1. Fundamental Animation Techniques Intro to Maya UCSD Extension

2. Fundamental Animation Techniques • Squash and Stretch • Timing • Anticipation • Staging • Slow In and Slow Out • Arcs • Exaggeration • Secondary Action • Appeal • Personality

3. Squash and Stretch

4. More squash and stretch

5. Timing – is everything!

6. Timing • Timing = speed of action • Relays the idea behind the action • Too fast: • might not notice at all • Might not understand what’s happened • might not pay enough attention • Too slow: • Sense of action can be lost • can become boring

7. Timing • Defines weight of the object • Heavy objects accelerate slowly • Size in general should correspond to the mass • Shows emotional state • Identical key frames can have different timing

8. Timing example • Two key frames • Head leaning toward the right shoulder • Head over left shoulder, chin slightly raised • Vary the number of in-between frames, 0 to 10 • Very different ideas can be communicated

9. Timing example, cont. • 0: hit by tremendous force • 1: hit by a brick, frying pan • 2: nervous tick, muscle spasm • 3: dodging a brick, frying pan • 4: giving a crisp order “Move it !” • 5: friendly “Over here. Come on - hurry” • 6: sees a sports car he always wanted • 7: tries to get a better look at something. • 8: searches for a book on a shelf • 9: appraises, considering thoughtfully • 10: stretches a sore muscle • Example from: Thomas and Johnson “Disney animation – the illusion of life”

10. Anticipation

11. Anticipation • Action has three parts • Preparation for the action (anticipation) • Action itself • Termination of the action (follow through) • Need anticipation to: • Make actions natural • Muscle movement (kicking a ball) • Prepare audience for the following action • Direct attention to another part of the screen

12. Anticipation • Slow action: can use little anticipation • Meaning is carried by the action itself • Fast action: need more anticipation • Need to know what’s going to happen even before the action • Exaggerated anticipation: • Emphasize extreme weight / action difficulty

13. Staging

14. Follow-Thru and Overlapping Action

15. Follow through • Actions rarely come to sudden stops • There are leading parts, other participating parts and appendages • Action starts by leading part • Main action follows • Appendages continue to move longer • Heavy ones drag along longer

16. Follow Through • Audience likes to see resolution of action • Discontinuities are unsettling

17. Overlapping action • Add variations to timing of loose parts • Little extra actions make it more interesting • New action starts BEFORE previous one stops • Full stops are rare • locking open door: • Start walking to the door • Before coming to the door, reach for the door • Before completely closing, reach for the key, etc.

18. Slow in and slow out • Even spacing between frames = constant speed • Better to have gradual acceleration and slowing down

19. Bouncing Ball Example • The ball on the left moves at a constant speed with no squash/stretch. • The ball in the center does slow in and out with a squash/stretch. • The ball on the right moves at a constant speed with squash/stretch.

20. Arcs • Visual path should be an arc • Rather than a straight line

21. Exaggeration and secondary action • Keep it balanced • Have some natural elements and some exaggerated ones • Secondary action – results directly from primary action • Gives natural complexity • Can be missed if happens in the middle of major move • Should be obvious but kept secondary The secondary action of Luxo Jr's forward motion is the rippling of his power cord.

22. Exaggeration

23. Secondary Action

24. Appeal & Personality

25. Basic Camera Shots • Wide Shot/Establishing Shot/Long Shot • Medium Shot • Close Up Shot • Cutaway Shot/Over the Shoulder • Two Shot/Three Shot • Sequence • Length of shot

26. Wide Shot/Establishing

27. Medium Shot

28. Close Up Shot

29. Extreme Close Up

30. Two Shot/Three Shot

31. Cutaway Shot Cutaway (CA) A cutaway is a shot that's usually of something other than the current action. It could be a different subject (eg. this cat when the main subject is its owner), a close up of a different part of the subject (eg. the subject's hands), or just about anything else. The cutaway is used as a "buffer" between shots (to help the editing process), or to add interest/information.

32. Basic Camera Moves • Zoom In • Zoom Out • Pan Right, Pan Left • Action in the frame. • Follow the action/rolling shot.

33. Movie Opening 1 Wide Shot Zoom to Medium Some Action. Zoom to close-up Out to Medium. Most Bond Films Movie Opening 2 Tight Close-Up Out to Medium Action Zoom to close-up Out to Medium Run with it. Raiders of Lost Ark Standard Movie Openings