LukeyxD (Luke Murphy)
12 Principles of Animation
(Image sourced from google, at the following link - c1.staticflickr.com/9/8073/8271571561_e0b1f808df.jpg)
The Twelve principles of animation are a guideline to creating effective and visually interesting animation. There are 12, and each has it's own Guidelines and rules.
1. Timing is a basic concept, referring to, in the case of animation, frames and length of time something takes to move. Timing is affected by weight, and can help make objects appear heavier, if they take longer to move, and the opposite goes for lighter objects. Timing is key in animation, as good timing can help keep it visually interesting, while bad timing may end up boring the viewer.
2. Anticipation is the process in which a build up occurs, this can either by physically seen and shown by the characters, or even by the camera focusing on another area before something happens. Anticipation is the idea that before an action happens, it has a kind of, preparation that happens beforehand. E.g. Someone swinging a heavy bat, the build up and preparation of the swing, is the anticipation.
3. Straight Ahead or Pose to Pose is about the drawing itself, and is usually based on the scenes content, although it can be based on animators preference. Straight ahead is the idea that going frame by frame, with not as much planning, produces more realistic and fluid action, but takes a lot longer to complete.
Pose to pose however, defines a few key poses and the animator would draw in between each, as the planning may allow for more accurate portrayal of emotional scenes.
4. Arcs of motion are used in animation, as they create much more realistic visuals, but can be exaggerated also to produce some more visually pleasing animation.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action are principles that help with believability of the characters in the animation. Both are there to help make the characters, look like they adhere to the laws of physics.
Follow through is the idea that once a character ceases moving, other parts such as clothing, or hair will keep moving, until eventually returning to the centre of mass.
Overlapping action however, is the idea that different parts of the body move at different rates, and this can be exaggerated to comic effect.
6.Staging is one of the compositional elements of animation, emphasising the important parts, while downplaying the less important ones, for example, the main character of a scene, may be directly in the centre, and the scene may pan slightly to the right to stage someone equally important entering.
7.Slow in, and slow out is another principle to do with realistic physics. Slow in is the idea that as an object begins to move, it has to accelerate from a slow speed to a higher one, and Slow out is the opposite, as an object loses speed, it gradually decelerates.
8. Secondary Action is all of the non major elements of the character, emphasising the main elements. For example, when an animal moves, it's tail will move with it independently, but as secondary action can add to an animation, it can take away from it if it is too prevalent.
9. Exaggeration is an idea where, actions can be expanded to ridiculous proportions for comic affect. Disney's Definition of Exaggeration follows: "To remain true to reality, just presenting it in a wilder, more extreme form."
10. Squash and Stretch in my opinion, is the most important principle of animation, giving a sense of an objects properties by movement; it's weight, material, density and so forth. For example, a bouncing ball fired at a high speed, and made of rubber, would stretch slightly as it is fired and compress slightly as it hits a surface. But most importantly to this principle, its volume would stay the same throughout.
11. Solid Drawing is the idea that characters appear to have mass, volume and weight instead of appearing purely two dimensional, this is apparent in both 2D and 3D, as a 2D character needs to look like its not flat, while a 3D character needs to be properly prepared through rigging, skinning and other means so that it seems solid and appears realistic.
12. Appeal is a design step, but can actually be applied to the animation as well. The idea that a character is likeable, charismatic or cute. This can be represented through the characters design, for example; in the facial features. Having large eyes and a large face can make expressions easy to read, and show that the character has no underlying motives.
12 Principles of Animation
(Image sourced from google, at the following link - c1.staticflickr.com/9/8073/8271571561_e0b1f808df.jpg)
The Twelve principles of animation are a guideline to creating effective and visually interesting animation. There are 12, and each has it's own Guidelines and rules.
1. Timing is a basic concept, referring to, in the case of animation, frames and length of time something takes to move. Timing is affected by weight, and can help make objects appear heavier, if they take longer to move, and the opposite goes for lighter objects. Timing is key in animation, as good timing can help keep it visually interesting, while bad timing may end up boring the viewer.
2. Anticipation is the process in which a build up occurs, this can either by physically seen and shown by the characters, or even by the camera focusing on another area before something happens. Anticipation is the idea that before an action happens, it has a kind of, preparation that happens beforehand. E.g. Someone swinging a heavy bat, the build up and preparation of the swing, is the anticipation.
3. Straight Ahead or Pose to Pose is about the drawing itself, and is usually based on the scenes content, although it can be based on animators preference. Straight ahead is the idea that going frame by frame, with not as much planning, produces more realistic and fluid action, but takes a lot longer to complete.
Pose to pose however, defines a few key poses and the animator would draw in between each, as the planning may allow for more accurate portrayal of emotional scenes.
4. Arcs of motion are used in animation, as they create much more realistic visuals, but can be exaggerated also to produce some more visually pleasing animation.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action are principles that help with believability of the characters in the animation. Both are there to help make the characters, look like they adhere to the laws of physics.
Follow through is the idea that once a character ceases moving, other parts such as clothing, or hair will keep moving, until eventually returning to the centre of mass.
Overlapping action however, is the idea that different parts of the body move at different rates, and this can be exaggerated to comic effect.
6.Staging is one of the compositional elements of animation, emphasising the important parts, while downplaying the less important ones, for example, the main character of a scene, may be directly in the centre, and the scene may pan slightly to the right to stage someone equally important entering.
7.Slow in, and slow out is another principle to do with realistic physics. Slow in is the idea that as an object begins to move, it has to accelerate from a slow speed to a higher one, and Slow out is the opposite, as an object loses speed, it gradually decelerates.
8. Secondary Action is all of the non major elements of the character, emphasising the main elements. For example, when an animal moves, it's tail will move with it independently, but as secondary action can add to an animation, it can take away from it if it is too prevalent.
9. Exaggeration is an idea where, actions can be expanded to ridiculous proportions for comic affect. Disney's Definition of Exaggeration follows: "To remain true to reality, just presenting it in a wilder, more extreme form."
10. Squash and Stretch in my opinion, is the most important principle of animation, giving a sense of an objects properties by movement; it's weight, material, density and so forth. For example, a bouncing ball fired at a high speed, and made of rubber, would stretch slightly as it is fired and compress slightly as it hits a surface. But most importantly to this principle, its volume would stay the same throughout.
11. Solid Drawing is the idea that characters appear to have mass, volume and weight instead of appearing purely two dimensional, this is apparent in both 2D and 3D, as a 2D character needs to look like its not flat, while a 3D character needs to be properly prepared through rigging, skinning and other means so that it seems solid and appears realistic.
12. Appeal is a design step, but can actually be applied to the animation as well. The idea that a character is likeable, charismatic or cute. This can be represented through the characters design, for example; in the facial features. Having large eyes and a large face can make expressions easy to read, and show that the character has no underlying motives.