Lesson 1:
The Twelve Principles of Animation:
The Twelve Principles of Animation are foundations for animating and for creating animations, they are created by Walt Disney and are essential for learning how to animate;
these are the principles:
2. Anticipation:
Anticipation shows the viewer whats about to happen without directly telling them,
this can make the object feel more realistic or cartoonish with the level of effect used
An action sometimes cannot be done without the lead up to that action. i.e jumping
without your knees, throwing a ball without winding up your arm:
As shown here, it is very unnatural to jump without anticipation being used
3. Staging
Staging is the composition of animation, meaning that the staging is used by putting objects in areas that the viewer will be drawn to. it also can keep the focus on whats important meaning that the backgrounds can blend in and the action to can be in focus.
4. Straight-ahead action and pose-to-pose.
With drawing animation there are two ways to go about it, this being Straight-ahead and Pose-to-pose. both with their own benefits and can be often combined. both options also have unique purposes and are useful in their own right.
Straight-ahead is a process that involves drawing frame by frame from start to finish. This can be used in more fluid, realistic actions.
Pose-to-pose is a technique where you add a start, then an end. then some key intervals before adding keyframes in-between them. This process gives the creator more control over the scene, and can be used to add dramatic effect.
5. Follow through and overlapping action.
Just like in real life, when an object comes to a standstill the energy stored can dissipate through movement. and when an object in animation comes to a standstill different parts of the object will move at different rates.
overlapping action can be follows this principle to so that when an object moves across the screen, the top of the object can move at a different rate. and when it stops, follow through is the principle that parts will continue to move after coming to a standstill, this is to make the animation flow realistically.
6. Slow in and slow out.
the purpose of slow in slow out is to show human animation, imagine a car revving up and pressing the gas, then slowing down to a holt, the arch would go forward at an accelerated rate then it would decelerate to a stop.
7. Arc.
another principle put in place to make the animations look more realistic is an arc, most objects have a predictible path of motion when moved, this is known as an arc and is useful when animating any sort of gravitational motion:
8.Secondary action.
Secondary acts in a scene are employed to assist or emphasise the primary event. Adding extra actions to your people and objects gives them more depth.
the movement of your character's hair as they walk, or a facial expression or a secondary object reacting to the first are all examples of secondary acts.
9. Timing
timing controls a lot of the human yet over the top actions and can set the mood of any scene via the movements of the scene, objects can move more quickly or slowly then they would naturally move in the real world, making the effect unbelievable.
10. Exaggeration
if it was all realism, then theyd be no point in the animation. so exaggeration is used to make scenes more dynamic, memorable and funny
11. Solid drawing
consistency will save animations from being confusing and unruley, knowing proportions and realism art makes the animation easier to understand, as well as can allow creators to experiment with the abstraction while keeping the viewer engaged and knowing whats happening.
12. Appeal
The audience must be drawn in by your people, things, and the universe in which they inhabit. This comprises an easy-to-read design, a strong drawing, and a distinct personality.
Resources used:
Squash and Stretch image: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-classic-example-squash-stretch-a-bouncing-ball-stretching-proportionate-to-its_fig1_271425639
Anticipation image: https://creativityschool.com/principles-of-animation-anticipation-and-pose-to-pose/
Staging image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/u-SXLaQGg50/maxresdefault.jpg
straight-ahead pose-to- pose image: http://animationca.blogspot.com/2014/08/straight-ahead-action-and-pose-to-pose.html
follow through image: https://i0.wp.com/scifi.radio/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/secondary-action.jpg?resize=480%2C185&ssl=1]
slow in slow out gif: http://blog.nfb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/06-Slow-In-and-Slow-Out.gif
arc gif: http://www.dsource.in/sites/default/files/course/principles-animation/arcs/images/GIF1.gif
secondary action gif: http://www.dsource.in/sites/default/files/course/principles-animation/secondary-action/images/04-type_tension2-new-698.gif#
timing gif: http://www.dsource.in/sites/default/files/course/principles-animation/timing/images/GIF3.gif
exaggeration gif: https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AnguishedThreadbareIrishwolfhound-max-1mb.gif
solid drawing image: https://darvideo.tv/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Solid-Drawing.jpg
appeal image: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ofSblkYMPDk/maxresdefault.jpg
Lesson 1:
these are screenshots for now
3d Animation
Final Animation Piece
I've chosen the pick up put down brief. This brief allows me to create a scene where the model picks up a box and throws it in the air, only to realize that its going to fall on him.
this incorporates a lot of animation principles and multiple ideas to create a sense of story and character.
Storyboarding
The Process
Scene 1: character confidently walks up
walk cycle making:
I chose this image as a reference as it shows the confidence and swagger that the character holds, this is some passive story telling, as this tells the audience what type of person our character is coming into the scene.
This scene being the opening shot adds to the comedic effect as it highly contrasts to the ending of the character being squished on the ground
I encountered a problem with the first reference as I couldn't get a good scale for the character, I decided to use this one instead as a base line. but still use that old one as a reference for the confidence of the character. breathing emotion into the hard steps the character does.
Using my storyboard I created a camera and experimented with poses to use for the first scene, the outcome of those experiments showed that a low angle, over the shoulder shot from the cubes perspective would be a good way to show the audience how confident this guy is.
stretching scene:
I noticed that this stretch blocked out makes the character look robotic and doesn't actually show the active stretching of the character.
each shot drawn out:
when pick up, make arms stretch out for effect
video of someone stretching:
video of someone picking up a box:
video of arms by side, dusting shoulders and wiping hands:
drawing these out main poses
creating a cycle for reference:
with the cycle complete I can block out this next shot:
Issues
a problem i consistently faced was the threat of crashes and to combat that ive saved the project quite a bit.
a thing i've learned is its easier to create animation from reference than from purely imagination. i've learned to slow down my thoughts and try to get them out onto a word document or a Photoshop file to then develop them
Evaluation
Throughout this project there have been many issues that not only prevented my progress but also destroyed my motivation to continue. I did persevere however, and created an animation i'm happy with. Given more time and less issues I believe i could've made this project a little better, but overall i feel good with the results. I used the gizmos to their fullest potential along side the 12 p