Level Up Animation
For this project, the goal was to take the board and shapes (circle, triangle, and rectangle) and animate them into the scene using a variety of techniques, effects, and expressions. The goal was to make each shape have unique personality while also staying true to the 12 principles of animation, with specific focus on the squash and stretch idea.
Tools and Software:
Adobe Suite, After Effects, Photoshop,
Techniques and Skills
2D Animation, 12 Principles of Animation, Squash and Stretch, Expressions, Parenting, Null Objects, Sound Design
Principle Study
After sketching out some of the shape movements and understanding of how the principles would interact differently depending on the shape, I began animating with the circle first.
Render 1
While the first render came out okay for the circle, the animation still felt extremely rigid and did not incorporate enough of the principles. I got stuck after a while trying with adding new effects like slant and scale expressions, I decided to work on the square and triangle movements. I also built in the sound design with the music first, adding in the jump effects toward the end of the process.
Render 2
For this iteration, I focused mainly on the null objects, how they parent and control the shapes, and tried my best to imagine how a triangle or box would walk and jump. I also used distortion effects and slant to help exaggerate that squash and stretch along with expressions for scale. While this version was much better than its previous, it still needed a bit of work to be at a professional level and worthy piece to show off. I had a more finalized version of the sounds as well including jump effects that now timed well with the movements.
Final Render
After going back into the scene, I began tweaking key frames to try to make the shape movements flow more. I then had the idea to use a liquify and distortion effect to help give personality, and help emphasize when the shapes would jump. The effect also helped exaggerate the landing and squash and the movement of the shapes as it jumped/fell back down to the platforms. I also continued to tweak jumping movements, null animations, and overall tweaking the scene to be better, more expressive, and more fluid as opposed to the rigidness it had before.
