Gait Analysis and Biomechanics of Quadruped Motion for Procedural Animation and Robotic Simulation

Abstract

In this paper, a detailed overview of the animal motion and analysis of various gaits of each quadruped character is discussed. The three animal characters under study are Lion, Cat and Tiger, where all three belong to the same family and thus have the same anatomical structure and gait aesthetics. In order to conduct the study of various gaits of locomotion and propulsion employed by an animal during the execution of any of its regular gaits, various video footages of live animal motion are used as the primary source. Each gait and its footfall patterns were studied from the extracted frame-by-frame footage of each animal type and are analyzed. For each locomotion, its gait footfall sequence diagram and gait graph is drawn to provide an understanding and timing information of the cadence of each leg. This study will greatly aid the animators of movie and game industry to understand the quadruped motion and animate their four-legged creatures correctly.