Year2 Assignment1: Animation Principles part 1

• i have already stated the inportance of the animation principles for this project, as it is designed to give us a good grounding motion graphics which will play a large part in this year.

we have been given a revised list of the 12 principles of

animation which our tutors think are relevant to motion graphics. the original 12 principles are;

1. Squash and stretch
2. Anticipation
3. Staging
4. Straight ahead action and pose to pose
5. Follow through and overlapping action
6. Slow in and slow out
7. Arcs
8. Seconday action
9. Timing
10. Exaggeration
11. Solid drawing
12. Appeal

Timing

spacing actions to define weight and size. heavy objects will generally take longer to pick up speed. They will also take longer to stop moving than light objects because more resistance is needed to fight against the heavier weight.

here is an example of timing when used in animation. the top end of the flag moves slower than the tip because there is more materiel to move.

ideas of uses for this in my animations.

• heavy objects chasing lighter objects
• merging objects of different densities
• giving weight to textured objects
• subvert the weight and make things that should be light heavy to give a surreal feeling

Speed of change (Slow in and slow out)

spacing of the in-between keyframes to achieve natural movement. this can be seen in moving you hand to pick something up at first your hand moves slowly then as it moves across the space to the object it moves quickly then as it comes to the object it slows down.

ideas of uses for this in my animations.

• jumping
• ricocheting
• falling

Arcs

the visual path of action for natural movement. an image which was provided with a presentation we where given explains this principle very well.

it also applies to moving body parts for example is you move you hand down you do not move it in a straight line it moves with your elbow or shoulder as the pivot

i cant think of specific uses for this in my animations at the moment but it will be in all my animations as it is a very important part of making things appears natural.

Motion blur

to enhance appearance of motion. this dose exactly as it says. from what i understand of this it will be more useful for displaying depth and 3d things where there are distant objects that will be moving. it will also be useful for showing things that are moving very fast.

it can be seen in action in startreck when they jump to warp speed

ideas of uses for this in my animations.

• this can be used if i want to show fast movement between several places
• races
• sudden movements
• adding very subtle motion blur to objects that are moving my also give them a more fluid motion i will have to test this

Squash and stretch

One of the most important rules of animation is the squash and stretch rule. For an object to look convincing it must ‘give’ when external forces are applied to it. As the ball hits the ground it will squash, but did you know that it will also stretch as it falls and rises? The only time the ball should look perfectly round is at the top of each arc, where resistance is at its least.

Obviously a softer ball, for example a beach ball will squash and stretch a lot whereas a cannonball will hardly squash and stretch at all. You can use squash and stretch techniques to convey an object’s density and mass.

ideas of uses for this in my animations.

• i could center an animation around this principle very easily by exaggerating the squash and squeezes
• object bursting under pressure
• 5 ball pendulum

Motivation/anticipation

preparation for and action. Anticipation can be used to direct the viewer’s attention to part of the screen. It is often intermingled with staging (setting the scene so a viewer can understand context and situation).

However, there are differences which make it a rule unto itself. Some anticipation occurs naturally, for example, a mouse is about to hit a cat over the head with a mallet. Physically, the mouse would have to pull the mallet back before plunging it down, this is the anticipation moment.

By exaggerating this moment you can let the viewer know what is about to happen in the scene. There are other anticipation tricks which do not always happen in nature but are useful in animation. For example, in the old Road Runner cartoons, when the coyote falls off the cliff, he hangs in the air for a second or two before plummeting to the ground. Without the pause, the viewer would not have time to register his very fast fall to earth.

43 seconds into this video

ideas of uses for this in my animations.

• breaking objects
• collisions
• explosions
• an incoming disaster which influences the objects on screen (TNT plunger being pressed)