Topic 3 - Animation Methodology: Pose to Pose Animation, Timing and Spacing , Slow In and Slow Out and Moving Holds
In topic 3 we were given two tasks to complete. Task 1 was to animate a pendulum swinging from side to side. Task 2 was to create two animations where a character turns their head from screen left to screen right, one where they turn quickly, surprised by a sudden sound and the other where they turn slowly in a relaxed way.
Task 1
We have been tasked with animating a pendulum swinging from side to side to demonstrate the animation principle of ease in and ease out (slow in and slow out). Ease in and ease out is a key animation principle where a character or object slows down when moving into a new pose and speeds up when moving to the next.
My Animation:
When animating the pendulum swinging from side to side, I started by creating keyframes for each swing it would perform and every time it would reach the middle point. I decided that every time the pendulum reached it's apex it would lose some rotation, that way it would gradually lose momentum and eventually stop swinging entirely. While the keyframes are in the correct positions, the pendulum has no movement and just skips from the left to the centre to the right and so-forth.
To add movement to the pendulum I changed all the key frames to linear. While this looks more realistic than the pendulum just skipping between positions, the movement is too robotic and doesn't look like a real pendulum. This is because the animation has no sense of gravity to it. When the pendulum reaches the apex's of it's swings, it should decelerate, change direction and then accelerate downwards.
To make the pendulum's swinging more realistic I set the keyframes from linear to auto tangent. This gave the pendulum a more realistic motion by easing it in and out of it's swings. Although the pendulum's peaks have a realistic motion, the keyframes where the pendulum's rotation is 0 (when it is at the low point of it's swing) is causing it to slow down as it reaches it's low point and then speed up as it passes. A real pendulum would not decelerate as it reaches it's low point, rather it would accelerate towards it and then decelerate as it approaches it's next peak.
To add movement to the pendulum I changed all the key frames to linear. While this looks more realistic than the pendulum just skipping between positions, the movement is too robotic and doesn't look like a real pendulum. This is because the animation has no sense of gravity to it. When the pendulum reaches the apex's of it's swings, it should decelerate, change direction and then accelerate downwards.
To make the pendulum's swinging more realistic I set the keyframes from linear to auto tangent. This gave the pendulum a more realistic motion by easing it in and out of it's swings. Although the pendulum's peaks have a realistic motion, the keyframes where the pendulum's rotation is 0 (when it is at the low point of it's swing) is causing it to slow down as it reaches it's low point and then speed up as it passes. A real pendulum would not decelerate as it reaches it's low point, rather it would accelerate towards it and then decelerate as it approaches it's next peak.
After deleting all the keyframes where the pendulum's rotation is 0, the animation has a much more realistic movement. The pendulum accelerates as it falls and slowly decelerates as it reaches the apex of it's swing.
Reflection:
While animating the pendulum swinging from side to side, I learnt how important the animation principle ease in and ease out is to creating realistic animation. If ease in and ease out is not present in animation, the movement of an object or character looks robotic and has no sense of gravity or weight. By utilising ease in and ease out you give the object or character you are animating weight and realistic movement. By easing the pendulum's swings in and out, the pendulum decelerates as it reaches the peak of it's swing, changes direction and accelerates downwards, making it appear as if it is being effected by gravity. Ease in and ease out is an important animation principle as it makes animation look more fluid and realistic and less robotic.
Task 2
Surprised:
For task 2 we had to animate a more complex scene that uses the pose to pose method and demonstrates how timing can be used to change the meaning of two different character head turns. This week's lecture discussed the use and application of two different animating methods, straight ahead and pose to pose. Straight ahead is an animating method where an animator will work from start to end animating each frame sequentially. The pose to pose method is where an animator will draw the main storytelling poses first and then fill in the gaps later.
First Extreme
First In-between
Breakdown
Second In-between
Last Extreme
To start my animation of a character turning their head surprised, I decided to make the head turning action take 10 frames as a fast turn will indicate the character is suddenly surprised. I then went on to create 5 key storytelling poses, two extremes, two in-betweens and a breakdown. When creating the 5 poses I also ensured the character would create an arc with their nose, as a real person does not move their head in a linear line. Creating these 5 poses will allow me to understand the beats I want the animation to hit and then fill in the gaps to get a consistent motion.
I then went on to make my 5 key poses have auto tangents. By doing this the character had movement in between each pose.
To polish off the character's movement, I increased the amount the character eased in and out of the key poses. When a person turns their head, they don't go from pose to pose, they have a fluid motion that slows down when coming into a new position and speeds up when moving to the next.
After polishing the character's head turn I then went on to animate a moving hold. A moving hold is a slight bit of motion a character has when in a pose. Giving the character a moving hold makes his movement much more realistic as he now doesn't immediately stop after reaching his final pose. This makes the character look like a living breathing person rather than a robot.
Relaxed:
First Extreme
First In-between
Breakdown
Second In-between
Last Extreme
Just as I did with the surprised character head turn, I first decided that the relaxed head turn would take 30 frames as making it a longer motion would indicate it is relaxed and calm. I then went on to create 5 key storytelling poses while making sure the character's nose travelled in an arc.
Then, once again, I polished off the character's head movement by easing the poses in and out to create a more realistic and fluid movement.
I then animated a moving hold to give the character more life and to stop him from freezing after he reached his final pose.
Reflection:
After completing task 2 of topic 3 I have learnt a lot about how important things like the pose to pose method, timing, spacing, arcs, ease in and ease out and moving holds are when creating a living breathing animation that looks realistic.
The pose to pose method is a very valuable method when approaching animation as it allows an animator to plan out their animation and plan out what beats they want to hit. When you are able to firstly map out your key storytelling poses you know how to animation will play out, then all that is left is filling in the gaps. The pose to pose method is a great approach to character animation.
Timing and spacing are also two aspects of animation that are immensely important. Timing can have a massive impact on the look and feel of an animation. When animating my character head turns, timing was such a large part of it as it determined whether or not the character was surprised or relaxed.
Arcs are another facet that I had to be aware of when animation. Many things travel in an arc in the real world so animation has to adhere to that. People don't move their heads in straight lines, they have a fluid arc motion. When animating my character turn their head I made sure to include an arc to give it more life and realism.
When animating anything, whether it be a character or an object, ease in and ease out is a animation principle that cannot be overlooked. Easing my character in and out of poses gives it's movement a much more realistic and human look as opposed to a robot who moves from pose to pose at a constant rate.
Making sure your character has realistic motion can also come down to using moving holds. Moving holds add that extra bit of realism to a character. Real people don't freeze when they turn their heads so neither should an animated character. By giving a character slight movement in it's pose it makes it looks living and breathing.
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The pose to pose method is a very valuable method when approaching animation as it allows an animator to plan out their animation and plan out what beats they want to hit. When you are able to firstly map out your key storytelling poses you know how to animation will play out, then all that is left is filling in the gaps. The pose to pose method is a great approach to character animation.
Timing and spacing are also two aspects of animation that are immensely important. Timing can have a massive impact on the look and feel of an animation. When animating my character head turns, timing was such a large part of it as it determined whether or not the character was surprised or relaxed.
Arcs are another facet that I had to be aware of when animation. Many things travel in an arc in the real world so animation has to adhere to that. People don't move their heads in straight lines, they have a fluid arc motion. When animating my character turn their head I made sure to include an arc to give it more life and realism.
When animating anything, whether it be a character or an object, ease in and ease out is a animation principle that cannot be overlooked. Easing my character in and out of poses gives it's movement a much more realistic and human look as opposed to a robot who moves from pose to pose at a constant rate.
Making sure your character has realistic motion can also come down to using moving holds. Moving holds add that extra bit of realism to a character. Real people don't freeze when they turn their heads so neither should an animated character. By giving a character slight movement in it's pose it makes it looks living and breathing.
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