“Animating… it’s all… in the timing… and in… the spacing…”
Grim Natwick [1]
Alright as an animator, the first thing you should learn and understand is timing and spacing.
Timing – “… the rhythm of where things happen, [and] where the ‘accents’, or ‘beats’, or ‘hits’ happen.” [2]
For example in a ball bounce, timing is when the ball hits the ground as it bounces
Spacing on the other hand is how the ball’s speed will visually look.
The more the ball’s drawings are overlapped, the slower the ball will appear to move while the further the drawings’ spacings are, the faster the ball will appear to move.
John Q ©
Here is a demonstration:
Even though the timing is the same (24 frames a second, meaning 24 drawings), the ball speed is different because of the spacing.
The first one has an equal amount of spacing throughout while the second one has an ease in and ease out. Think of ease in and ease out in terms of driving a car, slowly speeding up and slowly braking.
Ease in – an object with very close spacing between each drawing and gradually increases.
Ease out – an object with space between each drawing and the space gradually decreases.
Ease out – an object with space between each drawing and the space gradually decreases.
To help you get started with an animation you will have to outline your keys and inbetweens. You will want to key the main actions first and then draw your inbetweens after in a 24 frame animation. In this example I key the first, last, then the middle drawing. Then I add the inbetweens.
John Q ©
Keys – the keys are the main actions of a movement. “The drawing or drawings that show what’s happening in the shot.” [3]
Inbetweens – are drawings that come in between the keys that complete the animation.
Now is fun part, try to animate a ball moving with different spacings. To watch your animation you can flip the pages or take pictures of the pages one by one with a camera to be uploaded to your computer to be put together as a video with windows media maker.
Post your findings and a video of your animations!
Using ease in and ease out too much can give “… a mechanical feel to the action.” [5]
Resources:
Williams, R. (2001). The animator's survival kit. Faber and Faber Inc.
[1](Williams, 2001)P 35
[2](Williams, 2001)P 36
[3](Williams, 2001)P 57
Lesseter, J. (1987). Principles of animation applied to 3d computer animation. Proceedings of the Siggraph 87 (pp. 35 - 44). Anahiem:
[3] (Lesseter, 1987) P 37
Thomas, F, & Johnston, O. (1981). Disney animation the illusion of life. New York: Abbeville Press.
[4] (Thomas, & Johnston, 1981) P 62
PRO TIP:
“More than any other principle, timing defines the weight of an object.” [4] The longer an object takes to move across the screen indicates a big heavy mass while an object that travels fast across the screen indicates a light mass.
Using ease in and ease out too much can give “… a mechanical feel to the action.” [5]
Resources:
Williams, R. (2001). The animator's survival kit. Faber and Faber Inc.
[1](Williams, 2001)P 35
[2](Williams, 2001)P 36
[3](Williams, 2001)P 57
[3] (Lesseter, 1987) P 37
Thomas, F, & Johnston, O. (1981). Disney animation the illusion of life. New York: Abbeville Press.
[4] (Thomas, & Johnston, 1981) P 62
Timing and spacing has been something that I haven't gave much thought to. I usually animate in Lightwave and it does the spacing for me in the options. Watching the different frames really let me see the different parts of the motion to understand what timing and spacing is. Key frames are a good way to guide the animation so as to regulate the timing of the animation as a whole instead of just trying to figure it out as you go.
ReplyDeleteYes animation has come a long way from 2d to 3d. In my experience as well in a 3d software like Maya, the way an animator would usually animate is by key frames and the software itself would then calculate the inbetweens. To edit the timings I would then have to edit the graph editors to slow things down or speed things up.
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