Week 1 – Week 5 | 22/04/25 – 20/05/25
Emily Soh Ching-Ling | 0359478
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Advanced Animation | Section 01 | GCD61604
Exercises
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 LECTURES
1.1 WEEK 1 — INTRODUCTION & FLUIDITY
Introduction
We were introduced to Advanced Animation along with the expectations and objectives of the module. We were also shown some of our seniors' works and given a taste of future assignments.
Fluidity
Due to Mr Kamal's absence during Week 2, we were taught Week 2's material this week.
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| Figure 1.1-1: Frame Rate |
- 1. Frame Rate (Frames per Second/FPS):
- Definition: The frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are displayed.
- E.g. Film = 24 fps, video (PAL) = 25 fps, video (NTSC) = 30 fps.
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| Figure 1.1-2: Timing |
- 2. Timing:
- Definition: The number of drawings used to determine the amount of time that action will take.
- More drawings → slow timing.
- Less drawings → fast timing.
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| Figure 1.1-3: Spacing |
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Figure 1.1-4: Spacing & Timing
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- 3. Spacing:
- Definition: The space between individual frames.
- E.g. Frames in a bouncing ball animation overlap when the ball is moving slowly. When the ball is moving quickly, the spacing between frames is further apart.
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| Figure 1.1-5: Arc |
- 4. Arc:
- Definition: The visual path of an object/action.
1.2 WEEK 3 — FLEXIBITY
Flexibility
- 1. Drag, Follow-Through & Overlapping Action
- 2. Squash & Stretch:
- Gives the illusion of:
- Elasticity of material.
- Flexibility of motion.
- Life
- Flexibility can be achieved through breakdown poses.
1.3 WEEK 4 — CLARITY IN GOOD POSES
Clarity in Good Poses
- 1. Clarity:
- Definition: The act of keeping a shot clean, precise, and easy to understand.
- Types of Clarity:
- Clarity in Staging.
- Clarity in Secondary Action.
- Clarity in Exaggeration.
- Clarity in Action — Anticipation & Follow-Through.
- Clarity in Solid Drawing.
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| Figure 1.3-1: Clarity in Staging — Environment (Mood) |
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| Figure 1.3-2: Clarity in Staging — Camera (Framing) |
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Figure 1.3-3: Clarity in Staging — Camera (Angle)
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Figure 1.3-4: Clarity in Staging — Camera (Movement)
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- 2. Clarity in Staging:
- Definition: The presentation of an idea so that it is understood and clear.
- E.g. An action is staged so that it is understood.
- E.g. A personality is staged so that it is recognisable.
- E.g. An expression is staged so that it can be seen.
- E.g. A mood is staged so that it will affect the audience.
- Important Consideration: The story point.
- Types of Staging:
- Character (personality, expression, action).
- Camera (angle, framing, movement).
- Environment (mood).
- 3. Clarity in Secondary Action:
- Definition: An idea/primary action being reinforced using subsidiary actions.
- E.g. A sad person wipes a tear (secondary action) as he turns away (primary action).
- 4. Clarity in Exaggeration:
- Definition: A caricature of realism that still retains believability.
- E.g. If a character is sad, make them sadder. Happy, happier. Wild, wilder.
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| Figure 1.3-5: Clarity in Anticipation |
- 5. Clarity in Anticipation
- 6. Clarity in Solid Drawing:
- Definition: Forms that feel like they are in 3D space, with volume, weight, and balance.
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Figure 1.3-6: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Line of Action
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- 1. Line of Action:
- Definition: An imaginary line running through a character that 1. describes the direction and motion of the character's body, and 2. is the leading force of the character's motion.
- A strong line of action:
- Goes through the whole body.
- Illustrates the force of the action.
- Unifies the pose.
- Makes a clear statement.
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Figure 1.3-7: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Line of Action (Dynamic Pose)
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| Figure 1.3-8: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Line of Action (Pushing Poses) |
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| Figure 1.3-9: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Line of Action (Animating Contrast) |
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| Figure 1.3-10: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Line of Action (Dynamic Poses) |
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| Figure 1.3-11: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Silhouette (Clear Silhouette) |
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| Figure 1.3-12: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Silhouette (Negative Space) |
- 2. Negative Space
- Definition: Empty space around a character.
- Contrasts large and small spaces.
- Creates dynamic silhouettes.
- Keeps poses visually interesting.
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| Figure 1.3-13: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Silhouette (Shape & Joint Overlap) |
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| Figure 1.3-14: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Avoid Twinning Poses |
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| Figure 1.3-15: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Twist Poses |
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| Figure 1.3-16: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Contrapposto |
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| Figure 1.3-17: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Contrapposto |
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| Figure 1.3-18: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Poses with Form |
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| Figure 1.3-19: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Poses with Perspective |
- 7. Poses with Perspective
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| Figure 1.3-20: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Poses with Foreshortening |
- 8. Poses with Foreshortening
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| Figure 1.3-21: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Poses with Weight & Balance |
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| Figure 1.3-22: Clarity in Solid Drawing — Poses with Weight & Balance |
- 9. Poses with Weight & Balance
2.0 INSTRUCTIONS
3.0 EXERCISE 1 — BOUNCING BALL ANIMATION
Instructions:
3.1 PROGRESS
Research & Planning
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| Figure 3.1-1: Warm-up, Week 1 (22/04/26) |
Did a warm-up exercise in class to figure out how animation worked in Blender. Moving the ball in a straight line was straightforward (haha) enough, though it took a few tries to perfect the slow-in and slow-out.
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| Figure 3.1-2: Soccer Ball — Reference VS Sketch, Week 1 (24/04/26) |
Once I found suitable reference videos, I superimposed screenshots of the key poses (highest and lowest points) over each other, then made sketches based on that.
The soccer ball is the most average in terms of physical properties: semi-hard surface, medium weight, medium size, and somewhat elastic. The spacing and height of bounces are predictable, both gradually decreasing with each bounce.
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| Figure 3.1-3: Ping Pong Ball — Reference VS Sketch, Week 1 (24/04/26) |
The ping pong ball has a hard surface and is extremely light and small, causing it to have higher and more frequent bounces. It also has a tendency to bounce in the same spot a few times, noticeably at the end.
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| Figure 3.1-4: Bowling Ball — Reference VS Sketch, Week 1 (24/04/26) |
Due to its weight and size, the bowling ball only bounces 1–2 times. It also rolls a bit before coming to a halt.
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| Figure 3.1-5: Beach Ball — Reference VS Sketch, Week 1 (24/04/26) |
The beach ball has similar properties to the soccer ball, though it is quite slow and hovers in the air because of its light weight and large size. It is also not at elastic as the soccer ball, so it doesn't spin as often.
Animating
The hardest part was getting the timing right for each ball, due to the varying sizes, materials, and densities. Fortunately, the videos I referenced had frame counters, so I based my calculations on the real-life timing.
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| Figure 3.1-6: Soccer Ball — Bouncing, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
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| Figure 3.1-7: Soccer Ball — Spinning, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
The spacing between bounces started at 20 frames for the first bounce, then gradually decreased by 1–4 frames with each bounce. The lower the height and the smaller the spacing between bounces, the smaller the decrease in frames (same concept applies for the other balls). I focused the spinning on the Y-axis with minimal rotation on the X-axis (since the ball is moving quickly on the X-axis).
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| Figure 3.1-8: Ping Pong Ball — Bouncing, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
Unlike the beach ball, the ping pong ball doesn't hover in the air despite being lightweight (likely due to its small size). To convey this, there are fewer frames at the peak of each arc (as compared to other balls) so that the ball falls faster.
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| Figure 3.1-9: Bowling Ball — Bouncing, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
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| Figure 3.1-10: Bowling Ball — Spinning, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
The bowling ball has a shorter initial bounce time (20 frames) due to its weight. Like the soccer ball, it rolls a bit at the end with minor spinning.
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| Figure 3.1-11: Beach Ball — Bouncing, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
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| Figure 3.1-12: Beach Ball — Spinning, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
I started the spacing at 30 frames for the first bounce to make the falling slower and give it a floaty feeling. The decrement in frames per bounce for the beach ball is more or less the same as the soccer ball. The similarity between both balls is also why the beach ball was the hardest for me to get right, because I subconsciously try to animate it like a soccer ball.😅 I kept the spinning relatively even and minimal on both X and Y-axes.
Layout Design
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| Figure 3.1-13: Layout Design, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
I wanted the environment to match the four different kinds of balls, so I tortured myself and customised four separate layouts. Almost all of the textures are procedural materials (tutorials by
Ryan King Art), with the exception of the wall of the soccer ball animation being an image texture.
I used area lights as my primary and secondary light source for the three indoor scenes and sunlight for the soccer ball scene. For the indoor scenes, I used this
Abandoned Workshop HDRI to tie in the overall environmental lighting.
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| Figure 3.1-14: Clamping & Samples — Before VS After, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
I ran into a problem where my rendered images were covered in tiny white spots ("fireflies"), which is apparently common when using bright light sources and glossy shaders. I reduced the Indirect Light Clamping and increased the Sample count, which reduced the fireflies but unfortunately couldn't completely get rid of it. Sucks.
Editing
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| Figure 3.1-15: CapCut, Week 2 (28/04/26) |
Once everything was exported, I composited, labelled, and edited the four animations in CapCut.
3.2 FINAL SUBMISSION
Figure 3.2-1: Exercise 1 — Compilation, Week 2 (29/04/26)
4.0 EXERCISE 2 — BALL WITH TAIL ANIMATION
Instructions:
4.1 PROGRESS
Research, Planning & Layout Design
Figure 4.1-1: Warm-up, Week 3 (06/05/26)
We did this bounce animation with squash and stretch during Week 3's tutorial. The ball is animated using Pose-to-Pose while the tail is done using Straight Ahead. I'm quite satisfied with the outcome (even though I think it is a bit slow), so I will be reusing it.
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| Figure 4.1-3: Layout Design, Week 3 (07/05/26) |
[update layout when complete w/ textures]
The ball will: Jump across the pit → Hop towards the pipe → Hop onto the pipe → Hop onto the platform → Hit the lucky block.
Animating — Squash & Stretch (Ball)
Figure 4.1-4: Squash & Stretch (Ball), Week 3 (10/05/26)
I applied the same principle across the entire animation. The bigger the bounce, the longer the anticipation. I also tried to give the ball some personality by making it hesitate in front of the higher platforms and doing celebratory hops.
Figure 4.1-5: Deleting Unnecessary Frames — Before VS After, Week 3 (08/05/26)
There was too much of a pause between the ball landing and squashing for the five smaller hops. I wanted it to seem as if the ball is "walking" and not trying to use energy, so I deleted the keyframe between the landing and squashing to smooth out the animation.
Figure 4.1-6: Wobble, Week 3 (09/05/26)
*The four poses are highlighted in the timeline.
To make it more realistic, I made the ball wobble a bit when ending a bounce sequence.
- Impact Pose: The ball lands at an angle (-3°s).
- Squash Pose: The ball leans forward by 2°s during the landing to emphasize its impact against the ground.
- Rising Pose: The ball then leans forward even more by 2–8°s (depending on the height it fell), AKA the wobble.
- Normal Pose: The ball recovers by 2°s to its pre-wobble pose.
Sidenote: Just had the biggest jumpscare of my life. 200 frames worth of animation was missing from Blender when I reopened it after logging off. Thank goodness for autosave.😭
Animating — Drag & Follow-Through (Tail)
Figure 4.1-7: Drag & Follow-Through (Tail), Week 3 (11/05/26)
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| Figure 4.1-8: Squirrel Jumping Reference, Week 3 (11/05/26) |
I heavily referenced this study of a squirrel jumping and this tutorial for the tail animation.
Figure 4.1-9: Stiff Tail, Week 3 (11/05/26)
For some reason, I was struggling with the second big jump despite having animated a similar jump right before it. The tail looked stiff during the landing, which I eventually realised was a timing issue with the ball, not the tail. I had made the landing too long, which in turned dragged out the tail's movement.
4.2 FINAL SUBMISSION
Figure 4.2-1: Exercise 2 — Animation, Week 4 (13/05/26)
5.0 EXERCISE 3 — GOOD POSES
Instructions:
5.1 PROGRESS
Research & Pose Studies
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| Figure 5.1-1: References & Pose Studies, Week 4 (16/05/26) |
These are the poses I have chosen as reference. My goal in the studies is to break down the poses to basic shapes and their line of action.
Happy Pose
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| Figure 5.1-2: Happy Pose, Week 5 (18/05/26) |
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| Figure 5.1-3: Happy Facial Expression — References & Attempt #1 VS Attempt #2, Week 5 (18/05/26) |
Very minor changes to the expression. When people smile really widely, they tend to scrunch their eyebrows and their gums are more visible. In my second attempt, I rotated the eyebrows inwards more and lifted the corners of the character's lips, so that it's more obvious that he is smiling.
Angry Pose
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| Figure 5.1-4: Angry Pose, Week 5 (18/05/26) |
Sad Pose
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| Figure 5.1-5: Sad Pose, Week 5 (19/05/26) |
Scared Pose
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| Figure 5.1-6: Scared Pose, Week 5 (19/05/26) |
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| Figure 5.1-7: Scared Facial Expression — Attempt #1 VS Attempt #2, Week 5 (19/05/26) |
Similarly with the Happy pose, I did some minor changes to the expression. I noticed that Attempt #1 looked more like disgust than fear. To remedy this, I exaggerated the eyebrows, lowered the corners of the lips, and revealed more of the teeth on the right side.
Layout Design
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| Figure 5.1-8: Layout Design, Week 5 (19/05/26) |
I wanted to use lighting to explore how it affects mood for this assignment. I kept the backgrounds a solid black and used coloured lighting that pairs well with the character's expression and poses, e.g. yellow and magenta for the happy pose, green and purple for the scared pose.
As for the camera, I angled it in a way that complements (and exaggerates, in some cases) each pose. For example, the upwards angle emphasises the character's fear more than a straight-on angle in the Scared pose. The camera is more towards the side in the Happy pose to make the line of action look more dramatic.
5.2 FINAL SUBMISSION
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| Figure 5.2-1: Exercise 3 — Happy, Week 5 (20/05/26) |
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| Figure 5.2-2: Exercise 3 — Sad, Week 5 (20/05/26) |
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| Figure 5.2-3: Exercise 3 — Angry, Week 5 (20/05/26) |
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| Figure 5.2-4: Exercise 3 — Scared, Week 5 (20/05/26) |
Figure 5.2-5: Exercise 3 — PPT, Week 5 (20/05/26)
6.1 WEEK 12
Exercise 1
- Use Denoise to remove fireflies.
- Soccer ball:
- Can change ball type to soccer ball under Rig UI.
- The roll back at the end should be one axis instead of multiple axes, else it doesn’t look realistic.
- Beach ball:
- One of the last few bounces is a bit quicker than the others, looks like sliding.
- Ping pong ball:
- First bounce a bit too long, can shorten to 8-10 frames.
- Bowling ball:
- Last bounce a bit off-centre, which can cause jerkiness.
- Deleted in-between keys of X Location graph to make it smoother. Leave the slow-in and slow-out.
Exercise 2
- Timing can be more varied to give the ball more character.
- When the ball is on the pipe, make it jump and rotate instead of just rotating. More noticeable.
- Timing when the ball hits the block can be faster + more squash and stretch.
Exercise 3
- Happy:
- Angle to camera a bit lower so that the curve of the body is more prominent.
- The foot that's on the ground can be on it's tiptoes to exaggerate it.
- Angry:
- Knees should be the same angle as the reference.
- Since you brought the hands forwards, the wrist rotation should be less extreme.
- Sad:
- The backlight is a bit too bright.
- Scared:
- The character's spine could be more curved and exaggerated.
7.0 REFLECTION
These exercises really helped familiarise me with Blender rigs and drill in the importance of keeping organised keyframes and timing, especially during Exercise 2 where there were many repeated motions.
I had a lot of fun messing around with the human rig in Exercise 3, because it felt like playing adult masak-masak.😅 I think I can still improve on the expressions, though, as they do not look as exaggerated as the expressions seen in cartoons.
By far the best part about these exercises, for me, is setting the scene. I used to have a hard time with lighting and angling the camera; I think having more practice has helped me identify what angles look good and how to properly light a scene.
8.0 FURTHER READING
8.1 WEEK 4 — THE BOUNCING BALL WITH A TAIL
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| Figure 8.1-1: Animation Lessons: The Bouncing Ball With A Tail by Cullan Sanders |
Reference: Cullan Sanders. (2022, October 12). Animation Lessons: The Bouncing Ball With A Tail. YouTube. https://youtu.be/Xg5Cq5c5gvA?si=mVzQyxWVz4HEo82u
Key Takeaways:
- The tail has one of three shapes: I, S, and C.
- Do not alternate the shapes rhythmically; instead, consider what forces are being applied to the ball that influence the tail shape.
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