The Fundamental Principles Animation The Fundamental Principles

Animation Fireworks basic animation Frame by Frame animation ‘Inbetweening’ or ‘tweening’ is the process of generating intermediate frames between two images to give the appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the second image. Inbetweens are the images between the key frames which aid in creating the illusion of motion A key frame is a drawing that defines the starting and ending points of any smooth transition or tween

Animation

Simple Animation Using Key Framing & Tweening

Animation The frame rate of an animation is the rate at which the animation is played back to the user Frames Per Second (FPS) – Generally 24 but may vary In drawn animation characters are often shot ‘on twos’ i.e. one drawing is shown for every two frames of film meaning there are only 12 drawings per second. For quick movements it is usually necessary to revert to animating ‘on ones’, as swift motion cannot be conveyed adequately ‘on twos’ at 24 FPS

Animation Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an after image is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina. Given a typical 24FPS animation the human eye will view 24 frames in one second The brain storing will store each frame for a time slightly longer than the image stays on the screen This gives the illusion of movement rather than the eye seeing a series of different pictures.

Creating Animation Step 1: Planning –Decide on the problem to be solved –Design a solution – storyboard –Determine the characters and objects to appear

Creating Animation Sample Storyboard

Creating Animation Step 2: Implementation - Start production - Post production - Test playback and review - Changes - Delivery or packaging

Stages of Implementation Creating Animation Stages of Implementation Ruff EFX Mattes (Portions of frame)

Fundamental Principles 1930’s: Walt Disney wished to improve level of animation suit certain story lines Set up classes for animators where analysis of nature + real action became central to the animation process From this grew the 12 fundamental principles of animation

12 Fundamental Principles Timing + Spacing Timing is how long does it takes to get from one key pose to another Spacing is the way to get from one key pose to another, whether its fast or slow e.g. eye blinking

12 Fundamental Principles Ease In and Out Refers to the variation of the movement speed between different poses Object or limb may slow down (Ease In) or speed up (Ease Out) as it approaches a pose

12 Fundamental Principles Arcs An arc is the visual path of action for natural movement. All actions, with few exceptions follow an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially true of the human figure and the action of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. Trajectory of a kicked ball

12 Fundamental Principles Arcs

12 Fundamental Principles Anticipation Anticipation of movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform For example starting to run, jump or change expression. A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed. Anticipation is used to lead the viewers eye and prepare them for what will happen Run off the screen... Starts with pose

12 Fundamental Principles Anticipation

12 Fundamental Principles Exaggeration Accentuating the essence of an idea via the design and the action. Exaggeration does not mean just distorting the actions or objects arbitrarily, but the animator must carefully choose which properties to exaggerate. If only one thing is exaggerated then it may stand out too much. If everything is exaggerated, then the entire scene may appear too unrealistic.

12 Fundamental Principles Squash + Stretch This helps to define the rigidity and mass of an object by distorting its shape during an action + adding realism

12 Fundamental Principles Squash + Stretch Note: When an object is being deformed it must still appear to retain its volume

12 Fundamental Principles Secondary Action An action which adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the scene Should be staged so as not to overpower the main action Character sitting talking at a table Secondary action may be the characters thumbs twiddling Should be more and ‘felt’ more than noticed immediately

12 Fundamental Principles Follow Through + Overlapping Follow through is like anticipation but at the end of an action. When the main body of the character stops all other parts continue to catch up to the main mass of the character e.g. long hair, floppy ears or a long tail Overlapping action is an action caused by another If a character changes direction, a number of frames later, his clothes & hair will follow in the new direction. Timing becomes critical to the effectiveness of overlapping action.

12 Fundamental Principles Follow Through + Overlapping

12 Fundamental Principles Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose Action 2 basic methods of creating animation SAA + PPA SAA: Animator draws or sets up objects one frame at a time until the sequence is complete Can yield a fresh look but can be difficult to time correctly & tweak PPA: Setting up key poses & then drawing or generating in-between images – key frame approach Excellent for tweaking or timing Generally a hybrid approach is applied to contemporary animation

12 Fundamental Principles Staging This is presenting an action or idea so that it is easily understood Objective of staging is to lead the viewers eye to where the action will occur so that they do not miss anything This can be achieve by the framing of the camera, the positioning of the character, the flow lines of the character’s line of actions, and also movements. Present only one idea so as not to upstage

12 Fundamental Principles Solid Drawing Every frame in an animation should be able to stand out on its own as a solid drawing. Solid in-betweens are just as important as solid keys. Without solid drawing, animations can appear to morph or dither as they change in quality. Once you can pause an animation at any time and the frame can stand out on its own as an individual piece of still art – you have achieved solid drawing

12 Fundamental Principles Appeal Appeal means creating something that the audience will want to see. This is equivalent to charisma in a live actor. A scene or character should not be too simple (boring) or too complex (can’t understand it).

What Animation Is Not Animation is not blindly copying motion Animation is not the use of motion capture + other techniques to make graphics move Animation requires the artist to interpret and create something that is more than the original

Further Reading ‘Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D Computer Animation’, J. Lasseter, Pixar, July, 1987 http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/academic/class/15462-f09/www/lec/Lesseter.pdf