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Hey folks, Paul here for MOTION MONDAY! Last week I posted some bouncing balls, and this week I’ve got some do’s and don’ts for animating them.

The example above (not perfect, but good enough for government work) shows that bounces should travel in arcs. This is because:

Change of direction at the apex is gradual, making a curve.

Change of direction at the impact is sudden, making an angle.

Let’s see what happens if we use too many angles:

If every change of direction is angular, there are no arcs; it looks like the balls are hitting an invisible bumper in the air.

Now, let’s see what happens if we use too many curves:

If every change of direction is curvy, we lose the sense of impact; it looks like the balls are fish jumping in and out of water.

Arcs are a major part of Disney’s 12 Principles, but that doesn’t mean “always use an arc for every motion.” It’s important to know when to use arcs, and when to use angles instead.

For anyone learning to animate, I hope that’s helpful, and stay tuned for more!

#motion monday #animation #animation tips #animation principles #disney principles #bouncing balls #animation arcs #animation timing

Appeal is not a quantity

I have seen a lot of people post these Cal-Arts lecture notes recently:

Now, I could be wrong, but I thought that appeal was something completely different. I didn't think it had anything to do with odd or even numbers, or that appeal is supposed to be stupidity incarnate. I never thought of appeal as being something naive or having zero thought put into it. And I never really saw 'contrast' as being the opposite of appeal. Often times it is extremely contrasted proportions that contribute to appeal. I find Heffer's proportions very appealing:

I find the idea that contrast is somehow linked to odd numbers to be very strange. Contrast just means that two things are strikingly different from one another. A five (odd number) pointed star is much more appealing to me than an ordinary square (even numbered), but I find an eight side star as equally appealing. The parity of a number has nothing to do with contrast or appeal. The basis of my understanding of what 'appeal' means in the context of cartooning mainly comes from pages 68 and 69 of Disney's 'Illusion of Life' book by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. It is described as a quality of charm and a pleasing design, the illustrated equivalent of charisma in live action. The pleasing and fascinating quality that makes a person enjoy looking at a drawing. Associated with cuteness, baby proportions, furry animals, but by no means restricted to those things. To me, it seems to be something very easy to identify, but not something that is easily put into words or reduced into a formula. I would say that the cuteness of a baby is the specific quality that is appealing, but it is not the case that something must be cute to be appealing. Reducing appeal to a quantity, depending on odd or even numbers, rather than a quality, I think, is a serious mistake. I think it could be detrimental for animation students to take this type of instruction seriously and to apply it to their work.

This idea that a character who is two 'heads' tall will automatically be more appealing than one who is 3 heads tall is easily proven wrong just by looking at pictures of appealing characters who are 3 heads tall, or pictures of extremely unappealing characters (such as Stewie from Family Guy) who are 2 heads tall.