3rd Edition

Timing for Animation, 40th Anniversary Edition

Edited By Tom Sito, Harold Whitaker, John Halas Copyright 2021
    184 Pages 100 Color & 250 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    184 Pages 100 Color & 250 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    184 Pages 100 Color & 250 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Timing for Animation has been one of the pillars of animation since it was first published in 1981. Now this 40th anniversary edition captures the focus of the original and enhances this new edition with fresh images, techniques, and advice from world-renowned animators. Not only does the text explore timing in traditional animation, but also timing in digital works.

    Vibrant illustrations and clear directions line the pages to help depict the various methods and procedures to bring your animation to life. Examples include timing for digital production, digital storyboarding in 2D, digital storyboarding in 3D, and the use of After Effects, as well as interactive games, television, animals, and more. Learn how animated scenes should be arranged in relation to each other, how much space should be used, and how long each drawing should be shown for maximum dramatic effect.

    All you need to breathe life into your animation is at your fingertips with Timing for Animation.

    Key Features:

    • Fully revised and updated with modern examples and techniques
    • Explores the fundamentals of timing, physics, and animation
    • Perfect for the animation novice and the expert

    Get straight to the good stuff with simple, no-nonsense instruction on the key techniques like stretch and squash, animated cycles, overlapping, and anticipation.

    Trying to time weight, mood, and power can make or break an animation—get it right the first time with these tried and tested techniques.

    Authors

    Harold Whitaker was a BAFTA-nominated professional animator and educator for 40 years; many of his students number among today’s most outstanding animation artists.

    John Halas, known as "The father of British animation" and formerly of Halas & Batchelor Animation Studio, produced more than 2,000 animation films, including the legendary Animal Farm (1954) and the award-winning Dilemma (1981). He was also the founder and president of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) and former Chairman of the British Federation of Film Societies.

    Tom Sito is Professor of Animation at the University of Southern California and has written numerous books and articles on animation. Tom’s screen credits include Shrek (2001) and the Disney classics Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Lion King (1994). In 1998, Tom was named by Animation Magazine as one of the 100 Most Important People in Animation.

    Timing for Broadcast Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

    Timing for Full Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

    Timing in General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

    What Is Good Timing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

    The Storyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

    Traditional Storyboards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

    Digital Storyboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

    2D Storyboarding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

    3D Storyboarding—Pre-Visualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

    Additional Storyboard Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

    Responsibility of the Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

    Directing for Interactive Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

    The Basic Unit of Time in Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

    Timing for Television, Web-Based Programming

    vs. Timing for Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

    Slugging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

    Bar Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

    Timing for a Hand-Drawn Film: Exposure Charts

    or Exposure Sheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

    Timing for an Overseas Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

    Timing for a 2D Digital Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

    Timing for a 3D Digital Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

    Timing for an Actor-Based Program (Performance

    or Motion Capture) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

    Animation and Properties of Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

    Movement and Caricature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

    Cause and Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

    Newton’s Laws of Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

    Objects Thrown Through the Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

    Timing of Inanimate Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

    Rotating Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

    Irregular Inanimate Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

    Animate Objects—Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

    Force Transmitted Through a Flexible Joint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

    Force Transmitted Through Jointed Limbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

    Spacing of Drawings—General Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

    Spacing of Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

    Timing a Slow Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

    Timing a Fast Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

    Getting Into and Out of Holds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

    Single Frames or Double Frames? Ones or Twos? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

    How Long to Hold? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

    Anticipation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

    Follow Through . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

    Overlapping Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

    Timing an Oscillating Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

    Timing to Suggest Weight and Force—1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

    Timing to Suggest Weight and Force—2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

    Timing to Suggest Weight and Force—3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72

    Timing to Suggest Weight and Force—4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

    Timing to Suggest Force: Repeat Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

    Character Reactions and “Takes” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

    Timing to Give a Feeling of Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

    The Effects of Friction, Air Resistance, and Wind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

    Timing Cycles—How Long a Repeat? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

    A Waving Flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

    Scenes with Multiple Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

    Digital Crowds (Massive) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

    Effects Animation: Flames and Smoke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

    Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

    Rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

    Water Drops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

    Snow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

    Explosions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

    3D Digital Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

    Repeat Movements of Inanimate Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

    Timing a Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

    Types of Walk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

    Spacing of Drawings in Perspective Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

    Timing Animals’ Movements: Horses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

    Timing Animals’ Movements: Other Quadrupeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

    Timing an Animal’s Gallop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

    Bird Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

    Drybrush (Speed Lines) and Motion Blur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

    Accentuating a Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

    Strobing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

    Fast Run Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

    Characterization (Acting) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

    The Use of Timing to Suggest Mood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

    Synchronizing Animation to Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

    Lip-Sync—1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

    Lip-Sync—2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

    Lip-Sync—3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

    Timing and Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

    Animating for Interactive Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

    Traditional Camera Movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

    3D Camera Moves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

    Peg Movements in Traditional Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

    Peg Movements in 3D Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

    Editing Animation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

    Editing for Feature Films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

    Editing for Television Episodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

    Editing for Children’s Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

    Editing for Internet Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

    Conclusion . 163

    Index . 164

    Biography

    John Halas, known as the "father of British animation" and formerly of Halas and Batchelor Animation unit, John produced over 2000 animations, including the legendary "Animal Farm" and the award winning "Dilemma". He was also the founder and president of the ASIFA and former Chairman of the British Federation of Film Societies.

     

    Harold Whitaker was a BAFTA-nominated professional animator and educator for 40 years, many of his students number among today's most outstanding animation artists.

     

    Tom Sito is Professor of Animation at the University of Southern California and has written numerous books and articles on Animation. Tom's screen credits include the Disney classics THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989), BEAUTY & THE BEAST (1991), ALADDIN (1992), THE LION KING (1994), WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBITT (1988), POCAHONTAS (1995), FANTASIA (2000) and SHREK (2001). Tom is President-Emeritus of the Hollywood Animation Guild Local 839 IATSE. He is vice president of the International Animator's Society (ASIFA/Hollywood). He is a member of the Motion Picture Academy, the National Cartoonists Society and Hollywood Heritage. In 1998 he was named in Animation Magazine's list of the 100 Most Important People in Animation.

    "Timing for Animation 3rd edition is a must-have book for anyone who is serious about creating animation."

    - Nancy Denney-Phelps, AnimationWorld