast learning curve right from the basics of drawing to bringing it to reality with the help of 2D or 3D Animation apps.

Take a look at this video to learn about the intricacies of animating walk cycles.

A bit complicated, wasn’t it?

But, if you want to skip the hard part of learning the basics and dive straight into creating animations, then let me introduce you to Animaker, an Online video-making platform. Follow the steps below to create your own Walk Cycle Animation without prior experience.

Or, If you want to learn how to animate a walk cycle from a video guide, check this out!

 

Here are the steps to create a walk cycle.

Step 1: Sigunp & Login 

To start, head to Animaker and click the “Create Your First Video” button. You will be redirected to the signup/login page, where you can enter your details and create your account. Or, you can simply log in with Google or Facebook.

Step 2: Create a new project

Once logged in, you will be redirected to the Animaker Dashboard. Next, click on the “Create > Create a Video > Blank Project” to create a new blank project.

 

This is how the Animaker app interface looks. On the center is the workspace, On the left is the library, on the right is the scenes section, and on the bottom is the timeline.

Step 3: Add a background

Before we create our walk cycle, let’s add a background to the scene for our character to walk. To add a background, click on the background section and select a background.

The BG gets applied like this…

Step 4: Add a Character

To add a character, click on the character tab in the library. You can either use a prebuilt character or create your animated character. Click on a prebuilt character to add it to the workspace.

This is how the character gets added to the workspace.

After the character is added to the workspace, click on it. This opens the Actions Tab. Here, search for Walk in the search bar and select the specific walk action that you want to apply to your character.

This is how the action gets applied to the character.

Step 5: Add a walk cycle to your character

You will notice that the character is walking in the same position. Now, it’s time to add the walk cycle and make the character walk across the scene! 

Click on your character and select the Smart Move option from the menu. Using this option, we will make the character walk across the screen.

Once you select the smart move option, you will notice two frames of the character appear on the workspace and the timeline. Now, we will place these two frames at two different points to emulate the walk cycle. 

Select the first frame and place it outside the left border of the workspace to make the character enter the scene from the left. Similarly, in the timeline, move the frame to the first second.

Here’s a GIF that explains the point.

Similarly, select the second frame and place it outside the right border of the workspace to make the character exit the scene. In the timeline, move the frame to the last second. Here’s a GIF that explains this point –

Here’s the final output – 

Boom! You created your walk cycle. You can experiment with different characters, speeds, and more. 

Why is Walk Cycle important?

Walk Cycle is the best way to visualize the movement of a character. But, how the character walks can define many things other than simply moving it from point A to point B. Simple things such as body language, walking pace, and pose can refine the character’s movement and make it not walk like a glitchy video-game character! 

The walk cycle can be applied to any character, be it four legs, eight legs, or even more. Creating a series of walk cycles for different scenes can bring your animation to life and make it even more realistic.

Best Practices for Seamless Walk Cycle Animation:

Now that you know what a walk cycle is and how it works, there are a few things to remember before you create a walk cycle.

Source: https://bit.ly/3dW1YB0 

1. Contact Points – A contact point is a point at which the character makes contact with the ground. These points are vital to creating a rhythm for your walk cycle animation. In addition, marking out the points of movement for each step can prevent awkward movements in other parts of bodies while creating an animation.
2. Weight Transfer – When a character moves from point to point, it has to be realistic. This is achieved by having gravity as a critical factor in your animation. The weight shift from one foot to another has to be defined by body movement. For example, the thrust of the feet pulling from the ground can be highlighted with the counteraction of other body parts whenever the character raises a foot.
3. Consistency – Maintaining the consistency of a walk cycle can define a character better. This will ensure the best viewing experience for the audience and an uninterrupted journey in the animation. 

Hope this article on Walk Cycle was helpful. 

If you want to dive deeper and learn how to create cartoon videos with characters, check out the article link provided.

If you have any doubts, please feel free to drop them in the comments section below. We will be happy to help!

0

10 Stunning Examples of Animated Marketing videos

In this modern era, you can find animation everywhere. You can see it everywhere, be it educational material or a movie that aspires many. 

Animation has a history of its own. It began as a time-consuming, tiring, and expensive way of marketing. But currently, it has evolved into a fully digital and pocket-friendly marketing medium. Today, literally anyone can make an animation video even without having any prior knowledge. 

Similarly, Videos transformed the way we consume media. Especially after the pandemic, marketing teams across the globe have adopted video marketing. This resulted from online videos being consumed double as much as in 2018. 

And to top that off, a recent study from Cisco states that over 82% of the internet traffic comes from video form of content. 

With these statistics, you can clearly see that video form of content put along with animation skyrockets your engagement rate. Since animated videos help hook with the audience quickly, popular brands prefer them to market their products than any other form.

Now, let’s have a look at such Animated marketing videos from big brands that had a huge reach worldwide.

Before that, if you want to know more about animation, then you should check out our article that talks about everything about animation and its types.

Examples of Animated Marketing Videos

Microsoft’s Re-Imagining mobile experience campaign 

This Animated marketing video by Microsoft takes the users through a journey of their day-to-day life, the challenges they face, and how they can eliminate multiple steps with their single Microsoft suite app. 

This video uses super cool, eye-pleasing 3D animation and background music that matches the energy of the animation. The quirky effects and the playful BGM put together keep the audience hooked till the end. 

Amazon’s super simple payment system – Amazon One 

This 1-minute animated video is to the point and shows precisely how Amazon One works. Whether you are shopping at a supermarket or getting a hot coffee at Starbucks, just the unique palm signature is enough to pay! This totally eliminates the need to carry a huge purse/wallet with cash or card.

The animation style is aesthetically pleasing with vibrant colors. Along with a great storyline, this animated marketing video explains the use case of Amazon One to its audience in a beautiful and concise way. 

Slack’s Communication without chaos – Animated video

If you are a working professional, you must have come across Slack at least once. Right? This animated marketing video campaign by Slack has one goal – to eliminate the chaos in communication.

This simple explainer video is minimal with flat colors, a simple font design, and a well-thought-out video script. Unfortunately, we are bound to face miscommunications when we work remotely. This video has a great connection with the audience as it perfectly describes the problem they face daily.

Coda Animated Product Promo Video

The current SaaS industry is booming with newer companies. Animated explainer videos have inevitably become one of the effective ways to promote the product. Coda, a Notion-alternative, has created this beautiful explainer video on how a single tool can assist the hyper-collaborative world.

The video style used here is super simple, with mostly screen recordings and basic animations. With all these, Coda has created an excellent animated explainer video for their product.

Starbucks Animated Explainer Video

If you like coffee, you must know Starbucks. Their “Why does Starbucks Blend Coffee?” campaign is thoughtful and focuses on an idea-centric approach. It explains how the coffee blend works and how they have developed new coffee flavors through blending experimentation. 

Starbucks has taken a simplistic 2D animation style for this video, with a great voice actor explaining the purpose of the video. Overall, this would be a great and unique idea for a 2D Animated marketing video.

Intercom – Animated Product Overview 

Intercom is a well-known business communication management tool. Their product overview video takes their audience on a journey that interactively highlights their USPs.

The intro of this video has a little 2D Animation movie to get the audience hooked to the video. It later continues with basic animations that include screen recordings of their tool. 

Hubspot’s Explainer video on Topic Clusters 

Hubspot’s Marketing video channel took an interesting approach to create a well-explained informative video on Topic Clusters.

This 2D explainer video has a great script explaining every aspect of Topic Clusters, how they work, and how HubSpot helps to find easy Topic clusters within their tool. 

Samsung Knox Animated Campaign

Have you ever seen a whole explainer video for a tiny product feature? Samsung did that with Knox, a proprietary pre-installed app on Samsung smartphones. This explainer video takes a journey across the use cases of the Knox app in a well-narrated way.

The video style used here is 2D Animation with a beautiful & subtle color scheme. The video is made brilliantly, so much so that it compels a person to stop and watch the video. 

Razer Naga Animated Promo Video 

This video is a classic example of a 3D animated promo video. It checks in all aspects, from stunning animations to hyped-up music to keep viewers hooked. It explains all the key features of the mouse stunningly. 

The technology and effects used in this promo video are on par with a full-featured movie. And if you didn’t notice, this is one of the few Animated videos that doesn’t have any voiceover in the background. 

Ahrefs Animated Product Overview

Understanding a product can be difficult sometimes. But creating an animated product overview video will clearly explain the product’s features and its advantages to the audience. 

This Animated product overview video is based on 2D animation with colorful and cute little animations. This video begins with a problem often faced in the SEO industry, which makes the audience hook even better to the video. 

Those were some impressive examples, weren’t they?

Now that you have gone through some unique videos, you must be wondering how to create your own animated marketing video and are confused about how to get started. Am I right?

Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered!

How to create Animated marketing videos for businesses?

There are lots of tools that can help to create animated marketing videos. Tools like Adobe After Effects, Davinci Resolve, Adobe Premier Pro, Blender, etc., can help you create professional-looking animated marketing videos like the examples you just saw above. 

The only drawback to these tools is that they are paid, require demanding hardware, and a little prior experience.

If the above requirements don’t check the box, you are probably looking for a free solution that’s easy to get started, right?

Well, you should check out Animaker. It is an online DIY video making platform that lets you create beautiful animation videos online.  It has tons of professionally made Animated marketing videos that are easy to use and customize. 

The best part is that it doesn’t require demanding hardware or experience. All you need is a computer with a browser on it. Here are some stunning animated marketing video templates that you should check out – 

1. Travel Agency Promo
2. Beautician Explainer
3. Promote your product or service 
4. Gym Explainer
5. Car Rental Explainer 

Travel Agency Promo (Travel agency animated template)

Stand out from your competitors by creating an animated travel agency animated template. Create your very own customized mini-story and promote your travel agency business with this stunning template.

Edit the template

 

Beautician Explainer (Animated beautician explainer video)

The hardest part of running a Beauty Parlor is getting noticed and acquiring clients. While creating a proper full fledge advertisement can be a pocket-burning task, creating an animated beautician explainer video with this template is free. You can make it match your branding by customizing every element right from colors, text, characters, and lots more.

Edit the template

 

Promote your product or service (Animated product promotional video)

Are you wondering how much it costs to make Animated Product Promotional Video? It’s absolutely free. This animated promo video makes it simple to customize a video for your product or service.

Edit the template

 

Gym Explainer (Animated Gym Explainer video)

Promote your gym in a unique way and watch your gym signups skyrocket! Animated videos are usually known for higher retention rates. Customize this stunning Animated Gym explainer video, create your own characters, and make an eye-popping explainer video for your business.

Edit the template

 

Car Rental Explainer (Marketing videos for car rental business)

Are you running a car rental business? Then this is the go-to template for you, as it has beautifully animated elements and characters that suit your business theme. You can customize every bit of this template to make it suit your branding colors. 

Edit the template

 

And to make things even easier, here’s a quick video that shows how to edit these templates to kickstart your process –

Alternatively, if you want to learn how to edit an animated template from a textual guide, check out the article link provided.

Phew! It’s finally time to create your own animated marketing video and see the conversions skyrocket. But don’t expect things to happen instantly. Good things take time. 

I hope this article helps you with a 360-degree vision of animated marketing videos and how to create one. 

What are you waiting for? Go create your animated marketing video now! 

0

Top 10 Stunning Cartoon Ads Templates – Editable & Free

Cartoon videos are one of the most effectively used advertising trends.

Wondering why all top brands prefer Cartoon ad videos?

That is because cartoon videos deliver information more –

• Entertainingly
• Effectively &
• Efficiently 

Across the globe, cartoon ads have proven to be more engaging to audiences. Animated video ads grab audiences’ attention quickly and hold it until the video ends. The power of using animation in ads helps emphasize the content, making it even more appealing. 

This easily helps obtain higher engagement rates, a higher number of hot leads, and greater brand awareness.

A lot goes into creating an engaging animated ad video that pulls the audience into your video world. Here’s why Animaker has created ready-made cartoon ad templates, which are 100% customizable. 

Animaker is a DIY video-creating online application that has helped over 15M users create amazing videos within minutes. 

Now, let’s explore a few Cartoon Commercial templates from Animaker that anybody can use or re-create. 

1. Property listing Cartoon Ad
2. Car rental Cartoon Ad
3. Travel agency Cartoon Ad
4. Product Explainer Cartoon Ad
5. Beautician Cartoon Ad
6. Gym Cartoon Ad
7. Doctor Cartoon Ad
8. Juice Bar Cartoon Ad
9. Departmental Store Cartoon Ad
10. Restaurant/Pub Cartoon Ad 

The templates below help you customize the fonts, backgrounds, characters, and even the theme. If you like it, simply click the ‘edit the template’ button and start customizing it based on your concept. 

• Property listing Cartoon AD

Looking out to advertise your real estate properties? Or, do you own a homestay that can be used as a vacation rental?

Use this template below, which speaks about a property’s interior & exterior amenities. Then, edit it by adding your property’s details and facilities and create the most fantastic ad ever!

To make it more engaging, you can add effects for your texts, icons, shapes, and transitions between scenes. Don’t forget to add pictures of your property!

Try out this customizable template now!

Edit this template

• Car rental Cartoon AD

Are you a serious entrepreneur who runs a car rental business? 

Or is your business something related to rental? 

Ah! You are looking at the right template here (below). 

An animated explainer ad video takes the trust of your customers to the next level, having the engagement rate alive. If you have different business models, you can address each of them and their USPs, just like this template below.

Customize it as you wish and see your rental business flourish!

Edit this template

• Travel agency Cartoon Promo

Are you running a business that helps users plan their entire trip? Do you have customizable tour packages for different places?

Check out this template that will attract users to pick up your services. For example, if you have a dozen services included in your packages, you can display them in a colorful manner. You can also add infographics or stats that express the number of people who prefer your services. 

Show your users why you are the best with this awesome template!

Edit this template

• Product Explainer Cartoon AD

Looking for ways to promote your perfect product in the perfect way? 

Well, make use of cartoon ads! Explain the benefits of your product, add its social media handles, add testimonials from existing users, etc. In short, let the viewers know everything they must know about your product!

Here is an apt product explainer template that does just that! You are just a few lines away from a fantastic animated ad with practical and professional content, character, and context.

Edit this template

• Beautician Cartoon AD

Have a beauty parlor, or are you planning to have one? Here’s a beautiful, customizable template that you can use to give your audiences the trust and the confidence to hop into your parlor (brand).

Check out this beautiful Beautician AD template and edit every element to suit your needs. 

Do you have a brand color? Then go on and apply it to the video! Try it for yourself. 

Edit this template

• Gym Cartoon AD

Are you a fitness fanatic? Besides working on yourself, would you also like to train others to be fit? 

Then check out this ultimate cartoon ad which explains to your audience how necessary fitness and being healthy is. Not just that, this ad gives your audience a positive perspective on how your training can change their lifestyle. 

Bonus suggestion – To make the video ad more engaging, you can even customize the character in it and make it resemble you. How about that?

Edit this template

• Doctor Cartoon AD

Are you associated with the medical field? Are you a pro with your surgical tools but just a beginner with video-making tools?

Don’t worry; Animaker is here for the rescue!

Imagine your patients receiving a customizable video message from you! Doesn’t that sound exciting? 

You can create short and cute video prescriptions for your patients, which can help promote how you care for each patient. 

Also, the advice or tips that you present can be a sweet surprise for your patients.

Let’s add joy to each of your patient’s health! Create amazing & engaging cartoon videos instantly and pass them on to your patients using this template!

Edit this template

• Juice Bar Cartoon AD

A juice bar or a restaurant owner?

Start your marketing video by proffering a couple of (health) tips. For instance, check out the video template below. 

Let all your ads speak about improving and developing customers’ health. For example, show people how your restaurant’s curated recipes can help them take the healthy route. This way, your business might gain more engagement and, consequently, customers!

Start customizing this impressive template based on your bar/restaurant’s menu and drag in moreeee foodies!

Edit this template

• Departmental Store Cartoon AD [Thank you – Shopping]

Who doesn’t wish to thank their customers?

Yes, we know you do!

Check out this unique template that’s already ready-made and helps you to thank your consumers for shopping with you. Go on and customize this template and share it with your valued customers. 

Let’s make their day!

Edit this template

• Restaurant/Pub Cartoon AD 

Looking to invite people to your party? Here’s an animated video ad that pulls in more peeps to your event. 

Wanna convey the menu items of your restaurant/ announce the dress code for your party/  advertise the offers and discounts at the Pub? Use this multi-purpose template!

Animate into a short, crisp video that delivers all the information in a short stretch. 

Thanks to this template’s stunning colors and upbeat music, it would be perfect for you to promote any event!

Edit this template

Psstt.. These 10 topics are just for you to get an idea of the different types of AD templates. Then, explore the Animaker dashboard to edit the 1000+ templates available and create your own masterpiece!

Enough with the words; it’s video time!

Character animated ads are fun, exciting & engaging! 

So what are you waiting for?

Just search -> Click -> Edit -> Download!

Experience Simple & Effortless video making for FREE! 

If you are wondering how to create such cool, unique cartoon ads by yourself, check out this video.

Alternatively, you can also read this guide on How to create a cool cartoon video and create your own cartoon ad effortlessly. 

Hope this article helped you find some awe-struck cartoon AD ideas that can be readily used for your business!

Got questions? Add them to the comments section below. We will be more than happy to help you out!

0

How to create cartoon version of yourself [Easiest way]

No matter how old or young you are, cartoons are something everyone has watched at least once in their phase of life. 

For Instance, can you imagine your childhood without watching Tom and Jerry? 

Probably not, Am I right?

Cartoons have created a cultural impact to the point where it has influenced people to dress up like cartoon characters. This is well known as Cosplaying.

While people have a “thing” for cosplaying in the real world, they have a thing for cartooning themselves in the virtual world! Wondering what that is?

Well, this might give you an idea! We are sure you would have encountered a lot of videos like these on your IG feed…

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Jezjez (@jezjezshine_)

Like in this video, people are so interested in cartooning themselves.

The best part is that people use their cartoon versions in both a playful as well a professional manner.

While playful versions are mostly used on social media, the professional versions are used even in corporate or explainer videos. Since cartoon/animated videos are one of the most impactful ways to keep the audience engaged, many users resort to cartoon videos that feature themself as the main character. 

Are you curious about how you can turn yourself into a cartoon character?

If your answer is YES, then you have come to the right place!

In this article, we will guide you step by step on how to cartoon yourself online for free. 

Don’t worry. You don’t need prior experience for it!

For this tutorial, we will use Animaker, an easy-to-use online cartoon maker. This app has many features, one of which allows users to cartoon themself easily and effortlessly right from the convenience of their browser. 

Sounds interesting, right? So, let’s get started!

Step 1: Getting started – Register or Login to Animaker

You’ll need to log in or register with Animaker and create your free account.

Step 2: Create a new character

The next thing you have to do once you’re in the dashboard is to create a new character. But before that, you must choose whom you are going to cartoon. 

So, for this particular tutorial, I choose…. WILL SMITH!

 

Embed from Getty Images

Let’s start creating Will Smith’s cartoon doppelganger now! To make a new character, click on create 

And then click on the ‘create a character’ option.

Step 3: Choose your character

The next step is simple and straightforward. You have a bunch of customizable options to create your character. To begin, you will get the option to choose the type of character.

The available options are boy, XL Male, Female, XL Female, and Girl. To recreate Will, I choose the “Male” Option.

Once you select the type of character, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can select from a bunch of prebuilt character options. You can select a character from this list and start customizing it according to your preferences.

I am selecting the one with the yellow shirt as he looks similar to Will Smith.

Step 4: Character Customization 

Now let’s edit this character and customize it further to make it look like Will Smith. You can customize the Skintone, Hair, Face Shape, Facial hair, Eyes, Eyebrows, Nose, Lips, Ears, Earrings, Frown Lines, Wrinkles, Smile Lines, Freckles, Outfit, Top Wear, Bottom Wear, Foot Wear, Eye Wear, Hat, Headphones, NeckWear, Jewel, Wristwear, Mask, and Tattoo of the character.

Phew, isn’t that a long list of options to customize your character?

To start off, I will customize the character’s face shape to match our final look.

To make it more realistic, you can even add frown lines to your character. 

Next up, we can go to the Outfit section and get Will a tuxedo.

Once you select the right fit, the next thing to do is change the tuxedo’s color. You can go to the Topwear section and customize the color to do that.

To go along with the black top, we can add black pants. This color change can be done in the Bottomwear section. 

Step 5: Save the character

Once you’re done, you have to click the green SAVE button on the top right, and you’re good to go. As simple as that! You can make your very own cartoon character and literally use it anywhere you want.

Once you save the character, it will get added to the My Characters section of the library.

Step 6: Make your character the star of a video!

And that’s pretty much it. You have the stellar cartoon version of Will Smith! Now all you have to do is unleash the creativity by featuring the character in your own animated videos!

To do that, go to the Characters section and click on My Characters.

If you are editing a template from the Animaker platform and want to replace the existing character with the Will smith character you just built, here’s how you do it.

First, click on your existing character. You will see that the click opens up a property window for the character. Under the character property window, select the replace option and choose your character from the character library (Under My Characters section)

Here’s a quick GIF on how to replace an existing character with your newly created character!

Just like how we created Will Smith’s cartoon version, you can easily create your cartoon version too. If you want to spice up your character further, you can explore many other options to make your character funkier and cooler. 

To make things easier, we have an in-depth tutorial on how you can create animated characters using Animaker. Watch it here –

Alternatively, you can also create short animated cartoons using your own character. 

Wondering how?

Read this guide on How to create a cool cartoon video and create your own cartoon movie effortlessly. 

Hope this article guided you on how to create your own cartoon character & how to cartoon yourself online. So, what are you waiting for? Try cartooning yourself now!

Got questions? Add them to the comments section below. We will be more than happy to help you out!