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Animation Principles

Logistics

• Test e-mail

– Anyone not get it?

• Test file in myCourses

– Please use dropbox to submit a test file.

Projects

• Any questions?

Announcement

• Microsoft Scholarship

– $10K towards tuition/supplies, etc. – Summer co-op in Redmond – 3.0 GPA minimum – Deadline for application: January 15, 2004

– http://www.microsoft.com/college/scholarship

Paper Summaries

• Any takers?

Plan for today

• Principles of Animation
• Start getting technical

– Transformations, orientations

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Motivational Films

• Early works by Pixar.

Motivational Film

• The Adventures of Andre and Wally B.

– Lucasfilm (eventually became Pixar) – First Computer Animated Film by John Lassiter.

Motivational Film

• Luxo, Jr.

– Pixar (1986)

Motivational Film

• Luxo, Jr.

– The one that really started it all

• Character far more important than effects
• Showed that believable, sympathetic characters can

be created via computer

• They don’t even have to be human

Animation

“There is no particular mystery in animation…it’s really very simple, and like anything that is simple, It is about the hardest thing in the world to do”

• - Bill Tytla, Disney Animator, 1937

Animation

• Programming animation

– Creating tools for animators

• Good to know the principles by which

animators work

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Principles of Animation

• Developed for traditional animation by Disney.
• Applied to computer animation by John Lassiter

– Squash & Stretch – Timing – Anticipation – Staging – Follow Through and Overlapping Action – Straight ahead action and Pose-to-pose action

Principles of Animation

• Developed for traditional animation by Disney:

– Slow in and Slow Out – Arcs – Exaggeration – Secondary Action – Appeal

• We’ll go through each one in turn.

Principles of Animation

• Web Sites (links on course site)

– Ralph A. De Stefano (EVL – Univ Of Ill). – SIGGRAPH – Lassiter paper online – Kim Roddy (Naval Postgrad School)

• 1. Squash & Stretch
• “The most important principle”
• Most objects in the world are not rigid.
• For example, silly putty

– never changes volume or mass

• The amount of squash & stretch gives

indication of rigidity of an object

• 1. Squash & Stretch
• Object need not deform in order to squash

and stretch

• 2. Timing
• “More than any other principle, timing

defines the weight of an object”

Which ball is heavier?

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• 2. Timing
• Timing can also indicate an emotional state

– Start Frame: a head looking over the right shoulder – End Frame: a head looking over the left shoulder

• No in-betweens - the character has been hit by a strong force and its

head almost snapped off

• One in-betweens - the character has been hit by something substantial,

.e.g., frying pan

• Two in-betweens - the character has a nervous twitch
• Three in-betweens - the character is dodging a flying object
• Four in-betweens - the character is giving a crisp order
• Six in-betweens - the character sees something inviting
• Nine in-betweens - the character is thinking about something
• Ten in-betweens - the character is stretching a sore muscle
• 3. Anticipation
• “Anticipation is often used to explain what

the following action is going to be”

• There are two main uses of anticipation:
• 1. Prepare for a movement
• 2. To draw the viewers attention to

something. Example: opening of Luxo Jr.

• 3. Anticipation
• What is Wally going to do next
• 4. Staging
• “Staging is the presentation of an idea so it

is completely and unmistakably clear”

– An important objective of staging is to lead the viewers eye to where the action will occur so that they do not miss anything. – Example: Luxo Jr…Jr is always focus when Dad & Jr on stage

• 4. Staging
• Staging in silhouette

Andre’s itch is on side, If on belly, action would be in front of body and might be missed

• 4. Staging
• Luxo Jr. was staged to the side for clarity

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• 4. Staging
• Busy vs Still.

– Link

• 5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
• “Follow through is the termination of an
• action. Actions very rarely come to a sudden and

complete stop, but are generally carried past their termination point.”

• The motion in most animation can be broken

down in to three sections:

– 1. Anticipation of an Action – the setup for an action

• 2. The Action – the actual action
• 3. The Follow Through- the movement at the end of a

motion

• 5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
• Overlapping Action

– “An action should never be brought to a complete stop before starting another action, and the second action should overlap the first.”

• 6. Straight ahead action and Pose-to-pose action
• The two main approaches to hand drawn

animation.

– Straight ahead action

• “the animator works straight ahead from his first drawing in

the scene.”

– Pose-to-pose (keyframing)

• the animator plans his actions, figures out just what drawings

will be needed to animate the business, makes the drawings concentrating on the poses, ... and then draws the inbetweens.”

• Link
• 6. Straight ahead action and Pose-to-pose action
• Most animator defined computer animation

is keyframed.

• Keyframing implies Interpolation
• Next several lectures will be on key framing
• 7. Slow In and Slow Out
• Refers to the spacing of the inbetween

frames at maximum positions.

• Example:

– a bouncing ball moves faster as it approaches or leaves the ground and slower as it approaches leaves its maximum position

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• 7. Slow In and Slow Out
• Keyframing / Interpolation have no basis in

physics.

• 8. Arcs
• “The visual path of action from one extreme

to another is always described by an arc.”

• Splines for interpolation
• 9. Exaggeration
• The key to proper use of exaggeration lies in

exploring the essence of the action or idea, understanding the reason for it, so that the audience will also understand it.

• Choose carefully what you wish to exaggerate.

– If only one thing is exaggerated then it may stand out too much. – If everything is exaggerated, then the entire scene may appear too unrealistic.

• 10. Secondary Action
• This is an action that directly results from

another action.

– Examples:

• Facial expression on a character.
• Wiley Coyote
• 10. Secondary Action
• Luxo Jr example

– Electrical Cord

• 11. Appeal
• Make the animation something that the

audience wants to see

– Appeal != cute

• Darth Vader has appeal even though he is evil.

– The characters should be real – Where the live action actor has charisma the animated character has appeal.

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Principles of Animation – Wrap Up

• Animation is an art.

– Tools will be built for artists

• Physical laws apply just as much in an

animated world as they do in the real world. Although animators can get away with not understanding the math

– Know when to use math and when not to.

Principles of Animation – Wrap Up

• In character animation, all actions and

movements of a character are the result

• f its thought processes.

– "The thinking animation character becomes a character."

• Creating an effective character involves all
• f the principles.

– Also true: ignoring one or more principles will result in unconvincing characters

Principles of Animation

• Questions?

Break time