1.
Squash and Stretch
2.
Anticipation
3.
Staging
4.
Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose
5.
Follow Through and Overlapping Action
6. Ease
In, Ease Out
7. Arcs
8.
Secondary Action
9.
Timing
10. Exaggeration
11.
Solid Drawing
12.
Appeal
1. Squash and Stretch
Squash and stretch is what gives flexibility
to objects. The easiest way to understand how squash and stretch work is to
look at a bouncing ball. As the ball starts to fall and picks up speed, the
ball will stretch out just before impact.
Squash and stretch is debatably the most
fundamental principle. Look at what happens when a ball hits the ground. The
force of the motion squashes the ball flat, but because an object needs to
maintain its volume, it also widens on impact. This what’s called squash and
stretch.
This effect gives animation an elastic life-like quality because although it may not seem like it, squash and stretch is all around you. All shapes are distorted in some way or another when acted upon by an outside force; it’s just harder to see in real-life. Squash and stretch imitates that and exaggerates it to create some fun.
In the above example, when the letters spring from the ground, they
elongate to show the impression of speed. Conversely, the letters
squash horizontally when they come into contact with the ground.
This conveys a sense of weight in each letter.
2. Anticipation
Anticipation is used in animation to set the
audience up for an action that is about to happen, and is required to sell
believable movements.
An easy way to think about this is before a
baseball player pitches the ball, they first need to move their entire body and
arm backward to gain enough energy to throw the ball forward. So, if an
animated person needs to move forward, they first must move back. Or, if a
character is reaching for a glass on a table, they must first move their hand
back. This not only gets up their momentum, but it lets the audience know this
person is about to move.
Other cases where anticipation is used
include when a character looks off screen when someone is arriving, or when a
character’s attention is focused on something they are about to do.
Imagine you’re about to kick a soccer ball.
What’s the first thing you do? Do you swing your foot back to wind up? Steady
yourself with your arms? That’s anticipation.
Anticipation is the preparation for the main action. The player striking the soccer ball would be the main action, and the follow-through of the leg is well… the follow through.
In the example clip above, notice how the progression of action operates
in this scene. We first see the woman as she’s standing on the box. She
then bends her knees in anticipation of what’s about to happen and
springs into action by leaping from the ground up into the air.
3. Staging
lows us to quickly follow his actions and gives us a good sense of the physical layout.
The protagonist can’t see his subordinate, but the subordinate is so busy
that the sound of his scurrying to and fro is enough to draw his attention.
This motivates the cut to a medium shot, which then pulls back to the
two-shot to reveal that his colleague is also worried about this problem.
It builds from problem to realization to shared understanding, to the
beginning of a solution, all in a visual telling.
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose
Take a look at an example from a video from ViewBoost. Watch the
sleeves of the “Cheese Jedi’s” cloak when he swings his lightsaber.
They move with the momentum of the action, but when it’s over,
the sleeves continue to go before settling to a stop.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Follow through is the idea that separate
parts of the body will continue moving after the character has come to a stop.
As a character comes to a stop from a walk, the arms may continue forward
before settling in a down position. This could also be the case with articles
of clothing.
Overlapping action (also called “drag” or
“lead and follow”) is very similar in
that it means different parts of the body will move at different times. An
example of overlapping action is when a character raises their arm up to wave:
The shoulder will move first, then the arm, and then the elbow, before the hand
lags behind a few frames. You can also see this when a blade of grass waves in
the wind. The base moves first and then the rest of the grass follows behind at
different rates, giving it that waving motion.
Additionally, characters who are remaining still need to display some sort of movement (blinking eyes, breathing, etc.) to prevent the animation from becoming “dead.” This is called “moving hold.”
6. Ease In, Ease Out
As any object moves or comes to a stop, there
needs to be a time for acceleration and deceleration. Without ease in and ease
out (or slow in and slow out), movements become very unnatural and robotic.
As a car moves away from a stop, it doesn’t
just reach full speed in an instant. It must first gain speed. As it comes to a
stop, it doesn’t go from sixty to zero in the blink of an eye. Instead, it
slows down until it reaches a complete stop.
The same must be accomplished in animation and the easiest way to accomplish ease in and ease out is to utilize the principle of spacing. As a character stands up from a sitting position, the spacing of each pose will be closer together at the start so that they can ease into the movement. As they stand up, they will ease out of the movement by spacing the poses further apart at the end of the action. Without this acceleration and deceleration of actions, everything would be very abrupt and jerky.
Carefully controlling the changing speeds of objects creates an animation that is more realistic and has more personality.
In this clip from an explainer video from Tworkz, the woman raises
her arm slowly at first, but it picks up speed as the motion continues.
The ease in, ease out technique works to make the action more fluid
and realistic.
7. Arcs
Everything in real life typically moves in
some type of arcing motion. Since it's unnatural for people to move in straight
lines, you should adhere to this principle of animation to ensure you get
smooth, realistic movements. The quicker something moves, the flatter the arc
and the broader the turn. The only time something would move in a perfectly
straight line is a robot.
If a character is turning his head, he will
dip his head down during the turn to create an arcing motion. You also want to
ensure that more subtle things move in arcs. For example, when a character
walks, even the tips of their toes should move in a rounded, arcing motion.
Life doesn’t move in straight lines, and
neither should animation. Most living beings – including humans – move in
circular paths called arcs.
Arcs operate along a curved trajectory that
adds the illusion of life to an animated object in action. Without arcs, your
animation would be stiff and mechanical.
The speed and timing of an arc are crucial. Sometimes an arc is so fast that it blurs beyond recognition. This is called an animation smear – but that’s a topic for another time.
In the above example from Scandis, the man passes the cash along
from one person to another by reaching his arms across the frame.
At first glance it may be hard to see the arcs happening, but when it’s
outlined on the second time around it’s quite obvious. The fluid arcing
motion of the arms adds grace to the animation.
8. Secondary Action
Secondary action refers to the actions that
support or emphasize the main action to breathe more life into the animation
and create a more convincing performance. It’s important to remember that the
secondary action should typically be something subtle that doesn’t detract from
the main action happening (perhaps even thought of as a subconscious action).
For this reason, dramatic movements take priority over things like facial
expressions.
Let’s say a character is talking to another
character in a waiting room. The two of them talking would be the main action,
but if one of them begins tapping their foot nervously, that would be the
secondary action. Other examples would be a character whistling, leaning on a
wall, or crossing their arms while a primary action is taking place.
Secondary actions are gestures that support the main action to add more dimension to character animation. They can give more personality and insight to what the character is doing or thinking.
In the below example, a deer takes a bite of a leaf sprayed with DeerPro
repellant. The primary action is the deer spitting out the leaf when he
realizes it’s no good. The secondary action is the slight tail wag that
shows the deer’s relief to have the awful taste out of his mouth.
9. Timing
Animation is all about the timing. The timing
comprises many things in animation. It is the duration of an action. It is the
speed and velocity of an action. It is the way actions overlap and secondary
objects follow the main action. If the timing is off, too slow, too long, too
fast, or too linear, the animation will not look realistic. It will be stiff,
even boring. The nature of the character, personality or weight of an object
will influence the timing of the animation.
Timing refers to the number of frames between
two poses, or the speed of action. For example, if a ball travels from screen
left to screen right in 24 frames, that would be timing. It takes 24 frames or
1 second (if you’re working within the film rate of 24 rates per second) for
the ball to reach the other side of the screen. Timing can also establish mood,
emotion, and personality.
The physics of motion determines how objects
move in the physical world. It's hard to convince viewers to believe in your
story and characters if your animation does not follow these basic laws of
motion. Of course, exaggeration is essential in the animated world, but even
exaggerated animated action must still follow the basic laws of physics.
In North America (NTSC format), the frame
rate of animated film is 24 frames/second (fps). For animation mixed with live
action, the fps is 30. In Europe it is 25 fps (PAL format). That means that at
24 fps, it takes 1,440 frames to create one minute of action.
Notice that at the top of each bounce, the
balls are packed closer together. That is because the ball is slowing down as
it reaches the peak of the bounce. As the ball falls from its peak it and
accelerates, the spacing starts becoming wider.
Notice also how many drawings there are in
each bounce. As the momentum of the ball diminishes, the bounces become shorter
and more frequent (i.e., the number of frames in each bounce decrease).
In practice, the success of your animation is
going to depend on your sense of timing. Train yourself to listen to the
rhythms and timings of your animation. You will see instances where a gag might
be twice as funny if you just delay it by three frames more. It often helps to
add sound early – whether it is music, voice, sound effects, or all of the
above – because the ear is better attuned to subtleties of timing than the eye
is.
10. Exaggeration
Exaggeration is used to push movements
further, adding more appeal to an action, and should always be implemented to
some degree.
Exaggeration can be used to create extremely
cartoony movements including physical alterations or supernatural elements. Or,
exaggeration can be incorporated with a little more restraint for more
realistic actions. But, even then you can still use exaggeration to make a more
readable or fun movement while still staying true to reality.
So, if a character is preparing to jump off a
diving board, you can push them down just a little bit further before they leap
off. Alternatively, you can use exaggeration in the timing to enhance different
movements or help sell the weight of a character or object.
Sometimes more is more. Exaggeration presents a character’s features and actions in an extreme form for comedic or dramatic effect. This can include distortions in facial features, body types, and expressions, but also the character’s movement. Exaggeration is a great way for an animator to increase the appeal of a character, and enhance the storytelling.
Take a look at an another example below.
11. Solid Drawing
In 2D animation, solid drawing is all about
making sure that animated forms feel like they’re in three-dimensional space in
terms of volume and weight, balance, shadow, and the anatomy in a pose. With 3D
animation, animators need to think about how to pose out your 3D character rig
to ensure there is correct balance and weight, as well as a clear silhouette.
Avoid “twinning,” which is creating a
mirrored pose across to the other side (both arms on hips or both hands in
pockets) because this creates a rather boring and unappealing pose.
12. Appeal
This principle can really come down to adding
more appeal (charisma) in many different areas of your animation, such as in
posing. The most obvious example, however, is appeal in the character design
because you want to have a character that the audience can connect with or
relate to, whereas a complicated or confusing character design can lack appeal.
You can find areas on the character to push
and exaggerate in order to create a more unique design that will stick out in
your audience’s memory. One example is to simply exaggerate the jawline or push
the youthfulness in the eyes. Either of these can help create more appeal.
Keep in mind that appeal is also required for villains.
So
those are the twelve principles of animation! You now know the basic road map
to create fundamentally sound animation, so get to work!
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