Debisty Designs

Animate a Walk
Using PI 7 and Ga 5

There must be many ways to animate a walk but by popular request, I'm proud to be able to offer this tutorial on the way I did it for a PIRC Animation Station challenge. This tutorial will take you through the creation and movement of the legs to the actual animated part. I consider it to suitable for beginners but I'm sure more advanced PI users will have fun doing this tut too.

To be able to complete this tutorial, you will need to download the following zip files:
Shoe - Ulead object in .ufo format, suitable for PI 6 users too.

My terms of use for this tutorial are simple....What you create using this tut is yours to do with as you please. A link back to this tut is appreciated but is not a requirement. The tutorial itself along with the images herein are copyrighted to me and all rights are reserved.

	Click on File/New/New Image and open a new RGB white canvas with a width of 350 pixels and a height of 100 pixels. Click on Edit/Fill and when the choice panel opens, select a fill of your own liking. As you can see in the image on the left, I chose to use a downward gradient fill of light grey and blue.
	Open the shoe.ufo you downloaded at the start of this tutorial, ungroup and if you prefer, alter any of the attributes or colours then merge as a single object. Resize the shoe to a width of approximately 109 pixels and a height of 41 pixels and move it onto your previously filled canvas.
	Use the Path Drawing Tool with Shape = Rectangle; Colour = #E4A68B (or other skin colour); Mode 2D to draw a shape that represent a leg. Be sure that it is wide enough to fit into the shoe and long enough to stretch higher than you canvas. You'll find this easier to do if your canvas is open to it's full size.
	With your leg shape still selected, right click on your mouse and choose to Convert Object Type/From Text-Path to Image. Using the Paintbrush, paint a sock onto your leg. When you're happy with how the leg looks position in behind the shoe, right click to Select All Objects and then right click again to Merge as a Single Object. Right click again and select to Duplicate your object. You should now have two legs with shoes attached on your canvas. DO NOT MERGE ANYTHING.
	Image 1 - Decide which is going to be the back foot and rotate that foot by 25 degrees to the left. Position both feet as you see in example on the left here and then save that image as 1.jpg
	Image 2 - Rotate the back foot to the right by 50 degrees and position as shown in the example on the left here and then save that image as 2.jpg
	Image 3 - Rotate both the back and the front foot to the left by 25 degrees. Position as shown in the example on the left here and save that image as 3.jpg
	Image 4 - Rotate the front foot to the right by 25 degrees. Position as shown in the example on the left here and save that image as 4.jpg
	Image 5 - Rotate the front foot to the right by 25 degrees. Position as shown in the example on the left here and save that image as 5.jpg
	Image 6 - Rotate both the front and the back foot to the left by 25 degrees. Position as shown in the example on the left here and save that image as 6.jpg
	Image 7 - Rotate back foot to the right by 25 degrees. Position as shown in the example on the left here and save that image as 7.jpg
	Image 8 - Rotate back foot to the right by 25 degrees. Position as shown in the example on the left here and save that image as 8.jpg
	Image 9 - Rotate the front foot to the left by 25 degrees. Position as shown in the example on the left here and save that image as 9.jpg
	Image 10 - Rotate the front foot to the right by 25 degrees. Position as shown in the example on the left here and save that image as 91.jpg (Yes I did say 91 heeheehee, trust me, it's easier that way...Well, I think it is.)
	Image 11 - Move both feet out of the image totally and save the canvas as image 92.jpg

Phew....that's the hardest part over. If all that rotating has made you feel dizzy, then you're welcome to take a well earned break before going onto the animation part :-)

* * * * * * * * * * *

Hey, that's enough...your break is over and this part is easy to do anyway, so let's get moving!

1. Open Gif Animator 5 and then click on the Animation Wizard.

2. Enter the details of your image size in pixels - Width = 350; Height 100 and then click on the Next button.

3. *** Click on the Add Image button, browse to your saved files and select to Open 1.jpg ***

4. Repeat from *** to *** until all your saved files have been added in sequence (don't forget to add images 91 and 92 as well), then click on the Next button.

5. We can leave the timing at default, so click again on the Next button and then on the Finish button.

6. Now click on File/Optimization Wizard. Put a check mark in the box next to Optimize using a preset and then select one of the options in the dropdown box before clicking on Finish. I chose to optimize my own animation with the preset Line Art 64, but you may prefer another setting.

7. Preview your animation to be sure you're happy with it and then click on Save As, give your animation a name, then click on OK.

Hooray you've completed this tutorial. Wasn't so bad was it?

Debisty Designs Tutorial Award
When you have completed this tutorial you are welcome to download and display this award on your web page. As a courtesy, you may wish to display your results on the PhotoImpact International Board. This award is being offered on the honour system. Right-click on image and save to your hard drive.

[Index] [Gallery] [Tutorials] [Downloads]
[PI Newbies] [PI Challenge] [WET] [Links]