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[cosmic_monkey]

I've found plethora of reference videos etc for this sort of thing...but when it came to actually animating a six-legged walk cycle...well...  it's just very difficult to visualize and orient more than two legs at a time, esp. for a first time animator. If anyone has experience in this area, I would really appreciate something as basic as a short key-framed skeleton of just the legs themselves moving...nothing fancy, but enough to get the general idea. In this instance, the legs would only have to have two segments, plus the 'foot'. Much appreciation in advance for anyone's time. 

[Josmic8or]

I'm not a professional but if you attach the .an8 file maybe I can help

[johnar]

Hi Cosmic_monkey,
I did an eight legged spider thing, should be able to use much the same method with six legs.
 In sequence mode, set up 2 views.  top and front.
  I'll try to explain here, and if no good, can post an8 nxt time i near that computer.
 We'll call his legs RFL, RML, RBL, LFL, LML, LBL. (Right Front Leg, Right Middle Leg, Right Back Leg etc...

 We doing in 2 stages, (passes), and that should give a basic walk.
 1st stage is to move legs fwd and back. 2nd stage is legs up and down. Leg has 2 sections + foot. The only segments, (bones), that we need worry about for now are the TOP segments.  Bottom segs can be tweaked once you get a handle on it.
  
 
(the following may sound confusing, but isn't really if you read carefully and take your time) Try to see the correlation of whats going on here.
 Use the front 2 legs, Left and Right, as a guide to set the rhythm. When RFL goes fwd, LFL goes back, then LFL goes fwd, and RFL goes back, and so on.
 We try a slow walk, 24frames. Make sure key is on.

 Ok. Here goes.
Stage1: Make a pose on 1st frame.
 In top view, move RFL forward.
 If RFL moves fwd, RML will move away from it, (backwrds), and if RML moves back, then RBL moves fwd to meet RML
  So, still on 1st pose, if RFL is forward, then LFL goes backwds, and if LFL is back then the LML moves fwd to meet it. And if LML  moves fwd, then LBL moves backwards. (away from it).

Now make a pose on frame 12. Everything basically moves opposite.
 RFL goes back, RML moves fwd to meet it, and RBL goes back
LBL moves fwd, LML moves back, and LBL moves fwd to meet it.

 Go back to 1st frame, select all top legbones, go edit-> bones -> key selected. Then copy those bones,(keys), go to last frame and paste.
Also go to frame 12, select all top legbones, and again go edit-> bones -> key selected. (just to make sure those bones are keyed properly)
Cool.

Stage 2: up and down. Using top legbones only. Select bones in top view. move upwards in Front view.
 Notice WHICH legs move forward, from 1st frame to frame 12. Select a fwd moving leg and go to frame 6. Raise the leg using top bone.  It should lower again when it hits frame 12, coz its keyed at 'down'.
 Do the same with any legs that move Forward, between frames 12-24.

Options -> loop sequence>   Play.

 Hopefully, by now it should be starting to look like a walk. Save a copy, and begin tweaking. ie: the bottom segments also have some back and forth, up and down movements of thier own, but mostly only slight, unless he's touching something, or 'reaching'.
 Good luck, and let's know how it goes.
 

[cosmic_monkey]

Hiya johnar! Sorry I couldn't get back to you sooner, been working a lot. I gave what you described a go...it wasn't so much that I couldn't understand it all...but more that anim8or's key-framing has been really tricky for me. Timing in particular: when I wanted one leg to go down after another one had risen up...the movement of both legs executed too soon or too late and threw the rhythm for the whole sequence off. At other times legs that I hadn't even done anything with yet would move for no reason at all, even though I'd already keyed them in the proper position. If you would upload a project file for me, I'd really appreciate that. Seeing how you keyed everything will be of great help in future endeavors as well. Thanks in advance for your time 

[johnar]

 The problem you're describing sounds like the types of keys that you are using.
 A 'first' key needs to be a 'corner key', or a step key.
 To stop a movement properly you need to 'double-key'. ie: copy the last key and paste into next frame.
 Sorry i still don't have the file handy, but the youtube link below explains how to.
 It concerns morph targets in the vid, but same applies to bones.
 Could you give this a look, and let me know how it goes?
 Thanx.
 Keyframing:

[cosmic_monkey]

Thanks, that video helped. The 'double keying' is what made a huge difference. I've got the jest of the cycle down now, I just need to refine it so it looks more natural (e.g., offsetting the legs, etc...). You've been a great help.

[johnar]

Glad i could help.
 You're welcome.