In animation we have to do same thing: analyze each motion in successive phases that we will draw in sequential frames.
This is not an easy thing to do,
so we should start with easy movements and not so complicated as the horse gallop.
Let's say we have a simple shape we want to move from point A to point B
The first position (A) and the last position(B) are the Key points or key frames of the movement.
If we draw only these Key frames, the little ball will seem like flashing and not moving.
In order to make the movement correct, we have to draw the inbetweens
Frame-1 and frame-9 represent the key positions.
Frame-5 represents the first inbetween half way between the key positions.
Frame-3 indicates the need for an inbetween halfway between key frame-1 and the first inbetween.
Similarly, frame-7 is the inbetween half way between frame-5 and key frame-9.
We shoot each drawing for two frames.
The more inbetweens we draw for a movement, the smoother the movement will look.
If we want to create the illusion of slowing down there would be more inbetweens at the end
and the chart would appear as;
If we want to create the illusion of the action speeding up there would be more inbetweens at the beginning
and the chart would appear as;
If an animator wishes to create the illusion of the action speeding up and then slowing down
there would be more inbetweens at the beginning and end and the chart would appear as:
In many cases movements or actions do not occur in a linear or straight line.
Some movements are correct or look more natural when following an arc
For example a pendulum swinging back and forth would follow an arc or curved path of motion.
EXERCISE 4 - TRANSFORMATIONS
an easy exercise to help understand the analysis of movement is transforming a shape to another in 16 frames
first you draw the key frames: first and last
and then you complete the motion by drawing the 14 inbetweens
Below are some exercises of my students on 16 frames transformation:
| 1st key frame | flash animation | last key frame |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
EXERCISE 5 - FLIP BOOKS
Another exercise on analyzing motion is the creation of FLIP-BOOKS
It is an interesting exercise without the use of camera.
-You will need pieces of hard paper all of the same size (about 15cm width, 10cm height)
and colors
-Students have to draw the first and last key frame of a simple motion
and then draw the inbetweens.
-by flipping the pages of the Flip-Book you can test the motion when is needed.
Below are some Flip-Books of my students:
flash movies - click on images to open |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
you can see a more complicated FLIP BOOK with ants fighting for food, on streaming video, click here!  |
||