Task 1
Project plan
12 principles of animation
Disney’s twelve basic principles were introduced by Disney animators in the book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation published in 1981, but was based on animators from 1930 onwards ,in their quest to produce more realistic animations.
Squash and stretch
Squash and stretch is used in animations to create a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects.Squash and stretch is a technique applied to many different drawn objects such as a ball or body.An important part of this principle is that the objects volume doesn’t change when squashed or stretched.If the ball is stretched horizontally, its height(in three dimensions, also depth) needs to contract correspondingly vertically.
Anticipation
Anticipations is used to prepare the audience for an action, and to make action appear more realistic.A boxer about to punch has to pull back their arms before the punch.Someone jumping has to bend their knees first.A character looking off-screen is also used to anticipate another characters arrival, or attention focusing on an abject that is about to be interacted with.
Staging
Staging in animation is the same when in theatre and film.It is used to direct the audiences attention and make it clear what is the most important in the scene, whether that be an action, an expression, or a mood.This is done through different methods such as the placement of the character in the frame, the use of light and shadow, or the and and position of the character.The purpose of this principle is to focus on what is relevant and avoid unnecessary detail.
Straight ahead action and pose to pose
straight ahead action is where scenes are animated frame by frame from beginning to end, while pose to pose involves drawing a few key frames and then filling the intervals between the frames later.If straight ahead is used it creates a more fluid motion and is better for producing realistic action sequences.However animators find it hard to maintain proper proportions with this method.
Follow through and overlapping action
Follow through and overlapping action are two closely related techniques that help create a more realistic animation that mimics the laws of physics. Overlapping action is where body parts move at different speeds such as an arm and a leg in a walk cycle.Follow through is the technique where loosely tied body parts keep moving after the character has stopped but are moved back towards the centre mass.
Slow in and slow out
This principle is used to create the illusion of accelerating and slowing down to achieve more realistic movements.To create the slowing down effect more pictures are created near the beginning and end of an action.Subsequently to emphasise a faster action fewer pictures are drawn in the middle of the animation.This principle can be used in many different situations such as a ball bouncing and a car stopping.
Arc
Natural actions often follow an arched trajectory.Animations that follow this principle will be seen as more realistic.This arc can be applied to many different situations such as, a ball being thrown through the air, the joints rotating as a character kicks a ball and a faster moving vehicle not being able to turn as sharply as a slower moving one.
Secondary action
A secondary action is an action that is used to emphasise the main action in a scene.An example of this would be while walking swinging the characters arms , whistling or a dogs tail wagging as it walked.
Timing
Timing is the number of frames used in a given action , which translates to the speed of the action. An example would be that a character trying to push a heavy boulder would have many more frames to suggest that the boulder has a large weight and can only move slowly.in contrast to this a lighter object would have less frames as it would react faster.
Exaggeration
Exaggeration is especially useful for animations and is used to give animations life as animations that mimic reality too closely can look static and dull.It is also important to show restraint when using exaggeration to make sure that there is a balance in how the elements in a scene are exaggerated .
Solid drawing
The principle solid drawing means to take into account a form in three-dimensional space, or giving them volume and weight.Solid drawing requires skill and must be done by a skilled animator that has knowledge in anatomy, lights, shadows, three-dimensional shapes and other useful knowledge.
Appeal
An appealing character would be a character that interests the reader and feels real.To create an appealing character that connects better with the audience a symmetrical or baby-like face is created.For a less appealing character the face would be less symmetrical and harder to read.
Where animation is used in media
Animation is often used within educational programs for children.This is because if the program is memorable and or appealing to the eye children will continue to watch the program causing a better retention of information.
Animation is used throughout most games in many different areas such as, cut scenes , combat, idling etc. This means that many different types of animation are used throughout a game.
Animation is also used in advertisements to make them attention grabbing and appealing, animations help an advertisement to capture the imagination of the audience.
3D animation has shaped the marketing used in real estate and the engineering industry.In architecture, it is necessary to explain the proposed to potential customers in a simplified manner.Similar to other industries in importance of animation in architecture lies in the fact that it can be produced quickly and saves money.
The medical industry these days because it allows professionals and medical students to visualize the details of the human anatomy with detail and clarity.Animation allows surgeons to see things that the naked eye cannot.
The retail industry benefits from animated videos.Animations are sued to showcase a products attributes to potential customer. 3D animation can be used to show the functions of the product in a perfect environment that makes it look as good as possible.
Animations and computer models are used to develop virtual models of various products in the manufacturing sector.These animations and models are useful for businesses because it allows them to save money when developing products.This also allows them to eliminate problems before the model is developed physically.
How game animation differs from others
Game animations are created in short cycles that can be repeated , such as walking and running, these cycles link together and are used to make a characters movements more smooth and fluid..Game animations are also required to look good from all directions, which differs from movie or advertisement animations that take place in a frame and are only viewed from one angle.An example of this would be in a multiplayer game where you can see other players from all different kinds of angles.
Weighting an animation
Weighting the process of mapping the influence each bone has on its surrounding mesh.without weighting the animation software finds it difficult to predict how the mesh will deform as each bone is moved.If a model is not properly rigged, when a bone moves parts of it could deform in unnatural ways.
Animation constraints within video games
When animating within a video game there are many constraints that are not faced when animating for different medias. When animating for games the player has control of the camera and in a third person game can look at the character from any angle they want. The quality of an animation can also be limited by the hardware capabilities of the console or PC. Furthermore when creating multiple animations for a character in a game such as idle, walk and run animations, the animations need to be able to transition to the correct animation when a certain condition is met.This requires video game animators to also have some knowledge in coding.
3D animation software
Some of the most used and popular 3D animation programmes are Autodesk Maya, 3Ds Max, Blender, Cinema 4D, ZBrush, and lightwave 3D.
The industry standard for 3D animation software in games is Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3DS Max.This is because these programmes are regularly updated and are compatible with many different software.Furthermore it would cost companies money to train people in a different software.
Geometric theory
Topology is the organisation, flow and structure pf vertices, edges and faces of a 3D model.A model with bad topology would have many unneeded vertices, which are uneven and have faces with varying vertices. This differs from a model with good topology where all the faces are a similar size, all the faces are quads and only uses a required amount of vertices.This causes the model to be easier to work with and creates many other positives.
The topology of joints are created differently to other parts of a model.This is because they are required to deform when animating, there are different methods that can be used when creating the topology of a joint,but they all make sure that the volume of the topology stays the same even when deforming.
Mesh construction
Modelling for an animation and modelling a still object require different properties to make it effective for its respective task.For example a model created for animation is required to be able to deform, stretch etc without the model getting kinked and looking unnatural.
Animation cycles in games
This animation makes use of principles such as secondary action where the arms and legs move at the same time, along with the hair.Follow through is also used in the clothes as its movements are dependent on the movement of the character and keep moving until another movement is made.
This idle animation makes use of slight squash and stretch ,which is shown in the characters moves up and down.Overlapping action is an animation principle that is shown in the clothes moving at a different speed to the character.The animation also uses appeal.
This animation is from the game Warframe and uses many different animation principles to create a smooth and professional animation.Secondary action is used on the circular shape on the warframes back.Anticipation is also used as the warframe lifts the weapon above their head slowly like they are about to strike, slow in and slow out are also used here to also add to the animation.
This punching animation makes use of follow through, slow in slow out and squash and stretch.Follow through is used on the clothes as it they still move and have momentum when the character has stopped moving.Evidence of squash and stretch is seen when the character bends its knees and head down.
This animation uses lots of exaggeration with squash and stretch to appeal to a younger audience.
target audience
My animation would be aimed at adults this is because my animations created with realism in mind.This differs to an animation for kids that usually amplifies the use of squash, stretch and exaggeration.Animations meant for kids also tend to have simplified characters.
appropriate references
I used appropriate references because it gives a clear view of the movements done, which allows me to create a more accurate animation.
legal and ethical consideration
When creating an animation it is important to make sure that your animation isn’t offensive or over sexualised when taking into account the audience it was created for.
character profiles
Character profiles are used to create a detailed description of a characters life and personality.A good character profile would assist an animator in visualizing how the character would make different movements such as walking, running and jumping.The more characteristics that are used in the character profile the more potential influence it will have on the animations.
Task 3
document animation process
To create my animation i first found a suitable reference video of someone walking .I then used the technique pose to pose to only animate the key poses needed for a walk animation.This allowed me to then clean up the animation between each pose and create a smooth walk animation that is also realistic.
export as fbx
produce additional animations
For my additional animations i attempted to create a roundhouse kick and a round-off backflip.
examples of 12 animation principles in own work
This animation uses a few of the 12 principles it uses secondary action as the arms swing to build momentum and the leg raises for the kick.Follow through is also used when the object is hit and it still moves because of the momentum that has been transferred to it.
This animation makes use of a slight squash and stretch with each step the model takes.Furthermore I used the principles arc and secondary action throughout this animation by having the arms swinging as the legs move.
This 3rd animation I made uses squash and stretch throughout to show the momentum.Furtheremore the animation also uses arc and a little secondary action between the arms and legs.
what tools have been most useful
The tools that have been most useful are the move and rotate tool, which allowed me to move the model into the right position for each frame of the animation.The key frame tool was also useful to save the changes i made to the model.
render animation in unreal
After exporting my animation as an FBX I put the animation in unreal engine.At first i struggled to understand why my model was not moving and had to look at a tutorial that showed what i needed to do.I was making the mistake of not placing the skeletal mesh and then selecting the animation sequence in the option use animation asset.
Evaluation
I think i did well because my walk and roundhouse kick animations look smooth and professional, I also feel like i got used to animating in Maya quickly.I found it especially difficult at the start to stop certain limbs from spinning when they moved position,eventually i found the solution to this which was to make all the values positive.It was also increasingly difficult to animate a round-off backflip because of the changes in height and many rotations that occur.If i was given this project again i would do a simpler third animation so that i would be able to do a simple animation amazingly instead of a complicated animation acceptably.
Tyree Sealey Games 