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GDC
2003: In the early 1930s, Walt Disney and company sat down to codify the hand-drawn animation process that had been informally evolving at Walt Disney studios. What emerged became known as the "12 Principles of Animation," and set the standard for hand-drawn animation. At Saturday morning's "The 12 Principles of Animation applied to 3D Animation," Isaac Kerlow, Director of Digital Production at the Walt Disney Company, argued that the principles need to be adapted for the modern day. Using visual examples from well-known animated films, Kerlow reinterpreted the twelve principles as they would apply to 3D animation, and added a few new ones of his own. The purpose of adapting the principles, Kerlow said, is to guide the development of 3D animation, a relatively new art form. Computer animation is very complex, and a well-understood framework can help artists and producers weave together the many separate aspects of character and scene creation, into an animated tapestry that will truly captivate an audience. For each
of the following twelve principles, Kerlow defined the intention of the
principle, presented a visual example to back it up, and suggested a modern
equivalent that would apply to character artists working in 3D. Original idea: In traditional animation, characters movements (particularly facial movements) had a very high degree of exaggerated, non-rigid deformation. (Imagine any Disney character whose face contorts wildly during a sneeze or a scream.) Modern equivalent: The principle still holds in the 3D era, especially for cartoon-like animations. (Anime tends toward exaggerated subtlety.) Squashing and stretching happen within animation packages, using dynamics weighting or unusual IK systems. 2. Anticipation Original idea: Anticipation is the technique by which the audience's eyes are drawn to where action will occur on-screen (e.g. a cartoon that begins making running motions before actually going anywhere). Anticipation announces the coming surprise and is a very useful technique for guiding expectation. (Again, Disney animation tends toward heavy anticipation, whereas in anime we see very little -- given anime a more etheric, fantastic feel.) Modern equivalent: Anticipation can be created by the skillful use of motion curves, expanding or contracting pieces of animation to create the anticipatory effect. 3. Staging
Modern equivalent: In 3D, staging can be expanded to include more detail, hide points of interest, set up for chain reactions, and so on. Staging is also useful in animatics, which establish a scene's core movements before primary animation gets underway. Contemporary moving image techniques, such as 3-axis camera moves, slow motion, "bullet time," and so on, also add to 3D staging abilities. 4. "Straight Ahead" or "Pose-to-Pose" Original idea: In traditional animation, character actions were either drawn from beginning to end, creating an unpredictable look and feel, or they were broken down into a more predictable set of key poses. Modern equivalent: In 3D animation, straight ahead animation corresponds to procedural animation techniques (e.g. motion capture and 3D rotoscoping); pose-to-pose would correspond to keyframe animation. Modern artists can take advantage of layers or channels to intelligently mix both types of motion, or use non-linear motion curve editing to edit different aspects of a single character's motion. 5. Follow-Through and Overlapping Original idea: Follow-through refers to the reactive animation that occurs after an action is completed, telling the audience how the character feels about that action. (Think of Donald Duck throwing a football, watching it for a moment, and then lowering his arm in disappointment.) Overlapping refers to the additional motions that overlap the main motion of a given character. Modern equivalent: Follow-through can be done with dynamic simulation and scripts - especially for cloth and hair. Overlapping is achived by using layers and channels to blend different types of motion into a sequence. 6. Slow-in and Slow-out Original idea: If you look closely at movies animated in the Disney style, you'll see that characters' motions tend to be quicker in the middle of an action than at the beginning and end. This slowing of the intro and extra sections of a movement creates a "snappy" effect. Modern equivalent: Fine-tuning animations using time-editing tools, such as dope sheets, curves, and timelines. Motion capture performers can also be directed to do slow-ins and slow-outs.
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Principles
1-6
Features
Original
idea: Staging refers to the way in which character motion and camera
movements are set up to convey the mood and intent of a scene. (Example:
in Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear's arrival in the bedroom is shown
with a close-up that begins at his feet and pans dramatically upward to
his helmet.)