Fundamental Animation Techniques

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Fundamental Animation Techniques

• Intro to Maya
• UCSD Extension

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Fundamental Animation Techniques

• Squash and Stretch
• Timing
• Anticipation
• Staging
• Slow In and Slow Out
• Arcs
• Exaggeration
• Secondary Action
• Appeal
• Personality

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Squash and Stretch
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More squash and stretch
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Timing is everything!
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Timing

• Timing speed of action
• Relays the idea behind the action
• Too fast
• might not notice at all
• Might not understand whats happened
• might not pay enough attention
• Too slow
• Sense of action can be lost
• can become boring

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Timing

• Defines weight of the object
• Heavy objects accelerate slowly
• Size in general should correspond to the mass
• Shows emotional state
• Identical key frames can have different timing

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Timing example

• Two key frames
• Head leaning toward the right shoulder
• Head over left shoulder, chin slightly raised
• Vary the number of in-between frames, 0 to 10
• Very different ideas can be communicated

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Timing example, cont.

• 0 hit by tremendous force
• 1 hit by a brick, frying pan
• 2 nervous tick, muscle spasm
• 3 dodging a brick, frying pan
• 4 giving a crisp order Move it !
• 5 friendly Over here. Come on - hurry
• 6 sees a sports car he always wanted
• 7 tries to get a better look at something.
• 8 searches for a book on a shelf
• 9 appraises, considering thoughtfully
• 10 stretches a sore muscle
• Example from Thomas and Johnson Disney
  animation the illusion of life

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Anticipation
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Anticipation

• Action has three parts
• Preparation for the action (anticipation)
• Action itself
• Termination of the action (follow through)
• Need anticipation to
• Make actions natural
• Muscle movement (kicking a ball)
• Prepare audience for the following action
• Direct attention to another part of the screen

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Anticipation

• Slow action can use little anticipation
• Meaning is carried by the action itself
• Fast action need more anticipation
• Need to know whats going to happen even before
  the action
• Exaggerated anticipation
• Emphasize extreme weight / action difficulty

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Staging
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Follow-Thru and Overlapping Action
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Follow through

• Actions rarely come to sudden stops
• There are leading parts, other participating
  parts and appendages
• Action starts by leading part
• Main action follows
• Appendages continue to move longer
• Heavy ones drag along longer

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Follow Through

• Audience likes to see resolution of action
• Discontinuities are unsettling

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Overlapping action

• Add variations to timing of loose parts
• Little extra actions make it more interesting
• New action starts BEFORE previous one stops
• Full stops are rare
• locking open door
• Start walking to the door
• Before coming to the door, reach for the door
• Before completely closing, reach for the key, etc.

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Slow in and slow out

• Even spacing between frames constant speed
• Better to have gradual acceleration and slowing
  down

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Bouncing Ball Example

• The ball on the left moves at a constant speed
  with no squash/stretch.
• The ball in the center does slow in and out with
  a squash/stretch.
• The ball on the right moves at a constant speed
  with squash/stretch.

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Arcs

• Visual path should be an arc
• Rather than a straight line

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Exaggeration and secondary action

• Keep it balanced
• Have some natural elements and some exaggerated
  ones
• Secondary action results directly from primary
  action
• Gives natural complexity
• Can be missed if happens in the middle of major
  move
• Should be obvious but kept secondary

The secondary action of Luxo Jr's forward motion
is the rippling of his power cord.
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Exaggeration
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Secondary Action
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Appeal Personality
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Basic Camera Shots

• Wide Shot/Establishing Shot/Long Shot
• Medium Shot
• Close Up Shot
• Cutaway Shot/Over the Shoulder
• Two Shot/Three Shot
• Sequence
• Length of shot

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Wide Shot/Establishing
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Medium Shot
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Close Up Shot
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Extreme Close Up
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Two Shot/Three Shot
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Cutaway Shot
                        Cutaway (CA) A cutaway
is a shot that's usually of something other than
the current action. It could be a different
subject (eg. this cat when the main subject is
its owner), a close up of a different part of the
subject (eg. the subject's hands), or just about
anything else. The cutaway is used as a "buffer"
between shots (to help the editing process), or
to add interest/information.
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Basic Camera Moves

• Zoom In
• Zoom Out
• Pan Right, Pan Left
• Action in the frame.
• Follow the action/rolling shot.

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Standard Movie Openings

• Movie Opening 1
• Wide Shot
• Zoom to Medium
• Some Action.
• Zoom to close-up
• Out to Medium.
• Most Bond Films

• Movie Opening 2
• Tight Close-Up
• Out to Medium
• Action
• Zoom to close-up
• Out to Medium
• Run with it.
• Raiders of Lost Ark