Assignment 1: Watching for Principles

by Mike Gleicher on January 21, 2013

This is the first “real” assignment (that isn’t just practice, or part of a reading – although it is somewhat connected to the reading).

Hopefully, you’ve learned a little bit about the principles of animation. Now, I want you to watch – to pay attention and see if you can see what you’ve learned about.

    • The “watching” part of this assignment is to find some cartoon (that is NOT discussed in a reading) to watch and see if you can identify the principles. There are tons of things on the web. Note: some genres of animation do not show the principles as much as others. Badly done animation (or some genres that explicitly try to not follow the principles to achieves a particular look) are notable because you will notice how they do not follow the principles.
    • The second “watching” part is to observe things in the real world, paying attention to how they move. Try to develop an appreciation for the qualities of movement in the real world, and how this contrasts with cartoon movement (and with movement of things on a computer screen).

Comment on both of these in the Moodle discussion. Be sure to say what animation you watched, and what things in the “real world” you watched (as well as your observations about the principles).

For the Moodle discussion (still experimenting), you must make your own posting as well as comment on at least 2 other postings. Your posting is due on Friday, February 1st, and the follow up comments are due shortly after (preferably by Monday the 4th).

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