Research:
Research:
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This page will include research on the 12 principles of animation alongside the 3 laws of motion. These principles are crucial for creating engaging and believable characters and animating movements such as jumps, walks, and weight tests. I will then further observe various types of movements in a variety of references by breaking down how they express these principles and abide by these laws.
Secondary Research:
Secondary Research:
The 12 principles of animation, developed by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, are essential guidelines for creating lifelike and engaging animations. These principles, which range from 'Squash and Stretch' to 'Appeal,' lay the foundation for animating movements, including jumps.
The 12 principles of animation:
Squash and Stretch: This gives a sense of weight and flexibility to objects. Squashed objects seem heavier or more comical.
Anticipation: Before an action, there's a small movement in the opposite direction. Like a pitcher winding up before throwing a ball.
Staging: Presenting an idea so that it's unmistakably clear. It involves using poses, backgrounds, and camera angles for emphasis.
Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose: Two different animation techniques. 'Straight ahead' is creating frames in sequence, while 'pose to pose' involves starting with key poses and then filling in between.
Follow Through and Overlapping Action: Parts of a body continue moving after the character has stopped. Also, different parts of the body move at different rates (hair, cloth).
Slow In and Slow Out: The movement of an object starts slowly, speeds up, and then slows down. This makes animation more natural.
Arc: Most actions follow an arched trajectory. The principle of arcs adds realism to the movement.
Secondary Action: Adding smaller actions to the main action adds more dimension to a character and scene.
Timing: Timing dictates the speed of an action and gives meaning to movement. The right timing makes objects appear heavy or light, fast or slow.
Exaggeration: Exaggerating an action or feature adds more drama and appeal.
Solid Drawing: Understanding the basics of 3D shapes, anatomy, weight, balance, light, and shadow in drawing.
Appeal: Characters should be pleasing and engaging, regardless of whether they are heroes or villains.
In realistic jumps, the laws of physics, particularly Newton's laws, play a crucial role. Understanding these laws helps in creating animations that adhere to real-world dynamics:
Newton's First Law, Law of Inertia: This law states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force. In animation, this translates to a character remaining still until a force (like muscle power) propels them into a jump.
Newton's Second Law, Law of Acceleration: It explains that the acceleration of an object depends on two variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. In terms of animation, this law helps in determining how the mass of a character influences the force needed for a jump. Heavier characters require more force to achieve the same jump as lighter characters.
Newton's Third Law, Law of Action and Reaction: This law posits that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It's particularly relevant in animating the moment of landing. When a character's feet hit the ground, the ground exerts an equal and opposite force upwards, which affects how the character settles after a jump.
Coursesidekick.com. (2024). Available at: https://www.coursesidekick.com/mathematics/131895 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2024].
Evolution in Animation Techniques - Motion Capture in Transformers or other jumps/stunts
I found in recent Transformers films, the shift from purely hand-animated techniques to incorporating motion capture seems to reflect the advancements in animation technology. This transition demonstrates how motion capture can be used to animate human-like forms, enhancing realism and character movement. However, manual keyframing still plays a crucial role in exaggerating specific aspects, like the heavy impact of a Transformers landing or elongated stretches in cartoon characters, such as the Incredibles.
befores & afters. (2023). Wētā FX used mocap... ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’. [online] Available at: https://beforesandafters.com/2023/07/13/weta-fx-used-mocap-and-early-blocking-to-help-choreograph-the-optimus-and-noah-vs-scourge-scenes-in-transformers-rise-of-the-beasts/#:~:text=Articles%200- [Accessed 28 Jan. 2024].
Primary research:
Primary research:
Jump Examples:
Jump Examples:
Non-Realistic Jumps in Animation
A Closer Look at Abe’s Jumps
In "Abe’s Oddysee," the character's jumping animation is humorously unique and a key gameplay element. The arms' slight swing after each landing demonstrates 'follow-through and overlapping action,' giving the character's movement a sense of elasticity. This effect, observable in the game's 1998 version and its more expressive remake, showcases a slight delay or 'overshoot' in the body following the feet's contact with the ground.
Oddworld - Abe’s Oddysee Walkthrough - Part 1. www.youtube.com. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dFHogx06p4&t=1186s [Accessed 28 Jan. 2024].
Cartoon and animation jumps often exaggerate and bend physics for character design or storytelling while still being rooted in the 12 animation principles. A YouTube video I came across helpfully breaks down jump phases, including 'Neutral,' 'Antic,' 'Stretch,' 'Jump,' 'Contact,' 'Overshoot,' and 'Recovery,' showing how principles like 'Anticipation' and 'Squash and Stretch' apply.
Realistic jumps are constrained by Newton's laws, but creative use of the 12 principles is key for visually striking animated jumps.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Jump Animation (Explained in 50 seconds). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9v7pzeO6G4.
Section 4: Real vs. Animated Jumps: Transformers Case Study
In a compelling side-by-side comparison, the YouTube video "Stunts From Transformers In Real Life (Parkour)" contrasts real-life stunt jumps with their animated counterparts in the Transformers movies. This juxtaposition highlights how animation exaggerates certain aspects of movement to convey the weight and power of the Transformers. For instance, in the animated sequences, there's often a more pronounced overlap and recovery time, enhancing the illusion of the Transformers' heavy metal frames. By observing the human stunts alongside the movie animations, we can see the animator's deliberate choices in exaggerating the landing impacts and the delayed reactions, adding to the believability and drama of these larger-than-life characters.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Stunts From Transformers In Real Life (Parkour). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwEFR-QASu8 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2024].
To delve deeper, let's focus on a specific clip from the video where a stunt performer replicates the landing of Bumblebee. The accompanying images effectively demonstrate the concept of overshoot or overlap in motion. In the second image, we observe the "contact" point where the stuntman's feet first touch the ground. In subsequent images, his upper body follows through, coming to a delayed stop – this is the overshoot. This sequence illustrates how, even in the realm of science fiction with large mechanical robots, the movements are designed to simulate and adhere to real-life physics, enhancing the sense of realism.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Stunts From Transformers In Real Life (Parkour). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwEFR-QASu8.
Expressive Character Walk Examples:
Expressive Character Walk Examples:
I have decided to analyse various reference footages from different mediums, all the way from 2D to 3D to real-emphased walks.
I like this video as it shows a range of different aesthetics that are often complementing the style of walk with the character, such as a heavier character having a larger impact when his foot touches the ground or from the more agile movement of slimmer less air resistant characters.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). KLAUS | Walk cycle mash-up. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91H2odUGKuk [Accessed 30 Sep. 2022].
on the left here we can see how much higher up one side of the hip is from the other side, showing the rotation of the hip joint and how the side that rises is the side that stands on the leg, and the side that lowers is the side that thrusts out forward to take the next step on and towards the ground.
on the right, the image from the video shows how the shoulders and hips rotate oppositely to each other, even when drawn in 2d, the concepts of physics and real world movement are still required to achieve a fluid animation that resembles aspects of our reality.
i like this video because it shows a good wide range of walks that a single individual character can achieve.
The speed and force and also the large animation arcs of the swings of the arms give the illusion, and also demonstrate the effort and power put into the swings which I feel help to show his enthusiasm, keenness, and happiness.
The constant flicking of the tail with excessive overlap following down the tail to its end compliments the character's emotions in this case as many animals shake their tails when they are exited.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). 15 Walk Cycles Different Attitude Student Work Credit for the concept study goes to Chiara Porri. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5K3-RMwn50 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2024].
i think these videos are informative and good for inspiration as they includes a very wide range of different personality and expressive walks.
this video shows how using the full bosy to convey emotion and character helps the walk to be more expressive with different personality types. Using every body part including down to the hands and fingers results in a much more complete and coherent motion
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). 100 Different Ways to Walk by Kevin Parry (Animation Reference with Music). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVjIqr8CTtQ.
in scenes such as tip-toeing where he barely swings his arms and there is a reduced size of animation arcs, it gives his body more of the illusion of control and delicacy, leading the viewer to pay more attention to the placement of the feet. keeping the body lower to the ground also helps with suspension here by creating less sudden impacts or overlaps when contacting the ground, for the rest of the body but resulting in the head to flow and bounce and bop more across the screen.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). 50 Types of Walks. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9126Bdjn8sg [Accessed 22 Apr. 2024].
Expressive Push Examples:
Expressive Push Examples:
Here are some different types of pushing videos from online, that demonstrate aspects from the 12 principles, and 3 laws of animation.
Here is a real life video from pasta lavista on youtube.
I particularly like how she built up the anticipation part of the animation by getting ready and stretching, adding real essence of effort needed and later applied by the actor.
I think having her feet slide across the floor, which would usually be an issue in student animation, is actually helpful here at demonstrating the real force she is applying to the object with her arms, enough to shift the whole rest of her body along the floor.
This demonstrates anticipation, from The 12 principles of animation, as well as Newton's Third Law, the Law of Action and Reaction.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Push Animation Reference Video. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdXORlImOcs [Accessed 22 Apr. 2024].
Here is an animated example done in Maya by Alexandre Blanc, which is a great attempt at creating an expressive character push not only due to the anticipation of the character getting ready and rubbing his hands together before the action but also the almost unnatural bend of the back/spine, which although I think would be painful in real like, the exaggeration of the bend back from the force here amplifies the illusion of pressure and is the 10th principle from 'The 12 principles of animation'.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Push and Pull Animation. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCrX18O6rKg [Accessed 22 Apr. 2024].
ere is another solid Maya animation here created by Hazaragi Animation TECH, I really like the small and quick shaky movements of the limbs when applying force to the object. the strong force required to move this object I feel would indeed cause strain on the joints and cause the limbs to wobble when pushing the object, I find these small details add more to the immersion of the animation. and when a main object is static and not moving, every other movement is a lot more noticeable so the small nuanced movements applied here shows what's happening even when the object and the rest of the animation might be static. This demonstrates Newton's Third Law, the Law of Action and Reaction.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Body Mechanics Push, Animation. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRbtKJTmxYM [Accessed 22 Apr. 2024].
Another realistic example here from Sara Davis on youtube.
I like this video particularly to show how horizontal the body is when pushing, her body goes past a 45 diagonal degrees and gets closer to a horizontal position, to me this seems good for an expressive animation where the character seemingly almost lies down on the floor, which may help to show how dedicated they really are to push the object.
I would remove accuracy points from this reference video though, due to the video reference not starting with her in frame, she is slightly out of frame at the start, meaning it's harder to see her anticipation compared to some of the other references I have gathered.
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Pushing Heavy Object Reference. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29yQOXOrGRU.
Conclusion:
This exploration of real and animated jumps, walks, and pushes, from the comedic elasticity of "Abe’s Oddysee" to the weighted movements of Transformers, demonstrates the importance of the 12 principles of animation for creating diverse animated styles. Understanding these principles and how they interact with real-world physics is key to crafting engaging and believable realistic movements, as well as exaggerated animated movements.
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