1. 12 Principles of Animation
Unit 67: 3D Animation
12 Principles of Animation

2. 12 Principles of Animation
Introduced by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation(1981).
Squash and Stretch
Anticipation
Staging
Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Slow In and Slow Out
Arc
Secondary Action
Timing
Exaggeration
Solid drawing
Appeal

3. Squash and Stretch Add flexibility and appeal
Think of a ball squashing on impact and stretching back as it bounces away.

4. Anticipation
Used to set the audience up for an action that is about to happen
Prepares the audience for the movement and makes it more believable.
The baseball pitch opposite shows the character moving back before pitching.

5. Staging Placement of your characters in the background or foreground
Should make your purpose of the animation/scene clear to the viewer

6. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
Straight ahead is a linear approach.
You’ll create each pose or drawing of the animation one after the other.
Pose to pose it’s much more methodical and planned out, with just the most important poses used.
Allows a simpler way of working before adding extra detail

7. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Follow through is the idea that separate parts of the body will continue moving after the character has come to a stop. 
Overlapping action means different parts of the body will move at different times. Think about the parts of your arm needed to wave.
By thinking about this you can avoid robotic animations.

8. Slow In and Slow Out
As any object or person moves or comes to a stop there needs to be a time for acceleration and deceleration
Without this movements become very unnatural and robotic
Think about when you run or drive a car. You don’t reach top speed straight away.

9. Arc Your characters should move in arcs not straight lines
By doing this it is add to the realism and avoids your animations looking robotic.

10. Secondary Action
Secondary action refers to creating actions that emphasize or support the main action
Should typically be something subtle
An example would be having character walking down the street while whistling or a character folding his arms while talking.

11. Timing
Gives objects and characters the illusion of moving within the laws of physics
If the spacing within frames is close together, the object moves slower, if the spacing is further apart the object moves faster.
More objects = slow
Less objects = fast.

12. Exaggeration Add more appeal to an action
Stylized animation or realistic, exaggeration should be implemented to some degree.

13. Solid drawing Creating an accurate drawing with volume and weight
Correct balance and weight in the pose, as well as a clear silhouette. Avoid mirroring poses you have created.
An example of a boring character may have both arms on their hips or both hands in their pockets.

14. Appeal
You want a character that the audience can connect to or relate to. A complicated or confusing character design can lack appeal.
Push and exaggerate to create a more unique character design that will stick out in the audience’s memory.
For example, simply exaggerating the jaw of the character or larger eyes can help create more appeal.

15. Todays Lesson Aims Task 1
Must: Understand what the 12 principles of animation are.
Should: Analyse, apply and present 12 principles.
Could: Identify where some of the principles can be seen in real life.
Todays Lesson Aims
Task 1
Watch 12 Steps of Animation by Alan Becker to further emphasize understanding(40 mins)
Task 2
In groups of 3 find and analyse a short animated film or trailer. Identify when and where the 12 principles of animation take place.
Task 3
Prepare a presentation to present to class.
Applied to Disney films: