by Danielthelion | 3
December 2005
So before I began writing this tutorial I asked around in
the forums if there was any general interest. I realize that
a large percentage of the kirupa community is made up of
developers and designers so I wasn’t quite sure how many
here would benefit from this knowledge. Then I realized that
what I plan on sharing with you all here can be utilized by
just about everyone that uses flash to add more life to
whatever projects come your way. Let’s begin.
Back in the Halcyon days of Disney, the animators there
began trying to dissect really great character animation to
figure out what made it great. After years of study they
made a list of 12 principles that all great animation
utilizes. Those 12 principles are as follows:
- Timing
- Squash and Stretch
- Slow in & Slow Out
- Arcs of Motion
- Anticipation
- Exaggeration
- Secondary Action
- Follow through & Overlapping Action
- Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose
- Staging
- Appeal
- Solid Drawing
Now my plan is to go over each one of these bad boys with
you guys and talk about what they mean and how to utilize
them in your work. For part one of this tutorial I have
selected Squash and Stretch and Timing.
Ok. So what is timing and squash and stretch all about?
Lets look at an example:
[ a simple animation created
quickly in Flash 8 ]
See how the ball seems really affected
by gravity and really squashes and stretches as it falls
and bounces?
...yeah, neither do I. Everything is
happening at the same slow speed and the ball is not
responding to the action. This is bad animation, yet I
see it all the time on websites the world over. Lets
learn how to give something simple like a ball bounce
more life!
Remember, these are principles and meant
to carry over into every aspect of animation. As your
going through this tutorial, try and apply it to
whatever project your working on at the moment. With
that said, let's start creating the illusion of life!
Onwards to the
next page!
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Principles of Animation
