Twelve Principles of Animation and Small Experimental Flash Animations

Here I experimented with the ideas of spacing in animation. The blue ball in my idea of how it may work, while the red ball is a basic motion tweened using flash, which I used to compare the other balls progression with.

The Twelve Principles of Animation 

(http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_principles.html)

Squash and Stretch
This is the most important principle since it has flexible uses, from rubber balls bouncing to a person walking, it can also be employed in the animation of dialogue. In knowledge of this I am considering creating some more animations to explore the possibilities available to me through the use of this principle.

Anticipation
This would be a preparatory movement to signalling a major oncoming action to the audience, which would normally begin with a backward motion before the action is employed in animation. This is important because it simulates a more realistic movement in real time.

Staging
The main body of this principle is to explain rationality or utilisation of animation and design within a scene. For example, too many movements in a character at once may be too confusing to look at, or when backgrounds converge upon animation, competing for attention in the audience. A movement should be utilised as a method to progress the story, displaying the characters attitude or emotion for the purpose of continuity.

Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose Animation
A method of working in animation where the animator would work drawing to drawing until the end of a scene. To avoid distortion in scaling or proportion keyframes would be marked at intervals where the characters pose changes. This is used in action scenes where the character goes through a series of poses at once. It is also good for team organisation where the lead animator needs to focus on the direction of the story, so the assistant would be put in charge of charting keyframes in an action sequence.

Follow through and Overlapping Animation
this principle deals with drag; when a characters main body stops, all extremities copy suit in the following keyframes. These extremities can include hair, tails, coats, arms, as well as other body parts for comical effect. Timing is critical to the effectiveness of this principle since the rate at which the main body stops equates to the force the extremities swing at.

Slow out and Slow in
Fewer drawings make a scene faster, while the inverse of more drawings will make the animation look slower. Making use of this will soften the look of an animation, while also having the nick of gag animations.

Arcs
In almost all living creatures there is some representation of an arc movement, like in humans where the arms and legs tend to follow the paths of arcs, and in a variety of other creatures or animals where the rule caries through. making use of this principle can help create animations that more natural looking, with an flow reflective of nature. It can also be applied to blades of grass, pendulum swinging and eyes turning.

Secondary Action
This would be an action separate from the main animation, that supports the movement of the latter as well as other secondary movements. It can be said that other principle are supported in the same frame as the secondary action, showing how the techniques can go hand in hand rather than individually analysed.

Timing
This is principle is more aimed at the experience of the animator in question. A lot of the other principles listed here culminate to the effectiveness of this one, so I feel it is advised to experiment with those before going into closer examination of these ones. One way this could be put into practice is to study the movements of real time actors, and apply their movements to an animation with other principles in mind. Another way is through frame by frame examination.

Exaggeration
Presentation can be achieved through characters looks, but in animation there are a few more rules to be aware of. If an animation is made through tracing of a real time model, the result may look stiff or robotic in the way it moves. When a character moves it needs to obviously look natrual, and this is obtained by the mechanic of exaggeration. The look of it is mostly achieved through personal taste and literally common sense, so it could take any manner of forms.

Solid Drawing
Art techniques to do with the construction of form or landscape could have a big influence on the resulting animation. Having something look three dimensional adds to the illusion of life.

Appeal
Entirely to do with the character in question; does he appeal to the audience? Is he memorable? Answers can be made through the use of basic techniques, such as simple designs, good drawings, and to his dimension, a progressive personality. "The feature has to appeal to the mind as well as the eye".