ANimation-RichardWilliams MasterClass

Note: any reference to timing is based on 24 fps

"Sophisticated Use of
the Basics" -- Animation Master Class by Richard Williams

What is
animation?

Change is the basis of all animation

There are two types of animation Morphing and the type that gives the
illusion of life.
Animation is all in the timing and spacing
You must show where the weight is, where it is coming from and where the
weight is going to.
KEY FRAMES - are the story telling frames (The
story board drawings)
Frames where the character makes contact (heel strike
pose, touching an object, etc.)
EXTREMES - are the where there is
a change of direction. They are NOT Key Frames.
BREAKDOWNS are the
middle or passing position.
On breakdowns always add an extra bit of movement
-- almost anything will work.
Don't go from A to B. Go from A to Z to
B
Methods of Working:
1) Straight-Ahead - Just start and see what happens. (Creative but lacks
control)
2) Pose to Pose - (Lots of control but restricts creativity)
3) The "Best" Method - A combination of "Pose to Pose" and "Straight
Ahead".
Steps to take before animating:
1) Before working turn off all other stimulus --"UNPLUG"
2) Write down what you want to do
3) Act it out
4) Work out the timing
5) Then animate
The "Best" animating method
Step 1 - Do the KEY frames (the story telling poses)
Step 2 - Do the frames that have to be there (the contact frames)

 Step 3 - Do the breakdown poses (passing/middle poses) Don't forget to add

that extra bit of action.
Step 4 - Do Straight Ahead Runs of different parts in hierarchical
order
Testing along the way.
(Hips first followed by legs then arms then
head. Drapery is always last)
GENERAL GUIDES & TIPS
The
human eye can not see (comprehend) an action done in less then 5 frames, for an
action to be readable it must be done in 5 or more frames.
The way I
under stood this to mean was that the 5 frames could include the anticipation of
the movement. For example a character could be held in a 5 frame anticipation
and be off the screen in the 6th. The use of ease-in or ease-out would also be
included in those 5 frames.
Mr. Williams also stressed that all the
things he was teaching were general guidelines and theories and one should
always have the courage to break the rules. Experiment and test often, the only
thing that matters is if the final animation works!
Never exit the frame
in less than 5 frames.
On in-betweens don't animate in a straight-line
use curved paths
For fast/hard impacts, skip the actual impact frame. Go
immediately from action to reaction.
A character should never take off or
land on both feet at the same time.
Blinks frequently happen on a passing
pose.
There are generally two frames between the open and closed positions of
an eye during a blink.
WALKS & RUNS
On a walk only one
foot leaves the ground at a time
On a run both feet leave the ground for at
least 1 frame and the character is always down on the passing
pose.
Always create your heel strike poses first.
A normal walk is
on march-time - a heel strikes the ground every 12 frames
A Hollywood cartoon
walk heel-strike is every 8 frames
A stroll heel-strike is every 16
frames
A normal run heel-strike is every 8 frames
Heel-strikes on the

fastest run possible occurs every 4 frames (this only works for small
characters)
OVERLAPPING ACTION
Overlapping action is action
that does not happen all at once.
I changed the word "breaking" to
"bending" in the line below while taking my notes. It helped me differentiate
between "A successive breaking of joints" - (breaking up the movement of an
articulated object) and "breaking a joint" - (unnatural bending) Both concepts
are used for the same purpose of getting smooth curvaceous movement. The whole
idea of the broken joint is that it is unnoticeable to the eye, so, yes it can
be used for realistic animation.
A successive bending of joints limber up
movement -- It's an unfolding action. If twinning is happening, think about what
parts can be delayed.
Another example of overlapping action is delaying
the movement of loose fatty tissue (Jowls) behind the quicker moving muscle and
bone (skull).
COUNTER ACTION
A counter action is where one part
moves in the opposite direction to counter the weight and thrust of another
part.
BREAKING JOINTS
The unnatural bending of joints to obtain
curvaceous movement with straight line segments.
If the successive frames
with broken joints are less than five and less then the number of frames with
non-broken joints the distortion will not be noticed.
To really add SNAP
to a movement put one "crazy" position the frame before the extreme
position.
The word "crazy" was Mr. Williams' but I think it's a bit
misleading. It is not an extreme. It is a slightly out of joint position a frame
before the Extreme. After the extreme you would ease into a held
position.
He gave the following example: (Please pardon my crude
diagrams)
The example he gave was an arm making a pointing motion.
Starting with the arm bent at the elbow (V), hand pointing up. On the end frame
7 the arm is straight out (---), hand pointing forward. On frame 6 the hand is
close to its final position but the elbow is broken in a reverse bend upward
about 20 degrees (^-). I would not really call frame 6 an extreme more like a
semi out of place in-between.
DIALOGUE
Consonants must have 2 frames to read - steal from the preceding sound if
needed.

 Hit the mouth accent on the vowel.

Vowels need 2 poses an accent pose and a cushion pose.
Pop the mouth open on vowels with an accent pose and immediately ease into a
cushion pose
"Boil it down" - Keep the mouth movement simple.
Form the words (watch singers)
Lift the head 3-4 frames in advance of the modulation.
Upper teeth are anchored to the skull.
Women usually show upper teeth only.
Men (50/50) show upper or lower teeth only a rare few show both.
The tongue is hooked at the back of the lower jaw, not stuck in the throat
Never in-between the tongue, always snap it from one position to the next.
When giving dialogue a character should be progressing (or regressing)
somewhere.
Get the body action right then add the mouth.
Break up the action and
the dialog - do one thing at a time! For example talk then point or point then
talk
Animate dialogue on level sync, then in post, test delaying the
voice audio by approximately 2 frames to see what works best.