Timing gives meaning to movement, in both physical and emotional meaning. The animator must spend the appropriate amount of time on the anticipation of an action, on the action, and on the reaction to the action. If too much time is spent, then the viewer may lose attention, if too little, then the viewer may not notice or understand the action, for example a heavier object takes a greater force and a longer time to accelerate and decelerate compared to a lighter object.
Anticipation is when a character builds up to an action, for example, if he/she was going to pick up a heavy box, he would hucker down and bend his back, preparing for the heavy lift. Here in this example, we can see anticipation being used just before a character is about to run away. The animator used loads of frames at the beginning to show his character slowing down then uses only one or two to show him speeding off.
Staging is the presentation of an idea so that it is clear. This idea can be an action, a personality, an expression, or a mood. The key idea is that the idea is made clear to the viewer. An important objective of staging is to lead the viewers attention to where the action will occur so that they do not miss any of the animation or techniques. This means that only one idea at a time occur, or else the viewers may be looking at the wrong thing. So, the main object should be contrasted in some way with the rest of the scene. A good example is motion, since the eye is drawn to motion in an otherwise still scene. In a scene with everything moving, the eye is drawn to a still object. The animator must use different techniques to ensure that the viewer is looking at the correct object at the correct time.
Follow Through/Overlapping 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.
Straight Ahead Action means drawing out a scene frame by frame from beginning to end, while "pose to pose" involves starting with drawing a few, key frames, and then filling in the intervals later."Straight ahead action" creates a more fluid, dynamic illusion of movement, and is better for producing realistic action sequences. On the other hand, it is hard to maintain proportions, and to create exact, convincing poses along the way. "Pose to pose" works better for dramatic or emotional scenes, where composition and relation to the surroundings are of greater importance.
Pose to pose actions is when the animator carefully plans out the animation, draws a sequence of poses, i.e., the initial, some in-between, and the final poses and then draws all the in-between frames (or another artist or the computer draws the inbetween frames). This is used when the scene requires more thought and the poses and timing are important.
This is similar to keyframing with computer graphics but it must be modified slightly since the inbetweens may be too unpredictable. For example, objects or parts of objects may intersect one another. Computer keyframing can take advantage of the hierarchical model structure of a complex object. Different parts of the hierarchy can be transformed at different keyframes. For example, in a jump, translation keyframes can be set for the entire model in the X and Z directions.
Slow in and Slow Out refers to the spacing of the inbetween frames at maximum positions. It is the second and third order continuity of motion of the object. Rather than having a uniform velocity for an object, it is more appealing, and sometimes more realistic, to have the velocity vary at the extremes. An example of this could be a bouncing ball, as it moves faster when it approaches or leaves the ground - and it goes slower as it approaches/leaves its maximum position. The name comes from having the object or character "slow out" of one pose and "slow in" to the next pose.
Arcs n represent the values of an objects parameters at a specific moment in time. basically it is the accurate representation of where an object will move to if it is thrown or bounced off a wall for example. The method used for calculating interpolated keyframe values determines the characteristic of the arc. Arcs can also be seen when a ball is bouncing along a surface, as it creates curves in the air - arcs. Here is an excellent example of arcs using a ball bouncing down a set of stairs. Notice how the arcs for each ball is significantly different because of their different weights.
Secondary Actions give a scene more life, and can help to support the main action. A person walking can simultaneously swing his arms or keep them in his pockets, he can speak or whistle, or he can express emotions through facial expressions. The important thing about secondary actions is that they emphasize, rather than take attention away from the main action. If the latter is the case, those actions are better left out. In the case of facial expressions, during a dramatic movement these will often go unnoticed. In these cases it is better to include them at the beginning and the end of the movement, rather than during.
Appeal in animation is when a character corresponds to what is called charisma in a character. Basically this means that a character is real and interesting to the viewer. This means that appealing character's do not necessarily need to be good - evil characters can be appealing too, as long as they are believable and conveyed well.
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