{"id":3801,"date":"2010-07-08T14:30:28","date_gmt":"2010-07-08T14:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/?p=3801"},"modified":"2012-07-09T16:04:23","modified_gmt":"2012-07-09T16:04:23","slug":"the-animator%e2%80%99s-survival-kit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/?p=3801","title":{"rendered":"The animator\u2019s survival Kit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"top\" \/><em>Richard Williams<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Animation is just doing a lot of simple things one at a time &#8211; p.9<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Drawing in time<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Cohl\u2019s work pre\ufb01gures the later animation dictum, \u201cDon\u2019t do what a camera can do ; do what a camera can\u2019t do !\u201d &#8211; p.16<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Time to draw<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Anytime you\u2019re drawing a strong drawing of anything well, your drawing is strong because you\u2019re depicting why this is different from something else. &#8211; p.24<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s all in the timing and the spacing \u2013 The impacts, where the ball is hitting the ground, that\u2019s the timing of the action, the rythm of where things happen, the accents or beats happen. &#8211; p.36<\/li>\n<li>The ball overlaps itself when it\u2019s at the slow part of its arc, but when it drops fast, it\u2019s spaced further apart. The spacing is how close or far appart these clusters are. &#8211; p.36<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Advancing backwards to 1940<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The breakdown drawing is the passing position between two extremes &#8211; p.49<\/li>\n<li>The extremes are not circled, but the key drawing is : it is a storytelling drawing, a drawing that shows what\u2019s happening in the shot. &#8211; p.57<\/li>\n<li>The general principle is : after you\u2019ve got your \ufb01rst overeall thing &#8211; go again. Do one thing at a time (testing as you go along). Then pull it all together and polish it up. [schema] &#8211; p.67<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s a combination of twos and ones. Not only but also. Normal actions on twos, which is the bulk of our work anyway. Fast or very smooth actions on ones. Normal spacing on twos. Far apart spacing on ones. &#8211; p.79<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More on spacing<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A whole face is displaced at the middle position during a turn, otherwise it will look like features slide around the head. &#8211; p.87<\/li>\n<li>Every drawing is important. We can\u2019t just have brainless drawings joining things up. In one sense there are no inbetweens &#8211; all the drawings are on the screen for the same amount of time &#8211; p.89<\/li>\n<li>Most actions follow arcs. Generally, an action is an arc. Most of the time the path of action is either a wavelike arc or in a sort of \ufb01gure 8. &#8211; p.90<\/li>\n<li>To give more impact, we take out a drawing, throw it away, and stretch out the drawing that is in contact. &#8211; p.93 <em>Such effects could be directly applied to 3D animations<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>It is often important to get a contact before a squash, so that you get the \u201cchange\u201d, then it\u2019s off again. &#8211; p.94<\/li>\n<li>In the 1930s, when animators started studying live action \ufb01lm frame by frame, they were startled by the amount of transparent blurs in the live images. In order to make their movements more convincing, they started using stretched inbetweens. &#8211; p.96<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Walks<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Getting the weight : we don\u2019t get the weight by a smooth level movement. We increase the ups and the downs, accentuate or exaggerate them, and it works. &#8211; p.106<\/li>\n<li>For greater \ufb02exibility, by breaking the joint, we can get limber movement from straight lines. &#8211; p.152<\/li>\n<li>Ways to get vitality in a walk : lean the body ; use straight legs on contacts and push off positions, twist the body, \ufb02op the knee in or out, tilt the belt line favouring the leg that\u2019s lowest, \ufb02op the feet, delay the feet and toe leaving the ground until the very last instant, tip the head or make it go back and forth, delay parts, use counteraction, break the joints, more ups and dows (for weight), use different timings for different body parts, twist the feet off the parallel, sometimes alter only one tiny part&#8230; &#8211; p.163<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Runs and jumps and skips<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>On a fast run, we can vary the silhouettes so that the eye doesn\u2019t read it as just the same one leg and one arm going around. &#8211; p.186<\/li>\n<li>With a two drawing run, the problem with the leg action is that it\u2019s going to \ufb02icker and look like what it is : just 2 drawings showing more or less at once. One solution is not to put the passing position of the legs in the middle, but to favor two of the leg positions closer together. But for a side view with a taller \ufb01gure with longer legs, it\u2019s best to revert to a three drawing run. &#8211; p.196<\/li>\n<li>Two frames dissolves can be used in all sorts of action to soften things ; especially when the action is close together, it acts as a kind of varnish. &#8211; p.199<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Flexibility<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Between two extremes, where do we go in the middle ? Crucial ! As we\u2019ve seen with the walks, it gives character to the move. It\u2019s a transitional position. And where we put it is so important. It\u2019s the secret of animation, I tell you ! &#8211; p.218<\/li>\n<li>Again, make the extremes (or contacts) then the breakdown (or passing position). Then make the next breakdown between the extreme and the main breakdown. Keep breaking it down into ever smaller bits. &#8211; p.221<\/li>\n<li>I\u2019d often \ufb01nd Ken Harris ,aking an exact tracing of my drawings A or B, and using it as the breakdown. But he\u2019d place it to favour either A or B. It gave his work stability, instead of having facile drawings \ufb02ashing around all over the place, overanimating. &#8211; p.223<\/li>\n<li>Overlapping action is where things move in parts, where everything does not happen at the same time. &#8211; p.226<\/li>\n<li>To make even the dullest action or \ufb01gure interesting, we break the body into sections, into different entities and move sections one at a time, constantly overlapping. &#8211; p.230 <em>Overlap control in 3D ?<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Breaking means bending the joint whether or not it would actually bend in reality. And then we\u2019re going to keep on doing it continuously to make things limber. &#8211; p.231<\/li>\n<li>Successive breaking joints enable us to get the effect of curved action by using straight lines. &#8211; p.232<\/li>\n<li>When motion goes back and forth, the joints break in opposite directions, making Xs. &#8211; p.234<\/li>\n<li>In most big actions of the body, the source, the start of the action is in the hips. &#8211; p.235<\/li>\n<li>If all the joints do not break at the same time we\u2019ll get all the \ufb02exibility we\u2019ll ever need. &#8211; p.237<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Weight<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>How much effort do we have to expend to move something, to change its direction or to stop it will indicate how much it weights. &#8211; p.264<\/li>\n<li>So we try to \ufb01nd all the various possibilities to convey weight visually : can we delay parts, go fast and slow, use up and down, break the joints, reverse the body arch, shift the weight ? And we select what we need to put over what we want. And when we have all this stuff in our bloodstream, concentrate on personality : who is doing it and in what situation ? &#8211; p.268<\/li>\n<li>The essential part of dancing is not what\u2019s happening to the feet, but what\u2019s happening to the body &#8211; the weight &#8211; the up and down of the body. &#8211; p.269<\/li>\n<li>On a dance, if we get most of the big beats right, then we can almost ignore the little beats or secondary ones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Anticipation<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Usually the anticipation is slower, less violent than the action. Slow anticipation &#8230;. zip ! = fast action. &#8211; p.275<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t ever show the hand hit the chin. Show the hand after it\u2019s past the chin and the chin has moved out of place. &#8211; p.280<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Takes and accents<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A take is an anticipation of an accent which then settles. &#8211; p.289<\/li>\n<li>We should not worry about distorted drawings or images. But we should remember what the original volume of a character is. And not stretch and compress forgetting this volume : keep the same amount of meat in a take. &#8211; p.289<\/li>\n<li>The secret is kind of simple : it\u2019s just getting the difference between a hard accent and a soft accent. A hard accent recoils, it bounces back. A soft accent keeps on doing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Timing staggers, wave and whip<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>I always try to go a little too fast and then switch to going just a little too slow. Combine it. Go for the change, the contrast, the slow against the fast, keep switching back and forth. It\u2019s hard to detect but makes compulsive viewing. &#8211; p.297<\/li>\n<li>The simplest form of stagger vibration is to skip one and go forward and then come back, etc. Or skip around for a more violent effect. And we\u2019re not limited to just that : hold some for 2 or 3 frames, and others for one. It\u2019s an erratic exposure, it depends how violent we want it to be. &#8211; p.298<\/li>\n<li>The side-by-side vibration formula : interleaving two series of drawings gives us all kinds of possibilities for vibrating action. So it\u2019s basically just two series of drawings done separately and interleaved with each other, giving endless possibilities of wobbles, judders, quivers and shakes. &#8211; p.300<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Dialogue<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The thing is to think of the words, word shapes and phrases, not the letters. &#8211; p.305<\/li>\n<li>The important consonants are closed mouth ones &#8211; p.306<\/li>\n<li>If someone says a broad vowel like \u201chey\u201d or \u201cwow\u201d, don\u2019t ease into the vowel from the \u201cw\u201d with several drawings. Lose the middle positions, smack right into it and get much more vitality. &#8211; p.307<\/li>\n<li>The key to lip sync is getting the feeling of the word and not the individual letters. The idea is not to be too active : get the shape of the word and make sure we see it. Select what\u2019s important and avoid \ufb02apping the mouth around animating every little thing. &#8211; p.308<\/li>\n<li>A rule : never inbetween a tongue in speech. Our tongues work so fast, that it\u2019s just up or just down, never seen en route. &#8211; p.309<\/li>\n<li>If we get the body and the head in the right attitude we can almost go without the mouths. The mouth actions can go on last. They can be the last thing to work on. &#8211; p.314<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Animal action<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Four legged animals walk like two of us joined together, one slightly ahead of the other, two sets of legs slightly out of phase. &#8211; p.327<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Williams Animation is just doing a lot of simple things one at a time &#8211; p.9 Drawing in time Cohl\u2019s work pre\ufb01gures the later animation dictum, \u201cDon\u2019t do what a camera can do ; do what a camera can\u2019t do !\u201d &#8211; p.16 Time to draw Anytime you\u2019re drawing a strong drawing of anything &#8230; <a title=\"The animator\u2019s survival Kit\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/?p=3801\" aria-label=\"Read more about The animator\u2019s survival Kit\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[621],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3801"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3831,"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3801\/revisions\/3831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.labri.fr\/perso\/barla\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}