Animation Guidelines || Keep your animations looking good

iGottic · June 16, 2021, 4:28pm

These are animation guidelines from iG Studios , made public as a resource for others to use.

These guidelines are based on direct teachings from animators both in and out of the workplace. These are made to be generic to all animations, albeit they are written in the context of FPS animations. Regardless, they apply in every animation.

Anticipation

Anticipation is the preparation to an action. For example, for a mag-out animation, the hand would not immediately pull on the mag, the human mind needs time to process where the hand will go and how the hand will grip the magazine.

Timing

Timing is aligning actions to realistic-feeling times. Most importantly, the slow in/out rule should be considered for this; humans take moments to accelerate or slow down, so it should be shown in an animation. Instantly moving looks janky, almost as if it is mechanical.

Overlapping

Overlapping is having non-linear timing for different parts. Different parts of the animation, such as arms, gun, etc. may be timed differently from each other to show a non-linear expression. For example, in an emote, the character will not have all the moving parts locked to the same keyframes; everything moves separately.

Law of Arc

Law of Arc is the law that states natural motion tends to move in an arc-like style. In a sense, instances should not move in a straight line, as this feels unnatural.

Let’s say you are playing football. When you throw the ball, your arm moves in an arc. When you run, your legs move in an arc. When you dive, gravity guides you in the shape of an arc.

Exaggeration

Exaggeration is what makes an animation feel more flourished and exciting. All animations should be exaggerated relative to their in-real-life counterparts.

Even “realistic” animations should be exaggerated. Simply put, exaggeration makes the animation feel much less boring.

Follow-through

Follow-through is having additional poses to follow through an action quite literally. For example, if you pull back a bolt, your hand might still be putting pressure on the bolt handle in that direction. This ties closely with acceleration.

Note

Please note these guidelines are used within iG-Studios as required aspects, but they do not determine other contexts. Take everything with a grain of salt.