This time i created two animations; one object bounce where i used the techniques of squashing and stretching, and one ease out/ease in animation.

The first animation i did was the object bounce. The goal was to animate a bouncing object that transfers most of it’s energy to the next bounce. There was a little more planning behind this animation than the last one; i created an arc of motion frame before starting the animation, where i planned out where the object would bounce, and how high it would bounce each time. Next i planned how many frames roughly each bounce would take; i initially over estimated it (13 frames for the 1st bounce), but after looking at a diagram, i was able to adjust my timing and start animating.

As I’ve done a ball bounce animation before, the squash and stretch technique was fairly easy to me; in areas where the ball was using the most energy (falling & rising), i stretched it out by increasing it’s length, and i squished it whenever it touched the floor. In my opinion this bounce looks a lot better than the one i did before i started uni, as i had a better understanding of the planning that was needed before starting, and my stretches look more natural, and i animated on 1s which prevented the object from looking like it slowed down between bounces. I was also able to work at a frame rate that made the movement look quick. Lastly, i made the object into a character; a small and round cat that changed facial expressions every time it hit the floor (although it isn’t very clear in the video).I was able to render he animation clearer than i did on mt first two paper animations, as i set up a proper station for it this time around.

The next animation i did was an ease out & ease in animation. There was a big focus on timing & spacing for this animation; Using an animation chart i had to draw someone moving between 3 poses, and add frames between each pose that would bring the person from one pose to the next at the right speed. Similarly to my pose to pose animation i first drew in the key frames, then the breakdowns, and lastly all of the frames in between. i had to photograph the key frames around 30 times each, so that the character held each of the 3 poses for long enough before moving on. I decided to go for a character without too much detail, so that i could focus more on the arm movements and getting my timings right.

This animation was quite similar to the pose to pose animation, so it wasn’t too hard for me. The hardest part was probably making sure my timings were right; i had to re draw a lot of frames because i made the character move too quickly, and the movements didn’t look natural. One thing i wish i had done differently now that i look back on it is the timing of the facial expressions; i synced them to the timings of the movement, which made the animation look a little too calculated and unnatural. This is a small thing that i’ll aim to avoid in future animations.

All in all i think these were useful techniques to learn; i can see myself using them in the future to make movements in my animations look a little more natural, and exaggerated when they need to be.