Anticipation for Jumping

The second principle of animation is anticipation, which is used to show the preparation for an action. All important actions should have anticipation as it is arguably the most important part of an action because it directs the viewer's attention to the movement and suggests what action is going to occur.

Keeping the squash and stretch principle in mind, I have created a simplistic character in Adobe Flash which has been animated to jump.

I found that the 'onion skin' tool was particularly helpful as it allowed me to animate the character straight ahead - creating a good level of fluidity. The use of colour also allowed me to control the body's volume throughout the animation. I also played different music and sound effects alongside my animation to experiment with the impact that sound can have. On the other hand, I found it difficult to maintain a consistent line thickness due to Flash's smoothing.

To overcome this I removed all outlines, leaving the character's motion unchanged. 

Squash and Stretch

The twelve principles of animation are essential techniques for animating in both 2D and 3D. The first principle, squash and stretch, involves the exaggeration of a character's body to create the illusion of weight and volume as it moves. Squash generally shows force, impact or anticipation, whilst stretch indicates acceleration or velocity.

To demonstrate, I was set the task of animating a bouncing ball. This required each frame to be individually drawn using a light box and animation pegs to assure that the animation flowed.

Throughout this process it was important to consider not only the volume of my ball, but that each drawing followed an arced motion path. It was somewhat difficult to judge the distance between each drawing as the velocity increased and decreased, however I upon watching the final video I feel that this is not too much of an issue.

I also attempted this exercise in Autodesk Maya using a polygon sphere with a rig that allowed the ball to move, squash and stretch.

I found this method to be much easier and quicker as the rig controlled the volume of the ball when squashing and stretching. The software also created the in-between frames, meaning that I avoided the earlier issue of judging distance. 

I also used Maya to complete a similar exercise where the ball needed to accelerate before coming to a sudden halt. This time the character has a tail, which follows through as the ball stops. This task was the easiest of the three, which is most probably due to the linear motion path. 

To further experiment with the principle of squash and stretch, I will later animate the same character to maneuver between various obstacles.

The bloggin' begins...

My journey began in childhood, where I first discovered my love for video games. Not only do I enjoy playing games, but I consider them to be an art form - a gateway almost, allowing a person to visually explore another's imagination. I was fascinated by the designs that went into the creation of both characters and environments. 

Games I particularly enjoyed include 'Spyro the Dragon', 'Hotel Dusk' and 'Heavy Rain'. Heavy Rain was created by Quantic Dream - a French video game developing company who create realistic graphics using actors and techniques involving motion capture. The final results of the creating process are impeccable, as the character models are borderline identical to their real-life actor. 

In 2012 I began my studies of Animation for Film and Games at St. Austell College. I excelled in many areas of the course, working vigorously in software such as Autodesk Maya, Adobe Flash and Adobe Photoshop. The course taught me many important skills, such as how to create storyboards to a good standard, how to analyse existing video and photographic advertisements and how to visually present ideas. 

During my college course, I had much experience in working as a team - which was especially effective when designing TV idents. The assignment required me to work in a group of 2-3 people to create a 30-second ident for the fictional game-reviewing channel 'Game Hedz'. Within the project, my colleague was responsible for the environment design, whilst I created the character - which was modelled, rigged, textured and animated in Autodesk Maya.

A render from the final TV ident production.

I am currently studying Animation and Visual Effects at Falmouth University, where I am hoping to develop my skills further in order to achieve the career I hope for.