ANIMATION: T1 - Week 1-9 Flashcards
List the best settings for an animation.
1920 x 1080
24FPS
Actionscript 3
Explain the steps in the creative design process.
- Understand the brief and identify the purpose
- Researching solutions and inspiration
- Using creative thinking techniques
- Generate and assess different ideas and consult with relevant personnel
Define target market/audience/users.
The specific group of people you want to reach with your marketing message.
- Age
- Location (and time zone)
- Language
- Interests
- Stage of life
List and describe some of the Animation Softwares available.
- Adobe Animate
- Adobe Character Animator
- Adobe After Effects
- Clip Studio
- Toon Boom Harmony
List the types of animation styles.
- Frame by Frame Animation
- Tween Animation
- Rotoscoping
Explain frame-by-frame animation.
- Animation style/technique
- Draw every frame
- Difficult/time consuming
- Good for complex animations
Explain tween animation.
- Animation style/technique
- Animator draws the keyframe computer generates frames in between
- Quick
Explain rotoscoping.
- Animation style/technique
- Trace over footage
- Frame by frame
- Produce realistic action
- Looks great but time-consuming
Explain what 2D Animations might be used in /for.
BASIC GAMES
Used for website entertainment and advertisements.
BUTTONS
Interactive elements with animation in multimedia projects.
CHARACTERS
Animated figures connect with audiences, often in storytelling.
LOGOS
Graphic symbols for instant recognition in commercial and personal branding.
List the 12 principles of animations.
- Squash and stretch
- Anticipation
- Staging
- Straight ahead and pose to pose
- Follow-through and overlapping action
- Slow/ease in and slow/ease out
- Arcs
- Secondary action
- Timing
- Exaggeration
- Solid drawing
- Appeal
Define squash and stretch.
Gives objects in an animation weight and volume.
eg. When a ball hits the ground the squash effect gives a more realistic look as if gravity was pulling it to the ground.
Define anticipation.
Gives the audience a clue of what happens next, rather than every scene being a shock.
Define staging.
How you position elements in a scene, from the placement of the characters to the background and foreground elements, the character’s mood, and how the camera angle is set up.
Define straight ahead and pose to pose.
The pose-to-pose technique involves drawing the key poses first and then filling in the transitional poses second.
The straight-ahead technique is crafting one frame after another.
Straight-ahead is better for creating fluid, realistic, and unpredictable actions eg. fire.
Pose to pose is better for most actions as it gives more control and helps avoid problems ahead eg. jumping over a hole.
Define follow-through and overlapping action.
Follow-through = loosely connected parts of a body or object will continue moving after the character has stopped.
Overlapping Action = how different parts of a body or object tend to move at different rates.
When a moving object such as a person comes to a stop, their hair might continue to move in the same direction because of the force of forward momentum after completing the action it will come to a stop in the opposite direction.
Define slow/ease in and slow/ease out.
Imitates friction and gravity preventing matter from moving freely.
Slow-In: slowing down the speed of an action when reaching a main pose.
Slow-Out: accelerating again upon leaving a main pose.
E.G. a ball bouncing going up slows down (Ease In), and then goes down increasing its speed (Ease Out), until it hits the ground.
Define arcs.
Most people and objects move in a circular path this technique helps to imitate the movement by also following a circular path.
E.G. a ball moving and bouncing would follow an arc rather than a triangular shape because then it would look too mechanical.
Define secondary action.
Gestures that support the main action add more dimension to the character’s animation. Staging is very important to emphasise the main action rather than take away from it.
E.G. a character is sad (main action) and a tear falls down adding dimension (secondary action).
Define timing.
The personality and nature of an animation is greatly affected by the number of frames inserted between each main action.
more drawings = slow
less drawings = fast
You can draw on ones (one drawing per frame) on twos and so on. Most common to draw on twos to avoid jittery movement. Drawing on ones is used for fast movements.
Define exaggeration.
Used to push the movement further and add more appeal to an action, pose or expression.
Remain true to reality, just present it in a wilder, more extreme form.
E.G. in Walt Disney’s opening scene with Mickey Mouse his hands are elongated to emphasise the action of steering the ship.
Define solid drawing.
Makes the drawing look three-dimensional and believable with Volume, Weight and Balance.
E.G. when drawing a cube avoid parallel lines instead draw it to the vanishing point or else it will look like a flat symbol.
Define appeal.
Engages and interests the audience in the character by following a dynamic design of a variety of shapes, proportions, and avoiding overcomplication/detail.
E.G. to create a small and cute character you can use appeal by making the body smaller and shorter and increasing the size of features people commonly find cute such as the head and the eyes.
List the screen principles.
- Editing/transitions
- Cut
- Jump cut
- Fade in/out
- Dissolve
- Wipe
- Framing
- Lighting
- Montage
- Narrative/storytelling
- Style/genre
- Motion pacing/timing
- Point of view
Define editing/transitions.
Every animation whether computer-generated or hand-drawn is made up of hundreds of individual shots placed together through editing.
Transitions are techniques used to smoothly switch/join between shots, like cuts, fades, or dissolves.
Define a cut.
A cut is the most basic edit to produce. Shot A abruptly ends and Shot B abruptly begins.
Define a jump cut.
When a single shot is broken with a cut that makes the subject appear to jump instantly forward in time.
E.G. to emphasise waiting for a long time the camera wont move but the people in the frame will implying that time has past as they try to keep themselves occupied.
Define fade in/out.
A fade is when the shot gradually vanishes into a singular colour (most common are black and white) fade ins occur at the start of a shot and fade outs occur at the end of a shot.
Define dissolve.
Dissolves are used to link two shots when the visibility of a shot gradually changes until it vanishes into the next shot.
Define wipe.
A wipe involves one shot replacing another, travelling from one side of the frame to another.
Define framing.
The composition and arrangement of visual elements within the camera frame to create a desired visual impact and convey meaning.
