research/preparation

12 principles of animation research

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The 12 principles of animation are from the 1981 Disney book “the illustration of life: Disney animation”, and is often referred as the ‘bible of animation’ by many other studios.

The main purpose of the book is to bring physics to the characters, it also dealt with abstract issues.

 

  • Squash and Stretch;

The first principle is about giving a sense of weight and flexibility to an object. The most important aspect of this principle is that the object volume does not change, if the object is squashed one way it must be stretched the other way.

Example; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaLESWaRMjU

 

  • Anticipation

The second principle is to animate to prepare the audience for what is about to happen, for example pulling your arm back before you throw a ball. The principle is not limited to physical actions, it can also be used when the character moves his head to anticipate the arrival of someone/something else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M32pjOOT7ao

 

  • Staging

The third principle is to direct the audiences’ attention to make them aware of what is of importance in the scene. This can be done in a verity of way, such as the placement of the characters or the use of light and shadows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdx26D6Tj1I

 

  • Straight ahead action and pose to pose

This principle is about how you go about animating. Straight ahead action is animation frame to frame beginning to end, however pose to pose is about starting with key actions then adding the frames between them after setting out the scene. Straight ahead action creates a fluid animation but is harder to maintain, and pose to pose animation is better for dramatic or emotional scenes, with the aid of technology pose to pose animation is used most because the computer can fill in the missing frames however it is important to oversee the process to make sure there are no mistakes and that the other principles are used. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7eabixVmZQ

 

  • Follow through and overlapping action

This principle is about rendering the animations to be realistic, by following the laws of physics. Follow through is about inertia, if a character has hair or a coat… they will continue moving after the character has stopped moving. Overlapping action is about the tendency for different things to move at different rates, e.g. an arm will move at a different rate than a head. This principle is not limited to these two concepts, it also include other concepts that follows physics such as drag, where a character moves and some parts of the body takes a few frames to catch up with him/her, and moving hold, where a character who is still continues to move for example expansion and contraction of his or her chest while breathing.

 

  • Slow in – Slow out

Animation looks more realistic when there are more frames at the beginning and end of an action and less during the action, this is because the human body, and other objects, need time to speed up and slow down.

 

  • Arcs

The most natural action follows an arched trajectory, except machines that mostly follow straight lines, so to create realism in animation animators use arcs to help aid movement. For example an arm throwing a ball will use an arc for the joints rotating in the arm and another arc for the trajectory of the ball.

The more speed an object has the flatter the arch, also the slower the object the more curved the arc becomes.

 

  • Secondary animation

Another animation to the main animation to help bring the scene to life, for example if a character is running he can also express his emotions in his facial expressions. The main point of secondary animation is to add not to take away focus from the main point of the scene.

 

  • Timing

Timing is about the amount of frames used for the given action, that then dictates the speed of the action in the film. Timing is also used to convey the characters mood, emotions, personality and their reactions, if used correctly then it make an abject appear to follow the laws of physics.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcyS3FPkH4w

 

  • Exaggeration

Exaggeration can be used to change how realistic the animation is, however a certain level of restraint is required to prevent the animation becoming overwhelming for the viewers. Exaggeration is not just limited to the animation, but then environment and the storyline. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hue_DFd9qQ

 

  • Solid drawing

Solid drawing is an understanding of an objects or character in three dimension, volume and weight. Also solid drawing can also include light and shade, anatomy and balance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-XygdeLGmo

 

  • Appeal

Appeal is like charisma, it make the viewer perceive that the characters is real/interesting. Furthermore the more complicated or harder to understand the character has less appeal the viewers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZDCsxLHZq4