Timing those arm swings.

[ginanubismon]

Okay, there is one big problem I have with all of my walkcycles and I bet a lot of other people here does too. Timing those arm swings.

I had figured out the legs, which is easy for me, but I have troubles on making the arms swing in time with the movements. Each time I tried, the arms were horribly out of sync and no matter how I try they always seems to fall too far ahead than "snaps" to the center or goes to far back and mysteriously goes to the center.

Does anyone has any tips or methods of remedy this sort of problem?

[TerranRich]

You know, I've always wanted to release some walk-cycles made in Poser, a 3D character posing application. Their walk-cycles, while not perfect for adventure games, are very realistic. I'll see if I can make a few walk-cycles in my spare time. They may help in figuring out how the arms swing properly.

[TwinMoon]

What helped me a lot was to first make a stick figure animation, and get that right before actually start drawing.

For instance, I wanted to draw this really relaxed guy walking, after several failed attempts I drew this:
Then I just painted my character over each frame of the walking animation and it was right in one go.

(EDIT: I removed one arm for clarity reasons)

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Arms swing opposite your legs.  When your right leg is all the way forward, your left arm is all the way back, and when your right leg is all the way back your left arm is all the way forward.  It's that simple.

[Dualnames]

What helped me a lot was to first make a stick figure animation, and get that right before actually start drawing.

For instance, I wanted to draw this really relaxed guy walking, after several failed attempts I drew this:
Then I just painted my character over each frame of the walking animation and it was right in one go.

(EDIT: I removed one arm for clarity reasons)

Nice example there, Twin moon..

[Mr Flibble]

The widest motion of the arm isn't on the contact as you might expect, but rather on the following frame. Everything will move better if you keep this in mind.