CHAPTER ONE THE BASICS In this chapter, you will learn about the bouncing ball, the pendulum, and the arc, which are the basis for all animated movement. You will also experiment with timing and spacing of images and create your first acting scenes.OUTER SPACE: DEFINING AND DISTORTING VOLUMES. ‘There is no ‘one way" to animate » anything. That's the beauty of the medium, Animated performance ie ‘as varied as you are: How a character moves, talks, and interacts with others ‘will depend on the story context, the character's mood, and whether it ishuman, animal, orneither. Most important, every artist has a different life experience that can add depth and variety to animated acting and bring é ‘even the most basic assignments to life. ‘Animated characters can defy gravity, \ Dut they are still affected by it. We have | to learn the rules before breaking them. ‘We start with some simple exercises that analyze the effects of gravity and ‘timing on animation. ‘The bouncing ball and the pendulum, actions, as shown in Figs. 1.1 and 1.2, determine the weight of a character and the timing of its movement, {Wand 1.2 Two movements ae the basis ofa‘An additional principle—the arc— determines the intensity and direction of the movement. Pendulums and bouncing balls naturally move along. an are-shaped path, with one major difference: The pendulum’s are will remain constant, while the bouncing ball’s are will vary depending on the force of the first impact and the ball’s ‘weight and composition. Think of an areas amotion guide, for that is exactly ‘what itis. By varying the height of the ‘bouncing ball’s ares in descending order, as shown in Fig. 1.3, you create variations in ts movement that indicate its composition and the effect of inertia, ‘which eventually brings it to a stop. Bouncing balls are entirely affected by outside forces; they do not willfully direct their movements. 1.3 Te acsin these two examples suggest how pace the bal along the metion guideExercise #1: Bouncing ball (Part 1) 1, Draw a horizontal line along the ottom of the picture plane (screen or paper). This will be your floor plane for ‘a bouncing ball. The entire exercise will ‘appear on one image or page. 2, Draw a straight line entering from the top left-hand side of the screen and intersecting the floor plane; then draw series of arcs, gradually decreasing in size, from left to right, as seen in Fig, 1.3. The more ares you draw, the faster the bounce will be. 3, Besure tohave the bottom of each ‘aremake contact with the floor plane. ‘The arcs should also decrease in size ‘as you move to the right-hand side of ‘the frame. Remember, this “ball” is nota living character that controls its ‘own movement butis only reacting to simple physics. Adjusting the volume ‘After the ares set the height of each ‘bounce, we can suggest the bal’s ‘composition and weight by varying its flexibility, or deformation ofits volume. Volume is best defined as the normal size of the bal or character, in three dimensions, Volumes will distort {in the animation of this bounce, but ‘within limits (think of a rubber ball, not chewing gum), and the ball will return to its normal size after the action is completed. The more extreme the stretch and squash, the more flexible the material. For example, a soft rubber ball moving at high speed will squash quickly as it hits, stretch as it moves out ofthe squash, and maintain high arce ‘onthe second or third bounce before slowing down as a reaction to gravity and inertia, possibly ending with afew quick little bounces. A very heavy ball will deform very slightly as it hits, and ‘possibly only “bounce” once along a very limited arc before rolling to a stop. height ofthe are ncate whether tie mage of sf or hare fecond one is Nesy and so It’ relatively easy to maintain the volume on alll of the images when your characteris a ball. Itbecomes ‘more difficult to do this with complex characters, especially in hand-drawn animation. Sometimes, a hand-drawn, character might lose volume on all or part ofits body if care is not taken to keep the distortions believable, Digitally ‘animated characters, on the other hand, must be rigged so as to believably deform the “perfect” volumes of their characters, Itis this deformation that «gives your characters a feeling of weight and solidity in action, even when itis, only a bouncing ballBouneing ball (Part 2) 4, Draw a starting point for the ball just inside the picture plane along the straight line. After you have decided ‘what material the ball is made of, indicate the high point of your bal’s movement along each of the ares. These are known as key poses, or extremes, ‘They should, for this exercise, retain the normal volume of the ball—no distortion or stretch should be present. 5. Next, draw additional key pos for the squash of the ball where each are intersects the floor plane. Here, Ienowledge of your material becomes important. The severity of the squash will indicate the composition or softness of the ball. Even a bowling ball will Geform slightly when it hits the ground and slow downa bit at the top of its very Limited are. The squashes also may not ‘be identical; they will deform less as the ball loses momentum. Be sure to ‘maintain the ball’s volume even ina strong equach—it should be a believable distortion, 6. Afteryou have added your key poses or extremes to the low and high points of the ares, add "in-between" poses ina different color. Indicate the spacing of the inbetween poses by first drawing charts indicating their placement along. the arcs with little marke, as shown in Fig. 1.5. These marks roughly indicate the center of each of the balls on the inbetweens. Charting will become more important when we work with more complex characters; a character's arms, legs, and body may move at different rates, resulting in time variations ona single image. But for now. let's stick to the bouncing ball du ‘The high point ofthe arc is the slowest part of movement in the bouncing ball exercise, More inbetweens should ‘appear here than near the squash poses. Ifyour bouncing ball isa balloon, there will be many more images at the top ofthe are since you want a weightless quality there. Experiment ‘with the spacing. Be creative, but always remember the number of inbetweens, the amount of squash and stretch, ‘and the weight will vary, depending ‘onwhat the ball is made of. ‘The inbetweens should not be evenly spaced, The ball will move faster after the squash and slow down as it reaches the top of the are. Ifthe ball is heavy, it ‘will take some time to head offin the new direction and might spend more time in the equash than allighter ball. Ifthe ball is some distance away on the first frame after the squash, it’s made of avery flexible, lightweight material, ‘This is where the ‘stretch’ part of the “squash and stretch” comes into the action. The ball should return toa normal volume at the top of each arc for this exercise, as shown in Fig. 1.6.‘You now have a guide for the timing and spacing of the images in an ‘animated clip. Your timing will vary ‘depending on the number of inbetweens. ‘used. (Use 24 frames, or 12 poses, for 1 second; 12 frames, or 6 poses, for Ys second. You may experiment with variable timings.) ‘Try one version of this exercise with a “heavy” ball and one with a “light” one. Your ares, charts, and inbetweens will dramatically differ. ‘We will experiment with how to vary timing by exposure (the length of time ‘that each image is visible onscreen) ater the next exercise, 16 Adis theinbetweens folloming the charts. The bas timing stows _as tho ars get smal. eventhough the same number of mbetweens 'Susea between tne keys. The ball so stot es the frees ‘stfecting the bounce grow weakerExercise #2: The pendulum Since pendulums don't bounce, but move along a string or rod, we only need toindicate one large arc that allows the string or rod to fasten to acentral point. ‘The length of the string or rod must remain constant. The pendulum moves fastest at the midpoint of the arc. twill, move slowest at the beginning and end ofthe are 1. Draw a horizontal line about one- third of the way down the picture plane ‘Add a dot (fulerum) at the midpoint. 2, Draw an arein the remaining two- thirds ofthe picture plane. Keep it symmetrical. You may use a graphics program for this exercise. 3, Add balls at the beginning and end points of the areas shown in Fig. 1.7, then add another at the midpoint of the arc. Keep the same volume throughout (see Author Tip box). Draw straight lines from the center of each ball to the faleram. 4. Chart the inbetweens, making sure that there are more at the beginning andendof the are and fewer near the ‘midpoint. Use identical timing on both sides of the middle key. 5. Since each swing is 1 second long, ‘use a total of 11 poses. The pendulum images will move in reverse at the end of the first swing (Pose 11), and return to Pose 1 6. Theends of the arcwill have images that are identically spaced and timed, since the pendulum movement isa repeat cycle (a series of animated images that returns to its beginning and repeats indefinitely) u 10 inarepest cyte, ar snownin Fig 18.Opposites attract ‘The bouncing ball moves upward after contacting hard surface and is then pulled back down by gravity, with ‘inertia gradually decreasing the height ofthe bounces. The pendulum descends, courtesy of gravity, along a fixed arcand is pulled in the opposite direction along the eame are by its own weight; it never contacts a hard surface, rarely distorts, ‘and never varies its path. ‘Compare these two movements by ‘turning the pendulum exercise upside down, asin Fig. 1.9, and placing it next to the bouncing ball exercise. ‘We will next consider how timing affects these basic movements. 19 The pendulum reacts to gravity iferenly {than the Bouncing bal ”INNER SPACE: DEFINING AND DISTORTING TIME Exercise #3: Timing by exposure What happens between each frame is more important than what exists. ‘oneach frame, =Norman McLaren, award-winning. filmmaker and animator ‘Timing by spacing of images was covered in the bouneing ball and pendulum exercises, But those were only still images; we will now step into the fourth dimension and turn them. into an animated clip, ‘There is one additional way of varying the timing ofthe animation. Motion picture images move ata constant speed (we will be using 24 images per second). Each image will be exposed for only one or two frames. In the light-ball/heavy- ball assignments, the ball’s timing changes even though the two clips may have exactly the same running time. 1. Copy each image from the “light” and “heavy” bouncing ball assignments onto separate frames and expose them as two animated scenes, oruse them as a guide for timing and animating a computer- ‘generated ball 2, Try timing each exercise once on “ones" (one frame per image) and again ‘on “twos” (two frames per image) ‘The second test will run much slower. Using three or four frames per image ‘will result in jerky action that will be evident to the viewer, and so it should not be done. 3, Itis possible to expose the action ‘with some images on ones and someon ‘twos. Try putting the stretched images after the squashes on ones and leave the reat on twos nap” to the action. here will be more 4, You may also try thie exercise with the pendulum, When variable exposure is used in combination with variable spacing, of the images, atexture is achieved in the movement. You rarely will have ‘everything in an animated scene moving evenly unless it isa special effect, subject only to gravity and other physical forces with no influence from acharacter’s thought processes. It's the variations in time and spacing that ‘make good character animation come tolife.Variable timing creates the acting It isa cliché, but nevertheless true, that the timing ofthe animation is actually ‘more important than its design or draftemanship. Variable timing can make even faceless, inanimate objects ‘with no inherent squash and stretch come to life—ae ie clearly shown in the Pixar short film Luxo Jr (Fig. 1.10), ‘The movements of parent and child are suggested through the variable timing of the pendulum, bouncing ball, and ‘wave movements, Though the lamps do not deform, their joints and springs allow them to squash and stretch Sowhy are we spending so much time on ‘bouncing balls and pendulum action? ‘That’e pretty much the whole animation lesson, right there. All character animation is based on a combination of the bouncing ball and pendulum range). The severity af the ‘You don't believe me? Here is an ‘example: a hop on one leg (Fig. 1.11) HuBouncing along ‘Two-legged locomotion (bipedatism) isessentially a fall” and “recovery” ‘The body is off balance during the forward motion—the more rapid the ‘motion, the more unbalanced the body. The advancing foot “catches” the body before it hits the ground, and the ceyele continues, with the body once again falling forward and the other foot playing catch-up. This action is Dasically a series of bouncing balls and pendulums moving along one are, Let's look at the legs in Fig. 1.12, 1. The movement of the hip, knee, and foot is pendulum action. 2, The bouncing ball squash appears. when the foot contacts the ground (Poses 2, 3, and 10). The stretch recoil affects the rest ofthe body—on Poses Gand 7 Mz. Peanut’ entire body "bounces" off the ground. 3, The foot moves faster than the knee or hip and covers more distance over alonger arc, even though the same number of frames is used for the action. Variable spacing of different character elements creates texture in, the animation. Now analyze the action of the upper ody in Fig. 1.12. 1. There's an up and down movement as the legs push the body along, 2. The hands move in a pendulum action with a break at the elbow, which ‘can be used to delay the arm slightly on the return swing. 3. Ares also ensure that the arms don't get too long (if hand drawn) or move jerkily (fusing computer-generated imagery [CGI] characters). Follow ‘the arcs when creating breakdowns and inbetweens ¢0.a8 to maintain believability in your animation, Breaking the arc breaks the illusion of life, as shown in Fig. 1.13. 112 A bipedal characteris ropeted forward by one foot, goer off lance and is save from fling by the oter foot whch advances toveaten it The arms, wists and hands re Dendulums white the hips knees, and fet create 2 ‘bouncing bal action on te ree of the boy Ran ‘eyel of Me Peart rom The Art Hest © 204 By Dan Mao RRRGGEEO GG 20Talking the talk ‘The bouncing ball and pendulum also appear in the movement of mouths and heads. The pendulum action appears in ‘the jaw; the bouncing ball appears when the mouth closes or opens or when the hhead nods; a head turn uses pendulum action. Fig. 1.14 shows some examples. 22 ue Incicated nb, andthe Bouncing bal nested ‘endl sevenLights, camera, acting! ‘The bouncing ball and pendulum were simply moving objects, whereas the walking, talking characters’ actions are influenced by their thought processes. ‘The characters appear to control the intensity, speed, and direction of their movements. In other words, they are acting. Acting is defined as movernent with a purpose. Going tothe Store thttp://www.dlew. me/going-to-the-store) and Late for ‘Meeting (http://wwwwdlew.me/late-for- meeting) by David Lewandowski are ‘examples of what happens when an animated character's actions appear to be without purpose (Fig. 1.15). The scenes are animated very creatively, but the character's thought processes are not influencing its movements. 195 Late for Meeting. ©2015 by Davie Lewanaowe ‘The bouncing ball, pendulum, and are are the building blocks used to create uid and believable animation. They are so important that small thumbnails. will be included, indicating where they appear in some other exercises in thie ‘book. Learn to look for them in existing, animation and in observation from life. ‘Your animation will greatly improve. In the next section, we will give the artwork a mind of te own. We will now start working on “personality” animation, using a simple character that shows character through its poses and movements. 2BRINGING THE EXERCISE TO LIFE: ‘THE LINE OF ACTION Let's revisit that bouncing ball exercise and have the ball "think its way through the scene.” But first, we will give ita little addition and tur it into the famous flour sack, as originally described in Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. And here's alittle secret: ‘Thomas and Johnston did not want you ‘to animate flour sack. They wanted you toleam about volumes using a very simple design that can come to life ‘through movement. The flour sack is just a bouncing ball inside a pillowcase ‘The one in Fig. 1.16 doesnt really have a skeleton, but we can maintain the sack’s volume by drawing through the design and using the ball ag a construction, aid, as shown in Fig. 1.17. We now add another important element to the scene the line of action, The lor sack sont hal 2The line of action Line of action is defined as a curve that ue indicates the intensity ofthe poses on the animation keys. Once a line of action is added to. pose, the figure immediately conveys a spirit of life and motion. Compare the animated sacks on the left of Fig. 1.18 with one on the right that contains no line of action at all, Parallel lines indicate stillness or lack of motion; a curved line indicates ‘animation. A variety of emotions can be ‘expressed by the flour sack by varying the line of action. What is the difference between an are andaline of action? 1, The line of action adds emphasis and direction to each key pose and helps convey the acting, 2, Ares apply toa series of images and indicate a path of movement over time. ‘The line of action is always kept fairly simple; it doesn't have alot of fancy ‘curves. Since the flour sack is very simply designed, with no legs or arms. ine of actan coma to stwillonly have one line of action tin the oe an tne it More elaborate characters will have sepeses to be filles with more than one—and well get to that in good time. 2sExercise #4: Acting with the line of action 1, Drawa floor plane similar to the one you used for the bouncing ball, 2, Now, draw lines of action illustrating the following emotions: happiness, sadness, pride, and embarrassment. ‘The lines do not need to touch the floor some poses might bein midair. Use the floor plane where necessary to indicate contact points and gravity in your poses. ‘Make the images large enough to see (about 4 inches apiece is fine). 3, Write the emotion undereach line of action. You may want to draw three or ‘more on one page. Use as many pages as you need, 4, Now construct the flour sack on each of the lines of action as shown in. Fig. 1.19, posing tin auch away that it expresses the indicated emotion through its "body language” While doing this, think of how (a) your best friend or (&) someone whom you do not like might show this emotion through their body attitude, Use your memories tohelp design the poses~they will then be truly yours, and nota copy of someone else's exercise 26 ‘The flour sack, unlike the bouncing ball, appears to think for itselfand move of ite own volition Itis the frat character that you are creating. Nothing about its personality is conveyed in the design, but you can vary its poses and animation to project the attitude that you wish to convey to your audience. Basing the movement and poses of the flour sack on someone you know, or have observed, will turn an animation exercise into a believable performance. 199 Te ne of action crates personaly and attitude in ‘characters. The ine of action mover but appears on every betion to avo sf awardSILHOUETTE VALUE Exercise #5: Silhouettes Some animators forget about silhouette when characters become more complex, adding surface detail without ‘considering the strength of the pose. ‘Whenever youare in doubt about a pose's clarity (readability), fill it with dark tone, as shown in Fig. 1.20, and see ifit still reads well. Iti also helpful tooceasionally “lip” the image so that ‘you view it in reverse. Weakness in the ‘design and composition will become more evident when you look at the artwork in a different manner, 1, Take your flour sack poses and apply a solid dark tone inside the outline of each flour sack, All ofthe poses will read clearly in silhouette. The character is 50 simple that literally any pose will read at this stage, ‘dese that all porer rend ‘ompteated te character to consider sihouett vive TIP @: Why was no anticipation in the movement of tt bouncing ball and the pendulum? ‘A: The bouncing ball and pendulum were inanimate objects responding to the force of gravity and inertia. Anticipation is ‘a conscious move that will vary, depending on the character's thought processes. In other words, itis acting. Animators go to extremes, then have breakdowns in between All keys and inbetweens are not created ‘equal. Poses that are not strong enough tobe keys but indicate a variably timed transition between them are known as breakdowns. Some breakdowns actually ‘change the are and help intensify the action. Beginning a movement by a slight motion in the opposite direction adds weight and direction to animated movement, This is ealled anticipation. 2Exercise #6: Breakdowns and anticipations 1. Createa new floor plane for the assignment. 2, Pick the strongest pose from your flour sack drawings in the previous exercise, Place it on the left side of the frame, resting on the floor plane. 3, Pick another pose from Exercise 5 ‘that shows a reversed ine of action. 4, Place the second pose to the right of the first one, resting on the floor plane. 5, Determine which emotion you ‘wish to have the animation convey. If you have chosen poses for different emotions, pick one ofthe two, Write this emotion at the top of the picture plane. 6, Draw an are between the tops of the ‘two poses, as shown in Fig. 1.21. This may either go upward (as fora bouncing ball) or downward (pendulum action). ‘Try it both ways. 7. Draw a breakdown pose between the first and the second pose, as shown in Fig, 1.22. The sack will squash ifyou have moved with a downward arcand will stretch ifit moves upward on the breakdown. The motion does not have tobe even—breakdowns usually are not evenly timed. 28 1.21 The ac will determine the rection ofthe forapendvlom or for bouncing bal 1122 Breakdown poses forthe our sack wl {rchas gone The acting enanges aramaticaly tren when the two Key poses are etal the8, We will next provide an anticipation ‘pose between the first key and the ‘breakdown. These poses (indicated in yellow) literally anticipate the move into the breakdown poses with a small move in acontrasting direction, as shown in Fig. 1.23, Anticipation adds weight to the animation and is especially useful for timing the action, 9, Itis important not to make the ‘anticipation as strong as the action. The action is always the stronger movernent. ‘Think ofa person throwing a ball—the “throw” is always stronger than the ‘movement of the arm prior to the toss (anticipation), the atielpation wil enange the timing of the movement event! the hays and breakdown remain the same. tis mportant not to “break the 10, After you have drawn the anticipation and breakdown poses, ‘change the original arco that it moves from the first key to the anticipation and then into the breakdown, as shown in Fig. 1.23. The are won't be as smooth as before, but keep a flow to it—don't break the zhythm! This is a rough indication ofthe timing and spacing ofthe final action. 11. Finally, chart your inbetweens on the keys (also do this on breakdowns, ‘utyour method may vary). Charts with inbetweens epaced close to the first key are ‘slow-outs” or “ease-outs" from that, ‘key to the next; inbetweens charted closer to the second key are “slowed-in" ‘or“eased-in (For examples, see the charts in Fig. 1.24.) 12, Complete your inbetweens (be ‘sure to follow the ares!), and create a 72-frame-long animated test. Hold your first pose for 12 frames. The action ‘should take 48 frames (2 seconds), with either one-or two-frame exposure per ‘image. You may wish to expose some inbetweens on ones and the remainder of the keys and breakdowns on twos, Ifyou do this, add the extra frames to the slow-in before the 12-frame hold at the end of the scene. The scene should ran for 72.frames. Donot lengthen or shorten it. 13. Try the same exercise witha different anticipation, 29‘The line of action does not need tobe evenly inbetweened if it reverses. It is acceptable to “pop’ the line of action toareverse curve from one key to the next—although not on every key! You can also vary timing ifyou chart the inbetweens closer to one key pose rather than spacing them evenly between two keys (favoring). This adds texture tothe animation. For an example, see the chart between Poses 5 and 6 in Fig. 1.24. Favoring Pose 5 (and maintaining its line of action on the inbetweens) gives the animation a snap" as the sack slams its “foot” on the ground in Pose 6. How many other poses are “favored” in this example? Some. ®@ 1.26 Te flour sack airorequre antieipaton Ie Pore 2to Pose 6, but the three ‘a oreaterFetng of weiont to A: Not every key pose in an action will need anticipation. ‘A body in motion must overcome inertia in order to change direction. Another anticipation is used when the movement ‘changes direction or intensity, as shown in Fig, 1.24.Abbody at rest must overcome gravity before it begins to move. Noone simply stands up froma sitting position; a combination of movements is used. To ‘see an example of this, getup out of your ‘chair, You most likely put your hand on ‘the desk, pushed your chair back, and ‘then leaned forward in the chair prior to pushing your body up with your legs into a standing position. Movements do ‘not simply pop from one pose to another in real life, and they shouldn't doit in ‘animation—unless that is the intended effect. For example, the inhabitants ‘of Niceville in Wreck-It Ralph (Disney, 2012) pop into their poses with no slow-ins or slow-outs even when they are relaxing in their 3D home. This is a delightful and well-animated reminder of their origins ina 2D video game, ‘When you got out of your chair you ‘anticipated the movement of your hands before placing them on the desk to push the chair back. Another anticipation occurred as you leaned forward in the ‘chair prior to pushing your body up with, your legs into the standing position. No two of us will perform this action the eame way. The action will vary depending on our weight, our physical condition, and the type of desk or chair that we are sitting in It isn't possible forus to escape the effect of gravity— although animated characters can! ee [ can perform imposible actions very ‘easily. But the impossible must be Lknow this defies the law of gravity, believable, Moving character fromone but, you see, | never studied law! pose to another with no anticipation ‘= Bugs Bunny, High Diving Hare Sully looks ikeamistaleevenithe (Ei Freleng, Warner ‘key poses are good, ‘We will continue to use extremely simple characters for the next exercises, ‘which will algo be the first time that we ‘work with a “fantastic” character. 3LOOK, MA, NO HANDS! ANIMATING SNAKES, WORMS, AND OTHER CRAWLERS ‘The flour sack mimicked the proportions of a small body. The flaps can double as “feet” or “hands” as required. But how do you indicate forces affecting the movements ofa limbless earthworm body that is composed entirely of boneless curves? ‘The key is to view them as animated lines ofaction. This reduces animation toan absolute minimum: The line of action must convey the performance ‘without the addition of even the simple “hands” and “feet” that we used in the flour sack exercise. Parts of the worm or snake's body will appear tenser than others, as shown in Fig. 1.25, depending onthe interplay between curved and straight sections in the animation poses. This tension is beautifully portrayed in an illustration by TS. Sullivan (Fig. 1.26) in which the snake's body also suggests a coiled spring, 3 Good animation poses, like good design, are not wholly based on one shape. We ‘will now see how the tension between straight and curved shapes creates force in very simple characters. sing some modified bal shapes. 1.26 Eve ad the Snake by TS. Sulivant 920‘The earthworm can assume different = attitudes suggesting an entire body or a portion ofa body. A mouth is portrayed 1 2 {in Pose 2 and afistin Pose 3 of Fig 1.27 . Use graphic symbolism to portray an fi] ‘The strength of an animated character's ‘pore does notdepend on muscular strength. An animated worm's performance can show as much ‘emotional force as that of any other animated character. This is the magicof ‘animation. In Fig. 1.28, the worm's body attitudes suggest surprise as it sticks out its “chest, then sadness asit slumps to the ground; its body then develops. joints in the final two poses as the ‘creature “sits” and rests ite “elbow” on its “knee." Our next exercise will allow yyou to experiment with the character's movement before advancing to more complex acting assignments. We will also see how a character's actions affect ‘another item in the scene, 4 Shock \ 3 Anger performance does net depend fn the sae or strength of the ‘character Smal creatures can od Ce & Bill? They got him! —_ | can’t go on... ©) We And yet... Ihave to consider the others. 3Exercise #7: Primary and secondary actions ‘As we have seen, some animated ‘movement is motivated by the character's thought processes, and some movement responds to gravity and other physical forces. A primary action is literally the main movement in 1 scene. Secondary action, by definition, is influenced by the primary action, and it can be applied to external items orto different parts of one character's body. ‘The bouncing ball and pendulum are primary actions. The flour sack body movements primary action. The next exercise has a simple primary action (a ‘worm’s movement) creating a secondary action (a ball rolling out ofthe scene). 1, Create floor plane for the exercise Design a simple worm character. Itmay have some indication of ahead” but should not have eyes. This reference pose will be kept underneath the remaining drawings (if animating this, way). Ifyou are working in CGI, you can construct the worm out of a series of spheres and add a simple backbone, See MN Z@ 4 34 2, Adda ball to the floor plane. It may be any size that you wish; just remember that the size of the bal will determine how the worm animation will work with, it. I's an ordinary earthworm, 3, Have the worm push the ball out of the frame in 72 frames (3 seconds). Stage the action in profile and workon twos. Have the action reading from left toright or right tole. 4, First determine how heavy the ball is, Will the worm easily push it out of the scene, or will it be too heavy for the worm to move? Will the ball move slowly at first and then speed up, or easily roll offscreen? 5, The line of action on the worm body ‘will often be an § curve, but straight lines will appear in the poses when the worm applies force to the ball. The amount of contrast between the curve and straight line shows how difficult it is for the worm to perform the action. 6. The “head of the worm can also function as a"hand! or the worm can, “head-bute" the ball. The movement will vary depending on your preference. 7. Animate the worm first on its ‘own level (W-1, W-3, and s0.0n) after reading the sidebar on primary action (see Author Tip: The stagger). Then ‘animate the ball reacting to the worm’s movement. Keep the ball on another level or layer so that you can adjust the ‘timing separately. Name it B(B-1, B-3, ete) The worm provides the primary action in the scene, whereas the ball’s ‘movement is secondary action. 8. Keep the first image or frame of ‘the worm under the other images as reference for the rest ofthe scene, since the worm’s volume will distort. ‘Then draw the contact pose where the ‘worm first impacts the ball. Create your breakdowns and anticipations along an are, then chart your inbetweens. See Fig. 1.29 for an example.‘Once you have completed the animation, vary the exposure on the images. Expose ‘one teston twos, another version of, ‘the same test on ones, and finally, try varying the timing: use ones for faster areas and twos for slower ones. Ifyou have additional frames as a result of the faster timing, you may either add holds atthe head and tail of the scene or add ‘more inbetweens, Never expose images on threes at any time—this will be visible onscreen as choppy “chattering” images. ‘The worm and ball exercise uses both, primary and secondary action. This is ‘why you were instructed to animate the ‘worm first, and the ball afterward. See Exercise 7 with primary and secondary actions labeled: A worm pushes a ball (primary), which rolls out ofthe scene (secondary). The ball’s motion is instigated by the worm's movement, TIP THE STAGGER AA stagger occurs when the images are deliberately exposed out of order so that the movement backs up and then advances for a deliberate “chattering'" effect. It's normally used to indicate stress or delay in an action. For example: A stagger Would be appropriate between Poses 4 and 5 In Fig. 130, as the worm struggles to get the ball moving, This section will need to be animated on ones, The inbetweens should be very close together and proceed in sequential order (11-1213-14-15- 16), The images are then exposed out of order (1114-13-15-12-1- 13-12-14-16-15), resulting in a “staggered,” or shuddering, motion that makes the worm's efforts appear stronger. Staggers can last longer than the original timing since so many images are repeated, The numbers gradually increase as the application of force overcomes gravity, and regular sequential exposure resumes as the ball rolls out of the scene—and the worm falls over. Staggers are usually exposed on ones, but try it on twos for an Jen stronger effect. (A very strong stagger on twos appears In Disney's Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1948) when Ichabod and his horse first see the headless horseman) Try staggering the worm as it pushes the ball, with the ball moving normally; er try staggering the ball as it begins to move and have the worm moving normally. Note: A stagger is much harder to achieve in CGI than it isin hand-drawn animation. For an analysis of a CGI stagger, see Jamaal Bradley's discussion of the house for the film Monster House in Chapter 6. 3DETERMINING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY ACTIONS What happens when you animate more complicated characters? How do you determine which movements are primary and which are secondary? It ‘will of course depend on the design. Some parts of a character's body will initiate the movement, and other parts will be affected by this motivating force Here ig a small breakdown of how some forces influence others: + primary action motivates + secondary action can include + overlapping action and + follow-through. Some confusion has arisen about what these terme actually mean. Here's an explanation. 1. Primary action is the main ‘movement of the character, It can also cause a reaction on another character or object, or affect different parts of the same character. 2, Secondary action is influenced or created by a primary action, 3. Overlapping action involves drag and delay on different parts of a character's movement go that different parts move at different rates. This creates the Impression of volume, texture, and ‘weight in the movement, 4, Follow-through completes an action ‘with a gradual slowing rather than a sudden stop. 36Inthe classic illustration of primary and secondary action, a character strikes something. In Figs. 1.30 and 1.31 the primary action is the swinging of the ‘arm (a pendulum movement); the man’s face reacts to the blow in secondary action (a bouncing bell movement). The girl's arm and hand move at different speeds (beige areas); this is overlapping action. After the hit, the girl's arm and hair and the man’s jowls (violet areas) {follow-through instead of coming to an ‘immediate stop. There is no contact pose. The strength of the hitis shown by the violent follow through on the man and the clean arc ofthe girl's arm, ‘overlapping action gradually minshing in fallow 2hvough. The pendulsm action eecuts on aPrimary and secondary actions will also affect different parts of one character's body, as you can see ifyou stand up and wave one of your arms rapidly back and forth. Your arm wave a pendulum) is the primary action; the opposing movement of your body is secondary action and is also a pendulum. In Fig, 1.82 the pig moves ite arms in a primary action, creating secondary action on its belly and ears. The feet also push the body upward, making the action even stronger. ‘Tounderstand the conceptof overlapping action, try standing up and turning around with every part of your body moving at the eame time. Avoid using ares and keep your arms stiff Your movements will resemble those of the Frankenstein monster (a brilliant acting performance by Boris Karloff, who was portraying the movements of an animated corpse) ‘Animation that moves without any arcs is frequently lifeless (as shown in Fig. 1.89). The bouncing ball and pendulum. movements are both absent. Compare this with the pig’s action in Fig. 1.34 1.32.8 moving arm wi fect boas they are dead: ving creatures‘The grammar of animation 1.34 A ving creature moves in (Gauash ana sete. down (bouncing ba action) 3 eandulum action atthe ‘makes the animation appear ‘Youcan determine primary and secondary action by using a compound sentence to describe the scene before you begin thumbnailing or posing the character. “She jumps up and down and waves her arms inthe air” ‘The primary action is described in the first part ofthe sentence, The secondary action ie in italies, ‘The primary action influences the secondary action. The cheerleader in Fig. 1.35 illustrates what ean happen, ifyou animate a character without considering primary, secondary, and overlapping action. In this example, ceverything—body, hair clothing, and props—has the same timing. ‘While this style of animation, like the rrubber-hose style, can be amusing to wate, itis not the most effective way to convey complex acting performances or create a feeling of weight and volume in the character. And while some animators turn out beautiful work by going straight ahead with a series of consecutive drawings or poses incorporating primary and secondary actions, the method isn't suitable for ‘everyone. Fig. 1.36 is an alternative way of performing the cheerleader's move, 39a vy Primary = black Follow-through is a type of overlapping action where objects that cannot generate movement by themselves react to outside forces. Follow-through also allows a character's action to slow toastop. An example appears on the cheerleader's arms in Fig. 1.36. The added hair and skirt in Fig. 1.37 follow- through a bit later than the movements ofher body (the primary action), and the overlapping pom-poms follow the secondary action of the arms. 40 ‘Secondary = red Blu ‘These thumbnails are all for key and breakdown poses; they will be shot in ‘pose test for timing. The inbetweens are never thumbnailed; they are added ‘when the scene is being animated. ‘We will next workwith ahumanoid character and ereate two-legged cycle ‘walks, which are traditionally the most difficult assignment fora beginning animator. are on ch Up and sown lack ermning bouncing bal (ston) ae Blocked in frst Secondory ection “and waves her arm inthe aed ans Bend oction 2 ded ofterwords. The arms fellow trough and stop ait later than the body ofthe character and gives eating of weight,~~ blue arrows indicate second reversal of line of action “pompom arc follows body action here, but timing will differ