Walk cycle in After Effects with AI
Yes, you can animate a walk cycle in After Effects with AI: ChatGPT, Claude or any MCP client connected to Prism keyframes the four poses on your rig's IK goals in your open comp and loops them.
Every walk cycle tutorial draws the same four poses by hand. Here the poses are keyframes on your own rig, in your timing, and they stay keyframes.
What you say, and what lands
| You type | What appears in your comp |
|---|---|
| "Using the rig in 'Hero_Walk', keyframe a 24-frame walk cycle: contact, down, passing, up, on the IK goals 'Foot L' and 'Foot R'." | Position keyframes on both foot goals at the four poses, mirrored for the second step |
| "Counter-swing the arms against the legs and add a 4 px body bob on Y." | Keyframes on the hand goals in opposite phase, a two-beat bob on the body's Y position |
| "Loop it." | loopOut("cycle") on every keyframed property, so the walk repeats to the end of the comp |
| "Heavier: hold the down pose longer and deepen the bob." | The down keyframes retimed and the bob raised, nothing else touched |
Test it on your own project. A Free account is enough to start: Sign up, then connect your AI and ask for this.
How to do it
The four poses
| Pose | The legs | The body |
|---|---|---|
| Contact | both feet on the ground, furthest apart | mid height |
| Down | the front leg takes the weight, knee bends | lowest point |
| Passing | the back leg swings past the planted one | rising |
| Up | the planted leg pushes off, on the toes | highest point |
Four poses per step, mirrored for the other, make eight keys per foot.
By hand, and with Prism
| By hand | With Prism |
|---|---|
| Eight foot positions placed by eye | Four poses named, both feet keyed and mirrored |
| Arm swing timed against the legs by trial | Counter-swing keyed in opposite phase in the same turn |
| A heavier walk means moving every key | The down pose retimed and the bob deepened by asking |
Not a walk generator
There is no walk-cycle button. The AI keyframes the poses you describe, which is why a limp or a swagger is the same sentence as a neutral walk.
What it needs
| After Effects | 2024, 2025 or 2026, macOS or Windows |
| AI client | any MCP client: ChatGPT, Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and others |
| A rig | IK legs with foot goals, built from your layered character |
| Plan | a Free account is enough; walk cycles use MCP actions, not Prism AI credits |
What it does not do
It does not generate a walk from a slider, does not watch a reference video, and does not rig flat artwork for you. The walk is a set of keyframes, not a procedural effect.
Common questions
Related
Character animation
Character rigging and animation in After Effects with AI: IK limbs, look-at, squash and slider controls on your layered character, no plugin, then posed by asking.
Animatic
Animatic in After Effects with AI: import your boards one layer each, transcribe the voiceover, and time every shot to its sentence, with shot numbers and a burn-in.