To go deeper into analysis of showreels, let’s look at what we look for from an Animation Showreel.  Great animation is critical in gaming, as witnessed in games like Madden NFL 10.

For the purpose of this Opinion Piece EA Recruiters usually use the 12 general principles of animation. 

1) SQUASH & STRETCH

It is especially important in gaming that there is realistic animation and that objects react exactly as they should in reality.    When an object moves, its movement indicates the rigidity of the object eg FIFA Soccer ball vs a sponge ball.   

Emotionally believable characters are key to gaming, therefore if a games character, say Tiger Woods, smiles, the shape of Tiger’s face is driven by the muscles moving under his skin.  When smiling, a head appears to grow in size, driven by the widening of the mouth and jaw, but obviously the head does not grow.  Key is remembering that with squash & stretch no matter how squashed or stretched something is, its volume remains constant.

2) TIMING AND MOTION

The speed of an action, defines the movement.  This is critical for how believable the audience sees the action.  Timing affects believability in several ways.  Timing defines weight.  For example if Tiger Woods pulls out a Wood and swings at a golf ball, then follows up by swinging at a balloon, the audience can judge the weight of the object being hit. 

Timing can also contribute to the size and scale of an object or character.  A big large character, like Mike Tyson in Fight Night Round 4, has more weight/mass and more inertia than a smaller character, therefore the character will move slower when dancing.  The opposite of a smaller character, like a MySim, who has less mass, weight and inertia, therefore their movements will be quicker and dancing more nimbly.

Timing also plays a key role in emotionally believable characters.  The speed of a character’s movements can indicate if a character is excited, nervous, tired, bored, chilled out.

Actions are defined in three parts:  the preparation for the action, the action itself and the determination of the action.  Anticipation is a great tool for indicating what is about to happen.

Anticipation indicates speed.  Take Tiger Woods.  If Tiger goes to the tee and swings back the club right back over his left shoulder, it is reasonable to expect that Tiger will strike the golf ball a long distance.  However if Tiger only pulls the club back a smaller distance, then the expectation is that the golf ball will not travel so far.

Anticipation is also great in gaming for direct the gamers attention.  Many action adventure games, use the camera to pan over a level and show what the gamer has to do to move forward.  Alternatively a character looking off screen, is an indication that something may be about to happen.

Anticipation can also be used to show what is happening next.  Silent movies are famous for showing if someone is about to commit a criminal act, they start to act shifty, and their body language changes eg their head moves from side to side looking out for witnesses. 

Games like God of War and Tomb Raider demonstrate how a character, when moving a heavy object, will bend over more and widen their stance.  The anticipation of someone taking this stance is they will struggle to pick to object up.  However, if they fall over, with the object shooting in the air, the audience knows it was a light object and the character misjudged.

4) STAGING

Staging is defined as the presentation of an idea so that it is completely and unmistakably clear and obvious to the audience.   An action is staged so that it is understood. To stage an idea clearly, the gamer’s eye must be led to exactly where it needs to be at the right moment. It is important that when staging an action, that only one idea be seen by the audience at a time.  Therefore, in Tiger Woods, with the ideal put cam, the players can see the route to the hole and the game has defined the gamers view.

For example, in a action oriented scene, the gamer’s eye will be drawn to an object at rest. Conversely, in a still shot, the eye will be drawn to the item moving. The animator is in effect acting as the film director and defining the audience’s view and therefore attention.

A personality is staged so that it is recognizable; an expression so that it can be seen.  An angry man, would have eyes wide open, breathing deeply, with their shoulders closed in and hunched in a fighting stance. When staging a personality, it is useful to use characteristics that clearly define the character. The Godfather’s mood is clearly defined below through body language.

A mood is staged so that it will affect the audience. Dead Space is a great example, using a dimly lit spaceship, full of darkness, lighting and reflections that make you jump.  All of these elements have been clearly staged to inspire fear.

5) FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

Anticipation is the preparation of an action.  Follow through is the end of an action.  Actions rarely come to a shuddering stop but carry on and follow through.  Take EA Cricket 2007.  The bowler’s animation does not stop the moment the ball comes out of the bowler’s hand.  The bowler ‘follows through’, the animation with the arm swinging down, as the body finishes arcing and the legs run down the wicket.

In a human games character, actions of the parts are not simultaneous, some parts initiate moves, while others follow. For example, the wrist leads the hand and fingers in a gesture. Heavier parts lag farther and stop slower.

Overlapping means to start a second action before the first action has completely finished. This keeps the interest of the viewer, since there is no dead time between actions. This quote from the king of animation, Walt Disney, demonstrates this:

“It is not necessary for an animator to take a character to one point, complete that action completely, and then turn to the following action as if he had never given it a thought until after completing the first action. When a character knows what he is going to do he doesn’t have to stop before each individual action and think to do it. He has it planned in advance in his mind.”

6 ) STRAIGHT AHEAD ACTION & POSE TO POSE ACTION

Straight Ahead Action in hand drawn animation is when the animator starts at the first drawing in a scene and then draws all of the subsequent frames until he reaches the end of the scene. This creates very spontaneous and wacky looking animation and is used for wild, scrambling action.

Pose-to-Pose Action 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. Then other rotation or translation keyframes can be set for portions of the model, e.g., the legs and arms.

7) SLOW IN & OUT OR EASES

This 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 often more realistic, to have the velocity vary at the extremes. For example, a bouncing football in FIFA moves faster as it approaches or leaves the ground and 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.

This is usually achieved by using splines to control the path of an object. The various spline parameters can be adjusted to give the required effect. Tension controls the overall shape of the spline curve. Continuity equally affects the angles at which the spline enters and leaves the keyframe.  Bias affects the overshoot or undershoot of the motion through the keyframe.

ARCS

The visual path of action from one extreme to another is always described by an arc. In nature, arcs are the most economical routes by which a form can move from one position to another.  Such arcs are used extensively in animation, since they create motion that is more expressive and less stiff than action along a straight path.

In Computer Animation, motion is usually represented in a timeline view using splines(arcs). The arcs represent the values of an objects parameters at a specific moment in time. The method used for calculating interpolated keyframe values determines the characteristic of the arc(motion).   A linear interpolation creates motion that is rather dull and stiff. While a spline interpolation creates motion that is more expressive.

9) EXAGGERATION

Exaggeration doesn’t just mean only distorting the actions or objects arbitrarily, but the animator must carefully decide which properties to exaggerate. If only one thing is exaggerated then it may stand out too much. If everything is exaggerated, then the entire scene may appear too unreal.

 10) SECONDARY ACTION

 A secondary action is an action that results directly from another action. Secondary actions are important in heightening interest and adding a realistic complexity to the animation.

If a secondary action conflicts with, becomes more interesting, or dominates in any way, it is either the wrong choice or is staged improperly.

Generally, in facial animation, the movement is a secondary action, subordinate to the bodies movement. The danger with facial animation isn’t that it will dominate the scene, but that it will not be seen. The change in expression should happen before or after a move, changes in the middle of a major move will mostly likely go unnoticed.

 11) APPEAL

Appeal means something that the audience will want to see. This is equivalent to charisma in a live actor. A scene or character should not be too simple (boring!) or too complex (can’t understand it). One principle to achieve this is to avoid mirror symmetry. Asymmetry tends to be more interesting and appealing.

In creating an appealing pose for a character, one thing to avoid is called “twins”, where both arms and both legs are in the same position, doing the same thing. This creates a stiff pose that is unappealing. Vary the parts of the body a bit, including the facial features, makes a character more appealing.

 12) STRONG DRAWING SKILLS—SHOW US YOUR CREATIVITY

 A mix of different art styles and creative drawings shows your ability.

 

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