Squash and Stretch / Anticipation - Bouncing Ball

In this module we are learning the 12 principles of animation, today we are covering 'Squash and Stretch' and 'Anticipation'.

We were given a scene which contained a sphere object, our task was to animate it so that it bounces around and after that we animated two spheres making them bounce into each other. The objects were rigged so that the object could be squashed and stretched and we incorporated this into the animation.

I learnt how to copy key-frames by using the Shift key, whilst dragging the key-frame selector.

The purpose of squash and stretch in animation is to give animations the realism and natural flexibility and weight of real objects.

image from Gamustra

As the ball falls it stretches as it falls and then squashes as it collides with the hard floor, the ball then stretches as it bounces off of the ground before shrinking back to normal size.

Ball falling begins to stretch

Ball squashes on colliding with the ground

The ball stretches after bouncing off of the floor

The balls shape returns to normal as it reaches the end of the bounce

Anticipation is when the character or object shows weight before taking action, this can be for example a baseball player preparing to throw a ball or when an enemy character is preparing for an attack. Anticipation can allow the viewers to predict what will happen next and it adds realism to the animation. Without anticipation in an animation it can create unexpected results or the viewers won't find the animation as believable.

image from Gamustra

When a character prepares to jump by bending legs, this is anticipation. In games, anticipation can allow the player to take action before things happen creating a more interesting gameplay such as allowing the player to avoid attacks from a boss.

What is Concept Art

Concept art is a form of illustrative work used to represent ideas, designs and moods for various subjects. There are many reasons why there is a need for concept art; in the games industry, concept art is used to help the other artists in creating game assets such as 3D models of characters, weapons, items, levels and enemies etc; without the use of concept art, assets created may end up not fitting well together resulting in wasted time and loss of money; the different artists will have their own ideas and their assets may not mix well without the direction of the concept art.

Concept art can be created as either traditional art or digitally in applications such as 'Photoshop' and 'Coral Painter' with the use of a graphics tablet. The artist usually starts off by making lots of thumbnail sketches in order to get as many ideas out on paper in as little time as possible, the best ideas are then taken and improved upon and these eventually become illustrations.

Here is an example of thumbnail silhouettes from Jeff's Art 2011

Silhouettes are the quickest way to draw out ideas of characters, it allows the artist to draw without having to think about the details of the design. Once the correct shape has been identified, the artist can then add in more lines and detail by using a contrasting colour.

Designs with added detail and tones from Jeff's Art 2011

Coloured Jeff's Art 2011

Concept art can be useful when pitching a game to potential investors or publishers, it can help to sell the idea of a game if the investors like the visual style of the game.

It is not just video games that make use of concept art; for instance animations, films and comic books usually make use of concept art in their creation. Concept art may also be referred to as visual development or concept design, these terms are usually applied to retail designs, set designs, fashion designs and architectural designs.

Light and Shadow

I created an image of 5 primitive shapes in order to show light and shadow.

Lighting and Shadows example

The varying tones are what create the illusion of a three dimensional object rendering on a flat surface.

Colour Theory

Colour wheel, primary colours, secondary and tertiary colours.

When we mix two primary colours together, we result with a secondary colour; any colour opposite a colour is known it's complimentary colour; e.g. blue is complementary to the colour orange. A tertiary colour is made from mixing either two secondary colours or a primary with a secondary colour.

Knowing colour theory is helpful for when working on illustrations and concept art because certain colours will always look better together than others.

The colours Hue is the position on the colour wheel; Saturation is how rich the colour is shown with greys being the lower end and neon colours being a high value.

A warmer colour such as red will always appear closer than the cooler colours such as blue.

Tone

Here is a tonal palette of colours between black and white that I have created in Photoshop.

Tone is the value of darkness and lightness used to render images on a flat surface.

Menus and Composition

Week 18, today I gathered screenshots from in game menus to use as ideas. Tony gave a short presentation on composition.