Animation Fundamentals / Exercises
1/9/2022 - 29/9/2022 / Week 1 - Week 5
Nurul Adlina Rizal / 0345429 / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Animation Fundamentals
Exercises
JUMPLINKS
LECTURES
Week 1: Module Briefing
Assignment Breakdown
Exercises 20%
Project 1 - Walk Cycle + Background 20%
Project 2 - Action Animation 20%
Final - Dialogue 30%
E-Portfolio - 10%
Week 2: Animation Principles
"Fluidity in Animation"
1. Size
- resolution
- aspect ratio
Online content > digital format (16:9) HD - 720p / 1080p
Video > digital TV (16:9) / Analogue TV (4:3) - PAL / NTSC
Film
- projector
- digital
2. Frame rate / Frame per second
the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or
displayed
Animation video
1 sec
24 fps - film
25 fps - video (digital / analogue PAL)
30 fps - video (analogue NTSC / digital) (Japan, US)
60 fps - slow motion
Animate on '1'
every frame has a drawing
- looks jerky
- classical look
Animate on '2'
hold drawing for 2 frames or leave it blank..? :O
12 drawings for 1 sec
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| Fig 1.0: FPS (15/9/2022) |
3. Timing
Number of drawings used in any move determines the amount of time that
action will take on screen
More drawings, slow timing, slow action
Less drawings, fast timing, fast action
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| Fig 1.1: Timing & Spacing Diagram (15/9/2022) |
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| Fig 1.2: Timing Diagram 2 (15/9/2022) |
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| Fig 1.3: Timing Diagram 3 (15/9/2022) |
4. Spacing
Key extremes and in-betweens
Spacing: each drawing distance
even spacing for constant speed
Acceleration / Slow Out
gradual distance more drawings going in
- less jerky
- smooth animation
basically, add more drawings to make it look slower, and less drawings to
make it look faster.
more space between the two drawings to make it look faster and less space
to make it look more slower (smoother)
"Savvy animators came to realize that objects accelerate when they start
to move and therefore they needed more drawings there. This became known as a slow out, because the extra drawings slowed the action down at the beginning of
the movement, just like in real life. Conversely, the gradual reduction in
speed when coming to a stop, again portrayed by extra drawings, became
known as slow in."
ref: https://www.animationmentor.com/blog/slow-in-and-slow-out-the-12-basic-principles-of-animation/
Timing Chart
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| Fig 1.4: Timing Chart (15/9/2022) |
5. Arc
Fig 1.5: Arcs (15/9/2022)
Week 3: Animation Principles
"Elasticity & Flexibility in Animation"
Animation Style
Realistic, Semi-Realistic, Cartoony
Realistic
Examples: Lalita, Avatar, Tintin, Final Fantasy
Issue: Uncanny Valey
Semi-Realistic
Example: How to Train Your Dragon
Cartoony
- squash and stretch
- exaggeration
Rotoscoping:
- Tracing + Animation principles
- Visual Effects
Elasticity: Squash and Stretch
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| Fig 1.6: Squash and stretch (15/9/2022) |
Rules
- when you apply squash & stretch to the object, do maintain its
volume
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| Fig 1.7: Maintain the Volume (15/9/2022) |
Make sure the ball hits the floor before it squashes! This is called contact!
Flexibility: Drag, Follow through, and Overlapping
1. Drag
2. Follow through
3. Overlapping
these are for appendages like tails or cloth
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| Fig 1.8: Drag, Follow Through and Overlapping (15/9/2022) |
Animation Methods: Pose to Pose & Straight Ahead.
Pose to Pose
We have extremes and breakdowns. Then we space them out.
You can Animate on 1s or 2s.
Straight Ahead
Draw the next movement after the current frame.
Not good for planning.
'Primary action' - use pose to pose
Secondary - straight ahead
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| Fig 1.9: Animation Methods (15/9/2022) |
Week 4: Solid Drawing
- 3D
Image Reference or Video Reference
1. Line of Action
an imaginary line running through a character that describes the
direction and motion of his body and is the leading force of a character's
action
a strong line of action goes through the whole body, illustrates the
force of the action, unifies the pose, and makes a clear statement
- Static
- Standing - Stability (S shape)
- Movement or Action (C shape)
- can be used for dynamic action and create contrast
Dynamic Poses with line of action
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| Fig 2.0: Dynamic Poses (22/9/2022) |
Structure
- weight and balance
Contrapposto
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| Fig 2.1: Contrapposto (22/9/2022) |
Top line (shoulders) and bottom line (pelvis)
4 poses
1. key
2. extreme
3. breakdown
4. Inbetween
Proportion
- the length of something in reference to the rest of the body
Adult size = 8 heads
cute chibi/mickey mouse character = 3 heads
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| Fig 2.2: Proportions (22/9/2022) |
Drawing
- observation
- constructive (good for animation) (become a guideline for other
animators)
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| Fig 2.3: Structure (22/9/2022) |
Sillouhette - Negative Space
Negative space, or the empty space around your character, is very
important to your posing.
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| Fig 2.4: Negative Space in Character Poses (22/9/2022) |
Week 5: Perspective Drawing
1. One point
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| Fig 2.5: One Point Perspective (29/9/2022) |
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| Fig 2.6: One-Point Perspective (29/9/2022) |
2. Two Point
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| Fig 2.7: Two-Point Perspective (29/9/2022) |
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| Fig 2.8: Two-Point Perspective on Eye level (29/9/2022) |
3. Three Point
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| Fig 2.9: Three-Point Perspective on Eye Level (29/9/2022) |
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| Fig 3.0: Three-Point Perspective (29/9/2022) |
INSTRUCTIONS
Exercises
Week 1 1/9/2022
Mr Kamal introduces himself and elaborates more on animation. He also gave
us a briefing on the module.
Exercise 1: Bouncing Ball
Week 2 8/9/2022
Weight
Light
Active & more bounce
Moderate
Normal
Heavy
Fast less bounce
I learned a lot from this exercise. I was a bit clueless on the slow in and
slow out. I have to have a better understanding of physics. When the ball
drops, it happens faster than the ball bouncing up so there should be fewer
frames since the motion happens in a short time. Fewer frames create a
faster movement. You can trick the brain to create its own in-between
frames. I also learned that the distance between frames of the same movement
should have the same distance.
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| Fig 3.1: All frames with Arc (8/9/2022) |
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| Fig 3.2: All frames without Arc (8/9/2022) |
I created fewer frames at the beginning of the bouncing ball because of
the high force, it should be decelerating. The motion at the start should
be faster than at the end so fewer frames at the start, and more frames at
the end. However, I should also pay attention to the spacing.
FINAL
Fig 3.3: Exercise 1 Bouncing Ball (12/9/2022)
Exercise 2: Ball with tail
Week 3 15/9/2022
We learned about Squash and Stretch which is a method of exaggerating
your action to make it look more cartoony and expressive. In other
words, it makes it look like rubber!
Something that is important to take note of is that the ball should hit
the ground before it squashes.
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| Fig 3.4: Squash and Stretch on the Bouncing Ball (15/9/2022) |
As you can see there is an added frame before the ball squashes into the floor.
Another thing we learned was Drag, Follow-through, and Overlapping. This
method is for tails and appendages known as the second action which
follows the primary action.
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| Fig 3.5: Bouncing Ball with a tail (15/9/2022) |
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| Fig 3.6: Tail only (15/9/2022) |
The tail is moving in connected arcs to get nice flowing action.
FINAL
Fig 3.7: Exercise 2 Ball with tail (21/9/2022)
Exercise 3: Emotion Poses
Week 4 22/9/2022
In week 4, we learned about solid drawing so to implement that in
animation. We looked at poses and chose emotions. The emotion I got was
sad so I created the line of action, structure, proportion, silhouette,
and basic form of my sad pose. This helped me better understand how to
pose my characters and later on for animation to create a more
interesting and dynamic figure.
Line of Action
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| Fig 3.8: Line of Action (22/9/2022) |
Structure and Proportion
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| Fig 3.9: Structure and Proportion (22/9/2022) |
Silhouette
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| Fig 4.0: Silhouette (22/9/2022) |
Basic Form
Fig 4.1: Basic Form (22/9/2022)
FINAL
Fig 4.2: Exercise 3 Emotion Poses (22/9/2022)
Exercise 4: Turnaround Animation
Week 5 (29/9/2022)
For exercise 4, we had to create a turnaround animation of a character of
our choosing. I chose Kuromi from the line of Sanrio characters. It is my
favorite character from Sanrio and I loved the Hello Kitty franchise ever
since I was a kid. After learning about perspectives in Week 5, I had a
better understanding of drawing the Kuromi character from different
angles.
Here is my very rough attempt made in Photoshop:
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| Fig 4.3: Kuromi Rough Turnaround Animation (29/9/2022) |
Next, I decided to properly sketch each pose and angle while making sure of its proportion and perspective.
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| Fig 4.4: Kuromi Poses (29/9/2022) |
I put the sketches of the poses into Adobe Animate to have a good idea of what the final would look like. This is also to line up the sketches together, making sure they are all each the same height and size.
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| Fig 4.5: Kuromi Sketches GIF (5/10/2022) |
FINAL
Fig 4.6: Exercise 4 Turnaround Animation (5/10/2022)
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| Fig 4.7: Exercise 4 Turnaround Animation GIF (5/10/2022) |
FEEDBACKS
Week 1
General Feedback: -
Specific Feedback: -
Week 2
General Feedback: -
Specific Feedback: Work on your slow out, make them constant from
each other.
Week 3
General Feedback: -
Specific Feedback: Nice work.
Week 4
General Feedback: You should practice your figure drawing
if you want to pursue 2D Animation.
Specific Feedback: Good work. You are quite skilled in
traditional figure drawing.
Week 5
General Feedback: Be mindful of your
angles and use guides to help you.
Specific Feedback: Good work. You are
quite talented and you could be a good
animator.
REFLECTIONS
Experience
For this semester, the classes for this module were physical. It was a
great experience to be able to attend classes and learn the theories
face-to-face. Being able to consult Mr. Kamal directly about concerns about
my work helped me improve my animating skills. Moreover, the four exercises
given in this module helped me better grasp not only the theories and
principles of animation but also the program that we are mainly using which
is Adobe Animate. It is a new program for me but the learning curve was not too steep,
especially with the detailed guidance of Mr. Kamal.
Overall, the four exercises were a good experience for me since any
inquiries I would have would be answered briefly and thoroughly by my
lecturer, Mr. Kamal.
Observation
Based on the classes, activities, and exercises done, I observed that my
strength lies in my drawing skill. It helps me capture poses of certain
movements easier as well as encourages me to better understand the frames.
However, I struggle with learning about the timing and spacing of my frames.
While others catch on pretty well, I had to revise my animation regarding my
spacing. I need to other what movements are faster than others relatively. I
hope that I can overcome this struggle and be aware of the movements I will
be animating. I do find that animating on Pose-to-Pose help. As mentioned in
class, animating Straight Ahead can also be useful for things that are
appendages. These things need the animation principle of Drag, Follow
Through & Overlapping which needs the Straight Ahead method.
Other than that, as a suggestion, I believe that shortening class periods
so that they can work on the project on their own time can help classes not
feel too lengthy, time-consuming, and a strain on the student's schedule.
While I am used to this due to most design classes usually being 4 hours
long, I do appreciate every time Mr. Kamal lets us work on the project on
our own time. I notice that it makes me even more productive because I can
take food breaks in between and listen to music.
Findings
As for my findings, I managed to learn the basics of animation which is its
principles as well as be able to use them for the exercises. I also learned
about the importance of poses and silhouettes which can improve my technical
drawing skills. This is to ensure I make interesting dynamic poses not only
for animation but in character design or concept art. Moreover, as stated
above in Observation, I can improve myself when I develop a better understanding of when to
use the two methods (Pose-to-Pose and Straight Ahead) as well as
understanding how the spacing affects the speed of the object. The animation
principles learned here can guide me in the three future projects I will be
taking on. Personally, I learned to not be afraid to try something
challenging and if you fail, it does not mean you are not good, it just
means you have more to learn and you can improve day to day to hopefully be
able to do the challenge with ease in the future.
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