Intro to Animation What is animation?

A drawing that moves, or bringing the drawing to “life” moving something which can't move itself

Animation is a powerful tool capable of communicating complex ideas

How the heart beats Adds visual impact to MM project

Intro to Animation Animation is used for:

Entertainment (action, realism) Education (visualization,

demonstration)

Why Use Animation? Rely on animations “moving images” for

effective communication It helps to illustrate what you are

explaining Overcomes learning disabilities Simulating scientific phenomena Increase of the interest of viewer and

create a lasting impressions Easier to show somebody how something

works then to try and explain it

Four Stroke Engine

Animation: how it works?

Simulation of movement through a series of pictures that have objects in slightly different positions

Each drawing is called a Frame

Required Frames Per Second FPS? 24

Animated Cartoons I In animation, each frame overlaps the previous one

Animated Cartoons II

Dialogue Animated Cartoons

Movements Of The Two Legged Figure

More movement examples

Examples of AnimationComputer Based Training Programs Demonstrate the way

something works ie. assemble parts, adjust controls, perform surgery. Example

Education: Teach applied and hands-on skills • Spelling and foreign language programs for school children• Programs that prepare high school students for college exams• Learning to play an instrument• Athletes learning techniques in their sport

Games: All games on the market ie. Playstation, Nintendo, Xbox, gameboys

Web:Animated buttons, banners, text, and characters are used for visual

appeal for example to market/advertise services and information.

Animation and Authoring systems Authoring systems provides several visual effects

such as: wipes, fades, zooms and dissolves. For example in Director there are many effects.

To add transition in Director: Select Modify > Frame > Transition Double-click the frame in the transition channel Right Click on the transition channel

A transition always takes place between the end of the current frame and the beginning of the frame where the transition is set

Sources of Animation Animation clip art websites available on Internet for free or at

cost: http://www.animation-central.com/misc.htm Purchase more professional and creative Create each image that corresponds to a frame using a draw

or paint program Create animations with software Enhance using an editing program such as Adobe Photoshop Multimedia authoring programs like Macromedia Director allow

you to easily create path animations

Creating animation logical steps

Gather all the activities you wish to provide in the animation

Choose the animation tool best suited Build and try your sequences with

lighting effects Post process your animation: do any

special rendering and adding sound

Animation techniques: Cel animation

Traditional animation (Cel Animation) : It is labor intensive Start with story board (set of drawing outlining

the clip). Master artist draw key frames to define

action. Other artists (cheaper) draw in between frames

to complete animation all line drawings are painted on cels

2-D Animation Cel-Based “Cel” clear sheet material on which images were

drawn by movie animators images placed on a stationary background. Background remains unchanged Object changes position

Animation techniques: Cont. Cel animation

Film runs at 24 fps. Thus minute of

animation requires 1440 hand-drawn pictures

Animation techniques: Computer Assisted Animation

Computer-assisted systems are now quite common to do traditional animation more economically We can use computers to help expedite

the animation process Draw sketches with digital systems &

use digital paint programs for coloring Can even try to automatically generate

in-betweens (tweening) Widely used in production

Path-Based

Moves object along Path: straight or any curvesOften object does not change (but resized

or rotated)Path animation easier to create than cel

based animationSpecify beginning and end position

Tweening

Animation techniques: Computer Animation start with some model of the scene (a set of parameters

are associated with the model such as joint angles, positions, etc.)

view each of these parameters as a function of time

vary parameters to generate desired pose for all objects

render scene to produce one frame

repeat for all frames (roughly 130,000 frames for 1.5 hour movie)

So how will we control these parameters?

So how will we control these parameters? manually set them for each frame key-framing: specify parameter values at

specific times generate them procedurally: the computer

interpolate the in-between values execute behavioral scripts (e.g., follow the

fish in front of you) motion capture physical simulation

Key-Framing

Associate a set of parameters with the model: joint angles and positions.

View each of these as a function of time.

In key-framing, we specify parameter values at specific times and let the computer interpolate the in-between values.

Key-Framing In key-framing, we specify parameter

values at specific times

Interpolating Motion Parameters

For a given parameter, we’ve specified some fixed values: these are the key frame values

Interpolating Motion Parameters

Kinematics Kinematics: Is the study of the movement & motion of

structures that have joints such as people or robots. This means: derive motion from positions, angles, velocities, … Position of end effectors is a function of the state of all joints

When animated, the position, speed, and rotation of all the joints and the articulated parts (such as head, shoulder, & knees) are calculated.

Given an articulated human, how do we make him wave?• rotate the shoulder into position• and then the elbow and wrist• and finally rebalance other parts of the body

Procedural Animation To specify a procedural animation

sit down and write some code — the animator as programmer

input: current time output: correct parameter value usually combine lots of little procedures together one

procedure for walk, one for run, one for hop, … There is a clear tradeoff between

procedures & interaction think of the analogy of creating a 2-D illustration if it’s

simple, we can probably quickly do it interactively but if it’s very complex & regular, coding is probably

quicker

Behavioral Animation Animate by defining rules (or writing a program) that

governs your entities’ behavior. Typically, define behavior in part as a response to what

the environment is doing Classic example: “boids”

objects whose motion is determined as a simple function of near neighbors’ motion (plus obstacle avoidance, etc.)

A common example of this approach is “flocking”

Motion capture strap a bunch of sensors on a

person & record their motion track the location of several

reference points convert this to joint angles & map to

expressed model several technologies available

–optical–magnetic tracking– instrumented exoskeletons

But it can be hard to edit

Sample Demo

3-D Animation involves 3 steps:Modelling

Process of creating broad contours and structure of 3D objects and scenes (draw views – top, side, cross section

AnimatingDefining lighting and perspective views to create change during animation

Rendering

Animation Some Special Effects

Morphing:Process of blending together two images into a series of

imagesUseful for showing how image might change over time Is an effect in which one effect is transformed into another.

Morphing Some software transform still pictures as well as

animated images.

Morphed images are built at a rate of 8 frames per second and each transition takes 4 seconds, a total of 32 frame per second. MonaAnim.gif

Key pointes can be held on both the initial and final images, in this case the points on the start image will move to the corresponding pointes on the final image.

Animated GIFS For simple animations use .GIF format Special type of GIF file known as an animated GIF/GIF89a

that provides the animation you need. When the GIF document is viewed, the multiple images

display, quickly and in succession, and produce a streaming animation

world_tsunami.gif(contains a sequence of frames in the file)

monkeypoo.gif(contains by Laura’s sister in Photoshop!)

Animated GIF files - continued

Characteristics of an Animated GIF: File size is affected by:

Number of frames image size

No Plug-ins Required: Animated GIFs require no plug-ins, and the authoring tools to create them are often free and easy to learn.

No Sound: If you need sound in addition to motion, you cannot use an animated GIF by itself. Instead, you may want to consider other animation alternatives, such as Flash, or even video

Other Animation File Types Animated Gifs (.gif) (universal)

Flash (.fla, .swf) (by Adobe)

Macromedia Director

Sophisticated Animations: Strata 3D, LightWave, 3D Studio Max, Maya, and

Houdini

Animation SoftwareWhy Is Flash So Popular? Professional designs Interactive content rich with video, graphics, animation Import multimedia elements from other applications Support vector graphics:

much more space efficient over bitmapped frames scale up with accurate detail no matter how large the window is

resized by the user. Flash Player is a free client application that works with

popular Web browsers to play the animation Adobe Flash Player is the standard for delivering high-impact, rich

Web content. Designs, animation, and application user interfaces are deployed immediately across all browsers and platforms

Onion skinning is a 2D computer

graphics term for a technique used in creating animated cartoons and editing movies

allows you to see a faint ghost image of the previous frame so you can see where you want to place the artwork for the next frame.

Flash Animation using Onion Skinnig

Step 1 - Draw the image (for example Frog) on the Stage

Flash Animation using Onion Skinnig

Step 2 - - Select Frame 2 and add a Keyframe In Frame 2 click on the Frog to select it, and move it up and to the right.

At the bottom of the Timeline there is a row of five buttons. Click on the second one- this turns on Onion Skinning

Notice how you now can see a faint ghost image where your first frame was?

Flash Animation using Onion Skinnig

Step 3 - With the Transform Tool selected rotate, scale etc your Frog. Continue to add Keyframes for each change you make in the Frog. Do this for 11 frames.

Choose Control > Loop Playback so that you can see your animation repeat.

Flash Animation using Onion Skinnig

Step 4 - Play with and Modify your movie. Add as many Keyframes as you wish and make the movie as long as you wish.

Animation in Director Tweening: designer defines for sprite

keyframes and the computer changes the properties in the frames in between.

Frame by frame: manually creating every frame in the animation. Change cast member or change settings for the sprite

Cast to time: Moves a series of cast members to the score as a single sprite.

Space to time: Moves sprites from channels to single sprite.

Tweening Define properties for a sprite in frames

called keyframes and let the director change the properties in between.

To specify tweening properties: Select a sprite From Modify list choose sprite and then

tweening Properties that can be tweened are: position,

size, rotation, skew, blend, and foreground and background colors.

Frame by frame To create more complex animation than that is

made using tweening.

Sprites usually refer to only one cast member, but they can refer to different cast members thus provide animations.

To use frame by frame from Edit list, select Edit sprite frame. This makes easer to select frames within a sprite. Then Select the frame Keyframe Select the cast member to replace the current one. From Edit list select Exchange Cast Member Repeat the above

Cast to time

To move a series of cast members to the score as one sprite.

Select the frame where you wont the new sprite

Select a sequence of cast members From Modify list select Cast to time

Space to time A method to arrange several images on

the stage in one frame and convert them to a single sprite.

Steps: Change the Span duration of each sprite to

one frame(edit, preference, sprite) Create images and bring them to stage after

selecting an empty frame Select the sprites in the frame From Modify list, select space to time In the separation text box set the number of

frames separating sprites.

Animation Software.swf originally meant “Shockwave Flash” but now “Small Web Format”

flv (used on YouTube) or swf (Flash Animations) ?

Animated GIF Flash Director

Created by Depends Flash Director

Extension Source depends.gif (movie)

.fla (source)

.swf (movie).dir (source).dcr (movie)

Size Larger than normal gif

Vector images take up less space than GIF bitmapped images

Vector images take up less space than GIF bitmapped images

Uses Banners, small areas

Interactive video, graphics, animation

More interactive sites

Need to play it Nothing Flash Player (Free and works with most browsers)

Web browser plug in (The Shockwave Player)

Principles of Animation There are 12 principles of Animations identified

by professionals in the field.

By following and knowing when, where and how to apply these basic ideas, and by understanding them, one should be able to create good animation.

Timing Arcs Staging Personality

Ease In and Out

Squash and Stretch

Follow Through and Overlapping Action

Straight Ahead Action and Pose-To-Pose Action

Appeal Exaggeration Secondary Action Anticipation

Timing Timing, or the speed of an action, is an important

principle because it gives meaning to movement and defines how well the idea will be read to the audience.   Example: Something like an eye blink can be fast or slow. If it's

fast, a character will seem alert and awake. If it's slow the character may seem tired.  

In order to make your idea's readable, it's important to spend enough (but not too much) time preparing the audience. This is done through three objectives: Anticipation The action itself Reaction

Timing can also defines the weight of an object. Example What does the picture tell you?

Timing Head Turn 60 Frame

Looks like stretch

30 Frame Looks like “no no no”

5 Frame Looks like he got hit

Copyright ©1999 Michael B. Comet All Rights Reserved.

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Slow In and Out In early animation, the action was limited to be

either fast or slow As more pose to pose animation action came

into play, animators wanted audiences to be able to see the poses.

They use this principle to achieve that goal. "Slowing out" of one pose and "slowing in" to

another one refers to the timing of the in-betweens.

Eases can be used to create acceleration and deceleration.

Slow in and Out

Example: A Bouncing Ball Typically, when animated, the

bouncing ball moves faster as it approaches or leaves the ground and slower as it approaches or leaves its maximum position. See this.

Slow In and Out

Arcs

The visual path of action for natural movement of flexible objects is arc.

Arcs, in nature, are the most economical routes for something move from one place to another.

In animation, arcs are used to make the movement more smooth.

Movement: Arcs

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Anticipation The preparation for an action. There are three parts to an action:

Anticipation The action itself Reaction

There are two main uses of anticipation: Prepare for a movement. Without it, the audience

does not know what to expect and can get lost. Direct the audience to the right part of the scene at

the right time.

Anticipation Examples

Pulling back a foot – about to kick? Runaway?

Staring in a certain direction – what’s there of interest? What’s coming?

Person rising from a chair if they use their arms,

they may be heavier/older; if they don’t, lighter/younger

Anticipation Examples

When a person is about to steal something their eyes shift up and down the looking for security, and then at the item they wish to take.

Anticipation could also be used to mislead the audience!!!.

Example see the two balls

Squash and Stretch I Squash and stretch is a way of deforming

an object such that it shows how rigid the object is by distorting it's shape during an action.

When an object is moved, it emphasizes any rigidity in the object.

In real life, only the most rigid objects remain rigid during movement; anything composed of flesh will show a change of shape during movement.

Examples: 1 , 2, and 3

Squash and Stretch II A standard test for animators is to draw a

bouncing ball, represented by a simple circle.

This test introduces the principles of squash and stretch as well as timing.

The trick is to elongate the ball as it falls, flatten it as it hits, and return it to it's circular shape near the top of the next bounce.

Squash and Stretch III

A face, whether chewing, smiling, talking, or just showing a change of expression is alive with changing shapes in the cheeks, the lips, and the eyes.

Does the Volume change? Answer NO. The most important rule to

squash and stretch is that, no matter how squashed or stretched out a particular object gets, its volume remains constant.

Staging I Presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably

clear. The eye of the audience must be led to exactly

where it needs to be at the exact moment so that they will not miss the idea.

Only one idea should be seen by the audience at a time.

The object of interest should contrast from the rest of the scene. (something is moving at a different speed – something is a different color – something makes a different sound)

Staging II Each idea or action must be staged in the

strongest and simplest way before going on to the next idea or action.

As a general rule the audience should be able to tell what is happening just by seeing the silhouette of the characters.

Symmetry in animation tends to also build a boring scene.

Staging III Personality: A personality is staged so that it is

recognizable; an expression so that it can be seen;. A shy child would turn their eyes down, and slightly rotate their

upper body away for the gaze of another child. The child's actions reveal the fact that he is shy. When staging a

personality, it is useful to use characteristics that clearly define the character.

Mood: A mood is staged so that it will affect the audience. The tight composition of dark trees in a dense forest, leaning in toward a scared youth; hurried breathing filling the air; the child’s eye wide open. All of these elements have been clearly staged to inspire fear.

Staging IV In "Luxo, Jr.", the story, acting, and emotion

were heavily dependent on this principle. The audience is asked to switch often from "Dad" to "Jr" and they do this because Jr. moves faster than dad (contrast from the scene).

In "Andre and Wally B." Andre wakes up and scratches his SIDE, not his stomach, to help clarify what's happening and not confuse the audience (silhouette). In "Luxo, Jr." all the action is in silhouette; the two characters are not overlapping each other.

Exaggeration I Used to highlight the essence of an idea via the design

and action. The animator must go to the heart of his scene to decide

what the audience needs to see exaggerated. If the character is to be sad, make him sadder; worried,

make him fret; etc. When using exaggeration, all the parts of the scene must

be taken into effect; the action, the emotion, the color, etc.

If only one thing is exaggerated, it will seem unrealistic; likewise, if everything is exaggerated, it will be equally unrealistic.

The animator must find that delicate balance that the audience will recognize; something that seems natural to them but becomes their basis of comparison.

Exaggeration II Bad

Good

Copyright ©1999 Michael B. Comet All Rights Reserved.

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Exaggeration III

For example, in "Luxo, Jr." the lamps were modeled after the real luxo lamp, but "Jr.'s" proportions were exaggerated to give him the appearance of a child. The movement of the lamps had the feel of real physics, but was very exaggerated in order to accentuate it.

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Follow Through and Overlapping Action I The termination of an action and

establishing its relationship to the next action.

Just as "anticipation" is the preparation for an action, follow through is it's termination. In any movement, actions rarely come to a direct stop; instead, they are carried past a termination point.

For example, when hitting a golf ball, you don't stop your club at the moment of impact, but follow through the swing.

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Follow Through and Overlapping Action II In "Andre and Wally B." this principle was used

extensively with Wally B., on his feet and antennae. They all dragged behind him. Also, instead of all of his feet leaving the scene, they left

a frame or two apart (not really noticeable to the naked eye, but it made the scene a little more believable).

This is called overlapping action and helps the scene maintain a continuous flow.

Example: Balls Top: No Follow thru Bottom: Follow thru

Follow Through and Overlapping Action III

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Appeal Creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys

watching. Appeal is really anything a person likes to see; some

charming quality or pleasing design (whether it be “cute” or “evil” that you’re trying to invoke) that draws in an audience. "Luxo Jr.'s" feeling of a baby and parent lamp were important for the audience to feel.

Also twins are unappealing to audiences -- twins are when both arms and legs are in the same position doing the same thing. This gives a very stiff appearance and audiences are lost. So, in "Andre and Wally B.", when Andre stretches, one arm is up and one is down at an angle; his feet are rotated differently, and the action of his movements are timed such that each arm acts individually; not at the same time. All of these efforts make Andre more appealing to audiences.

Appeal Creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys

watching. Appeal is really anything a person likes to see; some

charming quality or pleasing design that draws in an audience. "Luxo Jr.'s" feeling of a baby and parent lamp were important for the audience to feel. Also twins are unappealing to audiences -- twins are when both arms and legs are in the same position doing the same thing. This gives a very stiff appearence and audiences are lost. So, in "Andre and Wally B.", when Andre stretches, one arm is up and one is down at an angle; his feet are rotated differently, and the action of his movements are timed such that each arm acts individually; not at the same time. All of these efforts make Andre more appealing to audiences.

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Appeal

Two Animation Techniques for Action Pose-to-Pose

Straight-ahead

(Ex: Ryan by Chris Landreth)

Copyright "Illusion of Life: Disney Animation" by Ollie Frank/Johnson Thomas

Secondary Action

Copyright "Illusion of Life: Disney Animation" by Ollie Frank/Johnson Thomas

Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose Action

Two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement.

straight ahead - animator works "straight ahead" from the first drawing to the last, knowing where the scene fits into the story and what it must contain. He does drawing after drawing, getting new ideas along the way until the scene is concluded.

pose to pose - animator plans his actions, figures out what drawings are needed to complete the scene and creates them, concentrating on poses and the relationships between the characters.

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Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose Action

Two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement.

straight ahead - animator works "straight ahead" from the first drawing to the last, knowing where the scene fits into the story and what it must contain. He does drawing after drawing, getting new ideas along the way until the scene is concluded.

pose to pose - animator plans his actions, figures out what drawings are needed to complete the scene and creates them, concentrating on poses and the relationships between the characters.

Posing the Characters

Posing – presenting the character to the camera – gives the audience the first impression

Secondary Action The action of an object resulting from

another action. This principle brings heightened interest

and realism. The secondary action is always kept subordinate to the primary action, so as not to draw away too much attention or conflict with the primary action. Examples we've seen include Wally B.'s feet dragging behind him and Luxo Jr.'s cord rippling behind him as he moves along.

Secondary Action Watch the

movement of the cord behind Jr. – if it didn’t move, we might not buy it!

How about dealing with bed covers that are too short?

Secondary Action

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Secondary Action The action of an object resulting from another

action. This principle brings heightened interest and

realism. The secondary action is always kept subordinate to the primary action, so as not to draw away too much attention or conflict with the primary action. Examples we've seen include Wally B.'s feet dragging behind him and Luxo Jr.'s cord rippling behind him as he moves along.

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Secondary Action Watch the

movement of the cord behind Jr. – if it didn’t move, we might not buy it!

How about dealing with bed covers that are too short?