Conventions of Animation _ Arcs

This week's session was based on the principle of arcs within animation. In order to understand the theory side of the principle the writer of this blog animated two simple exercises using the 3D software known as Autodesk Maya which proved this theory to be very useful in all animations.

The writer of this blog concluded that the reason behind this statement is due to the fact that arcs allowed animation to have more time for production as well as creativity.After reading two pages from a book on the animation principles the animator found one statement to back up the advantages of arcs within animation .

This statement went on to say " The introduction of arcs were meant to give the objects , characters within animation life instead of unappealing rigid characters. This allowed more freedom for the animators to use their creativity to construct an exciting storyline for their animations". After analysing this statement the animator began to wonder as to why the animation would appear to be mechanical .Only with the skill of observations would allow the animator to create a reasonable animation.
                                     


One example of a professional animation that uses arcs in a very clever way is the animation called Dragon Ball Z. The reason that the animator chose this animation as a professional example was because arcs are used all the time when a battle occurs between two  supernatural beings. As everyone knows the most famous form of attack in Dragon Ball Z is the energy ball which is channelled from the upper body to the arms then a arcs is formed to release the energy ball.

Now moving onto real life the best way to witness arcs being used more obviously is by going to a sport where there is continuous movement displaying a number of arcs at key points.In Badminton the arc is formed throughout the match in order to gain more impact , power , thrust this way the player is guaranteed to win the match.           

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

The first animation was a basic exercise which was engineered by the lecturer in order to make everyone understand the uses of arcs within animation as well as the benefit working in arcs instead of other less effective methods. The less effective methods tend to make animation seem more static where arcs give animation more freedom in terms of movement & expression.

The animation may benefit from the ball having more impact at the starting point & the ending point. The way that this aim could be improved is by maybe giving the sphere primitive more squash & stretch attributes . If the animator recognises these contributing factors then he will be able to create a better computer animation.

The second  animation was a creative task which involved a robot kicking a ball away into the distance.The animator felt that this particular task proved to be a challenge as he had to replicated the impact a person would have when they use an object hitting a smaller object. 

This is the major reason why the animator feels that there are a couple of flaws within the animation in regards to the weight of the golf stick as it moves to the ball at the beginning of the cycle. At the first few frames of the animation it appears as though the ball was being given a push in stead of being hit with a certain amount of force.

 But overall this animation turned out to be successful as it did have some form of anticipation at the start of the game. The second aspect of the animation that was executed in a good way was the head nodding which was meant to give am indication that the robot was simply having a good time. In the animator's point of view it was the head nodding which may have save his animation as it was a comedy element which was used to grab the target audience's undivided attention.

                                          

Here is a professional animation which was created by by a person called Ryan Woodward and this animation demonstrates arcs brilliantly. The reason behind this outcome was down to the way that the arcs were formed at every single stage of the performance. Every single action told one part of the story which had a deep connection with anyone who has lost their loved one or never found love.

Every single time the figure appeared it was nerve wreaking because every single time it appeared the posture of the character was going down further each time as if it had lost all hope in life. After this short analysis the animator concludes that a brilliant animation can give you some feelings if the story line is good enough & if you have some relation in your personal life.