Advanced Animation/Exercises

 28/04/2025 - 25/05/2024 (Week 02 – Week 05)

You Siyuan / 0366978

Advanced Animation / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylors University

Exercises

CONCENT

INTRODUCTION
LECTURE
EXERCISES
SUBMISSION
REFLECTION

INTRODUCTION

LECTURE

WEEK 2

Animation Principles

Frame rate
The frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed.

Timing

Spacing Slow in and Slow Out

Arcs

Arc：The visual path of an object or action is called an “arc”. This could be the projectile of a bouncing ball, the path of a moving arm, and even the movements of mouth corners during a dialogue scene.

Week 3

Squash and Stretch
Elasticity of the material
 Flexibility of motion
Life

Flexibility: Drag, Follow Through and Overlapping

Animation Methods

Pose to Pose vs Straight Ahead

TYPE OF POSES:

KEY
EXTREME
BREAKDOWN
INBETWEEN

WEEK 4

Animation Clarity

What is Clarity in Animation
Clarity is keeping your shot clean and precise; for instance, it could mean simplify the movements of your character so it's easier for the audience to keep up. No matter what animation you're doing, the most important concept you must strive for is clarity.

Clarity in Staging

Clarity in Secondary Action
Clarity in Exaggeration
Clarity in Anticipation & Follow Through
Clarity in Solid Drawing

EXERCISES

Exercise 1 - Bouncing Ball Animation

Objective:
You are tasked with creating a smooth and realistic bouncing ball animation using provided ball rigs. The goal is to explore timing, spacing, arcs, and physical properties to showcase the unique characteristics of each type of ball.

The teacher arranged five bouncing ball animations, which are:

• Soccer Ball
• Ping Pong Ball
• Bowling Ball
• Beach Ball
• Squash and Stretch

In this class, we learned the basic functions of Blender, especially how to use the Graph Editor to adjust the motion paths of keyframes. By sliding the handles and modifying the curves, we could fine-tune the speed and rhythm of the animation. During the process, I constantly checked the motion path to ensure that the ball’s movement followed a smooth and natural trajectory.

Before starting, I reviewed what I had learned in my animation fundamentals class, such as timing, spacing, and arcs. This helped me better understand how to create convincing motion. I began by animating the balls one by one, focusing first on practicing “squash” and “stretch” techniques. These deformation methods helped me understand how to express weight and force in a simple bouncing ball.

Through this exercise, I realized how important it is to pay attention to details and timing in animation. Even small changes can make a big difference in the final result. I also became more comfortable with Blender’s workflow and interface, and I look forward to applying these skills in more complex animations in the future.

When the ball bounces and reaches the next highest point, we need to make settings and adjustments again at the keyframe of that position. During the editing process, when we try to drag one end of the anchor point, we will find that the arc in the graphic has changed, which may affect the overall movement trajectory. To solve this problem, we can right-click on the anchor point and set it to "Free" mode (Free), so that we can control the control handle on one side independently without affecting the curvature of the other parts of the curve. 

In order to make my animation more natural, I referred to the video demonstration of the ball's movement posted by my teacher on YouTube. I carefully observed the rhythm, amplitude and landing points of small balls with different materials when bouncing, and tried to apply these characteristics to my own work. Because different materials affect the rebound force and speed of the ball, imitating these details made me more confident in the animation performance and resulted in a more realistic and vivid effect.

During the rendering process, some issues occurred. The small balls did not follow the trajectory and jump accordingly. Finally, adding a camera solved the problem.

Final result

Exercise 2 - Pendulum Animation

This pendulum has an inertia problem. At first, it would swing back and forth, but in the end, it would only make one final swing.

Since all my renderings and exports were in the form of images, I asked my teacher for help and he solved this problem for me.

Final result

Exercise 3 - Emotion Pose

This exercise involves creating a series of expressive character poses to vividly depict various emotions. The task for this session is to create a series of expressive character poses to vividly convey different emotions. For each pose, we need to find reference images and study their features, including outlines, action lines, balance, and so on.

I selected four pictures with distinct expressions and postures as references.

I selected the desired expression from the pose library, made some minor adjustments, and then used the found pose materials to create the movements, making the expressions and movements more harmonious.

Angry

Sad

Scared

Happy

REFLECTION

Experience 

In these three animation exercises, I focused on mastering the basic principles and techniques of animation, such as time control, spacing design, action curves, compression and stretching, and the setting of character postures. Through different scene practices (including multi-ball animation, pendulum swinging, and snowy scenes), I gradually understood how to effectively design and present animations for different objects (either objects or characters). 

Observations

In the multi-ball practice, I discovered that the weight and elasticity of the balls directly affect their bouncing height and movement speed. By skillfully applying compression and stretching techniques, the expressiveness of the animation can be enhanced, making the movements more dynamic. In the pendulum practice, I learned that "moving as a whole and continuously" is the key to presenting natural oscillation. The bending should be smooth, the start and end movements should be gentle, and the slightly delayed movement at the tail can enhance the realism. 

In character animation, I realized that body posture often conveys emotions more effectively than facial expressions. Exaggerated postures and clear action lines can make the emotions more intense, and also make it easier for the audience to understand the character's intentions. Avoiding repetitive or stiff postures can make the character look more natural and realistic. 

Findings 

During the production process, drawing the motion paths, sketches or bounce lines in advance can effectively reduce the time for subsequent modifications and improve the overall efficiency. By observing the physical movement laws and behavioral characteristics in reality, I can simulate the actions more accurately, making the animation more realistic. Maintaining the consistency of the action rhythm with the overall style is crucial for the smoothness and professionalism of the animation. 

Furthermore, facial expressions and body movements should be coordinated and consistent, especially in character animation, so as to convey a unified and credible emotional portrayal.