ANIMATION FUNDAMENTAL-PROJECT 2

 Monday,Nov. 11.2024

11.11.2024-15.12.2024 | Week 8 - Week 12

Jia Wenbing /0365436/

Design principles/Bachelor of Design in Creative Media

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INSTRUCTIONS

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LECTURES

WEEK 9

This week we talked about the Anticipation and Follow-through of the basic principles of animation to make animation more realistic and interesting.

Fig. 1.3 Slide Notes (W9)- Anticipation

Fig. 1.4 Slide Notes (W9)- Pose to Pose and Straight Ahead

• Anticipation will help the audience prepare for the next action
• By placing the anticipation further out, multiple levels of anticipation can be achieved.
• Drag and overlapping motions happen often, which are related to the art of delay.
• Drag is the way a body part continues to move after the body stops.
• Overlapping motions show that the timing of the body and other parts is different. The movement of the parts attached to the main body is that this is a technique that lags behind the main body.
• The difference with the stretched overlapping motion is that it adds a lot of realism to the character.
• Basically when the body moves, the end of the hanging object is the last to catch up with that movement. When the body stops, the end of the hanging object must be dragged the farthest to get back to its original position.

Week 10

This week Mr. Kamal introduces us to key poses, extreme poses, breakdown poses, and in-between poses

In animation, these four poses are essential to building fluid and expressive movements. Here’s what each pose means and how they work together:

Key pose

What it is: The main point that defines the movement and tells the story.

Why it’s important: They form the structure of the animation, showing where the movement begins, changes, and ends.

For example: In a jump, key poses include the crouch before the jump, the highest point of the jump, and the landing.

Extreme pose

What it is: The most stretched or compressed moment in the movement.

Why it’s important: Adds energy and exaggeration, making the movement more dynamic and expressive.

For example: At the highest point of the jump, the body is fully extended; when landing, the body is contracted.

Breakdown pose

What it is: The poses between key moments that explain how the movement happens.

Why it’s important: Leads the movement, showing arcs, overlaps, or secondary movements, such as flowing hair or swinging arms.

For example: During a jump, the arms swing up and the legs begin to close in mid-air.

In-between poses

What it is: Smaller poses between all other poses that make the movement more fluid.

Why it’s important: Makes the movement feel natural and continuous by optimizing timing and spacing.

For example: The gradual drop between the top of a jump and the landing.

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PROJECT-2A Walk Cycle Animation

Walk Cycle

We need to create a project in Adobe Animate. Set the settings to 24fps, 16:9 aspect ratio, and 1280 x 720 (HD720p) resolution.

Export the rough animation as a video, using either: *.mp4 format or quicktime *.mov.

Draw the chest strap pattern with sharper strokes

I first started planning the animation with a rough block sketch in Adobe Animate. I followed the reference key poses listed previously so that the character would look like it was constantly walking in the same place at the same speed.

Fig. 2.1 Side view of walking bundle structure

Next, I start to detail my character's walk. I add in-between frames to ensure smooth transitions between key poses. These frames help achieve fluid movement, and optimizing the timing is crucial to making the steps feel balanced and realistic.

Fig. 2.2 Add frame animation

Final Design

PROJECT-2B Jump Animation

For this assignment we need to learn the jump animation, including the anticipation and follow-through poses, as well as the timing and hold poses from the Animator's Survival Kit, as a reference:

Normal pose

Anticipation pose

Jump action poses (push-off, air, landing)

Follow-through pose

Normal pose

Create a project in Adobe Animate. Set the settings to 24fps, 16:9 aspect ratio, and 1280 x 720 (HD720p) resolution.

Using the same character I created in Project 1 (Progress 1), make a rough animation of the character's jump animation

I still determine the rough movements of the entire animation first, and then determine the dynamics of the character, including the starting state and the initial strength and movement of the jump, to increase the realism of the animation.

Fig. 2.3 Binding Actions

Then I started to add character movements frame by frame, including modifying the center of gravity, hands and feet of the entire character due to jumping.

Fig. 2.4 Add frame animation

Final Design

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FEEDBACK

WEEk 10:

Mr. Kamal gave me feedback that my movements were not coherent enough and a bit stiff, and needed to be further refined. In the animation, one foot landed, the other foot lifted up, and the elasticity and realism of the up and down movements were not achieved. It was not animated enough.

WEEk 12:

Mr. Kamal reported that the video I exported was too small. Later I found that I did not modify the settings when exporting. My character lacked the state of hovering backwards during the jump. This is the balance state of the character's center of gravity before landing.

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REFLECTION

This project was a lot of fun for me. I've always wanted to try making a walk cycle animation, and I was very happy to do it for this project. Although I was a little frustrated during the process because I'm not very familiar with Adobe Animate yet. During the duplication process, I had to spend time deleting all the brush strokes to be able to accurately edit the strokes again. But other than that, I enjoyed the process of animating the walk cycle, and this project also helped me understand how to use Adobe Animate more.