A character animation system executing on a computer. The system provides a simple, efficient and powerful user interface that allows the user to specify complex animations of multi-legged characters by placing footprints on a surface. The system automatically generates a natural looking animation based on the footprints. Motions such as walking, running, jumping, etc. are easily animated depending on the way footprints are placed. The user is able to create new footprint patterns and modify existing patterns. Footprint blocks on a timeline are used to specify the time duration that each foot is in contact with a footprint. The user may specify keyframes in the animation sequence that allow more complicated body movements to be incorporated with the footprint based animation.