Some Animation Clips

[Rasheed]

AngryMonster is right. It is best to forget about most key interpolations, except linear, step and noisy.

You can change the interpolation type in the Timeline panel, using the Settings button. I have it set to Linear, because it is what I use the most.

If you want to automate physics, you might want to look into what user macton has done in the scripting forum.

It seems his scripts aren't hosted anymore, so I put the crashcore scripts on my .Mac public page for now:

• cc_moho_scripts

You install them in the menu scripts folder of your Anime Studio Pro folder (see screenshot). I have no idea if you can use the scripts with the regular version of Anime Studio (probably not). You activate the scripts through the Scripts menu in Anime Studio.



The most useful scripts are IMHO:

• CC: Copy Selected Curve
• CC: Paste Curve To Points Position

With the first, you copy the points of a curve (the path) in a layer you set to not render. With the second, you position the selected vector object (e.g. a ball) in a separate layer. Now it is easy to modify your path so, that it fits the animation, simply by modifying the path, copy the points positions, and past them back to your selected vector object.

User macton uses step interpolation in his scripts, so you full control over the position of your vector object. It makes things so much easier.

BTW This is the modified version, in which I removed a bug that occurred if you had any actions going on.

[slowtiger]

I'mr really puzzled that nobody mentioned the obvious.

Did nobody notice that all examples run too fast (exception: the clock)?

There you go into curves and scripts and stuff - but where's your sense of timing? How could you possibly improve your skills if you don't develop a sense for putting things at the right point in time?

Sorry if I sound harsh, but in my book this is essential to being an animator.

[ianc]

I see what you mean slowtiger. BUT I have stuck to the timings in the book. Admittedly, the book is for drawn animation, but I don't see how that would affect timings. If you have a recommendation for a better book on learning animation I'd certainly be interested.

[slowtiger]

I don't believe that the book used a timing like yours. I can imagine that the animation examples were meant to be on two's - 1 drawing for 2 frames at 24 fps.

In your case, set the frame rate of your project to 12 fps, and it should look fine.

A test of timing can be done like this: get a stopwatch, close your eyes, and imagine teh scene. Start the watch at beginning, stop at end. This gives you a rough idea of how long the movement has to be.

[Rasheed]

There you go into curves and scripts and stuff - but where's your sense of timing? How could you possibly improve your skills if you don't develop a sense for putting things at the right point in time?

Sorry if I sound harsh, but in my book this is essential to being an animator.

Yeah, this is true. It was so obvious, that I assumed that was already clear. The problem is that I'm not familiar with the book.

I think the tip on learning how to do timing with coins and a video camera in Richard Williams book (Animator's Survival Kit) is an excellent one:

It's all about the timing and the spacing

I met Grim Natwick (born Myron Nordweig) in a Hollywood basement when he was in his eighties. Grim was the oldest of the great animators, being already in his forties when he animated eighty-three scenes of Snow White in Disney's Show White and the Seven Dwarfs. Previously, he'd desiged Betty Boop for Max Fleischer, for which he received nothing and was furious about it 'til the day he died, aged 100.

I'll never forget the image of this big Norwegian American sitting in the golden twilight, extending his long arms and spatula hands saying . . .

"A-a-a-animation . . . It's . . a-a-all . . in the timing . . . a-a-and in . . . the spacing . . . (long pause) . . . Stray-y-y-n-nge . . . that the Americans . . . were the ones to work this out . . .

The bouncing ball says it all.

The old bouncing-ball example is often used because it shows so many different aspects of animation.

A ball bounces along and where it hits --the 'boinks'-- that's the timing. The impacts --where the ball is hitting the ground-- that is the timing of the action, the rhythm of where things happen, where the 'accents' or 'beats' or 'hits' happen.

And here's the spacing
[Rasheed: illustration of the frames of the ball in a single drawing]

The ball overlaps itself when it's at the slow part of its arc, but when it drops fast, it's spaced further apart. That's the spacing. The spacing is how close or far apart those clusters are. That's it. It's simple, but it's important. The spacing is the tricky part. Good animation spacing is a rare commodity.
...
To experience this [Rasheed: timing and spacing], take a coin and film it in stages under a video camera.

First plot out the timing --where you want the ball to hit the ground. Then push the coin around --taking a picture at each frame-- and see what looks right or wrong. Try it with different timings and spacing. You're already animating. You're already dealing with the important fundamentals and you haven't even made a single drawing. You're doing pure animation without any drawings.

Hidden in this simple test is the weight of the ball --how it feels, light or heavy; what it's made of. Is it large or small, moving fast or slow? This will all emerge if you do several tests --which may take a few minutes to do. The importance of the timing and the spacing will becoming obvious.

And then he goes on in explaining what even spacing is, and what ease in and ease out is, and why squash and stretch doesn't really apply to bouncing balls.

The script was just an attempt to forgo the experiment with the coins and the video camera, and do something similar in Anime Studio Pro itself.

Here's an example I did of a pendulum-like motion.

The timing of both balls is the same, but the spacing is quite different.

Here's a bouncing ball:

[AngryMonster]

I'mr really puzzled that nobody mentioned the obvious.

Did nobody notice that all examples run too fast (exception: the clock)?

from my first post..

Although I reckon extend your scene lengths so you can give yourself more time to explore - slow in and outs, overlap and spacing.

sorry couldn't resist