Intro to Motion | The Shoulders of Giants

Pose to Pose Practice

A sack of flour can seem pretty sad just sitting there, so let's make it move.

In this final exercise, you're going to practice the workflow methods and 12 animation principles we explored in the lecture, and you're going to connect these principles back to what we learned about motion in Lecture One.

Using the flour sack image to the right as a guide (click here for the full sized version), apply the pose to pose workflow method to create a three to five second pencil test animation that demonstrates as many of the 12 principles as possible.

Important: make sure to draw your own flour sack. Use the flour sack image provided only as a guide.

Ideally, your animation should demonstrate all 12. You will need to explain how your animation demonstrates the 12 principles, and you will need to incorporate what you learned about physics in Lecture One.

So make the motion simple, like a jump, a step to the side, or a trip. Focus on the physical motion, not developing character in the flour sack.

The media you use to complete this exercise is entirely up to you. You can draw each individual frame using Plastic Animation Paper (free animation software), MonkeyJam, Flash, Photoshop, or traditional media. Or if you feel confident in a 3D application and would like a challenge, feel free to use that. Use whatever method you are the most comfortable with.

Windows users: Plastic Animation Paper (animationpaper.com) is a traditional animation software for Windows that was developed by a small team in Denmark. At one time a professional license of the software cost 695 euros, but for some reason the makers of the software recently decided to make it free to the public. So take advantage of it while you have the chance. Here's a video tutorial that explains what creating an animation looks like in Plastic Animation Paper:

Bouncing Flour Sacks

Below are two video examples of an animated flour sack, the first a rough pencil drawing, and the second in full color. Analyze them, and see if you can identify concepts you've learned in the lectures. Where are the key poses? How does the tweening work? What forces are at work? Are the 12 principles of animation in play? What sorts of changes in motion do you notice? Even in a relatively simple animation like this one, you can spot everything we've talked about and see the keys to creating smooth, believable motion.

Explain Your Demonstration

After you have completed your animation, write an explanation of how it demonstrates as many of the the 12 animation principles as possible. Ideally, your animation should demonstrate all of the animation principles in some way. Incorporate vocabulary and concepts from Lecture One to show how motion physics can explain and justify the 12 principles. For example, in the beginning of the video above, the flour sack squashes when it "lands," showing the effects of gravity and realistically absorbing the energy of the "ground."

For your explanation, list out the 12 principles and address how your animation demonstrates each one. If there is a principle your animation doesn't address, don't leave it out! Include it in the list and explain why you couldn't address it. Bear in mind that some of the principles, such as solid drawing and appeal, should be evident no matter what—and really, even a simple flour sack has the ability to demonstrate all 12. In other words, don't cut yourself any slack just because you're working with a sack.

Preparing Your Work to Submit

Save your work as a MOV compressed with the H.264 compression, or an MP4. If you're using Plastic Animation Paper, you can save your movie file as an AVI, but make sure it is under 10 MB. The PAP saving/exporting process can be a little confusing, so click here for a short explanation of how to export your animation to an AVI. After you are done, upload your movie file to the Dropbox.

Along with your movie file, include as an RTF or PDF your explanation of how your animation demonstrates both A) the 12 principles and B) realistic motion physics. Upload your explanation document to the Dropbox as an an attachment. Minor grammar and spelling errors will not count against you, but a weak effort will. So try to explain your animation's demonstration of the 12 principles and corresponding motion physics as clearly, simply, and exhaustively as possible.

Best of luck! I look forward to watching your animations and reading your explanations.