The document discusses the fundamental principles of animation, including key framing and tweening to create the illusion of motion between frames. It outlines 12 principles such as timing, spacing, anticipation, exaggeration, squash and stretch, follow through and overlapping, which were developed by Walt Disney to improve animation and make movements appear more natural. These principles include techniques for preparing movements, distorting objects during actions to show mass and rigidity, incorporating related secondary actions, and presenting ideas clearly. The document stresses the importance of solid drawing in all frames and creating appealing animation through characters and scenes that audiences want to see.

1. Animation
The Fundamental Principles

2. Animation
• Fireworks basic animation
• Frame by Frame animation
• ‘Inbetweening’ or ‘tweening’ is the process of generating
intermediate frames between two images to give the
appearance that the first image evolves smoothly into the
second image. Inbetweens are the images between the key
frames which aid in creating the illusion of motion
• A key frame is a drawing that defines the starting and
ending points of any smooth transition or tween

3. Animation

4. Animation
Simple Animation Using Key
Framing & Tweening

5. Animation
• The frame rate of an animation is the rate at which the
animation is played back to the user
• Frames Per Second (FPS) – Generally 24 but may vary
• In drawn animation characters are often shot ‘on twos’ i.e.
one drawing is shown for every two frames of film
meaning there are only 12 drawings per second.
• For quick movements it is usually necessary to revert to
animating ‘on ones’, as swift motion cannot be conveyed
adequately ‘on twos’ at 24 FPS

6. Animation
• Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by
which an after image is thought to persist for
approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina.
• Given a typical 24FPS animation the human eye will view
24 frames in one second
• The brain storing will store each frame for a time slightly
longer than the image stays on the screen
• This gives the illusion of movement rather than the eye
seeing a series of different pictures.

7. Creating Animation
Step 1: Planning
• –Decide on the problem to be solved
• –Design a solution – storyboard
• –Determine the characters and objects to appear

8. Creating Animation
Sample Storyboard

9. Creating Animation
Step 2: Implementation
• - Start production
• - Post production
• - Test playback and review
• - Changes
• - Delivery or packaging

10. Creating Animation
Stages of Implementation
Ruff Mattes
(Portions of frame)
EFX

11. Fundamental Principles
• 1930’s: Walt Disney wished to improve level of animation
suit certain story lines
• Set up classes for animators where analysis of nature + real
action became central to the animation process
• From this grew the 12 fundamental principles of animation

12. 12 Fundamental Principles
Timing + Spacing
• Timing is how long does it takes to get from one key pose
to another
• Spacing is the way to get from one key pose to another,
whether its fast or slow e.g. eye blinking

13. 12 Fundamental Principles
Ease In and Out
• Refers to the variation of the movement speed between
different poses
• Object or limb may slow down (Ease In) or speed up (Ease
Out) as it approaches a pose

14. 12 Fundamental Principles
Arcs
• An arc is the visual path of action for natural movement.
• All actions, with few exceptions follow an arc or slightly
circular path.
• This is especially true of the human figure and the action
of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and
better flow.
• Trajectory of a kicked ball

15. 12 Fundamental Principles
Arcs

16. 12 Fundamental Principles
Anticipation
• Anticipation of movement prepares the audience for a
major action the character is about to perform
• For example starting to run, jump or change expression.
• A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is
executed.
• Anticipation is used to lead the viewers eye and prepare
them for what will happen
• Run off the screen... Starts with pose

17. 12 Fundamental Principles
Anticipation

18. 12 Fundamental Principles
Exaggeration
• Accentuating the essence of an idea via the design and the
action.
• Exaggeration does not mean just distorting the actions or
objects arbitrarily, but the animator must carefully choose
which properties 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.

19. 12 Fundamental Principles
Squash + Stretch
• This helps to define the rigidity and mass of an object by
distorting its shape during an action + adding realism

20. 12 Fundamental Principles
Squash + Stretch
• Note: When an object is being deformed it must still
appear to retain its volume

21. 12 Fundamental Principles
Secondary Action
• An action which adds to and enriches the main action and
adds more dimension to the scene
• Should be staged so as not to overpower the main action
• Character sitting talking at a table
• Secondary action may be the characters thumbs twiddling
• Should be more and ‘felt’ more than noticed immediately

22. 12 Fundamental Principles
Follow Through + Overlapping
• Follow through is like anticipation but at the end of an
action. When the main body of the character stops all other
parts continue to catch up to the main mass of the character
e.g. long hair, floppy ears or a long tail
• Overlapping action is an action caused by another
• If a character changes direction, a number of frames later,
his clothes & hair will follow in the new direction. Timing
becomes critical to the effectiveness of overlapping action.

23. 12 Fundamental Principles
Follow Through + Overlapping

24. 12 Fundamental Principles
Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose Action
• 2 basic methods of creating animation SAA + PPA
• SAA: Animator draws or sets up objects one frame at a
time until the sequence is complete
• Can yield a fresh look but can be difficult to time correctly
& tweak
• PPA: Setting up key poses & then drawing or generating
in-between images – key frame approach
• Excellent for tweaking or timing
• Generally a hybrid approach is applied to contemporary
animation

25. 12 Fundamental Principles
Staging
• This is presenting an action or idea so that it is easily
understood
• Objective of staging is to lead the viewers eye to where the
action will occur so that they do not miss anything
• This can be achieve by the framing of the camera, the
positioning of the character, the flow lines of the
character’s line of actions, and also movements.
• Present only one idea so as not to upstage

26. 12 Fundamental Principles
Solid Drawing
• Every frame in an animation should be able to stand out on
its own as a solid drawing.
• Solid in-betweens are just as important as solid keys.
Without solid drawing, animations can appear to morph or
dither as they change in quality.
• Once you can pause an animation at any time and the
frame can stand out on its own as an individual piece of
still art – you have achieved solid drawing

27. 12 Fundamental Principles
Appeal
• Appeal means creating something that the audience will
want to see.
• This is equivalent to charisma in a live actor.
• A scene or character should not be too simple (boring) or
too complex (can’t understand it).

28. What Animation Is Not
• Animation is not blindly copying motion
• Animation is not the use of motion capture + other
techniques to make graphics move
• Animation requires the artist to interpret and create
something that is more than the original

29. Further Reading
• ‘Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation’, J. Lasseter, Pixar, July, 1987
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/academic/class/15462-
f09/www/lec/Lesseter.pdf