#animation workflow

[digitalartsharing]

Things you need to know about 2D animation workflow

[rainplace-animates]

More on Rough Tie-down and Prep for Clean-up-

For me, the rough animation stage is consisting of rough first pass and tie-down prior to clean-up and on to ink & paint.

Once the drawings for rough first pass are made, it is to be pencil-test and timed.  The rough timing is then marked onto each drawing with corresponding frame exposure.

Next is to select the extremes.  The numbers of extremes are depending on the complexity of the movement.  It is my habit to have many extremes within a scene (to achieve a more organic and spontaneous feel). 

Only extremes are to be tie-down.  Each drawing ID number is named after its placement within the scene’s frame count (instead of systematic 1,2,3,4, etc.)  The rough-pass inbetweens are discarded and replaced by timing chart based on their rough position and exposure. 

Once the tie-down extremes are made, it is then re-inbetween for further review.  Not all tie-down inbetweens are necessary, just enough for the animator to be certain of scene’s  fluidity and its info through movement is reading as intended.  

While these tie-down inbetweens don’t need to be as precise and accurate as the clean-up inbetweens, they are nonetheless time-consuming and not a direct part of final on-screen outlook.  (It is resourceful to keep this in mind from a production managing viewpoint.)

Extreme drawings are indicated by a circle around their drawing number and often accompanied by a timing chart.  This clear identification is very critical for the final clean-up stage.  

[rainplace-animates]

Analyzing Rough Pass (Animation Workflow 08)-

In a way, rough pass is like a moving thumbnail and enabling a much closer evaluation to the scene’s intention.

Rough pass is not meant to be perfect in detail; rather it aims to give the overall impression of a scene in broad stroke with minimal time loss.  After the drawings are timed, the performance choice can now be analyzed for its effectiveness prior to tying scene down (for which is most time consuming in the animating process).  

In this sample scene from Brad Bird’s ‘The Iron Giant’, I was thinking of a young mind being very curious, energized and playful at finding a mystery.  After feeling scene out and made some exploratory thumbnails, I made a quick take 1 rough pass and proceeded to show Brad for feedback.  He thought the performance choice was too active and would like to see much subtler.  In take 2, I toned down the arms movement but now there is a spatial separation between face and flashlight, inadvertently making the scene busier with 2 focal points- face and flashlight. And so I tried another rough take keeping flashlight minimal and secondary by positioning it to bottom edge of frame.  I choose to show take 3 to the director and all was good to proceed to tie-down…

[rainplace-animates]

Rough Timing (Animation Workflow 07)-

Timing has to communicate the emotion encoded within the movement and finding the right feel to an action in relation to the scene length.  Soon as the roughs can be taken to pencil test, the scene foundation can be properly analyzed and built on.

Timing takes its cue from the original committed ‘feel’ to the flow of force prior to animating.  Without being in touch to this origin, timing a scene can become lost and confusing.

To start with, rough drawings are exposed evenly on 2’s, on 4’s or on 8’s pending on faster or slower action.  This step enables the animator to view the raw speed of the animation.  From here, timing can be adjusted through 24 fps playback and frames can then be added or taken out based on the feel of velocity visually.

Generally, greater adjustment to adding or shorten frames to fit an intended scene length can be made at slower phrases of movement. At faster phrase, there is less flexibility as the timing needs to be just right (not too fast to become abrupt and not too slow to be sluggish).

The timing of one phrase in a movement can affect the timing of other phrases within a scene.  Speeding up in one part might require another section to take more time.  The flow of a scene can also be overall faster or slower in comparable ratios.

The animation should be set to the right scene fielding prior to timing.  A movement can appear correct in closer field but if zoom out, it will appears slower in relation to the film frame.

When viewing scene in a playback loop, it is helpful to add 12 blank frames at end of scene to visually breaking up the loop, giving a clear starting and stopping point to accurately read the scene’s flow.  It is also resourceful to keep in mind that viewing a scene in a loop is quite different from viewing a scene just once on-screen in context to a sequence.

[rainplace-animates]

Keeps Rough (Animation Workflow 06)-

It is resourceful to keep the initial animation pass to be rough and loose or with simplified structure.  This would allow the animator to quicker establish a rough movement foundation.  The sooner a scene can be view in motion, the sooner its effectiveness can be evaluated without losing much time to drawing aesthetic at this point.

Animation is built on single frame and there is a tendency to make each frame perfect before moving on to the next.  It is good to be reminded that doesn’t matter how beautiful each single drawing is, if the overall movement doesn’t communicate then all efforts is lost.

Keeps rough enable the animator to search for the right ‘feel’ in less time.  They can be untidy and missing finer details, long as the general character’s proportion is maintained within range.

Another approach is to keep structure simplified in stick figure.  The weakness here is that while the gestural movement can be effectively addressed, the feel of mass is missing.  

[rainplace-animates]

Delayed Parts (Animation Workflow 05)-

Once a leading compartment in a character is established, the attention is turned to addressing delayed parts.  Like a chain reaction, the parts follow the lead compartment in an orderly manner, from being faster near the lead cause to successively slower away.

There are 2 conditions to be considered- the unfolding order and the corresponding velocity (spacing) of each compartment and joint.  In a way, it is follow-through & overlapping working together with slow-in & slow-out within a character’s structure, generating a very organic feel to the movement.  When an animated movement looked rigid and unnatural, it is likely that all the parts start and stop all at the same time.

In this sample from a scene I made for Brad Bird’s ‘The Iron Giant’, Hogarth looked to his right side with hand holding a flashlight.  There is a potential problem that both head and flashlight lead at the same time, causing the action to feel too busy or mechanical.  

This scene has 2 phrases. It begins in mid-motion with eyes already locked onto screen right, coming to a very short pause.  While the whole body is at full stop, eyes initiate a new direction toward screen left.

Eyes come to a stop (1).  Head follows lead, then shoulder, body and arm with flashlight.  Head exhilarates slower into speed, in contrast to flashlight moving faster with one frame stretch. This accent allows flashlight to be louder and takes lead from the face area for a slit moment in a more supportive role.  Flashlight comes to abrupt stop (2).  Face retakes focal point, taking time slowing into stop creating contrast in speed.  Rib-cage comes into stop (3); head continues its path and stop last (4).

When animating, I’m not at all analytical and consciously implementing all these to do list in its rightful order, but letting the leading force to dictate the natural unfolding of all components, only becoming analytical when viewing pencil-test.

[rainplace-animates]

Leading Force (Animation Workflow 04)-

The complexity of life evolved in the beautiful simplicity of cause and effect, same to the animated movement.

The key to every new drawing is to identify the location of the initiating force within a structure.  Once the spacing for this particular compartment or join is found, the rest of the structure respond accordingly in a series of chain reaction, following the leading cause in an orderly manner, starting from the epicenter, rippling outward to the outer most parts (such as hairs or clothing articles).

Imagine the various compartments and joins within a given character is like a long train with many wagons. The locomotion to the entire train is driven by the engine.  All the parts don’t start and stop at the same time.  

In complex organic or mechanical structures, the leading force is transferred from one body part to another.  Because of gravity, once a leading force is initiated in a particular compartment, it takes time for a force to unfold before it can be redirect to another compartment.

The ‘right’ initiating spacing of the leading force is most critical.  It is determined by the animator’s ‘feel’ according to the predetermined force he or she wishes to express.  If this initiating spacing is off, the entire drawing will be off.

In the sample above from my indie feature-in-progress ‘My Little WORLD’, the leading force is initiated at the leg area, transferring into the stomach area, and then back around the waist line as gravity is pulling the structure down, back to leg.

[rainplace-animates]

Amount of Extremes (Animation Workflow 03)-

Once a flow for a scene is established, it can be broken down to smaller phrases with each phrase representing one arc path of movement. From here, a minimal amount of extremes can be determined for the scene.

To express one arc, there is a minimal of 3 extremes- starting point, transition and arriving point.  For big arc, more extremes are needed to generate adequate movement info with a minimal of 5 extremes- starting point, transition, mid arc, transition and then arriving point.

In a pose-to-pose approach, the animating mindset can be- starting extremes, transitional extreme, arriving extreme, next transitional extreme, arriving extreme…until reaching the end of the entire flow.

The number of extremes for an action can be varies based on how much details the animator wishes to express.  The fewer the extremes there are, the more direct a movement.

Do keep in mind that movements are information.  The numbers of extremes control the complexity of a movement.

From a ping pong volley action, the differences in texture of movement can be seen between the use of fewer and more extremes.