OVERLAP!!

spoooze! · Post by **spoooze!** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:12 pm

Hey guys,

I made a post on my blog on the importance of overlapping action in animation:

http://nethery-ramsey.blogspot.com/2008 ... ation.html

I always find adding some overlapping action to my animation really helps it get away from the "floaty" look.

Enjoy the post and feel free to comment here and on the blog if you have a Blogger account!

shoepie · Post by **shoepie** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:23 am

Thanks for writing the article, I see what you mean and will definitely be giving it a try over the weekend. The demo animation was great, I hope I can get my stuff that smooth.

Rasheed · Post by **Rasheed** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:15 am

I'm always in for a well-written tutorial. Thanks, James.

spoooze! · Post by **spoooze!** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:58 am

Thanks for the comments guys!

I'm gonna start doing more tutorials. They're quite fun to put together actually

More thoughts anyone?

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:21 am

Uhh, I must be missing something. I don't really follow what you're getting at with this. It might help if your examples could be stepped through frame-by-frame. At speed, it's difficult to see fine motion detail.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:18 am

I imagine what the tutorial means, but it IMHO would be much better if concentrate the sample images / videos in a portion of the character (the wrists).
What I understand is that you should give weight to the hand in order to be a little delayed in the forearm movement. If you rotate the arm the hand should rotate slightly in the opposite direction at the beginning of the arm rotation.
Is that what you wanted to explain James?

Thanks for the tutorial.

Rasheed · Post by **Rasheed** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:45 am

Read this:

Follow through is the termination part of an action. An example is in throwing a ball - the hand continues to move after the ball is released. In the movement of a complex object different parts of the object move at different times and different rates. For example, in walking, the hip leads, followed by the leg and then the foot. As the lead part stops, the lagging parts continue in motion.

Heavier parts lag farther and stop slower. An example is in the antennae of an insect - they will lag behind and them move quickly to indicate the lighter mass.

Overlapping means to start a second action before the first action has completely finished. This keeps the interest of the viewer, since there is no dead time between actions.

Here is a quote about overlapping from Walt Disney:

"It is not necessary for an animator to take a character to one point, complete that action completely, and then turn to the following action as if he had never given it a thought until after completing the first action. When a character knows what he is going to do he doesn't have to stop before each individual action and think to do it. He has it planned in advance in his mind."

I believe this is the point James is making. It is part of the principles of animation.

spoooze! · Post by **spoooze!** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:48 pm

Uhh, I must be missing something. I don't really follow what you're getting at with this. It might help if your examples could be stepped through frame-by-frame. At speed, it's difficult to see fine motion detail.

Maybe I'll try and upload a Quicktime version so it can be stepped through.

I imagine what the tutorial means, but it IMHO would be much better if concentrate the sample images / videos in a portion of the character (the wrists).
What I understand is that you should give weight to the hand in order to be a little delayed in the forearm movement. If you rotate the arm the hand should rotate slightly in the opposite direction at the beginning of the arm rotation.
Is that what you wanted to explain James?

Exactly.

I believe this is the point James is making. It is part of the principles of animation.

Yeah, definitely.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:29 pm

Okay, so basically conveying momentum in the motions. Right? Seems like a pretty basic principle of any animation.

AngryMonster · Post by **AngryMonster** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:19 am

Spooze ... good on you for bringing this one up!

here is my 2 cents
When the primary action goes forward the secondary goes backward

overlap.swf (not perfect but it will do the job)

Learning this simple thing is EXTREMELY important. EVERYTHING has overlap... arm, body, head turn, HAIR, piston, kitchen sink ....

I even consider an 'antic' as a form of overlap. Before someone runs off screen he pulls back to go forward.
I also think of overlapping my acting. When someone smiles... I might lift the eyebrows before the mouth (only 2 frames)... but it makes the world of difference!

Good tutorial spooze!

Rasheed · Post by **Rasheed** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:07 am

It also means something else. As an animator you need to plan ahead, and don't just start with the animation and see where you end up with. That only leads to sloppy animation. Sometimes a few simple sketches will do; other times you will need a more elaborate method (test animation) and try different approaches.

That is why, relatively speaking, professional animators get paid so much by the second of finished animation. It is just a lot of hard work to get it right and you need to consider and weigh a lot of things in advance before deciding on how to do a scene.