Introduction to Pivot Animation - Guide
Sept 10, 2016 21:21:20 GMT
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Post by Theropod on Sept 10, 2016 21:21:20 GMT
This is a guide I wrote yesterday, introducing people to aspects of more technical animation and explaining terms used in animation. Keep in mind though, the way you animate is unique and you are the only person with authority over it. Those are only techniques that are used in most of majorly widely recognized animation.
Firstly, an introduction to what an animation style is. People know what a style is, but they often use the word unproperly. Some people think that their style changed because they animated something differently. A style is hard to change, and while you can have more than one style, overall it takes a lot of practice to be multi-styled, and some may argue that being multi-styled is actually a way of having one single versatile style. But now, jumping on to what a style truly is, what's an animation style?
An animation style is the personal way a person interpretes movements as a whole. The way the animator performs a variety of all aspects and techniques of animations sums up to become his style. Your style is the way you interprete all aspects of movement. If you inteprete movement overall in a slow manner, you have a slow style. Pred is notable for this. Meso is notable for having a fast-paced style, however he is also versatile and can switch to something less fast-paced; however, he still excels in fast animation. Mat is regularly fast-paced, and he is monostyled. This means his style is not really versatile, and this makes it easier to spot an animation made by him, as he applies the same rhythm to all movements. There is no good or bad way, but rather a preferred way by some. A style cannot be determined easily from one short animation, but rather by several animations and/or one long animation by the person. This is because while animating a short animation, you can easily try to imitate another style; but as soon as your brain goes into a more "automatic" animating pattern, and you spend more time animating, your style comes into the animation again and it is easy to tell you put your hands on the animation. It's generally easy to tell when an animator has tried a new style, as it really comes out in the animation. The major factor behind style is the person's understanding of movement. Fast-paced animators simply have such an understanding of it. It's how they perceive movement and that's what they'll aim for. They'll move sticks longer distances in each frame as a result of them wanting the movement to be faster.
Styles can be classified in categories, where animators have qualities in common. I generally place them this way;
Fast-paced animators: I mentioned this the most so far. It's obvious by now. Basically, they excel the most in action scenes and are also seen doing this the most. Good examples include MatromX and Mesozoic Studios.
Medium-paced animators: MatromX is closer to this than Meso is, but he's still fast-paced. The difference here is that fast-paced animators like Mat do not have any truly slow movements, even an idling dinosaur, for example, will accelerate quickly. Medium-paced animators keep a balance, but they usually have a very average pace still. Their acceleration and desaceleration are both aspects that can be noticed more easily and they tend to have more ease with easing as a result of this. Medium-paced animators are usually the most easily versatile animators due to being in the middle and thus being as close to one style as to another. Alp K and Drakus are good examples of this.
Slow-paced animators: Heavier movements and slower acceleration. Slow-paced animators animate large creatures more easily, and their work usually includes a lot more frames. As a result of working with more frames, they're more likely to naturally develop a good flow, which will be explained further on. As it should be obvious right now, they're better with accelerating movements than desacelerating them. They tend to improve on their own based on how they notice flaws in their animation thanks to their own slower pace. Predalian5 is notable for having a good, slow-paced animation style.
This is the easier classification and classifies animators in more obvious aspects of their animation, as no huge analysis needs to be done to perceive an animation as fast or slow. Style can be classified in other aspects however, such as but not limited to influence, flow, easing, onion skin trailing and more. And those will be explained.
Firstly, a rule of thumb is that an animator is likely to animate similarly to his biggest idols. However, how similar they become will depend on how much time they spend animating under such influence and how much they try. It will, very rarely, become almost identical. Animators who are inspired majorly by other animators tend to acquire a style that can be seen as a "mix" of styles, but overall, the animator's own style is what evolves the most. What happens is that while the animator has his own style, his influences can, very often, be noticed. I feel a coaching system would be interesting and I would like to work on making that a real thing so animators can train people who wish to learn from them.
Now, moving on to animation techniques. Using those techniques usually makes a style even easier to notice and, given how each person has their own way of interpreting them, a better understanding of such techniques in the community could help in the developing of brand new styles. The first technique I'll explain is easing, and yes, easing is easy. As this is a general guide and not a tutorial, I will explain those techniques in a more general way, but I'll make sure to explain them if requested.
Easing is all about how you accelerate and desacelerate a movement. It's about how you interprete the acceleration potential of a stick. An animation with easing will not have an idling creature in the first frame, and in the second frame the creature reaching its top speed. It has a build up. In the second frame, the stick moves just a little bit, and it increases as necessary. It's up to the animator to know how this must be done; it will depend on the desired effect. Some movements will require 3 frames for acceleration, some will require 8, some will require... It goes on. Also, easing is often performed poorly because it needs to be constantly applied (it is NOT hard to apply, unless you do not do it your own style; you need to do it your way), it's about how to accelerate/desacelerate and also how to do it. How long a stick should keep moving after certain impulsion. It cannot stop abruptly after fierce acceleration. "Smoothness" is greatly achieved due to easing. Easing is perhaps the most interesting aspect of animation as it is easy AND important.
Another important thing is flow. Flow is what puts a stick figure truly to the test. It's about having all segments moving at once in a way that complements your style; it's a way of not letting your animation look stiff. You see, if I animate a tail but only move three segments, the tail will look stiff and it will look bad, 100%. If I animate all segments, I've already got some flow. However, a good flow is more than that. You need to know how much to move each segment. A good flow has each segment moving independently in a nice, logical and stylish way. It's not as hard as it sounds, as you only need to move each segment with your own style. This does not mean you'll have the best flow though - the best flow is the flow with all segments moving in the most proper way, but the best flow there is, is not necessarily the flow that will fit you the best. Your own style of flow will be the best for you, and if you are able to follow your style with flow, you're good. Flow will depend a lot on the stick as well, and this is the advantage stick makers have in animation: they can place segments the way that suits their flow the best way possible. A stick must have a good balance when it comes to joint number and size, and not having enough joints will make your movements stiff, while too many joints will mean some joints will be unused and this can be bad as well. A stick suited for the best flow will have just the right amount of segments. Few segments will make a joint have too many details on it, meaning curves on the outline of the stick will not bend and stretch, which will make the stick look stiff. On the other hand, sticks with way too many segments will eventually sort of "lose their own structure" with the slightest movement. This also affects greatly the next aspect of animation, which is onion skin trailing.
Onion skin trailing. It's a trail involving onion skins. Onion skins are the preview of the last frame seen in the background of your animation when you move a stick. Onion skin trailing is about keeping all your movements inside a logical trail using those onion skins. Good onion skin trailing will avoid shakiness, as the stick is going in one clear direction, and not changing its path weirdly. It's all about knowing where to go with your movement. Movements don't look good when they shake a lot, you want your movement to go just in the direction it is supposed to go. It is a very simple concept, really. There is not much to cover about it unless I make a tutorial about it, which is something I've already done.
Knowing these aspects of animation, style can be classified in more ways, for example, a flow-oriented style. It's important to know that there is so much to animation that saying "smooth" is just meaningless. I avoid that word as there is no definition for a smooth animation. It just is, people use it and it makes no sense. I find it annoying that Pivot animation is going in a quite bad direction, as people no longer recognize technique and just say everything is good. There used to be a better notion of this. On the other hand, it's great that people see it in a more "fun" way, and don't worry too much about being the best, that's great. However, it sucks that people with technical knowledge of animation, like Entersandman, for example, have their skills under recognized.
I might write more for this guide, as there is a lot to cover. I want to see how people react to this before making more, though. For those who are willing to take any advice from this, remember that your style is the only one you should be like. Don't try to be like another animator. It's no good.
Firstly, an introduction to what an animation style is. People know what a style is, but they often use the word unproperly. Some people think that their style changed because they animated something differently. A style is hard to change, and while you can have more than one style, overall it takes a lot of practice to be multi-styled, and some may argue that being multi-styled is actually a way of having one single versatile style. But now, jumping on to what a style truly is, what's an animation style?
An animation style is the personal way a person interpretes movements as a whole. The way the animator performs a variety of all aspects and techniques of animations sums up to become his style. Your style is the way you interprete all aspects of movement. If you inteprete movement overall in a slow manner, you have a slow style. Pred is notable for this. Meso is notable for having a fast-paced style, however he is also versatile and can switch to something less fast-paced; however, he still excels in fast animation. Mat is regularly fast-paced, and he is monostyled. This means his style is not really versatile, and this makes it easier to spot an animation made by him, as he applies the same rhythm to all movements. There is no good or bad way, but rather a preferred way by some. A style cannot be determined easily from one short animation, but rather by several animations and/or one long animation by the person. This is because while animating a short animation, you can easily try to imitate another style; but as soon as your brain goes into a more "automatic" animating pattern, and you spend more time animating, your style comes into the animation again and it is easy to tell you put your hands on the animation. It's generally easy to tell when an animator has tried a new style, as it really comes out in the animation. The major factor behind style is the person's understanding of movement. Fast-paced animators simply have such an understanding of it. It's how they perceive movement and that's what they'll aim for. They'll move sticks longer distances in each frame as a result of them wanting the movement to be faster.
Styles can be classified in categories, where animators have qualities in common. I generally place them this way;
Fast-paced animators: I mentioned this the most so far. It's obvious by now. Basically, they excel the most in action scenes and are also seen doing this the most. Good examples include MatromX and Mesozoic Studios.
Medium-paced animators: MatromX is closer to this than Meso is, but he's still fast-paced. The difference here is that fast-paced animators like Mat do not have any truly slow movements, even an idling dinosaur, for example, will accelerate quickly. Medium-paced animators keep a balance, but they usually have a very average pace still. Their acceleration and desaceleration are both aspects that can be noticed more easily and they tend to have more ease with easing as a result of this. Medium-paced animators are usually the most easily versatile animators due to being in the middle and thus being as close to one style as to another. Alp K and Drakus are good examples of this.
Slow-paced animators: Heavier movements and slower acceleration. Slow-paced animators animate large creatures more easily, and their work usually includes a lot more frames. As a result of working with more frames, they're more likely to naturally develop a good flow, which will be explained further on. As it should be obvious right now, they're better with accelerating movements than desacelerating them. They tend to improve on their own based on how they notice flaws in their animation thanks to their own slower pace. Predalian5 is notable for having a good, slow-paced animation style.
This is the easier classification and classifies animators in more obvious aspects of their animation, as no huge analysis needs to be done to perceive an animation as fast or slow. Style can be classified in other aspects however, such as but not limited to influence, flow, easing, onion skin trailing and more. And those will be explained.
Firstly, a rule of thumb is that an animator is likely to animate similarly to his biggest idols. However, how similar they become will depend on how much time they spend animating under such influence and how much they try. It will, very rarely, become almost identical. Animators who are inspired majorly by other animators tend to acquire a style that can be seen as a "mix" of styles, but overall, the animator's own style is what evolves the most. What happens is that while the animator has his own style, his influences can, very often, be noticed. I feel a coaching system would be interesting and I would like to work on making that a real thing so animators can train people who wish to learn from them.
Now, moving on to animation techniques. Using those techniques usually makes a style even easier to notice and, given how each person has their own way of interpreting them, a better understanding of such techniques in the community could help in the developing of brand new styles. The first technique I'll explain is easing, and yes, easing is easy. As this is a general guide and not a tutorial, I will explain those techniques in a more general way, but I'll make sure to explain them if requested.
Easing is all about how you accelerate and desacelerate a movement. It's about how you interprete the acceleration potential of a stick. An animation with easing will not have an idling creature in the first frame, and in the second frame the creature reaching its top speed. It has a build up. In the second frame, the stick moves just a little bit, and it increases as necessary. It's up to the animator to know how this must be done; it will depend on the desired effect. Some movements will require 3 frames for acceleration, some will require 8, some will require... It goes on. Also, easing is often performed poorly because it needs to be constantly applied (it is NOT hard to apply, unless you do not do it your own style; you need to do it your way), it's about how to accelerate/desacelerate and also how to do it. How long a stick should keep moving after certain impulsion. It cannot stop abruptly after fierce acceleration. "Smoothness" is greatly achieved due to easing. Easing is perhaps the most interesting aspect of animation as it is easy AND important.
Another important thing is flow. Flow is what puts a stick figure truly to the test. It's about having all segments moving at once in a way that complements your style; it's a way of not letting your animation look stiff. You see, if I animate a tail but only move three segments, the tail will look stiff and it will look bad, 100%. If I animate all segments, I've already got some flow. However, a good flow is more than that. You need to know how much to move each segment. A good flow has each segment moving independently in a nice, logical and stylish way. It's not as hard as it sounds, as you only need to move each segment with your own style. This does not mean you'll have the best flow though - the best flow is the flow with all segments moving in the most proper way, but the best flow there is, is not necessarily the flow that will fit you the best. Your own style of flow will be the best for you, and if you are able to follow your style with flow, you're good. Flow will depend a lot on the stick as well, and this is the advantage stick makers have in animation: they can place segments the way that suits their flow the best way possible. A stick must have a good balance when it comes to joint number and size, and not having enough joints will make your movements stiff, while too many joints will mean some joints will be unused and this can be bad as well. A stick suited for the best flow will have just the right amount of segments. Few segments will make a joint have too many details on it, meaning curves on the outline of the stick will not bend and stretch, which will make the stick look stiff. On the other hand, sticks with way too many segments will eventually sort of "lose their own structure" with the slightest movement. This also affects greatly the next aspect of animation, which is onion skin trailing.
Onion skin trailing. It's a trail involving onion skins. Onion skins are the preview of the last frame seen in the background of your animation when you move a stick. Onion skin trailing is about keeping all your movements inside a logical trail using those onion skins. Good onion skin trailing will avoid shakiness, as the stick is going in one clear direction, and not changing its path weirdly. It's all about knowing where to go with your movement. Movements don't look good when they shake a lot, you want your movement to go just in the direction it is supposed to go. It is a very simple concept, really. There is not much to cover about it unless I make a tutorial about it, which is something I've already done.
Knowing these aspects of animation, style can be classified in more ways, for example, a flow-oriented style. It's important to know that there is so much to animation that saying "smooth" is just meaningless. I avoid that word as there is no definition for a smooth animation. It just is, people use it and it makes no sense. I find it annoying that Pivot animation is going in a quite bad direction, as people no longer recognize technique and just say everything is good. There used to be a better notion of this. On the other hand, it's great that people see it in a more "fun" way, and don't worry too much about being the best, that's great. However, it sucks that people with technical knowledge of animation, like Entersandman, for example, have their skills under recognized.
I might write more for this guide, as there is a lot to cover. I want to see how people react to this before making more, though. For those who are willing to take any advice from this, remember that your style is the only one you should be like. Don't try to be like another animator. It's no good.