Principles of Animation

• Squash and Stretch


  • Illusion of gravity, weight, mass, and flexibility
  • Keep the object's volume consistent
  • Squash = wider, stretch = thinner
• Anticipation


  • Prepare the viewer for what's about to happen
  • Has the effect of making the object's action more realistic
• Staging


  • Keep the focus on what's important
  • Keep the motion of everything else of non-importance to a minimum
• Straight-Ahead and Pose-to-Pose


  • Straight ahead – drawing frame-by-frame from start to finish
  • Pose-to-pose – from the beginning frame, the end frame and a few key frames in between, then complete the rest
• Follow through and Overlapping Action


  • When a person comes to a stop, parts might continue to move due to force of forward momentum
  • Hair, clothing, and fat
• Slow In, Slow Out


  • Known as ease in and ease out
  • Like a car that slowly goes faster before accelerating
• Arcs


  • Operate along a curved trajectory
  • To exaggerate a movement
• Secondary Action


  • Gestures that support the main action to add more dimension to character animation
  • Give more personality and insight to what the character is doing or thinking
• Timing


  • About where on a timeline you put each frame of action
  • Correct timing allows you to control the mood and the reaction of your characters and objects
  • Match audio and action
• Exaggeration


  • Presents a character's features and actions in an extreme form for comedic or dramatic effect
  • Include distortions in facial features, body types and expressions, but also the character's movement
• Solid Drawing


  Making sure that animated forms feel like they're in three-dimensional space
• Appeal


  • Real, interesting and engaging characters
  • Pleasing to look and have a charismatic aspect to them (even antagonists)
• Principles of Animation 


  fundamental concepts that guide the creation of believable and engaging animation
• Squash and Stretch


  most fundamental principle in animation that keeps the object's volume consistent