1.Posing, Line of Action and Staging
This might be the most important rule for ensuring that your character is communicating the proper message to the audience. The pose of the character, a distinct «line of action» of the character’s movement and how the character is appears in the frame of the camera must all work together for an effective animation. When «posing» the character, you need to make sure that the pose clearly communicates an idea. By just looking at how the character is posed, the audience should be able to understand what the character is doing. If your
character is angry, a fist in the air, if your character is impatient, arms folded and tapping its foot. A good method for making sure your pose is working is to examine the form of your character in «outline» or «silhouette». This allows you to focus on how the overall form of the character’s pose is communicating while
excluding distracting details. By looking at the silhouette of the character, the idea, mood or
attitude of the character should be obviously clear. If the form is obscured or confusing, there is a good chance that the audience may be unclear about what the character is doing.A simple way to view your character in silhouette is to render your character with a black non-reflective surface against a white background. Render a still image or a sequence and ask yourself (or even somebody else!) if
you could clearly understand what the character is doing in silhouette. When posing your character, it is also
important to visualize a «line of action» in your character. An effective pose of a character in action will have a very strong and clear line through its form. If the line of action is broken up in several directions, it may be a clue to a weak pose for your character. Contrast lines of action in your animation and characters to add variety and rhythm to your scene.
2.Anticipation
Sir Isaac Newton said, «For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.» When a character jumps, it first crouches down, then jumps. The crouching down motion is the anticipation for the jumping motion.
Anticipation happens naturally in nature, the crouching down is like pulling back a rubber band, and the jump is releasing the rubber band. Anticipation also helps the animator «prepare» or «set up» the audience for what the character is about to do. It would be somewhat confusing if your character just instantaneously jumped in the air without crouching down first. First, it would be an unnatural movement. Second, the action would happen so fast, that the audience might get confused about what the character just did. The anticipation gives the audience enough time to «digest» all of the actions of the character. You want to use anticipation with your
character so the audience has an idea of what the character is about to do. Also, use anticipation to help communicate to the audience what the character might be thinking. This will help to convey to the audience ideas and actions that are about to happen.
3.Offset/Breaking Joints/Flexibility
When a force is applied to a link in a chain, it takes time for that force to go down the chain to the subsequent links. The reaction to the force is «delayed» down the chain. Think of a dog’s tail, the same rules apply. The muscles at the base of the tail pull the tail back and forth. That force applied to the base of the tail is delayed
from the base up to the tip of the tail. With your CG character you can express this delayed reaction on skeleton joints by offsetting the timing of the rotation of joints down the chain. Keep in mind that the rotation of your joints should not all occur exactly at the same time. Even slight delays in timing can make the movement of your character look smoother and more natural. Your character tends to look stiff if there is no offset motion, especially in the limbs.
4.Follow Through/Overshoot.
5.Arcs.
The motion of a jointed character appears in «arcing» motions. Much like a pendulum on a clock, swinging back and forth from its pivot point. The same thing happens on your character. Look at your own arm as it swings at the shoulder joint forward and backward. Only a robot would move along rigid, straight lines. Keep this in mind when animating your characters. Movement in straight lines will look unnatural and stiff.
6. Acceleration/Deceleration.
In reality, nothing has instantaneous motion. Objects accelerate into motion and decelerate into no motion. When your character starts a particular movement, make sure there is some sort of acceleration/deceleration in and out of that movement. Ask yourself what the mass and weight of your character is. Heavier objects will have a tendency to take a longer amount of time to get into motion and longer to stop their motion. Lighter objects will accelerate faster and stop quicker.
7.Pacing/Contrasting Motion.
«A series of actions all with the same intensity, speed and amount of movement will quickly become tedious and predictable.» Look for ways to show contrast in your characters movement and attitudes. Your character should not always be moving a million miles per hour all the time. Some of the best animators use motion inerspersed with «static» or still motion at just the right moment in an animation to achieve a reaction out of the audience.
8.Squash and Stretch.
Living, breathing characters are not rigid objects. Their bodies are made of flesh and change shape based on how forces are applied to them. As their shape changes however, their volume of mass stays the same. Ask yourself, «What is the character made of?» Is the character rigid or stiff? Is your character changing direction, accelerating, decelerating? These factors will all have an effect on how the shape of the character may change throughout the animation. The classic example of understanding squash and stretch is a bouncing rubber ball. By itself, the ball is a round spherical shape. When the ball slams against the hard floor, the force of the collision causes the shape of the ball to become oblong or «squashed». When it rebounds off the floor it
«stretches» from the force going in the other direction. Squash and stretch is not the same as simply «scaling» your character bigger or smaller. You have to make sure the volume of the character is the same, it is the displacement of the volume which is the key to «squash and stretch». Notice the shoe of this character when it hits the ground. As the shoe lands, the bottom of the shoe «spreads out» from the impact with the ground. The top of the shoe squishes down and the volume is taken up out to the sides of the shoe.
9.Symmetry/Asymmetry.
A common mistake when first animating a character is that the character’s movements are symmetrical. You will hear animators refer to this as «twinning». Avoid having limbs on each side of the character moving in the exact same direction at the exact same time, this tends to look very unnatural. Again, a robot may move this way, but not a living breathing CG character! Try to vary the position of appendages on both sides of your character when posing. When posing your character, consider torque, twist, «contrapposto», line of action and the shifting of the character’s weight from one side of the body to the other. When the character is standing for instance, the weight of the character should be shifted to one side of the character or the other. On the side where the weight has been shifted, the pelvis will tilt up towards the shoulder, while the shoulder will tilt down toward the pelvis on the same side. This will form a nice bend or arc in the spine as well. This makes the character look more believable and less like it was animated with a computer. (pin standing arms folded, symmetrical and asymmetrical).
10.Weight/Balance.
Be aware of the weight and balance of your character, this can truly make your character appear as a living creature to the audience. Be aware of what material your character is made of. Is the character a 5 ton dinosaur or a 5 ounce lizard? Notice how you stand for instance. You will notice that you tend to shift your center of gravity, your pelvis area, from one leg to another or to both legs. Your center of gravity shifts back and forth, maintaining balance. Consider also when your character is carrying something heavy. The body of your character will need to alter its body posture and center of gravity to «balance» the heavy load. (pin carrying a bowling ball).
11.Storytelling.
When animating your characters, keep in mind that you are telling a story to your audience. The actions and attitudes of your characters need to aid the audience in following the storyline. Also, even in the shortest animations, think of the actions and motions of your character as telling a small story or conveying an idea. A character riding a bike for instance, can tell a short story. How is the character riding the bike? Slowly? Quickly? Where is the character going? To work? To the beach? Think of each animated shot as a short story unto itself. Make sure the point of your story is understandable, clear and entertaining to watch for the viewer.
