Animation Fundamentals ✦Exercises✦

 

03.04.23 - 28.04.23
WEEK 1 - WEEK 4

✦Ariel Chin Bei Yi 0343651✦

Bachelor of Science (Hons) Food Science

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✦LECTURE RECAP✦

 Week 1 

During the first class of the semester, our module lecturer, Mr. Kamal, gave us a short briefing regarding the module content as well as the assignments that are to be completed throughout the 14 week of the semester. We are required to complete two exercises, Project 1, Project 2 and a Final Project by the end of the semester. Mr. Kamal also briefly introduced the 12 principles of animation that are to be covered this semester.

The 12 principles of animation:

Timing and Spacing	Solid Drawing
Slow in and Slow out	Staging
Arcs	Layout and Composition, Exaggeration
Drag, Follow Through and Overlapping	Pose to Pose and Straight Ahead
Squash and Stretch	Anticipation
Appeal	Secondary Action

 Week 2 

This week Dr. Kamal started on the syllabus of the module, Animation Fundamentals. A few general terms of animations were noted down as they are commonly used.

Framerate

• Frames per second
• The frequency at which consecutive images are captured or displayed.
• The higher number of frames, the slower the timing.

Timing and Spacing

• Slow in is deceleration, slow out is acceleration

Figure 1.1: Timeline of an animation.

Arcs

• Every organic element moves in a way that uses an arc.
• This creates a more natural motion.

We were also taught 3 of the principles of animation, which are timing and spacing, slow in and slow out as well as arcs respectively. Exercise 1 requires us to utilize the animation principles to create a short animation of a bouncing ball, in which when the ball goes up, the frames increase as it reaches the top of the arc and decreases as it touches the floor. This allow us to understand timing, frame distribution and the use of arcs in animation through practical exercise.

 Week 3 

This week our lecturer introduced the various animation style that are widely used in the industry. This includes:

• Realistic
• However, the uncanny valley serve as an issue in realistic animation style which may evoke a sense of unease in response to humanoid object that are showing emotional responses.
• Semi-realistic
• Cartoony
• Exaggeration is required in Cartoony styles to allow more emotion in a character. This can be achieved by the animation principle, squash and stretch.

Our lecturer also explained the animation principle, Squash and Stretch in which its purpose is to allow rigid animations to become flexible, hence, give soul to a character.

• Stretch: applied when an object is moving, usually during breakdown
• Squash: applied when an object is in contact with another object upon collision, usually during extreme point. This is followed by follow through as the object stops, whilst anticipation is applied when and object starts moving
• Elasticity of material
• Flexibility of motion
• Life
• Rule: maintain the volume of object to make it look believable

The next principle taught this week is Drag, Follow Through and Overlapping. This aids in the improvement of the rendering of realistic movements, which applies the law of physics to motion.

• Drag: Loosely connected parts show heaviness as it follows the body when it is moving.
• Follow through: Loosely connected parts of an object will continue moving after the character has stopped.
• Overlapping: Different parts of the body tend to move at different rates.

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✦INSTRUCTIONS✦

Figure 2.1: Assignment guidelines for Animation Fundamentals.

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✦EXERCISE 1: BOUNCING BALLS✦

Exercise 1 requires us to create a short animation to showcase a ball bouncing across a floor in which it slowly looses its momentum as it bounces. We are required to utilize the knowledge of timing and spacing, slow in and slow out and arcs to create an organic bouncing effect of the ball.

First, I created the floor as well as arcs using the line tool. This serves as a guideline of the direction of the bouncing ball. The arcs become shorter as the ball loses its momentum.

Figure 3.1: Mapping of arcs as guidelines for direction of ball bouncing.

After that, I created a circle shape using the oval tool and added it into the library of Adobe Animate as an object. This is so I could edit the shape easily.

Figure 3.2: Addition of ball as main object.

As I have all the elements required, I made 3 keyframes, which are extreme A, B and a breakdown in the middle. This is followed by the addition of frames in between the keyframes. More frames are added as the ball reaches the top of the arc, while less frames are added as the ball reaches the ground. This creates an organic motion where the ball bounces up and down. I also animated on twos using 24 fps.

Figure 3.3: Addition of keyframes and in-between frames to create motion.

Hence, the animation for the bouncing ball was completed in which it is evaluation by our module lecturer, Mr. Kamal.

 

Figure 3.4: First attempt of Exercise 1: Bouncing Ball.

After the evaluation by Mr. Kamal, he stated that the timing and spacing of the ball is slightly off due to large spacings between the keyframes in which the ball hits and ground and bounces up again. Based on the comments given, I have added more frames in between the extreme point to make the ball hover in the air a little longer before dropping back down. 

Figure 3.5: Addition of more frames between the extreme points.

 Final Outcome 

After the adjustments, the overall animation looks more smoother and natural in which the animation does not look rush and the bouncing of the ball appears to be more smoother than the previous attempt.

Figure 3.6: Final animation of Exercise 1: Bouncing Ball.

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✦EXERCISE 2: BALL WITH TAIL✦

This exercise requires us to create a short animation similar to Exercise 1. However, extra elements are added which utilizes the animation principles, Stretch and Squash as well as Drag, Follow through and Overlapping. The ball is required to deform as it bounces along with a tail following behind it, hence, giving life to the ball.

Figure 4.1: The addition of keyframes of ball.

First, I created the ground followed by the arc guidelines for the direction at which the ball bounces. Then, as learnt in Exercise 1, I put down the two extreme points and a breakdown in the middle. 

Figure 4.2: The stretching and squashing of ball using the Free Transform Tool.

The breakdown, however, is stretched horizontally using the Free Transform tool to show that it is in motion. As the ball hits the ground, it is stretched vertically as it is squashed upon collision with the ground.

Figure 4.3: The addition of multiple in-between frames to give a smooth animation.

The stretch and squash motion is repeated for the remaining arcs as the ball bounces across the floor continuously.

Figure 4.4: The addition of tail that is attached to the ball.

The second task in this exercise require us to add a tail attached to the ball as well as add flexibility motion to the tail in coherent to the movement of the ball. Hence, Drag, Follow through and Overlapping is used to ensure the realistic physics of the tail.

Figure 4.5: Animation of Exercise 2: Bouncing balls with Tail before cleanup.

 Final Outcome 

The lines of the tail were then cleaned up slightly to improve the overall visual appearance. Hence, the animation for Exercise 2 is completed.

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✦REFLECTION✦

 Week 1 

As the semester starts, Mr. Kamal gave us a brief introduction on all the Animation Principles that we will learn throughout the semester as well as the assignments that will utilize each and every one of the principles. The 12 principles of animation seemed quite complicated at first glance, as there is a lot of ways to animate a certain subject as well as many details to be adjusted in order to create a successful animation. However, as I have a deep interest in animation, I felt excited to learn more about this particular subject. My goal at the end of the semester is to gain more knowledge on animation and challenge myself to create a beautiful animation.

 Week 2 

During week 2, we were given our first task which is to animate the bouncing of a ball across the floor. It was confusing at first as I did not quite grasp the concept of framerates as well as animation on ones and twos. I misunderstood and animated on ones although the assignment requires us to animate on twos. However, this mistake allowed me to understand better the different between animating on ones and animating on twos. Animating on ones require more in-between frames resulting in a time-consuming and inefficient animation work. The outcome also seemed unpleasant to the eye. On the other hand, animating on twos with 24fps brings out the illusion of animation. This requires significantly less frames which increases the efficiency of animation. This was very interesting as I now understood that the number of frames is one of the most important factors in creating the pacing and timing of an animation.

 Week 3 

This week, Mr. Kamal tasked us to combine the animation principles taught on Week 2 as well as the ones taught this week by creating a short animation involving the physics of a ball with a tail attached to it. This was rather challenging as there is a lot of elements involved as compared to Exercise 1. The stretching and squashing of the ball was fun to do in which the shape of the ball was distorted in response to its current motion. The outcome was really satisfying to watch as the ball came to life with just little adjustments to its shape. The animation of the tail was more difficult as it requires hand-drawing. Each frame must be cohesive with one another, which is quite hard to control. However, the final outcome was really satisfying to watch. I was proud at myself for the completion of this assignment and look forward to the next animation principle.