In this assignment I will be exploring the key principles of motion design. The motion design principles can be broken up into the following areas. Timing, speed of change, arcs, motion blur, squash and stretch, motivation/anticipation, follow through, overlapping action and staging/exaggeration. Using these principles I will aim to produce three pieces of animation which will illustrate or demonstrate a range of these animation principles.
In order to produce these animations I will be using shapes rather than complex drawings or recognizable objects. Within the animations my choice of colour pallet is very important as this could make or brake the piece, the colour is key. Each of the animations will be between 15 and 20 seconds in length and will contain a soundtrack of my choice.
The motion design principles explained in more depth:
Timing: Spacing actions to define weight and size
Speed of change: Spacing of thein - between keyframes to achieve natural movement.
Arcs: The visual path of action for natural movement.
Motion Blur: To enhance appearance of motion.
Squash and Stretch: Defining the rigidity and weight of an object by distorting its shape during an action. It is one of the most important rules of animation, this is because in order for an object to look convincing it must 'give' when external forces are applied to it. For example when a ball hits the ground it will squash, also when it falls and rises it will stretch. The only time in which the ball is perfectly round is when it is at the top of each arc, where the resistance is at its least.
Obviously a softer ball, for example and beach ball will squash and stretch a lot whereas a cannonball will hardly squash and stretch at all. The Squash and Stretch techniques are a good when trying to convey an objects density and mass.
Motivation/ Anticipation: Preparation for an action. This can be used to direct the viewers attention to part of the screen. Some anticipation occurs naturally, for example a mouse is about to hit a cat over the head with a mallet. So the pulling back of the mallet is the moment of anticipation. It lets the viewer know what is going to happen next.
Motivation is when the action clearly shows that another action is about to take place. When a car motor starts, the engine makes the car judder as it revs, ready to explode into action.
Follow Through: Termination of an action. A good example of this is in golf, the golfer once taken his swing at the ball, the golf club must follow through.
Overlapping Action: Establishing its relationship to the next action. It is when one action over laps another, for example, imagine whilst having breakfast you take a bite of your toast and then having a sip of tea, those movements might overlap, of you were'nt to overlap those movements it could result in a unnatural look.
Staging / Exaggeration: Presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably clear. In animation terms Exaggeration is used to emphasize whatever key idea or feeling you wish to portray. Depending on what part of the animation is most relevant to the scene, that is the part that you would want to emphasize the most.
Staging, we must have in mind that the viewer does not have the luxury of knowing what is about to happen in your animation, this is why we must make a conscious effort to set the scene for them. This involves attracting the viewers attention and focusing it on a particular subject of area of the screen. It can also set a mood or certain feeling that you wish the viewer to understand.
