Cover 1
Animation: The Mechanics of Motion 4
Contents 6
Foreword 10
Preface 11
THE EXERCISES 13
AND FINALLY 14
Introduction \u2013 Walking with Animators 15
Acknowledgements 18
Chapter 1 Basic Principles 22
Before we begin 24
Timing in animation 25
Persistence of vision 25
Frames per second 25
Timing 27
Animation Exercise 1.1 \u2013 Flip Book 29
Pacing 33
Phrasing 34
Timing 35
Laws of motion 35
First law (inertia) 36
Second law (constant acceleration) 36
Third law (equal and opposite action) 36
Cause and effect 36
Gravity and its effect on a falling object 37
Squash and stretch 39
Pose-to-pose and straight-ahead 45
Advantages of pose-to-pose animation 47
Disadvantages of pose-to-pose animation 47
Advantages of straight-ahead animation 47
Disadvantages of straight-ahead animation 48
Keys and inbetweens 48
Slow out 50
Slow in 50
Animation Exercise 1.2 \u2013 Bouncing Balls 53
Overlapping action, follow-through and drag 56
What is overlapping action? 57
Staggered timing 57
Primary actions 58
Secondary actions 59
Tertiary actions 60
Overlapping Action Case Study 1 \u2013 Lifting a Weight 62
Overlapping Action Case Study 2 \u2013 Getting Out of a Chair 65
What is follow-through? 66
Costume 66
What is drag? 69
How does drag affect an action? 69
Questions to Ask Yourself about Overlapping Action, Follow-through and Drag 70
Arcs and curves, and line of action 71
Arcs and curves 71
Line of action 73
Cycle animation 76
What is cycle animation? 76
Wave cycle 76
Flag cycle 77
Animation Exercise 1.3 \u2013 Flag Cycle 79
Animation Exercise 1.4 \u2013 Aeroplane Cycle 85
Chapter 2 Figurative Animation 88
Before we begin 90
The four \u2018A\u2019s of animation 90
Activity 90
Action 90
Animation 91
Acting 91
Walks and runs 93
Walks 93
Basic walk cycle 94
Animation Exercise 2.1 \u2013 Basic Walk Cycle 99
Runs 106
Animation Exercise 2.2 \u2013 Basic Run Cycle 110
Weight and balance 110
Weight 111
Balance 111
Lifting 112
Throwing 114
Pushing 118
Pulling 119
Questions to Ask Yourself about Weight and Balance 119
Anticipation 119
Takes 121
An argument in support of life drawing 122
Chapter 3 Acting 126
Before we begin 128
Characterization 130
The performance is the thing 131
Dialogue 132
Motivation and objectives 133
Empathy 134
Physical acting 134
Psychological acting 135
Temperament and pace 136
Animation Exercise 3.1 \u2013 Temperament and Pace 138
Animation Exercise 3.2 \u2013 Character Types/Two Sacks 140
Character interaction 142
Animation Exercise 3.3 \u2013 Character Interaction 144
Planning a scene 145
The six stages of planning a scene 145
Props and costume 146
Questions to Ask Yourself about Acting in Animation 147
Chapter 4 Design 150
Before we begin 152
Production 153
Style 153
Audience 154
Distribution 154
Format and budget 154
Storyboards 154
Script first 156
Thumbnail or rough storyboards 157
Presentation storyboards 158
Working storyboards 160
Animatics 160
Character design 163
Character development 163
The animation bible 164
Will it animate? 165
Model sheets 165
Height relationship chart 166
Colour models 166
Construction sheets 169
Action sheets 169
Lip-sync guides 171
Design criteria 173
The morgue 174
Questions to Ask Yourself about Design 175
Chapter 5 Animals in Motion 176
Before we begin 178
Four legs 179
The structure and proportion 179
The walk 183
Animation Exercise 5.1 \u2013 Basic Walk Cycle 184
The trot 186
The run 188
Animation Exercise 5.2 \u2013 Basic Run Cycle 188
Animation Exercise 5.3 \u2013 Advanced Action 188
Questions to Ask Yourself about a Four-legged Animal in Motion 189
Birds in flight 189
Flight cycles 190
Animation Exercise 5.4 \u2013 Basic Flight Cycle 192
Take-off 193
Landing 197
Animation Exercise 5.5 \u2013 Take-off and Landing 197
Questions to Ask Yourself about Birds in Flight 198
Chapter 6 Sound Synchronization 200
Before we begin 202
Bar charts 203
Delivering dialogue and carrying narrative 210
Lip synchronization 210
Mouth shapes 210
Body-sync 218
Animation Exercise 6.1 \u2013 Lip-sync 218
Animation Exercise 6.2 \u2013 Sound Synchronization 219
Questions to Ask Yourself about Sound Synchronization 220
Chapter 7 Technical 222
Before we begin 224
Dope sheets 224
What are dope sheets and what are they for? 224
Creating animation timings 229
Alterations to animation timings 230
Holds 230
Moving holds 233
Staggered doping 233
Repeat animation 235
Random doping 239
Questions to Ask Yourself about Dope Sheets 240
Line tests 241
Layouts and field guides 242
What are layouts? 242
What are field guides and graticules? 243
Camera moves 245
Questions to Ask Yourself about Layouts 247
Formats 247
Recording formats 247
Video or film? 247
Production processes 250
Production management 250
Production charts 251
Production schedules 254
Production folders 255
Production budgets 256
Questions to Ask Yourself about Production Management 257
Appendices 258
Appendix 1: Glossary 260
A 260
B 260
C 261
D 261
F 262
G 262
I 262
K 262
L 262
M 263
O 263
P 264
R 264
S 265
T 265
X 265
Appendix 2: Further reading 266
Practical guides 266
Theoretical 268
Historical 269
Appendix 3: Further viewing 270
Appendix 4: Useful contacts 272
Suppliers 272
Schools 272
Animation studios 272
Other information 273
Index 274
A 274
B 274
C 274
D 275
E 276
F 276
G 276
H 277
I 277
J 277
K 277
L 277
M 277
N 277
O 278
P 278
Q 278
R 278
S 278
T 279
U 280
V 280
W 280
X 280