2. The 12 principles of animation
From the famous book
By Frank Thomas &
Ollie Johnston
Published in 1981
“Bible of animation”
3. The 12 principles of animation
1. Squash and stretch
2. Anticipation
3. Staging
4. Straight ahead action and
Pose to pose
5. Follow through and
Overlapping action
6. Slow in and Slow out
7. Arc
8. Secondary action
9. Timing
10. Exaggeration
11. Solid drawing
12. Appeal
4. 1.1. Squash & stretch
Make object longer or wider to emphasize:
Speed
Momentum
Weight
Mass
5. 1.1. Squash & stretch
Note:
More squash & stretch
means softer
Less squash & stretch
means stiffer
Keep the volume consistent
Don’t overdo this
10. 1.3. Staging
Make sure that viewers knows where to look at
by using:
Camera
Light
Direction
...
Help them understand the ideas
11. 1.3. Staging
Note:
Use far-away camera for big
action
Use close-up camera for
expression
Use pauses properly
Add supplementaries
Remove redundant things
13. 1.4. Straight ahead action, pose to pose
Draw frame by frame Draw keyframes first
Draw in-between frames
later
14. 1.4. Straight ahead action, pose to pose
Straight ahead action
For undefined shapes
Can combine with pose-
to-pose
Pose to pose
For defined shapes
Easy to maintain size
Can have levels of detail
Easy to change frame
17. 1.5. Follow through, overlapping action
For more realistic movements
Follow through: Appendage
should continue moving after the
main body has stopped
Overlapping action: Appendage
should move with different rates
Drag: Appendage should start
moving a few frames after the
main body
18. 1.5. Follow through, overlapping action
Note:
How appendage move
depends on it’s nature
Add appendage after finishing
main body’s animation
Use previous frame as
indicator
How your arms move ?
29. 1.8. Secondary action
Note:
Secondary actions can express
the personalities and
expressions
Don’t take attention away
from main action – remember
“Staging” ?
32. 1.9. Timing
Note:
An action can have different
meanings depending on
duration
Slow motion can be jittery if
drawing on one
Drawing on one can have
more details
35. 1.10. Exxageration
Exxageration make action
more apparent
Don’t distort object too much
Extreme form has to become
to normal after exxageration
Exxageration duration affects
the extreme level
Try and adjust
39. 1.11. Solid drawing
Follow principles of perspective:
Cube’s edges should be bent
towards the vanishing point
Follow the contour of the
sphere’s surface
Draw perspective lines on the
ground to track the distance
40. 1.11. Solid drawing
Use basic shapes to form the
object
Add overlap details to define
where surfaces come out and
recede
Paired features should not do the
same thing at a time
44. References
1. Wikipedia
2. Digital tutors (3D animation)
3. The illusion of life – Tumblr (GIF)
4. The art of UI animations (Slide)
5. HowDesign.com (Motion examples)
6. University of Washington (Comparison)
7. CSS Animation
8. Smashing Magazine
9. Google’s material design