Animation Fundamentals: Exercises
23/4/2024 - 23/7/2024 (Week 1 - Week 14)
Seh Zi Qi/ 0355872/ Bachelor of Design(Honours) in Creative Media
Module Name: GCD61104/ Animation Fundamentals
Exercises
LIST
Week 8: Independent Learning Week
Week 9: No Lesson
Week 11: Consultation
Week 12: Consultation
Week 13: Consultation
Week 14: Consultation
WEEK 1
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Lecture Recap
It was our first class so he briefed us on what we were going to do for the semester; i.e. understanding the module topics, assessments and expectations.
We also need to install Adobe Animate for the first time.
Further readings:
WEEK 2
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Lecture Recap
Frame Rate:
- Expressed as frames per second/ FPS
- The frequency rate of the consecutive images is captured or displayed.
- (e.g. Film - 24 fps, Video(PAL) - 25 fps, Video(NTSC) - 30 fps)
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| Fig 1.1, Frame Rate |
Timing:
- The number of drawings determines the amount of time the action will take on-screen.
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| Fig 1.2, Timing |
Spacing:
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| Fig 1.3, Spacing |
Miro Notes:
Fig 1.4, Miro Notes W2
WEEK 3
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Lecture Recap
Squash & Stretch:
- Rules: Preserve the volume!!
- Emphasizes speed, momentum, weight and mass.
Drag: Delaying movement to initial movement
Follow Through: Parts that still move after initial movement stopped
Overlap: Offset between timing between initial movement
Pose-to-Pose: Drawing first & last pose first then going back to fill the in-betweens.
Straight Ahead: Animating as you go.
Miro Notes:
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| Fig 2.1, Miro Notes W2 |
WEEK 4
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Lecture Recap
Appeal:
- Very important from the start.
- Misinterpretation suggests that characters like cuddly bunnies/ round kittens; don't have much appeal besides being a singular shape.
People like to see:
- Quality of Charm
- Pleasing Design
- Simplicity
- Communication
- Magnetism
- From hero to villain and anything that may be ugly, it all has its own appeal.
Dynamic Design = Good Appeal!! Like:
- Variety of Shape
- Proportions
- Keep it simple
Solid Drawing:
- Feels like it's in 3D space with Volume, Weight, and Balance.
- Use basic solid shapes like cubes, cylinders and spheres.
- Add overlap to define where surfaces come out and recede.
- Avoid doing symmetry when drawing lines.
Miro Notes:
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| Fig 3.1, Miro Notes W4 |
WEEK 5
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Lecture Recap
What is Clarity in Animation?:
- Keeping your shots clean and precise; for example, is to simplify movements for the audience to follow better.
- No matter what type of animation, clarity is the most important concept to strive for.
Clarity in Staging
- The most general of the principles - covers many areas of animation
- The presentation of any idea so that it is understood and unmistakably clear.
- Action = Understood
- Personality = Recognised
- Expression = Seen
- Mood = Affect the Audience
- Each communicates to its fullest extent, when properly staged, for the viewer
- Also always have to consider the "story point" as it's very important.
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| Fig 4.1, Clarity in Staging |
Designing a stage/ environment:
- Characters
- Facial Expressions
- Action
- Poses (Body language)
- Personalities of Different Characters
- Emotions
- Props
- Background
- Lighting
- Framing (Wide Shot, Close-up, Establishing Shot, etc.)
- Shape Language
- Focal Point
- Positioning
- Camera Angle
Miro Notes:
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| Fig 4.2, Miro Notes W5 |
WEEK 6
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Lecture Recap
Pose-to-Pose: Drawing first & last pose first then going back to fill the in-betweens.
- Key Pose
- Extreme Pose
- Breakdown Pose
- In-between Pose
Straight Ahead: Animating as you go.
WEEK 7
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Lecture Recap
Anticipation, Drag, Follow Through & Overlapping:
Anticipation:
- Gives clarity for the audience a clue of what's happening and prepares them for what's next
- More realistic feel for the action
Drag: Delaying movement to initial movement
Follow Through: Parts that still move after initial movement stopped
Overlap: Offset between timing between initial movement
Miro Notes:
Fig 5.1, Miro Notes W7
WEEK 10
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Lecture Recap
Clarity:
- Planning an Animation > References > Existing Video/ Acting
- Identify Key Pose, Breakdown and In-between from reference video
INSTRUCTIONS
<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TV5zJpsYK13OrfWSOK436c6ewB2Xj1ku/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>
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Exercise 1: Bouncing Ball Animation
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We started off by opening Adobe Animate as this will be our main program for the animation exercises.
Following the Google doc above, we set the following:
- 24 fps
- 16:9 aspect ratio
- 1280 x 720 resolution
- HD 720p
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| Fig 8.1, Resolution & FPS |
After setting the template, we start off by creating the floor for the ball to bounce on and then the ball itself; both in different layers for ease of use. Using the ball as our guide, we use the line tool to draw the lines while the selection tool creates the arcs needed; this helps us visualise the physics of the ball via falling.
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| Fig 8.2, Initial Guiding Line |
Then we animate the bouncing ball by manipulating the timing and spacing.
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| Fig 8.2, Added Timing & Spacing |
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Final Exercise 1: Bouncing Ball
[YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/QlD4MKLmE8I]
Fig 9.1, Exercise 1: Bouncing Ball
Reflection:
From this exercise, I learned that momentum and timing are very crucial when it comes to creating something believable. I also quite liked this exercise as a starting point for animation as it isn’t too hard for beginners like me to process; it also makes me quite excited for future exercises to come as this exercise by itself is already very fun to do!
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Exercise 2: Bouncing Ball with Tail Animation
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Using last week's exercise as our base, we needed to add a tail to the ball as well as add squash and stretch to the ball to make it move more realistically.
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| Fig 9.1, Squash & Stretch on Ball |
After adding squash and stretch to the ball, I added the tail which was drawn in a straight-to-straight pose.
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| Fig 9.2, Tail Movement |
I had to change the colour because the dark purple was merged with the ball too much.
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Final Exercise 2: Bouncing Ball with Tail
[Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/Tl1zADFwIPY]
Fig 4.1, Exercise 2: Bouncing Ball with Tail
Reflection:
From this exercise, I learned that adding stretch and squash makes the object look much more smoother and realistic instead of keeping it the same shape as it is. This also helps with the tail animation as it provides an initial momentum which helps with its movement, speed and timing. Overall, this is a good lesson to learn when it comes to creating a more realistic movement with stretching and squashing.
FEEDBACK
Week 2:
The animation is good but:
- Reduce some of the drawings because it's slow down towards the end.
- I also need to space my frames more evenly to create a more pleasing look towards the
Week 3:
The animation is good but:
- The colour is a bit hard to see so I'll have to change to a darker/lighter colour.
- Don't overlap the tail so I'll just have to move the tail into a different position.
- In frame 3, I can include an arc to make it look more realistic.
- He likes the rolling at the end so good job Zi Qi :D
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