ANIMATION BASICS
There are 12 basic principles of animation. These include Squash and Stretch, Anticipation, Staging, Arcs, Secondary Action, etc. These principles are meant to create a more believable illusion of life and motion in inanimate objects or an anthropomorphic characters, leading to a realistic animation.
To create the illusion, the principles follows the laws of physics as well as dealing with the abstract issues such as timing or emotion. I began crafting several 3d shorts using basic shapes, few property constraints provided in Maya, leading to strengthen my understanding of the animation principles. I based most of the exercises from the widely available references on the internet.
SQUASH & STRETCH
This is considered as one of the most important principle. The purpose of this devised short is to create a sense of weight, mass, gravity, and flexibility to the object. Stretching or compressing the cuboid to make it feel more real and grounded, bounded by the laws of physics. I rigged two cuboids with same basic constraints to form a functional rig which gave me the ability to move, rotate, scale, and deform the cuboids. The image below shows the process flow from MAYA.
This is considered as one of the most important principle. The purpose of this devised short is to create a sense of weight, mass, gravity, and flexibility to the object. Stretching or compressing the cuboid to make it feel more real and grounded, bounded by the laws of physics. I rigged two cuboids with same basic constraints to form a functional rig which gave me the ability to move, rotate, scale, and deform the cuboids. The image below shows the process flow from MAYA.
ARCS
To enhance the feeling of life, animations must move in arcs. Most objects follow an arc or a path while moving. The arcs in this animated short needed to be wider through the middle to mimic the feel of jumping loop. I rigged two cuboids with same basic constraints to form a functional rig which gave me the ability to move, rotate, scale, and deform the cuboids. The image below shows the process flow from MAYA.
To enhance the feeling of life, animations must move in arcs. Most objects follow an arc or a path while moving. The arcs in this animated short needed to be wider through the middle to mimic the feel of jumping loop. I rigged two cuboids with same basic constraints to form a functional rig which gave me the ability to move, rotate, scale, and deform the cuboids. The image below shows the process flow from MAYA.
SECONDARY ACTION
A secondary action is a gesture made to enhance the main action. It is secondary to the primary action. These actions are designed to support, adding a secondary action helps to add more depth in any scene. This short encompasses the secondary action of a small cuboid resting on top of another cuboid, its action is a direct result of the movement caused by the primary cuboid. By exaggerating the balancing action of the smaller cuboid, I attempted at generating a comical effect.
TIMING & SPACING
This principle relates to the number of frames in an action. This relates to the speed of the action. It is a crucial principle to follow as it can make or break the believability of the action. Timing is also vital when conveying character mood, emotion, or reactions. Timing provides the length of an action but Spacing refers to where that object is at each frame of an animation.I used the Ultimate Ball rig for this exercise. The image below shows the process flow from MAYA.
This principle relates to the number of frames in an action. This relates to the speed of the action. It is a crucial principle to follow as it can make or break the believability of the action. Timing is also vital when conveying character mood, emotion, or reactions. Timing provides the length of an action but Spacing refers to where that object is at each frame of an animation.I used the Ultimate Ball rig for this exercise. The image below shows the process flow from MAYA.
