Ten principles and skills of animation!

The ten principles and skills of animation are rhythm, gradualism and gradualism, action arc, action preparation, exaggeration, squeezing and stretching, secondary action, inertia following and action overlapping, action expressive force and role personality.

What is 3D animation? Three-dimensional animation, also known as 3D animation, is mainly used in the field of film and television, such as animation works that everyone is familiar with. The Return of the Great Sage, which was released in July 20 15, and Nezha, which was released in July 20 19, once again set off a domestic animation craze. First of all, we all know that the mainstream animation software on the market now is MAYA software, and designers build models and scenes in this virtual three-dimensional world.

Then, according to the requirements, the animation parameters such as the motion trajectory of the model and the motion of the virtual camera are set. Finally, assign specific materials and lights to the model as needed. Test the material lighting, finally render the animation sequence frame, synthesize, edit and dub in the later software, and finally make the animation.

The first principle: rhythm

Some people think it seems silly to put timing in the rule list because it is too basic for animation. Obviously, "rhythm" is the basic element of animation. The speed of an object's movement shows its physical essence and the reason for its movement. Just "blink" can be fast or slow. If you blink quickly, the character looks "alert or awake". If you blink slowly, the character will look lazy, tired and sleepy.

For a good animation, a good sense of rhythm is very important and basic. Cartoon-style movements generally require flexible and concise transformation of objects from one posture to another. Realistic style requires detailed changes between poses. But no matter what style, we should pay attention to the timing and rhythm of each action.

The second principle: step by step.

The laws of gradual change and gradual change are usually applicable to the acceleration or deceleration of an object's posture. When an object approaches a posture, it usually slows down and changes (called gradual or slow progress).

On the contrary, when it changes from one pose to another, it should be accelerated (called gradual out or slow out). For character animation, you always need to add gradual or gradual processing to the movement. Even if the character just rotates his head, you may need to add some frames at the beginning and end of the action to make the action smoother.

The third principle: motion arc

In real life, almost all actions have arcs. When doing animation, let the action move along the curve. Not a straight line. Few characters or parts of their bodies move in a straight line. Even when your whole body is walking, it doesn't move in a straight line. When a hand or arm reaches out to touch an object, it will follow a curve.

The fourth principle: preparation for action

Action preparation is generally used to guide the audience's line of sight to the upcoming action. So a common long-term preparation action means that the next action will be very fast. If you pay attention to comics, you may encounter a similar situation. The characters are ready to run away and then disappear quickly.

Before running, a character usually lifts one leg and bends his arm, even if he runs away immediately. This is a common action preparation. In some cases, action preparation needs to be done according to the law of body movement. For example, before you throw the ball, you must bend your arm backwards. Get enough potential energy, this backward action is the preparatory action, and throwing is the action itself.

The fifth principle: exaggeration

Action exaggeration is generally used to emphasize the suddenness of action. This principle should be properly applied according to actual needs, and it should not be used casually, otherwise it will be counterproductive. Producers must first know the purpose of the action, what the plot needs, and decide which stage needs exaggeration. Proper exaggeration will make animation look more credible and interesting. The action process of the character can be exaggerated, for example, it can make the arm shake badly during the swing.

A gesture can also be exaggerated, for example, making the character tilt more than normal. In the process of making dialogue, the animator should carefully identify the stressed parts in the audio track, and then emphasize these parts with some exaggerated actions or actions accordingly. The key to deal with "exaggeration" is to bring the exaggerated part into full play and give it vitality, but it should be moderate, otherwise it will make people feel fake.

Sixth principle: extrusion and stretching

Extrusion and stretching are used to express the elasticity of an object. For example, when a rubber ball bounces to the ground, its body will be squashed. This is the embodiment of squeezing. When the ball bounces, it will stretch and deform in the bouncing direction. When there is no condition for motion blur motion blur processing, sometimes the action may look worse. It can be compensated by extrusion and tensile deformation. Even if there is motion blur, we still need to squeeze and stretch.

Seventh principle: secondary action

Secondary actions are used to increase the interest and authenticity of animation and enrich the action details. Should be well controlled, should be detectable, and should not exceed the main action. A good example is a character sitting at a table, his fingers still banging on the table and performing something.

The latter is not the main action of the character, maybe the character is gesticulating something, and our focus is also on the face of the character. But it is important that we give the characters a more authentic, accurate and natural performance, so we add the details of tapping the table with our fingers, which is the "second action".

Eighth principle: inertia follows and actions overlap.

Action inertia following is similar to action preparation, except that the former appears before the end of the action and the latter appears before the action. In animation, it is often seen that the movement or performance of an object or a part of it goes beyond the position where it should stop, and then returns to that position. This is that action inertia and action overlap are essentially the following actions caused by the linkage of other actions, and there is overlap between actions in time.

For example, a running puppy suddenly stops, and her ears may move forward because of inertia. For another example, if the character walks, the tentacles on his head will swing with his body. This is the so-called action overlap, that is, the action produced by the linkage between the main action and the action superimposed on the main action at the same time.

Ninth principle: expressive force of action

For character animation, it is very important to confirm whether the strength of each action made by the character is clear enough to convey the action intention to be expressed. So that the audience can understand. Moreover, animators should avoid contradictions in the performance of the same role. For example, if you want to show a person's depression and sadness, you can design the character with his back hunched, his hands hanging at his sides, and the lens is viewed from above. However, if you make a bright smile on the character's face at the same time, it will be very contradictory if it is completely inconsistent with the intention expressed by other actions. We should cooperate with each other.

Rule 10: Character.

According to the different thinking of the role, the personality of the role action is determined. By the same token, so do the characters' manners.