Animation 26/9

12 Principles of Animation pt 2.

1. Squash and Stretch. Provides realism to movements. Must retain the original volume when transforming the shapes.
2. Anticipation. Gives the audience clues as to what will happen next, lengthens movements. ie a backswing on a punch. Multiple levels of anticipation creates more complex looking movements.
3. Staging. Presentation of a clear, unmistakable idea. Planning the scene to control where the audience focus will be throughout. Exaggeration of features to ensure the feel of the sequence is obvious.
4. Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose. Two methods to animate images. Straight ahead is animating in sequence as you go. Pose to Pose is creating the beginning image, end image, and then going back through and filling in the gaps. P2P gives more control over the finished sequence. Straight ahead is good for unpredictable animations, eg fire, water. P2P has Keys - beginning and end images, Extremes - the furtherest out the movements will go, Breakdowns - the inbetweens.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action(drag). Follow through is the ending of a movement, overlapping action is the "repeat" at the end of a movement. Drag helps distinguish between flexible and rigid objects.
6. Slow In and Slow Out. Extending the beginning and ending of a movement to achieve realism. 
7. Arcs. Adjusting movements on the y axis to remove the mechanical feel of a movement. A smear can emphasise movement with less frames.
8. Secondary Action. Gestures that support the main action. They compliment the main action without drawing the focus away from it. Conveys personality.
9. Timing. The number of frames changes the feel of a sequence. Drawing on twos(two frames per image) gives a smoother movement, drawing on ones is better for fast movements.
10. Exaggeration. Every action and pose needs to be over exaggerated to give the best finished feel. Faster sequences need more extreme exaggeration.
11. Solid Drawing. Using volume, weight and balance to make the image feel like its in the 3d space. Use 3d shapes to block out character shapes. Use overlap to add to the 3D feel.
12. Appeal. Make the characters charismatic and interesting. Use a variety of shapes, play with proportions, keep it simple.

Knowing your characters is key to successfully using the 12 principles to create a good animation.

Sometimes, its more about what frames you leave out, as opposed to what you cram in.