"Hi, welcome into the walk cycle tutorial", load the database (dreamWalk.zip) in your MAYA workspace, and open the expression editor and the script editor.



Open the MEL (dreamWalkWindow.zip) file with your favourite text editor, select all the text inside, copy and paste it into your script editor and press return in the numeric keyboard. Now write the name of the procedure (dreamWalkWindow) into the script editor and the database UI window will appear in front of you.

Note: at the right side of the slider field you have three buttons: the first "setKey" set key form the attribute at its left, the second one "delKey" delete key for the attribute at that time, the third one "delAttrKeys" del all the key for that attribute.



Start to test the scene playing the time, if the skeleton starts to walk everything works good.

Let's together exanimate few parameters into the window and their meaning:



walk freq: this is the most important value in the expression, everything works about it. It determinate the frequency of the walk cycle, when it's zero the skeleton stay and wait for you.

walk jar jar: this is a tribute to "STAR WARS: EPISODE I". Let the skeleton shoulders oscillate like JarJar Binks character.

walk run: let the user to give up the feet from the flor. When it's zero the scheleton touch the ground, when it's 1 the feet fly.

hand bounciness: let the hands to bounce differently from the body, like when you play basket.if you want to syncronize the hand bounce with the body's one, just put the same value to the walk freq and hand bounciness.

Note: hand bounciness is the only parameter that works even if the walk freq it's zero.

hand beat: the attribute it's the same of walk run, but it works exatly at the contrary. When its value is zero with hands don't touch anything, when its value is 1 the hand touch the floor, like when you beat the hands on the table or like when you ski. You'll see that later in the skiing cycle.

I suggest you to take a couple of minutes and try to play with the parameters, it'll let you better undersand all the parameters functions.