Animation

The Basic Skills

Traditional Animators

They had to be extremely talentedHad to draw and paint every single frameHad basic animation philosophies that they had to develop and followTraditional character animation books and characters are still great references today

Talent PoolAnimation:Master software embraces the concept of a talent poolA:M can’t supply all the talent for youIt can help you use the talent already in the pool, or put your talent into the library for future use.By storing your reusable actions in the library and then drawing from the “talent pool” you’ve created, you can get a head start by speeding the process and increasing the number of stories you can tell

Talent Pool Definition

The concept of reusing facial expressions, gestures, locomotion and other activities of characters for other characters you will create later. This speeds up the animation process.

Keys to AnimatingWhen animation first begun, a single person produced thousands of drawings necessary to make a cartoon.

When they did this, they used a technique called “Straight ahead animation” where every frame was a minor adjustment on the previous frame.

“Straight Ahead Animation”

Although the process was simple to understand, it didn’t have any real timing and it was very difficult to know how much time a simple move would make and ensure that every move would flow evenly into the next move.

In order to watch examples, watch some pre-1930 cartoons.

“Keyframe” Animation

Requires the animator to time the movement first

Draw the frames that are the extremes of the motion, then fill in the in-between frames that make the movement smooth

As it developed, animators adjusted the in-between frames to produce a visual impression of acceleration and deceleration simply by changing the spacing.

“Keyframe” Animation

Some master animators created their own distinctive animation styles by exaggerating the acceleration and deceleration and carrying it into the keyframesFor example, a character’s head may turn so quickly that it snaps back, and probably distorts the shapeAs you develop into an animator, your own style will emerge when you become proficient at certain moves making your original character distinct and recognizable

The 10 Animation Ingredients

Pose to Pose

Anticipation & Overshoot

Follow Through

Exaggeration

Timing

Balance & Weight

Secondary Action

Attitude

Staging

Squash & Stretch

All of these were identified by the “Nine Old Men” of Disney and they were canonized because of their knowledge

Pose to PoseTerm that is taken from a traditional animator’s technique of drawing key poses for the actionEach action then morphs into the next actionFor computer animation the concept is the sameFor example, an actor is posed holding a ball on the first keyframeHe lifts the ball on the subsequent keyReaches back on the nextSteps forward with his arm ahead throwing the ball on the last keyframe

Anticipation & OvershootIf a viewer is watching another part of the screen, it takes about a fifth of a second (or 6 frames) after a new object moves before the viewer can refocus on that movement.In other words, the viewer essentially misses the beginning of the movementTherefore, you the animator should make a preliminary movement before the main movement to attract the viewer’s attentionThat’s called “anticipation”These are the clues that your character gives the viewer that something is about to happen

Anticipation & OvershootSome examples of anticipation would be:Drawing back a character’s foot before a big kick…by the time the viewer is watching, the leg will begin it’s swingOr, the character’s eyes may follow a pestering bee before a swatThe camera pans to a flower the character is going to sniffA baseball player winds up for a hitFor emphasis, the movement should overshootFor example, an arm stretching too far while pointing a finger, then snapping back

Follow ThroughThese are subtle movements caused by the physics of nature in our everyday life:A character’s hair waving after turning his headA rabbit’s ears bouncingCoat tails swingingBug antennas bobbingCigarette smoke swirlingThe rebound of a baseball player’s bat after the hitJiggling of a fat belly

Exaggeration

Character animation is the art of exaggerationExaggerating the character’s movements, expressions, and reactions is funny and a proven device that keeps the audience entertainedWhen clueing the audience that an actor is heavy, it always pays to overdo itIf you don’t meet the viewer’s expectation of weight, it hurts the story, but if you exaggerate it, it only makes it funnyMost animation characters are not supposed to be real…and that’s their charm

Exaggeration

For example:A happy character’s smile is much to big

for their headSilly characters bob high in the air when

they walkWhen characters tumble, their arms flail

wildly

TimingAnimation movement is divided into tenths of secondsMost natural movement occurs over two tenths of a secondThat’s 6 frames at 30 frames per second

Computer animation is described by keyframesThe animator establishes the keyframes and the computer calculates and performs the in-between framesSpacing of key poses determines the amount of time the action will takeVarying the spacing varies the speed, which in turn signals emotion: lethargic, excited, nervous, relaxed, etc.

KF Spacing Impression

1234567891011

Tremendous force

Hit by a frying pan

Twitch

Dodging the frying pan

Crisp order “move it!”

Friendly request “Hurry”

Caught attention

Casual look

Close scrutiny

Thoughtful considerationStretching

Ease

An animator’s term for simulating acceleration and deceleration of movement

For beginners, the computer automatically supplies its own ease to most movement

However, knowledgeable animators can control just how much ease they want by adding extra keyframes

HoldsWhen a character is not moving at all, it is called a “hold”Holds are an important part of timing…so much so that they have evolved their own rules The character must be balanced before holding A look off-screen needs a half-second of hold (15 frames)

before cutting to what the character sees Allow two thirds of a second (20 frames) for each word of a title

card for reading time The freeze position at the end of a fast throw is held for half a

second ( or 15 frames) After a character stands up quickly, the pose is held for a third

of a second (or 10 frames) before the next movement

Holds

An important note to remember about holds:

Avoid having all parts of a character start or stop at the same time

Balance & WeightWe recognize it if someone loses their balance and is about to fall overAnimation if funny when it violates these balance expectations, BUT, other than a storyline gag, characters MUST remain balanced!If a character appears off-balanced, yet never falls down, the narrative is ruined because you have confused the viewer’s senses

Balance & WeightBecause of our expectations of what happens when something is out of balance, balance hints of upcoming actionIf the character leans forward and points, he certainly should stretch his other arm behind him to even things outExaggerate weight shifts to accentuate it

Balance & WeightWeight is related to balanceTraditional animators stress weight above all other technical concernsHow much an object weighs is dictated by how much effort is required to move, stop, push, pull, or change its directionHeavy characters should show a distinct shifting of balance and squashing of their legs as they step, moving slow and deliberately.Thrown objects need to travel along a realistic arc

Secondary ActionIt supports the main actionLittle details that show personalityExamples: Evil-doer twirling his mustache Bookworm taking of her glasses and rubbing her eyes

These little mannerisms add personality to a characterAs you become an experienced animator, these secondary actions will improveIt is a good way of measuring an animator’s skill

AttitudeCharacters express their feelings and emotion through body language: Quizzical characters shrug their shoulders Angry characters thrust out their chest Surprised characters throw up their hands

More importantly, though, are the natural positions that a character assumes while listening to a conversation, or the heroic stance of a leaderIn every scene, every character needs an appropriate pose or they will appear out of place

Staging

Staging includes photography direction, choreography, and set dressing

It should convey the mood even before the characters arrive

There are many staging tricks already built up in moviemaking iconology

These include:

SCENE

Staging includes the scene’s ingredients

For example:Something scary should be filled with

symbols of a spooky situation…an old house, bones, the wind howling

DEPTHThe subject of any camera shot should stand out from the background, otherwise the audience can’t follow the continuity while they decide what is the important thing in the scene

Centering the shot on the subject is the most important visual clue, including centering of the subject’s depth in the scene

DEPTHTraditional animation has a lack of depth clues so gimmicks such as blurred backgrounds, isolation, and color desaturation were used to provide emphasisComputer rendering has the advantage that shading and perspective show depth to the audienceHowever, if a shot becomes jumbled, use depth-of-field (blurring of objects in front of and behind the subject) and lighting to emphasize depth

ASYMMETRY

When you animate, make sure both arms or legs are not doing exactly the same thing (or the mirror image of the same thing)

Make sure that all movements are in flowing arcs – this makes the character appear natural rather than robotic

EMOTIONThere are already several established symbols of emotion in the scene: Rear views for dreaming Center on the shadows for suspense Shadows fall onto main character during drama A desperately searching character frequently has

his face obscured as he looks around Support the staging. For example, leaf bare trees

at night signal terror Painted backgrounds can be used as establishing

shots, such as a castle in the distance

EMOTION

Effects, such as rain, fire, and fog convey strong pre-conceived feelingsInstead of animating a character, prolong a feeling of activity by moving the cameraOff-screen sound effects are the easiest scene builderSad or quiet scenes are long, with slow camera pans and trucks, and slow moving charactersHappy or excited scenes are short with fast cuts and quicker moves of the camera and charactersA down shot should be used when there are interesting or important things to identify

EXPRESSIONS

Rules of thumb:Change the expression before a fast moveA character looks down when frowning, up

when smilingWhen the character is talking, minimize

other facial expressions before or after the dialog

GROUP MOVEMENT

When more than one character is walking together, modify each ones pace slightly.Also have the spacing between characters change slightly – pull apart, close in again, pass another, or fall behindThis gives life to the group

ANIMALS

Animals are common in animation and they have their own secrets Hair clues the audience to an animal’s personality

Smooth fur is feminine Mussed hair gives an irritable look

Tails show mood: Happy dogs wag their tails Scared dogs put their tails between their legs

Ears show an animals attitude: Quizzical, angry, or alert

Neck and chest also show attitude From belligerent chest jutting to friendly leg rubbing

Squash & StretchEven though actors don’t squash or stretch when they move, it has become a staple in traditional animation because it exaggerates weightWeight is considered the most important aspect of realistic movement

Squash & Stretch

Balls squash as they hit the ground, stretch as they reboundRubber balls squash more than cannonballsThe fact that you can tell if a ball is a rubber ball or a cannonball by a simple animated bounce, demonstrates how influential squash and stretch can beA little bit goes a long way…unless your goal is to animate like the great Tex Avery, don’t overdo squash and stretch

Source:

The Art of Animation:Master

By Martin D. Hash

Created by:Stacy Walker, Roach Middle School, Frisco, Texas 2006 ©