Hi Brandon.
I’m not sure what the actual core of this question is, so I’m going to guess what you are really asking is “when do you use an in-place walk vs a translating walk?”
I think that is what you are really asking here.
In-place is heavily used in games. Although at least one lead animator I know makes his team animate them translating forward but counter animate the root moving backwards. That way it translates if the root is muted, and is in-place if it isn’t. (best of both worlds)
The translating walk cycles are more used in film/tv. But it’s usually just the starting point that you need to edit.
(this is often quicker than starting from scratch in a specific shot)
I hope that answers your question.
