Tradigital Animate CC

Learn how to bridge the gap between traditional animation principles and digital software.

Tradigital Animate CC: 12 Principles of Animation in Adobe Animate brings the essentials of traditional
animation and Adobe Animate together. The early masters of animation created a list of 12 principles
which are important for anyone who wants to create interesting and believable animation. Digital
animation continues to make incredible technological advancements that give animators the capability
to produce visually stunning work. New technology, however, also has a tendency to create an
environment where animators are so focused on adapting to the new workflow that they tend to
dismiss these fundamental animation principles, which often leads to poor and lifeless character
animation. Tradigital Animate CC helps you focus on these principles while using the program’s wide
array of features to create believable animation, consistently.

Tradigital Animate CC joins three other Tradigital books covering Maya, Blender, and 3ds Max. This
new volume in the series approaches the topic in a different way, giving readers both a practical
look at the software, and providing a theoretical understanding of the genre.

• Learn a new principle in each chapter, the Animate CC tools most related to it, and how to put it
all together.

• A plethora of examples demonstrate the good methods that animators should use in
Animate CC, how to avoid the bad ones, and ways to create a workflow that works for you.

• An easy-to-follow approach with examples throughout the book that build on each other,
showing how the principles act together.

• A companion website (www.rubberonion.com/tradigital-animate) features more examples,

downloadable FLA resource files, and video tutorials.

Stephen Brooks is the creator of Rubber Onion Animation, a freelance and virtual studio operation.
With ads, cartoon shorts and his character work on games such as Moshi Monsters paying the bills,
Stephen has been active in creating his own animated shorts, podcast and tutorial series. With a
focus on classical, hand-drawn animation, Stephen has been working in Animate CC (formerly called
Flash) for over ten years, bridging the gap between the traditional and digital worlds.

Book 1.indb 1 22/09/2016 10:15

 Tradigital Animate CC
12 Principles of Animation in Adobe Animate

Stephen Brooks

A FOCAL PRESS BOOK

Book 1.indb 3 22/09/2016 10:15

 CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742

© 2017 Taylor & Francis

CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources.
Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author
and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences
of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all
material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to
publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged
please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint.

Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted,
reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.

For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access
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Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,

and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Brooks, Stephen, 1983–
Tradigital flash : 12 principles of animation in Adobe Flash / Stephen Brooks.
pages cm
1. Flash (Computer file) 2. Computer animation--Computer programs. I. Title.
TR897.72.F53.B76 2016
006.6’96--dc23
2015024188

ISBN: 978-1-138-01292-9 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-79561-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Xenois Pro

by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire

Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press
Web site at http://www.crcpress.com

Book 1.indb 4 22/09/2016 10:15

 Contents

Acknowledgmentsvii
Introductionix
  Chapter 1  Timing1
  Chapter 2  Slow In And Slow Out 23
  Chapter 3  Squash And Stretch 49
  Chapter 4  Anticipation73
  Chapter 5 Arcs 105
  Chapter 6 Staging 137
  Chapter 7  Straight Ahead Action And Pose To Pose 167
  Chapter 8  Follow Through And Overlapping Action 197
  Chapter 9  Secondary Action 233
Chapter 10  Solid Drawing 265
Chapter 11 Exaggeration 305
Chapter 12 Appeal 327
Conclusion337
Index343

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 Acknowledgments
If your name is on this list, you should hear the words THANK YOU ringing in your head!

G
My family
Chris Georgenes
Rob Yulfo
Andrew Kaiko
Alan Becker
Ross Bollinger
Jennifer Adkins Smith
David Stiller
Nathan Quarry
Alexandru Craciun
Ryan Woodward
Adam Phillips
Nathan Viney
Greg Pugh
Tim D Saguinsin
Nathan Kester
Christopher S Murphy
Richard Butler
Dave Johnson
Jules Jammal
Tom Hand

Thank you to all the companies and copyright holders featured in this book, Frank and Ollie for
writing theirs, and to all those who I may have missed ... you may yell at me later.

vii

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 Image 0.0  How to read through the chapters in this book as a beginner.

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 INTRODUCTION

Intro
The mission statement of this book
is to bring the traditional principles
of animation together with Adobe
Animate for anyone, regardless of
their previous involvement with
either. This teaching guide focuses
on becoming well versed in both,
together. We will walk step-by-
step through each principle as its
own chapter and see how to apply
it using our digital tools. There
will be a simple guided exercise,
real-world examples, conceptual
explanations, and a reinforcement
of the new information you have
learned in each chapter. This is
not a coffee table book nor a strict
instructional; it’s a hybrid, like the
Tradigital workflow we’ll inhabit.

ix

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 There are two aspects to this book: the 12
Principles of Animation, and the program
we know as Animate CC. We will be
splitting up the principles and the program
into sections to tackle them independently
and then merge the concepts and practices
together more in depth to really nail it
in—including this Intro. Before we go on,
though, I did want to mention one very
important thing: cumulative learning.

The 12 Principles all build on each other.

Animate’s features and their uses build
on themselves too. Used together, the
principles and Animate CC build on top of
one another to make endless, wonderful
combinations. This layering is at the heart
of any animation. To make an apple pie,
you need dough, apples, sugar and a few
other ingredients. You also need kitchen
tools to put these items together such as
a rolling pin, knives, oven and so on. The
point is, in order to get the desired result
Image 0.1
of “delicious apple pie” you need these
ingredients to be combined in a certain way using the tools you have at your disposal. The principles
are your ingredients. The program’s features are your tools (Image 0.1).

By the end of this book, you will be able to use the principles in your animation and the tools in
Animate CC to make them happen in wonderful ways. The interpretations of the principles and the
combinations are what make up individual style. In the beginning, everyone copies. But once the
concepts sink in and all that practice has been baked into knowing, an individual’s style emerges. If
you follow chapter by chapter the path in the spiral learning chart at the beginning of this Intro, by
the end of this book you will have a command of the program and an understanding of the principles
to improve your animation and develop your own sense of artistic style in movement. So let’s quickly
run through how we’ll go about that.

Each chapter is made up of three main activities: the bouncing ball exercise, a closer look section for
it and a real world example. We’ll start off by getting a conceptual understanding of the principle
in the intro by including what it means and when it can be used. The bouncing ball exercise is a
classic animation learning technique and will help you get a grasp on pulling the abstract ideas of the
principle into actual use, while exposing more of Animate’s toolset. In the closer look section, we’ll
dive a little deeper into what you just did in the bouncing ball exercise. After this, there’s a real-world
example of the chapter’s titular principle at work. And finally the chapter ends with “Final Words.”

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 HOW TO READ THIS BOOK

Intro
Notice the spiral learning chart at the beginning of this Intro. It sets out the best path in which to use
this book as a beginner to Animate CC, the 12 Principles or both. The bouncing ball is an important
learning tool, but it is just a ball. Visually it’s not all that stimulating. I wanted you, the reader, to
see what kind of fruit all the practicing and learning you are doing will bear. The issue of the real
world exercises though is that in order to produce it in a Tradigital workflow using the 12 Principles
of Animation and Animate’s toolset, those two areas first need to be covered. But instead of having
the first half of the book only be program screengrabs and images of a bouncing ball while all the
“good stuff” of the real world exercises are in solitary confinement in the last half, I opted to lay out
this book to have them all together for motivation.

If you’re a beginner, you won’t be ready for the real world exercises until you’ve learned the basics
of Animate CC and the Principles — that much has already been said. But the beauty of a book is that
once you flip a page it doesn’t disappear; it’s still there for you to go back to. So if you didn’t quite
understand the spiral learning chart in the intro image here’s the path in written form. As a beginner:

–– Read Chapters 1–9, do the bouncing ball and closer look sections but skip the real world exercises

–– Read Chapter 10, complete all exercises within

–– Return to Chapters 1–9 and complete the real world exercises

–– Read Chapters 11 and 12 and complete any exercises within

The book is set up this way for progressive and reinforced learning. As you’re going through your first
pass in Chapters 1–9, feel free to check out the real world exercises for inspiration and motivation.
That’s why they’re there instead of in the back of the book!

If you have experience animating in Animate CC or already understand the 12 Principles, you can
choose what you want to read, when and how. There’s something in here for everyone. Keep an eye
out for “Pro-tips” and “hotkeys” (the ones in bold) in the exercise steps. The next three sections of
the Intro will serve as a primer for that chapter format I mentioned. Please do not skip these. I will
be referring back to the information in the Intro throughout the rest of the chapters.

INTRODUCING: THE PRINCIPLES

The range that the 12 Principles cover is so wide that it encompasses everything from the cold
physics of movement to the warm embrace of illustration. Through their exploration, we will have
an opportunity to actually use the program at the center of this book to facilitate the animation
itself, while exploring those principles. First, though, let’s cover a little bit about the 12 Principles
of Animation.

I’m assuming that most of you who bought this book have an understanding of what the principles
are on at least a surface level (any quick Google search will pop up endless results). Even so, it’s
important to know what they are and how they originated if we are to understand and use them best.
So, where did these coveted 12 Principles of Animation come from? Were they recently uncovered in

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 a long forgotten tomb? Maybe they appeared
unto the blade of a legendary sword, only to
be wielded by the hand of a righteous man.

In 1981, two of Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men (the

original masters in the early years of Disney’s
golden age), Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston,
released a book called The Illusion of Life: Disney
Animation. In an effort to describe the methods
used to create characters that seemed to exist
in a physical world, they put the 12 Principles
of Animation in public print for the first time.
These principles were nailed down over
about 50 years at that point, starting with the
creation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937)—the time Disney started going for a
more realistic approach to their animation. You
can clearly see some of these principles being
applied to non-Disney works before that, of Image 0.2  llustration by Rob Yulfo (youtube.com/
course, but that was a very experimental time AnthraxYulfo).
in animation. Once Walt Disney moved to this
new direction of realism, everything changed. It was a renaissance for animated film.

The Nine Old Men were so called (in jest) by Walt in reference to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
derisive name for the Supreme Court justices during his court-packing campaign after the start of
the New Deal. It was the studious nature of these early animators that truly moved the Disney style
forward to become ... what it would become: a very cohesive style where everything’s playing by
the same basic rules. A keen eye can pick out the acting subtleties between these Nine Old Men in
the early movies. It was how they combined and played with the principles that made them unique
to each other, while still working in the same style.

It’s important to note, however, that these principles are not necessarily universal, nor do they all
need to be applied in every sequence. A principle is a fundamental basis for a thing. In this case, it’s
the Disney style. You all know it. But if you’re looking to foster a different style, having this base
knowledge of Disney’s 12 Principles of Animation will still help you understand the fundamentals of
motion and design, we’ll talk about why they work and when you can break these principles for effect.

INTRODUCING: THE BOUNCING BALL

I’m a big believer in learning-by-doing. Actually, “believer” might be the wrong word here, since what I
really am (and any animator, really) is an example. I’m a big example of learning-by-doing, then. Many
people, when they start out, have a hard time rectifying what practicing the mechanics of a bouncing
ball has to do with animating characters—or anything other than a ball, for that matter. It’s not an

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 unfair question. Other than “bumbles” (+10pts if
you got the animation reference), what bounces?

Intro
Everything. I would say “everything that falls”
but even that’s not accurate. Sure, if you drop
something off a building it’s going to bounce (...
or splat). What if something doesn’t fall first? How
often am I going to need to animate something
falling, anyway? If I’m typing the questions, and
you’re reading them in the first person, who’s “I”
and who’s “you?” All good questions. Image 0.3  Bouncing Ball exercise from Chapter 8
“Follow Through and Overlapping Action”.
The lesson of the bouncing ball is about timing,
squash and stretch, arcs and a myriad of other
principles that are directly applied to just about every movement you will animate. Mastering the
bouncing ball is the quickest way to conceptualizing the principles of animation. While it may seem
easy when you start, the complexity will increase throughout the chapters, so it’s important to have
a solid base (meaning, please follow along from the beginning). Crawl before you walk. Look before
you leap. Ball before you ... draw? You get my point.

Let’s take a grasshopper as an example. The one thing we all know about them is they hop; it’s
right there in the name. Animating that grasshopper would take into account all the principles I just
listed above; ones that you will understand deeply by the time we get to the more complicated and
abstract principles like appeal and solid drawing. So on your path to understanding the 12 Principles
of Animation, Adobe Animate and how to use them in unison, you will pull them all together by
learning how to bounce a ball in various ways. That knowledge can be directly applied to animating
that grasshopper ... and everything.

In one chapter, you will apply a principle to a ball to start it bouncing and then save the file. In the
next chapter, a new principle will be added to the bouncing ball so that it exhibits both principles
simultaneously and a new file will be saved. By the end of the book, you will have many files and
a clear path of learning. You will have a bouncing ball exhibiting multiple Principles of Animation
simultaneously within Adobe Animate and be ready to put it all together yourself in your own animation!

INTRODUCING: THE PROGRAM

Adobe Animate is a fantastically versatile tool. The thing about versatility is that it can sometimes
be a synonym of daunting. In this case, though, the reason that Animate CC has become so popular
for budding animators is that it takes a fairly minimalist approach, letting the artists do what they
want and largely getting out of their way. Almost everything from the workspaces to the tools to
the properties and beyond is customizable, so the program essentially “grows” with the capabilities
of the artist. This ability to create with a minimum that can expand with experience makes it very
attractive to the average user. And it doesn’t hurt that it’s affordable. Taking things one principle at
a time throughout the bouncing ball exercise allows for a step-by-step look at the tools within the
program. But before we get into the specific tools, let’s just review what this program actually is.

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 Adobe Flash is now
Adobe Animate
It was announced on November 30, 2015 that
Adobe was rebranding its animation program
“Flash” to now be called “Animate.” Basically,
the change is in name only, but as with any
version update there are new features in Image 0.4
Animate CC that weren’t available when it was
book that point out the differences between
still called Flash. This brings up the second part
Flash and Animate CC so that you can follow
of this section, which is that this book was
along no matter which version of either
designed to be compatible with all previous
you have. The focus in this book’s exercises
versions of the program now known as Animate
is the workflow and how to create your own
CC, and that includes Flash versions.
version of a workflow that is best for you and
There are two main differences that arose when your animation goals. So while there are new
Adobe Flash became Adobe Animate in name: features that are addressed, the core of these
some user graphics (the way the program looks lessons rests firmly in tools and processes which
to you as you use it) and new tools. To help, have been well established in the programs
there are highlighted sections throughout the regardless of name or version number.

Vector VS Raster
Animate CC is a vector based program (often called a “draw
program”). This type of program is in contrast to a raster
based program, such as Photoshop (often called a “paint
program”). If you aren’t aware of the differences, it’s a
fairly simple distinction: vector images can be resized
and never get blurry as opposed to a raster image which
would look pixelated. Have you ever taken a picture of
something and then tried to zoom in really far only to find
it getting fuzzy and indecipherable? That effect is because
the image is raster—made up of a series of set pixels. A
vector image will never fall into that trap because it’s Image 0.5  Zoom view of vector image
instead made up of reference points. (left) and raster image (right).

When you draw lines in Animate CC, the program translates those lines into a series of points which
the computer itself then draws between. The program basically just takes your drawing and makes
it a connect-the-dots/paint-by-numbers type image for the computer. When you stretch it out, the
points just get farther apart and the computer simply redraws the lines between them. That’s why

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 the image will never get blurry. The user isn’t usually aware of the distinction because, functionally,

Intro
it’s the same. You draw and the program does the rest. However, this difference is important to note
because there are many things you will be able to do with this ability of increasing or decreasing the
size of an image and always keeping the same clarity.

Layout
Enough with all these words, let’s get into the
audience participation! When you first open
Animate CC, you’re greeted with a dialog box
asking you to choose which template you want
to use. Don’t worry about all these settings
right now, simply chose any “ActionScript”
version under the “Create New” section (Image
0.6). Different versions of Animate CC support
varying versions of ActionScript (for instance,
Animate CS6 supports both 2.0 and 3.0 while CC Image 0.6  We’re working in the “Classic”
only supports 3.0). Now you’re in the workspace. Animate CC layout in this book.
Animate CC has multiple versions of this layout
built into the program. To make sure we’re all on the same page, let’s double check we’re working
in the same workspace. Select the “Classic” layout by going to Window > Workspace > Classic.

Right now, you should see a set of tools on the left, the Properties Panel on the right, a timeline on
the top and a white rectangle in the middle (Image 0.7, overleaf). We will cover the details of these
panels throughout the book, but let’s take a quick look at what these things actually are before we start
messing around. The white area in the middle is known as the “stage.” There is a gray area around
the white, and that is known as the “work area” (also, “pasteboard”). Think of these two things as
you would a theater and the area behind the curtains in the theater. Anything on the stage (the white
area) is viewable to the audience, anything outside of that is not ... it’s backstage. That gray area, the
“work area,” is cut out of your final video. The work area is where we put notes to ourselves and extra
assets, but it also acts as an easy crop to images that are bigger than we actually use. So remember:
white area is “on stage” and seen by the audience, the gray area is “offstage” and hidden from them.

Now let’s look at the tools to the left of the layout (Image 0.8, overleaf). This bar is like a drawer holding
your pens, pencils, paint brush and paints, straight-edge, you name it! With these tools, you will be
creating and altering images. Let’s do something really quick just to see what it feels like to draw in
the program. Select the paint brush from the toolbar on the left (pressing the B key will do the same).
On the stage, draw whatever you want. A squiggle—let’s draw a squiggle. Now, say you want to
draw something on the bottom-right but want that area centered on screen so you can draw it better.
Press-and-hold the Space Bar and you’ll see a hand replace your cursor. With the space bar still held,
click the stage and drag it around as you see fit. When you’re happy with the position, release the
space bar and continue drawing. The press-and-hold quick selection of some tools is very helpful for
speed but there’s always a more permanent version of those selections, which in the case of the Hand

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 Tool you just used is (appropriately) the H key.
These shortcuts to using the tools through use
of your keyboard are called hotkeys. You will
see these throughout the book in bold while
Apple OS specific keys will be in green and PC
specific keys will be in blue. Look back over to
the toolbar and hover your cursor over any
one of the tools for a second or two. You should
see a simple text popup which says the name
of the tool plus its hotkey; for instance Brush
Tool (B) (again, see Image 0.8). Learning to use
these hot keys early on will really help your
workflow and keep things moving, allowing
you to focus on the actual act of creating ...
which is the whole point!

The Properties panel on the right has

information which changes contextually based
on what is selected. If you still have the Brush Image 0.7  Opening prompt
Tool (B) selected, you will see information such (Animate CC 2016).
as Fill and Stroke and Smoothing. If you were
to switch back to the Selection Tool (V) but have
no object actually selected you would see information relevant to the
overall project such as the resolution, frame rate, and the stage color
which is white, by default (Image 0.9). I would like to mention a couple
things about these before we move on. Basically, the resolution just Image 0.8  Toolbar with
says how many pixels the image is wide (number on the left) and how hotkeys shown and Brush Tool
many tall (number on the right). If the resolution is preceded with selected (Animate CC 2016).
a larger number than the other, it will make the rectangle be wide
(like a movie screen) while the other way around
will make it tall (like a standard notebook). For
now we will simply be using 1920 × 1080 and for
the remainder of this book. Notice that the first
number is larger (1920) than the second (1080),
so this will be widescreen.

FPS stands for “frames per second,” and it’s

exactly what it sounds like: the amount of frames
Animate CC will show during one second. The
higher the fps, the more frames will fly by in
every second. Film is 24fps, North American
TV is 29.97fps (basically 30), and European TV Image 0.9  Properties panel (Animate CC 2016).

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 is 25fps. We will be working in 24fps because it is easy to work with (it is more easily divisible, and

Intro
that advantage will become apparent when we talk about “animation math” in Chapter 1). Plus, that
is what the classic animation masters were using.

Image 0.10  Timeline (Animate CC 2016).

Frame rate refers to the speed at which the frames are displayed, and those frames are represented
in the timeline at the top of the layout (Image 0.10). As we work through the bouncing ball exercise
we will cover how to work in it, but essentially this area is where you see how many frames you have
drawn in and where they are in time. It’s just like the timeline of a video player showing you where
you are in the video, except each frame cell also shows you which frames actually have information
in them. Currently, you’re seeing one blank frame (the white box with the dot at the beginning) and
the rest are empty frames (a series of ghostly white and gray boxes, looking kind of like piano keys).

The “Animate” Difference: ROTATION TOOL

press-and-hold Shift+Space and then click-and-
drag around the stage. You may also click a
point on the stage to set a new rotation point
(1). To return the stage back to center click the
“Center Stage” button (2).

It breaks down like this: the Timeline shows you

where you are in the video, the Stage is where
you put what you want to be shown at that
Image AD1
time, Tools provide you with the means to draw
New with Animate CC is a Rotation Tool which it, and the Properties panel helps you alter the
can rotate the Stage view temporarily. Just format of the presentation.

HERE WE GO
Now that some of the housekeeping is out of the way, we can get to the good stuff! It’s best to go
through this book from front to back, as laid out in the spiral learning graph at the start of the
Introduction (Image 0.0). I know I’ve said this, but it bears repeating that one of the great things that
the 12 Principles of Animation have in common with Adobe Animate is that every part of them build
on each other. To create your animations, you will be using your knowledge of multiple principles

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 at once as well as working with many tools and expertly navigating your timeline. We will work
through the simple stuff first and build on them up to the more complicated and abstracts parts. By
the end of the book you will have multiple Animate CC files showing progressively more impressive
versions of a bouncing ball, a working knowledge of Animate CC and its features, an understanding
of the 12 Principles and some experience with chaining these principles and the program features
together in real-world scenarios. So ... here we go!

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 Image 1.0  My Friend the Computer #1: Three, Two, One…
by Stephen Brooks
(RubberOnion.com).

Book 1.indb 20 22/09/2016 10:15

 Chapter 1 
Chapter 1 

TIMING
TIMING

INTRODUCING
Timing
Timing is the very basis of animation.
At its core, to animate is to take something that is not alive
and, in the words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, make it so. We
all know that animation is displaying sequential images in time
to make them move, but the timing of it all will affect the mood
of the action. A batter hitting a baseball at “real-time” speed
will evoke a different response from the viewer than watching
that same action in “slow-mo.” Just as the type of music playing
during a scene will change its feeling, so too will Timing.

Think of Timing as the heartbeat of the character. Is it erratic?

Calm? Intense? Lazy? It will define what you do. If you have
a shot of a boxer being punched in the face with a duration
of only 0.5 seconds, think of how the drama of the shot will
change if it takes 1 second to elapse or a slow-motion-style
5 seconds. Timing is at the beginning of this book because
it should be the first thing on your mind when you start to
animate. Ask yourself, “how long should this take to happen?”

In this chapter, we will cover technical terms such as frame

rate, tween, as well as get a further look at some aspects of
Adobe Animate we covered in the book’s Introduction like
the shape tools, timeline, and Properties panel. We’ll also
begin our work with understanding symbols so that you will
learn how to draw a simple shape, move it around, and get
an understanding of what Timing encompasses and how to
use Animate CC to implement this principle in your animation.

Book 1.indb 1 22/09/2016 10:15

 A WORD ABOUT
Graphics Tablets
There are some of you out there who might not
have a graphics tablet for drawing, which I can
understand. One of the appeals of Animate CC
is its affordability whereas a tablet would be
another purchase to add to the list. This book
will not force you to draw on a tablet, but I
would recommend it for no greater reason than
it helps preserve the connection your brain has Image 1.1 Wacom Intuos4XL.
made between the art you imagine and the art
you make. That connection is deeply rooted in almost everyone, stemming from when you started
drawing ducks on your parents’ walls with cheap, unwashable, wax crayons.

By working through the bouncing ball exercises using Animate’s shape and movement tools, you
can connect the concepts of the principles to that animator part of your brain—and then that to
the program. Once you feel like you want to move beyond that, try doing the exercises over again
by drawing each frame with a graphics tablet. For now, however, let’s go step by step through the
timing exercise with the bouncing ball and learn some of the program on the way.

BOUNCING BALL Timing

Note: Animate’s layout is covered in this book’s
Introduction. If you are uncertain as to what
and where the timeline, tools and stage are,
please refer back to the section “Introducing: The
Program.”

Setting Up
If you haven’t already done so, open Animate Image BB1.0 Pictured: Flash CS6 when the Oval
CC and create a new document (File > New). The and Rectangle tools were docked together.
only things that truly matter right now are the
width, height, and frame rate. For our purposes we will use 1920 for the width and 1080 for the
height. Anyone who has a hi-def TV out there that says 1080i or 1080p—that’s this resolution. As
for the frame rate, for the remainder of this book we will be working in 24 frames per second
(henceforth known as fps). Once you select OK, your document is created. If you made a mistake,
not to worry! Locate the Properties panel. If you don’t locate this panel for some reason the

Book 1.indb 2 22/09/2016 10:15

 hotkey combination to bring it up is Cmd+J on Mac and Ctrl+J on PC. There you can see the size

Chapter 1 
and fps settings which can be altered at any time to get the settings you want. These affect the
entire document, meaning there’s only one value for each setting in a document such as the one
you just created.

TIMING
Before we get too far, let’s save this bad boy right now; we’ll be working in it a lot. Choose an obvious
name like “bouncing ball 1 – timing.” We will be saving a new file for every chapter so that as we
progress we won’t lose the work from previous chapters. (Pro tip: select File > Save As … and put a 1
at the end of your file name, and periodically do the same but with increasing numbers to create “mile
marker” files. In the event of a computer crash, power outage, cat unplugging cord, you won’t lose much
work at all. It’s helpful on bigger projects.)

Because of our resolution being so high, some computer monitors may not be seeing the whole
stage right now. To show the entire stage, locate the Zoom control drop-down menu on the top-right
corner of the stage. It should currently be set at 100%. Select that drop-down menu and click “Show
Frame.” You should now see the stage surrounded by gray work area. As mentioned in this book’s
Introduction, only the things inside the stage will appear in the final video that exports. So for the
purposes of this bouncing ball exercise, the “ground” will be the bottom of the stage.

Now that we’re all set up, it’s time to get started with animating!

PART I
“Drawing The Ball”
1. In the toolbar, select the Oval Tool (O). If all
you see is a square like in Adobe Flash CS6
or below, click and hold on it until a popup
appears with subset tools and select the
circle. Don’t worry about the color right Image BB1.1
now. Image BB1.1

2. Click and drag on the stage somewhere in

the top left to draw a circle. This shape will
be the ball that we will be bouncing ever
so wonderfully. (Pro tip: hold Shift as you’re
dragging to force Animate CC to draw a
perfect circle). Image BB1.2

3. Choose the Selection Tool (V) from the Image BB1.2

toolbar and double-click the circle we just
drew to highlight all of it.

Book 1.indb 3 22/09/2016 10:15

 4. Right-click the now highlighted circle and
select Convert to Symbol … (F8). A popup
will appear, asking for some information.
Name it “ball,” select Graphic from the
Type drop-down menu, and make sure the
Registration point is in the middle. Click OK.
Image BB1.4

Image BB1.4
Interlude
A quick note: you might be wondering what the difference is between the symbol types in step 4
and why we chose “Graphic.” The symbol types will be explained in the closer look section later in
this chapter. We won’t get into the Registration point until much later, but to satisfy any nagging
curiosity, it’s basically the default pivot point. But now, let’s talk about the ball you just created. Take
a look at it. How long do you think it will take to fall to the ground (bottom of the stage)? Whatever
answer you just gave to that question has determined how large the ball is. We have drawn one
ball of a certain size, and it is already a certain
distance from our ground. How long it takes the
ball to reach the ground tells us how big the ball
is around. For instance, given the size I drew mine
(which you can see in the provided *.fla file), if you
said “1 second” then it’s about the size of a beach
ball. If you said “0.5 second,” it would be a softball.
“3 seconds?” The NYC Times Square New Year’s
Ball with all the lights and expensiveness—you get Image 1.2  Depending on the timing of a fall, the
the point. Timing affects a great deal in physics; same size circle could represent a range of sizes.
you want to understand why so you can break the
rules to the greatest effect.

The trick here is to use your brain as a simulator. You drew your bouncing ball already; now close
your eyes and imagine it bouncing. Without even thinking about it you have come up with how long
it will take the ball to hit the ground and how long it will take to bounce back up. I could tell you to do
that with anything. Think of an asteroid. Now close your eyes and make it explode into a magnificent
spectacle. Do the same thing with a chipmunk (those unholy creatures who eat the tomatoes right
off the vine that someone tried very hard to cultivate). That’s your imagination at work—the world’s
greatest render machine. So if you go back to the bouncing ball, the goal is to take that information
you created in your imagination and use it in our timing. When I asked you to imagine it bouncing,
how long did it take to hit the ground? How high did it bounce afterward? Try tapping the table with
the beat of the bounce to help bring the timing out of your imagination and into the real world. Side
note: if you’ve done everything I’ve just asked of you in the presence of someone else who is not
reading these same words, you will look very odd. You’re welcome. Step one in becoming an animator:
you will look very odd when you work.

Book 1.indb 4 22/09/2016 10:15

 Getting back to the exercise, for the upcoming steps you should follow along with the timing I give

Chapter 1 
you, and we will build together. I will be referring to specific timing and other choices made here in
the later chapters. If you’re already comfortable with the principles and are in this more as a way
to learn Animate CC, you can choose your own timing; but be aware that you’ll have to compensate
mentally for the differences in the ensuing chapters’ exercises. To make things easy, I will start out

TIMING
with the bounce taking 1 second.

PART II
“Making It Move”
5. Since we start on frame 1, our frame rate is
24fps, and the duration of the bounce will
be 1 second, the end will be on frame 25.
Right-click on the empty square at frame 25
and select Insert Keyframe (F6). This last
frame will be our end “up” position. More
Image BB1.5
on keyframes later, but for now it should be
noted that they are the important frames—
the ones where we initiate a computer-
generated or a manual change to the shape
or position of an image. Image BB1.5

6. Now that we have the start and end “up”

keyframes, we need the “contact” keyframe
where the ball touches the ground. Right
now you are seeing a gray bar from
frame 1 to 25. This bar is showing you Image BB1.6
that the computer will display the image
on frame 1 as it is until the next keyframe
(currently on frame 25). Select frame 13 on
the timeline and make another keyframe
by hitting the hotkey F6 on your keyboard.
Image BB1.6

7. With the ball highlighted on the stage, hold

the down arrow until it reaches the bottom
of the stage. (Pro tip: hold Shift while pressing
the down arrow to jump 10 normal increments
at a time.) This keyframe is the “contact”
position. Image BB1.7 Image BB1.7

Book 1.indb 5 22/09/2016 10:15

 8. Time to make this ball move! Right-click on
the keyframe on frame 1 and select Create
Classic Tween. (Note: “Classic” was added
from Flash CS4 on because another type
of tween was included. Before this version
however, it’ll say “Motion” instead.) The gray Image BB1.8
area between the two frames will turn blue
with an arrow. Hit Enter and you’ll see the
ball drop. Image BB1.8

9. Repeat step 8 for the keyframe on

frame 13 to return the ball back to the
top. Image BB1.9

10. To see your work, select File > Publish

Preview > Animate, and you’ll see a
window pop up (if you don’t see your ball Image BB1.9
bouncing very well, right-click in the popup
and select Show All). The hotkey for this
particular Animate CC publishing is Cmd/Ctrl+Enter.

It’s a simple thing we just made, just a circle moving up and down … and rather stiff at that.
But this is just the beginning. There are a few important things to note at this point. If you are
new to animation and the program, what you have learned is how to create an image and make
it move where you want within the time you want. If you are already familiar with the program
but  not so  much with the principles, this is the essence of Timing. Think about the object or
character and what’s happening on screen, and through this context you can discover the time
frame needed for an action to happen. If you’re familiar with this principle and not the program,
you may already have a bias against tweening … it’s OK, because I honestly did too at first. In part,
you feel like you’re giving up control to the computer if you’re used to drawing every frame.
Ultimately, you can still do that in Animate CC. But you will see that through using symbols, tweening,
and some of the other features of the program that you’ll encounter in this book you will be able
to apply the same 12 principles that have worked for traditional animation for almost a century …
and faster, at that.

As mentioned in this book’s Introduction, the bouncing ball exercise is an excellent way to grasp
the fundamentals. Being that this is the first exercise, it doesn’t get much more basic than this.
The more you learn about a program (its tools, functions, and options), the more you can combine
that knowledge together. When writing an email, you may capitalize entire words for EMPHASIS
using the caps lock and paste in a web address from your browser … and maybe even draw a heart
with a < and a 3. At some point, you had to learn each of those particular features, functionalities,
and tricks—and now you can combine them together at will to communicate to someone whatever
it is you <3. This ability to flow between tools and techniques to express yourself will happen with
Animate CC as well.

Book 1.indb 6 22/09/2016 10:15

 You might also guess that this process is exactly what happens with the principles; they can and

Chapter 1 
should be combined together in various and wonderful ways. Think of the principles like muscles:
to perform a particular action, certain muscles need to be engaged. Perform a different action, and a
different combination of muscles will flex. But there are always those core muscles that will be used
in practically everything you do. One of these core muscles (or principles, if you follow my analogy)

TIMING
is Timing. As you learn the principles and the program through the bouncing ball exercise, your
ability to combine all of this knowledge together to create great animation will grow. So let’s look a
little deeper into one very important aspect of the program and see what more we can learn here
before moving onto the next principle.

CLOSER LOOK
Graphic Symbol Vs. Movie Clip
The first thing we did in the exercise was to draw a circle and create a symbol out of it. There
are three types of symbols you can create, but only two types you will use in animation: “Graphic” and
“Movie Clip.” When a symbol is created, it is saved within the document’s Library (Window >
Library). Symbols are containers for animation. Double-clicking one will show you what’s inside: you’ll
see a timeline just as you do on the main stage. Inside either of these types of symbols, you can create a
completely independent animation (such as a character walking in place). You may then take that
symbol with the animation playing inside it like a projector and move it around just as we did with the
ball (such as across the stage to make a character appear to be running across it). Symbols can also
be endlessly repeated on stage. The terminology can sometimes get confusing so I will periodically
repeat and reinforce this but when a symbol is on the stage it’s actually called an “instance.”
You can have a hundred instances of the bouncing ball symbol on stage but if you edit the symbol all
of the instances will show that same edit because it is the source.

The interior may look the same, but these two symbols are quite different in function which impacts
how you will use them. A Movie Clip will play its internal timeline from its beginning to its end no
matter what’s happening on the main stage, and in almost all versions of Animate CC/Flash isn’t able
to be exported to video (a big problem for most animators). A Graphic Symbol’s playback, on the
other hand, can be controlled and does export to video. There is an added feature since Flash CS3
that Movie Clips bring to the game however, and that is that they can have filters applied to them
(such as blur, drop shadow, and glow). So our general use of symbols as animators breaks down
like this: Graphic Symbols for animation, Movie Clips for illustration. You will see this for yourself
in later chapters but for now, we’re just using the mighty Graphic Symbol. Now let’s get around
inside the symbol to see what we can learn.

Book 1.indb 7 22/09/2016 10:15

 “Graphic symbols for animation,
Movie Clips for illustration.”

Image 1.3 The midground tree and background trees are Movie Clips with a blur filter. The child is a
Graphic symbol with nested animation.

“Editing Inside A Symbol”

1. Locate the Library panel (Cmd/Ctrl+L) and
double-click on the symbol labeled “ball” (it
should be the only one there). If you look at
the timeline again, our animation looks like
it’s gone! It’s not, this is the timeline within
our symbol of the ball as mentioned before.
This separate work area is nested inside the
ball symbol. Image CL1.1

2. Double-click on the ball so that we can

change its color. In the toolbar there are
two colored boxes: one with a pencil next
Image CL1.1
to it and the other with a paint bucket.
These are the Stroke Color and Fill Color
options, respectively. They should currently
correspond to the colors on the ball (stroke
is the outline color, fill is the inside color).
Image CL1.2 Image CL1.2

Book 1.indb 8 22/09/2016 10:15

 3. Click on the Fill Color box in the toolbar

Chapter 1 
and pick any color you desire your
bouncing ball to be. (Pro tip: to select a
more specific color, click the color wheel
on the top right of the Fill Color box

TIMING
popup. Hue is left-right, Saturation is top-
bottom, and Brightness is the extra bar Image CL1.3
to the right.) Do the same for the outline
using the Stroke Color. I chose different
shades of orange. Try that. Image CL1.3

4. Locate the Fill and Stroke section in

the Properties panel. You’ll notice
you can change the color and fill
here as well (there are many ways to
change these colors). Notice the slider-
bar labeled “Stroke.” This slider changes
the thickness of the outline. You can
use the slider-bar to change it or simply
click the current number there and
type in your own. I chose 5 for the size.
Image CL1.4

5. Just above the stage, you’ll see text next

to a movie clapboard labeled “Scene 1.” Image CL1.4
Next to that will be the title of your “ball”
symbol. This is because we’re currently
within the symbol for editing. Click on
“Scene 1” to go back to the main stage.
Image CL1.5

6. Press Enter on your keyboard and you’ll

see our newly colored ball bounce just as
Image CL1.5
before! This preview is another way to
play your animation quickly within the program without exporting anything (as we did in step
9 of this chapter’s main bouncing ball exercise).

Now you can see one of the many benefits of using symbols. Anything within the symbols can be
altered without changing what was already done on the main stage. But what if you wanted to change
the timing? You have the ball bouncing, and you just think it’s a bit too fast. In that case, we just need
to add a few extra frames into each movement so that it takes longer. Let’s try that.

Book 1.indb 9 22/09/2016 10:15

 “Adjusting Keyframe Positions On The Timeline”
7. Click anywhere between frame 1 and 12,
right-click, and select Insert Frame (F5).
You’ll notice that didn’t just add a frame in
between 1 and 12, it actually adds a frame
where you click and moves everything after
Image CL1.7
it over one frame. Press its corresponding
hotkey, F5, on your keyboard two more
times to see it in action again. Image CL1.7

8. Now the “contact” (second) keyframe is

no longer centered between our two “up”
keyframes and that’s messing up the timing.
To correct this, click anywhere between Image CL1.8
frame 16 and 27 and press F5 on your
keyboard three times. You’ve added six total
frames to our bouncing ball’s timing, so now
our one bounce sequence takes 30 frames
to elapse (ending on frame 31), six more than
when you first created it to take 24 frames.
Image CL1.8

9. To adjust it back where it was before you

can highlight three frames in the first tween,
right-click and select Remove Frames and do Image CL1.9
the same for the second tween. Additionally,
and usually easier, you can use the undo
function by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+Z until you see the frames appear back where you wanted them.
The end frame should now be back at 25. Image CL1.9

If this were animated frame by frame, changing the timing this way would be decidedly more
difficult! These types of changes and alterations are where Animate CC really shines. There’s no
denying the personal control you feel over drawing each frame by hand, but there’s also no escaping
the feeling of tedium when a seemingly small change needs to be made (like a ball bouncing 0.5
seconds slower than it was) and you have to redraw everything, or if colors need changing and
you have to manually recolor everything. You will see me stress this over and over in this book
(as I have already multiple times in the Introduction): Animate CC is simply a tool to help you work
more efficiently. It’s versatile enough to allow for many different workflows (as you will see), but it
isn’t a magic ­push-button-and-make-cartoon machine (image 1.4). If it were, you probably wouldn’t
be reading this book. You are still very much in control of the 12 Principles of Animation and how
you implement them.

10

Book 1.indb 10 22/09/2016 10:15

 Chapter 1 
TIMING
Image 1.4

Using Timing With “Animation Math”

Math: it helps. Especially with Timing. Let’s take
a look at the timeline again. There are some
numbers in the border under the timeline which
have our frame rate , the frame number Image 1.5
on which the red marker is currently sitting ,
as well as the time at that point (like a video player, but in seconds). Frame 25 is at exactly
1 second because there is no frame 0—we are starting on frame 1. Remember that our frame rate is
24 frames per second … 1 + 24 = 25. So frame 25 really is at exactly 1 second. This is an example of
what I like to call “animation math” and it will help in the future when timing things out.

I know what you’re saying, “If we can see the seconds under the timeline, why would we ever need
math? Math is boring and should be burned with fire.” The answer might be found in this challenge.
Right now look at the timeline and without using “math,” tell me on what frame number the timeline
should show the animation ending if the ball bounces one more time and it takes another 3 seconds.
Without animation math, you’re going to have to use trial-and-error to get the answer. I can tell you
what the answer is: frame 97. We already have one bounce taking 1 second, meaning another three
means the total time is 4 seconds. With our starting frame being 1 and a frame rate of 24fps … 1 + 24
+ 24 + 24 + 24 = 97. Animation math.

11

Book 1.indb 11 22/09/2016 10:15

 Animation often comes down to trying to control the creative chaos in your brain long enough to
put it down in physical form … and then do it hundreds more times until something looks like it’s
alive for a few seconds. You close your eyes and you can just see that goblin falling down the hill
in a hilariously bumbling manner. Who wouldn’t want to see that? You need to put this down on
paper right now! But when you opened your eyes and started to draw you lost it. The magic of the
movement is gone somehow—forgotten and shrunken back in the recesses of your brain to entertain
only your subconscious.

“Animation often comes down to trying to control the creative chaos in your
brain long enough to put it down in physical form … and then do it hundreds
more times until something looks like it’s alive for a few seconds.”
However, what if you were to close your eyes to see the movement, time it out by tapping a pencil to
hear the beat with your ears, move your body to the flow of the movement, and feel the hilarity with
multiple senses? You could become the action long enough to jot down movement notes like “goblin
bounce 0.5 second hard, lots of squash/stretch, bound off edge of cliff, pause 1 second in air, fall FAST”
and then start drawing. This way, the staying power of the thing you saw when you closed your eyes
will be much greater. The timing can be written down for your reference, so you don’t forget. Then
when you animate—since you have the goals written down and the movement in mind—you’ll know
when you’re on frame 1137 and you’re mid-air, Wile E. Coyote-esque pause takes a second you will
end it on frame 1161 just as he starts to fall. That’s where you draw your “oh no” face. Math helps.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
Looking Around

A Word For Beginners

If you check out the chart in this book’s Introduction, the recommended way to absorb this book
if you are a beginner is to skip these real-world examples in each chapter until you finish Chapter
10’s exercises on Solid Drawing. You are absolutely encouraged to check out the Animate CC project
files (*.fla) in the companion website for these examples to see how they are broken up and where
everything is headed. However, following along with the steps, since they’re “real world,” requires
that you know a little bit of the terminology and methods; this goes for both the principles and the
program. If you work through each chapter’s bouncing ball exercises and their closer look sections
and read what’s written about using the principle within Animate CC you will have all the information
you need to work through the real-world examples.

The idea of the book is to not only explain the meaning of the 12 Principles of Animation and then
how to bring them into your animation using Animate CC but also be a primer for approaching
Tradigital animation as a whole by way of this merging. One way to put this application of information

12

Book 1.indb 12 22/09/2016 10:15

 to real-world animation into the book was to add a chapter at the end which would just cover a

Chapter 1 
bunch of examples together. I felt that by forcing everything to the end, it would make the steady
learning of the program and principles in each chapter feel longer because there’s no real view of
what’s at the end of the tunnel. By putting these examples within each chapter, we’re able to see
the principles used in conjunction with others (that might not have been covered yet) as well as

TIMING
a peek into the methods it takes to make them happen without getting overwhelmed. Books are
wonderful resources of learning specifically because you can flip through them at will, and we’re
taking advantage of that here.

So if all of this is new information to you, check out what you’ll be coming back to after Chapter 10
for inspiration. If you’re familiar with Animate CC, let’s move on to some real-world examples of the
principles and the program at work.

Principles Used
Solid Drawing: As the pupil moves around the eye,
keep in mind that the eyeball is a sphere, not a flat
circle. The pupil’s appearance should change in size
and dimension (getting thinner as it turns away from
the viewer) when it moves around. Likewise, if making
the face turn left or right, the same principle applies.

Slow In and Slow Out: The eyes move very quickly

which assures the subject can quickly focus on what
is being watched. Eyes can move slowly if they’re
unfocused or if they’re focused on something that is
moving (which means that they are tracking a slow-
moving object). Otherwise, they’re quick darts. Take
your finger and put it on your eyelid (while open) and
look around the room; you’ll feel your eye twitching
instead of the slow and steady scan you think and
feel like you’re doing when you look around a room.
You will choose whether to apply this principle to
the eye darts, but head turns will have both slow Image 1.6
in (at the start) and slow out (at the end) to achieve
smooth, organic movement.

Timing: Use this chapter’s principle to determine the acting needs of the character by considering
the story point.

Setting Up
Open the file titled “ch1-real_world-looking.fla” provided on the companion website. In it you will
see a character looking at you and a timeline which is extended out so that it covers 7 seconds. Right

13

Book 1.indb 13 22/09/2016 10:15

 now, if you test the movie, he blinks once … and that’s it. The idea of this scene is to have him looking
around and blinking from time to time. The story point is that he’s bored, so the timing you choose
for the blinks and the eyes looking around will be dictated by that.

The specifics of the setup are as follows. The blink animation has already been done in the “character-
head-eye-eyelid” so that anytime you want it to play, just put a keyframe on both eyelids’ layers at
the frame where you’d like it to start, with the eyelid symbols selected choose “Play Once” from the
Looping section in the Properties panel and set it to start from frame 1. The pupils are symbols, so
they can be moved around using classic motion tweens. They are also kept “within” the eyeball area
by way of a mask layer.

We’ll step through an example of a couple eye movements to show how this setup works, but
basically you can mask the eye movement with a blink or dart them around with short, quick bursts.
Usually, in real life, when eyes move a long distance (like looking at the right of a room and then over
to the left), the eye movement is made with a blink over it. Smaller eye movements (like reading a
newspaper) are just short and quick eye darts. Eyes almost never move in slow, controlled motions
unless they’re following something they’re focused on (such as when the optometrist moves his finger
in front of your face and asks you to follow it with your eyes). OK, let’s look at those eye movements!

“Blink Move”
1. Double-click to enter the “character-head” so that you can see its timeline. There is a layer for
each feature (much in the same way as we did/will do in the exercises in Chapter 10 on Solid
Drawing). Specifically, notice that there’s a unique symbol for each eye.

2. Double-click to enter the character’s right eye (meaning, the one left of the other on screen) so
that you’re in “character-head-eye_r.” Notice that there are only two layers: eyelid and eye.

3. Double-click to enter the symbol on the eyelid layer which you’ll see is called “character-
head-eye-eyelid_house.” This name helps describe that it’s just a housing for an instance of
the eyelid symbol (“character-head-eye-eyelid”) which has a single blink in it. When we want
our character to do a standard blink, we can just tell the symbol to play that nested animation
instead of creating the same simple
animation over and over.

4. Let’s have the eye move around the

2 second mark. We’re going to facilitate
this movement with a blink. Still inside
the “character-head-eye-eyelid_house”
symbol, insert a keyframe (F6) at frame 50.
Image BM1.4

5. Click the symbol on the timeline and in the

tweening section of the Properties panel set
the “Play Once” frame number to 1. If you go Image BM1.4

14

Book 1.indb 14 22/09/2016 10:15

 back to the main timeline (click on “Scene 1” above the stage) and hit Enter on your keyboard to

Chapter 1 
quick-test the movie, you’ll see that both eyelids blink. The reason both blink is because there’s
one eyelid housing symbol, the instance is just flipped horizontally in the character’s left eye
to be a mirror image. So when you edit
the eyelid instance, it changes the symbol.

TIMING
Because the other eye’s eyelid is another
instance of the same housing symbol (but
flipped), that same change appears in the
instance for the other eye. Image BM1.5
Image BM1.5
6. We need to move the eye now. Note the
frame number where the eyelids are fully
closed (frame 53) and double-click the necessary features to re-enter “character-head-eye_r.”
From there, double-click to enter the eye symbol so that you’re in “character-head-eye-
eyeball&pupil.” You can tell (since there is no direction referenced with a “r” or “l”) that this
is a master symbol which will reproduce to each eye. The difference this time is that it’s not
flipped, so when you move the pupil within
this symbol to the left, the other eye’s pupil
will also move left (instead of right, which
is what would happen if it were a mirror
image).

7. There are three layers: mask, pupil, and

eyeball. Since the “mask” and “pupil” layers
are locked the mask is “activated” on stage
so that you can see what the outcome will
be on export. Unlock the “pupil” layer, and
you’ll see the mask shape show up. To move
the pupil around unobstructed, either hide
the mask layer or choose outline mode (both
options are boxes to be checked next to the
layer name). Which way you choose is a
matter of preference. For simple setups like
this one, I usually choose the outline mode
so that I can see where the edge of the eye Image BM1.7a Image BM1.7b
is. Image BM1.7a and BM1.7b

8. Insert a keyframe (F6) on the “pupil” layer at the frame noted in step 6 and move the pupil to
the character’s right. (Note: Since you double-clicked to enter the symbols, you can see the rest of
the face and how it will look on stage. The obscured view in the background currently shows the
scene at frame 1 (most likely) on the main timeline, but you’re further down this symbol’s internal
timeline. It will look like the pupils don’t match, but don’t worry. You will see that they will match
when we get back to the main timeline and everything shows up synched.) Image BM1.8

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Book 1.indb 15 22/09/2016 10:15

 Image BM1.8

9. Test the movie with Cmd/Ctrl+Enter to see the result which is the character blinking once and
then again 2 seconds later, resulting in his eyes now looking to his right.

This example demonstrates the idea of working with character packs. They can be more or less
complicated and you will see many various ones if you work with others, and/or will come up with
your own the more you animate within Animate CC. The only animation, per se, was the blink (which
was provided for you, but in the real world you would have created it for the scene) which was
repeated. By way of the setup using multiple instances of the same symbol, changing something in
one symbol changed it on the opposite side as well so that the amount of steps required was kept to
a minimum. This process is overkill for just one eye movement, but over the course of 7 seconds for
this scene and maybe many more for an entire animated short, this setup saves a lot of time. Now
that we’ve hidden the pupil movement with a blink, let’s do a couple eye darts without one.

“Eye Dart”
1. In the “character-head-eye-eyeball&pupil”
symbol, using the principle of Timing, pick a
good frame for our character to look down
after he had looked to his right. Remember,
he’s bored. About 1.5 seconds after the
move to the right would probably be good,
so insert a keyframe (F6) at frame 90 on the
“pupil” layer and move the pupil symbol
Image ED1.1
down a bit. Image ED1.1

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 2. Being aware of the principle of Solid

Chapter 1 
Drawing, rotate the eye counter-clockwise
a little, using the Free Transform Tool (Q),
to give the effect that the eyeball is a sphere
with real volume (just moving the pupil

TIMING
straight down would make the eyeball feel
flat). Image ED1.2 Image ED1.2

3. Since this eye movement isn’t hidden by

a blink, we must tween it. It will be a quick
movement since that’s what eyes do (so
they can maintain focus). You’ll want to
put a keyframe (F6) two frames before the Image ED1.3
frame you were working on to create a starting point for your tween. You should now have
keyframe at frame 88 which is looking to the character’s right (not down). Image ED1.3

4. Right-click the keyframe created in step 3, and create a classic tween. There are two ways
you can go about the easing. Some animators choose to have no easing (a setting of 0) to
emphasize the mechanism of eyes in the way they dart around. Others choose to have a
little bit of a settling into the final position,
meaning that it will have a slow out applied
to the dart (a setting of 100). I go with the
latter, because in my opinion it makes the
eye movements feel more organic—but
Image ED1.4a
it’s purely the prerogative of the animator.
Image ED1.4a and ED1.4b

5. The eye dart is so called because it’s a quick,

temporary movement—so we’re not going to
let it sit here too long. Still on the frame from
Image ED1.4b
step 3, copy (Cmd/Ctrl+C) the pupil symbol;
we’re going to move the eye back to this
position.

6. Scroll ahead a few frames after the

last existing keyframe and Insert Blank
Keyframe (F7) around frame 98. Image ED1.6 Image ED1.6
7. Paste-in-place (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+V) on the
keyframe created in step 6 to put the pupil
symbol in the exact place he looked to in the
previous blink move (looking to his right).

8. Follow the method outlined in steps 3–4 to

tween the eye back up. Image ED1.8 Image ED1.8

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Book 1.indb 17 22/09/2016 10:15

 9. Test the movie with Cmd/Ctrl+Enter to see the result which is the character blinking once,
2 seconds later looking with a blink to his right, and then glancing (darting) down and up again
about a second later.

“Continuing With Timing”

From here, the timing exercise is about using the two methods of moving eyes to create a 7-
second scene of our character looking around the stage. It would be good to have him look back at
the starting point again, which you can do by copying
that first keyframe and pasting it at the end and moving
the eye using either a tween or a blink. The great thing
about a scene like this in Animate CC is that you can alter
the tween and movement timings by simply dragging
around frames on the timeline once everything’s done.
Just keep hitting Enter when on the timeline to “quick-
test” the movie and see it play out on stage. Use that to
adjust the timing as you see fit. It’s trial and error but
very quick!

Now let’s say you wanted to have some more movement

in the scene. Maybe your character looks far to his right,
and it just looks odd that his head doesn’t move at all.
Since the features of the face are split up into various
symbols, it’s very easy to move them around the head
to get the feeling of small movements like a five-degree
Image 1.7  Front.
head turn. The method for turning the head (which you
can see at work in the provided Animate CC project file)
is fairly simple:

• NOTE … all the features that need to be repositioned

on the face and where you want the head to be in
that new arrangement and create keyframes for
each feature (on their layers) at that frame.

• MOVE … the features into position using the

principle of Solid Drawing to help maintain the
sense of volume. For instance, when the head
turns to the right in real life, the right eye will
get farther away from the viewer since the right
part of the face is turning away—so you would
want to use the Free Transform Tool (Q), to shrink
the left eye as well as make it less wide since the
perspective is changing.
Image 1.8  Turned.

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 Chapter 1 
TIMING
Image 1.9  Sample Progression: NOTE to MOVE to TWEEN.

• TWEEN … create keyframes before the ones just made, then set a classic motion tween in
between the two new keyframe sets and apply a slow in/out “S” curve in the Easing Editor
(which, if you’re not familiar with this yet, will be covered in the next chapter).

• RETURN … to get the head back to the original position, just copy/paste the frames of the
starting positions for each of the features and tween them back.

This use of Timing is acting. Knowing when to move and when not to is a refined skill that is usually
best learned through experience and observation. Try playing around with different variations and
combinations of eye and head movements, not only to see what effects they have on the acting, but
also to see how easy it is to make these movements and alter them within Animate CC.

In a real-world scenario, having a scene like this where a character is looking around, bored, for
7 seconds is one of those situations where you really have the opportunity to try out variations in
near real time. The animation in this example isn’t strictly pose to pose nor straight ahead (which
are methods in the principle covered in Chapter 7); it is a kind of Tradigital performance through
quick trial and error. There is forethought, but it’s not necessarily strictly adhered to. Think of this
more like an actor working out physical acting choices before a performance.

FINAL WORDS
Timing
What it all comes down to in the end is that more frames between two positions means the movement
will be slow/smooth and fewer frames means it’ll be fast/hard. Take, for example, a train. You know
it’s going to be moving from one side of the screen (starting position keyframe) to the other (ending
position keyframe). If you want it to slowly traverse the landscape, there will be more frames in
between the two keyframes which will make the action take longer to elapse. If you want this to be

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Book 1.indb 19 22/09/2016 10:15

 a bullet train that rocks the socks off the land speed record, you’ll use fewer frames between the two
keyframes and the action will happen much faster.

There are completed *.fla files provided on the companion website that you are encouraged to look
through and dissect at will to support the learning of the principles and the program. If you are new

Image 1.10

Image 1.11  The more space between two keyframes in a tween, the slower something will move.
Notice the end frame times for “train_slow” (top) and “train_fast” (bottom). Examples taken from
“ch1-examples-trains.fla” on the companion website.

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 to either the 12 Principles or Animate CC (or both), I suggest that you continue ahead onto the next

Chapter 1 
chapter. If you’re looking for a little inspiration, though, feel free to take a peek at the end of the book
or the more advanced project files any time you like. It’s important to have an inspiring goal to work
toward. As long as the actual learning of these basics aren’t skipped, a little peeking around can’t hurt.

TIMING
In the next chapter (as with all the rest) we will be building on this principle and newly found
knowledge of the program when we talk about Slow In and Slow Out.

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 Image 2.0  The principle of Slow In and Slow Out is one of spacing.
As a leaf falls and tumbles it moves faster in some parts than others.
Example taken from “ch2-examples-leaf.fla” on the companion website.

Book 1.indb 22 22/09/2016 10:15

 Chapter 2 

Chapter 2
SLOW IN AND

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

SLOW OUT

INTRODUCING
Slow In and Slow Out
One of the things that unites all
creatures on Earth is the effect this planet’s gravity has on
us. It’s perceivably constant, both in rate and intensity. An
old classroom experiment that you (should) all do in Physics
lab shows this wonderfully: take a bowling ball and a golf
ball, hold them at the same height from the ground, let them
go and watch them hit the ground at the same time. As long
as the item isn’t light enough to be affected by air resistance,
any two objects will fall at the same speed. This experiment
demonstrates the constant rate of acceleration due to gravity
and we’ll be using that to apply our next principle: Slow In
and Slow Out.

“A Slow In is when something is speeding up,

and a Slow Out is something slowing down.”
A Slow In is when something is speeding up, and a Slow
Out is something slowing down. This process is also
called “cushioning” or “easing.” This property isn’t just
for acceleration due to gravity however; it’s any type of
acceleration. Two other physics terms you may be familiar
with are “momentum” and “inertia.” When a car takes off from
a starting line, it starts off fairly slowly while it overcomes
inertia and gets faster and faster. When it slams on its brakes,
that car will start screeching its tires and slow down more and

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Book 1.indb 23 22/09/2016 10:15

 more as it tries to overcome its momentum until it ultimately stops. The beginning was an example
of Slow In, and the end was Slow Out. This phenomenon gets extended to many different movements
but they can exist without each other. For instance, a punch will slow in until a very abrupt stop with
no slow out, while a kicked soccer ball (football for my non-USA readers) is launched from the start
with no slow in but will slow out as it comes to a stop on its own. Pretty much every organic motion
has either Slow In or Slow Out, if not both.

As you work through this next bouncing ball exercise, try to think about all the things in life you
can notice that exhibit this trait. Keep in mind that many movements are sandwiched by these two.
Watch your own arm while it swings when you walk. It will slow in as it’s moving forward, and when
it gets there it’ll slow out to a stop … unless you’re a robot—in which case, I surrender.

BOUNCING BALL Slow In and Slow Out

Setting Up
If you have already worked through the previous
chapter (“Timing”), you will be adding to that
Animate CC file (*.fla). We named it “bouncing
ball 1 – timing.” What we’ll be doing this time is
saving a copy of this animation with a different
name so that we can continue working with it
without altering what we’ve already done. As
you can imagine, saving progressive files like
this is incredibly useful! When working on a
certain scene, you may have done some great Image 2.1 Using File > Save As periodically with
work animating one character and don’t want to increasing suffix numbers (as I did here in my
lose that when you move onto animating another own animated short) keeps a progression of
character in case the power company decides work without the fear of overwriting.
to play musical chairs with your electricity.
By periodically using Save As, you create a
protected trail of work to act as a backup so that you never lose too much progress on your latest
masterpiece.

With your “bouncing ball 1 – timing” file open, go to File > Save As and type in the next obvious title
“bouncing ball 2 – slow in out.” In this file, we will add to what was previously done and explore
this new principle as well as get into some of the more automated parts of Animate’s toolset. If you
actually have a bouncy ball in real life that you can play with as we go through this chapter that
would be very helpful. It’s not completely necessary, but live reference is always beneficial. Also,
they are nothing if not fun, so you should have one anyway.

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 The Animate Difference: Onion Skin

Chapter 2
for the past and green tinted images for the
future frames (right). It’s the same for outline
mode with the addition that this time the

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

present frame is represented with a red outline
(top). In all cases of the Adobe Flash/Animate
program, frames which are farthest from the
presently selected frame are more transparent.
Image AD2 To help you no matter which version of the
program you have, throughout this book the
In every version of Flash, the onion skin view markers which are clearly labeled with blue
was made of “ghosted” images. There wasn’t and green colors in Animate CC will be referred
any distinguishing feature of the onion skinned to by their position left or right relative to the
frames in the past or future of the selected currently selected frame since they aren’t color
frame as they were all just varying levels of coded in Flash versions. Image AD2 shows a
transparency (left). With the Animate CC update, tween with onion skin view from the center of
onion skinning now shows blue tinted images the tween span.

PART I
“Onion Skin Mode”
1. Move the playhead so that it’s on the
“contact” (middle) keyframe. If you’re
following along exactly, that should be
frame 13. Image BB2.1
Image BB2.1
2. The first thing we should do is look at our
spacing as it is right now. To do that, first
we have to locate and toggle the “Onion
Skin” option. Directly under the timeline
you’ll see some icons (play/pause buttons,
loop arrow, etc.). Look for the set of three
icons with overlapping squares. One set has
both squares dark, another with both filled
in white—we’re focusing on the set with Image BB2.2
one white square and one dark. Hover your cursor over it and it will read “Onion Skin.” Click
that icon. Image BB2.2

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Book 1.indb 25 22/09/2016 10:15

 3. Two things should’ve happened: you
now see a few green and blue tinted
semitransparent images of the ball on
the stage and the timeline now has two
Image BB2.4
markers, which look like brackets, on either
side of the current frame position. The
blue bracket is to the left of the current frame and represents the past
frames (and blue tinted images) while the green bracket represents the
future frames (and green tinted images). You have turned on “onion
skin mode.” We can now see the spacing of the ball’s movement within
the span of the brackets on the timeline.

4. We want to look at the timing for the first half of the bounce (the fall).
Grab the left bracket on the timeline and drag it all the way back to the
beginning (frame 1). Image BB2.4

5. Grab the right bracket and drag it as far to the left as you can. It won’t
pass the frame you’re on so it should stop at frame 13. Right now you
should see a trail of blue-tinted, semitransparent bouncy balls getting
more and more opaque as it gets closer to the bottom. It looks a little
like a slinky (another toy you should own). Image BB2.5

Interlude
Notice that all the images are spaced evenly. That means that this movement
is going to be very robotic, cold, and uninteresting. To make the animation
more interesting we’ll need to add some texture to this movement. We’ll
do that by way of what was mentioned earlier: acceleration due to gravity. Image BB2.5

When dropping a ball from a height, does it fall fast or slow to start? By the time it hits the ground,
will it be moving faster or slower than when it was first dropped? Hopefully you answered slow and
then faster, respectively. Asking yourself these questions is a simple way of determining whether
it’s going to “slow in” or “slow out.” Simply, these two concepts are broken down like this:

SLOW IN, starts off slow and gets fast.

SLOW OUT, starts off fast and gets slow.

This concept in practice within Animate CC is a setting called Easing. You will see how to manipulate
this setting in Part II of this chapter’s bouncing ball exercise. For now just know that, within Animate
CC, “ease in” corresponds to “slow in” and is represented with negative numbers. “Ease out” is “slow
out” and is represented with positive numbers.

The second half of this exercise will actually apply this principle to the bouncing ball. As you are
learning how to adjust the Easing setting and apply varying degrees of slow in and slow out, I encourage

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 you to play around with the amount of easing and adjusting the span of the onion skin markers to see
how things change. There’s really no better way to learn something than messing around with it. Just

Chapter 2
remember to Cmd/Ctrl+Z (undo) to get back to whatever you were doing before you went off-road!

“In Animate CC, “ease in” corresponds to “slow in” and is represented
with negative numbers. “Ease out” is “slow out”

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

and is represented with positive numbers.”

PART II
“Slow In/Out = Ease In/Out”
6. Put the playhead back to frame 1 (that’s
your first keyframe). The ball should be in
its highest position, and it’s called the “up”
key (short for keyframe). Image BB2.6
Image BB2.6
7. Currently, you should see no extra onion
skinned images of the ball because we had set the bracket to
not show any frames past the one we’re on (and there’s nothing
before it). Let’s change that by dragging the bracket on the right
of the frame to frame 13 (meaning just to the right of our middle
keyframe). You should now see something similar to what you
saw back at step 5, except this time the semitransparent slinky of
bouncing ball images is tinted green and the currently selected
frame shows the ball at the top. Image BB2.7

8. Click on the keyframe at frame 1 and then locate the “Tweening”

section of the Properties panel. If you can’t find it, you can open
the Properties panel with the hotkey with Cmd/Ctrl+F3.

9. Next to the text saying “Ease” is a number (currently at 0). Click

and drag the number to the left until it says –100. Notice what
happened to the arrangement of bouncy ball images. They should
now be closer together toward the top and farther apart at the
bottom. This change in spacing is because it’s not moving very
far from itself per frame at the top, but by the time it gets to the
“contact” position it’s moving more distance per frame. That is to
say, this spacing represents what it looks like when something’s
moving slowly at the top and wicked fast at the bottom.
Image BB2.9a and BB2.9b
Image BB2.7

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 10. Test the movie right now (remember: Cmd/
Ctrl+Enter). You should see it looking quite
good in the beginning by accelerating into
the fall, but then looking very stiff on the
bounce up. This is because we haven’t
changed the timing for the second half yet.
Let’s do that next.

11. Click on the middle keyframe again like

you did in step 1 (this is frame 13, if
you’re following along exactly). Right
now you should see a whole mess on the
stage because the onion skin brackets Image BB2.9a
are spanning the entire length of the
animation, so it’s showing every frame on
the same stage … all 25 of them. Image BB2.9b
12. Go back to the “Tweening” area of the
Properties panel. This time, drag the
number all the way to the right until
it reads 100. You’ll notice that images
showing the ball bounce look the same
way they did in step 9 except they’re a
little darker now. This is because the
spacing of the ball on the way down is
now the same as on the way up and the
ghosted frames are overlapping each
other. Image BB2.12a and BB2.12b

13. Export a *.swf to see the current movie

(Cmd/Ctrl++Enter). Image BB2.12a

Congratulations! Between the previous chapter

and this one you have already created a pretty good-looking bouncing ball using
Animate CC. And this time the ball is bouncing more in tune with physics. It’s Image BB2.12b
accelerating on the way down (gravity), and then when it hits the ground it
bounces back up only to slow down until it can’t travel any higher (also because
of gravity). Hopefully you have that bouncy ball I mentioned in the introduction to this chapter. If
you were to drop it you would see what happens in that real motion is exactly what we’ve simulated
in our bouncing ball animation.

However, Slow In and Slow Out is not just about gravity. It’s simply that acceleration due to gravity
is the easiest way to start understanding the principle in action. Just look at it. The bouncing ball is
so much more interesting to watch now. Before it was even, cold, robotic, and just plain boring. Now

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 Chapter 2
SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT
Images 2.2a and b  Since there’s less friction on a wooden floor surface (left), a toy train’s rolling
speed will decrease at a slower rate than on the higher friction carpet (right). Examples taken from
“ch2-examples-toy_trains.fla” on the companion website.

the speed varies and the bounce is actually felt rather than just seen. This type of change is referred
to as “texture.” We just added texture to the movement.

One of the things you may be asking yourself now is “what happens if I chose something other
than one of the 100s?” … that’s a good question to ask. Take, for example, the beginning of the
movement (the fall) where we set our tween to –100; you saw the difference in speed in the beginning
versus the end when that was done. So, the closer that number is to zero, the less the difference is.
If you were to set it right now to –50, the start of the fall would already be faster and the difference
between the beginning and end velocities wouldn’t be as large. The effect of varying levels of easing
is important to know because not everything needs a huge acceleration. An example would be
something like a child’s rolling toy on a carpet being kicked. It will come to a stop so much faster
and with less “easing” in the transition from moving to not moving than if it were on a hardwood
floor because of the friction. In that case, the Easing setting of the slow out would be something
like 30 or 50.

CLOSER LOOK 
A Basketball Bounce
In the closer look section of the last chapter, we changed the colors and line thickness of our ball. I
chose different shades of orange. And now that we’ve added Slow In and Slow Out, it looks a little like
a basketball, so let’s run with that idea. If you know anything about the sport, dribbling is a main part
of the game. Basically, it’s just bouncing the ball by putting your hand on the top, quickly pushing it
to the floor, and then stopping it from bouncing too high when it comes back up. For us animators,
this action means that the ball’s change in speed is much more than it would be if the basketball
were just allowed to fall on its own … and that drastic changes means having a greater slow in than
we can get with –100 to 100 scale in the Properties panel. We need a more custom approach—enter
the “Custom Easing” feature.

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 “Custom Easing”
1. Before we do anything let’s select File > Save As (or the hotkey sequence Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+S) to
duplicate the file so as not to screw up our beautiful bouncing ball with our shenanigans. Just
tack on a simple “– closer look” to the name of the file and that should be fine. Moving on …

2. Click on the keyframe on the first frame of the timeline, and

then locate the “Tweening” section of the Properties panel
again.

3. Currently, the “Ease” is set at –100 (in). To the right of that,

you will see a pencil. Click that icon to bring up a panel called
“Custom Ease In / Ease Out.” Image CL2.3 Image CL2.3
4. Let’s get acquainted with the graph we’re looking at in this step. The % value on the left (the
y-axis) is the amount of distance traveled in the selected movement; in this case 0% is the ball
at the top, 100% is the ball at the bottom. The numbers at the bottom of the graph (x-axis) are
labeled “Frames” for the obvious reason that these
are the frame numbers corresponding to this
tween’s span on the timeline. Notice the x-axis spans
from 1 to 13 (though is currently only showing even
numbers) because that’s the length of the first tween
(from the “up” position falling to “contact” with the
ground).

5. The graph right now shows a curve that sags

which means this ball will be speeding up. In order
to make the ball accelerate faster to the ground
(like it’s being pushed) we need to make that line
sag even more. Click the black dot on the left end of Image CL2.5
the line, another line will pop up with a white
dot at the end of it. This handle edits the curve.
Image CL2.5

6. Click and drag the white dot further to the

right (around the halfway point, where
frame 7 would be). Already you can see the
line graph with a more drastic bowing to it.
Image CL2.6

7. Click the black dot at the rightmost end of the

line to bring up the Curve Editor (line with
the white dot on the end). Click and drag this
white dot all the way to the right until it’s
pointing straight down. Image CL2.7 Image CL2.6

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 8. There’s a play button in the bottom right
of the “Custom Ease In /Ease Out” popup.

Chapter 2
Pressing that will play the tween that
we’re on all the way to the end of the
movie. You will see the ball accelerate very
quickly to the ground but then bounce

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

back up as before. We need to change the
second tween now.

9. If you haven’t done so already, click OK

in the popup to save and exit the Custom
Easing panel. Now click on our middle
keyframe to select the second tween and
Image CL2.7
then reopen the Custom Easing panel
popup (as you did in step 2). Notice that
this curve is bowed up like you’re looking
at part of a hill. This curve, of course,
means that the ball will be traveling faster
in the beginning than it is in the end (slow
out) … but not fast enough for us.

10. Click the black dot on the left of the line

graph to open the Curve Editor. We are
basically just reversing what we did to the
tween before. Click and drag the white dot
all the way to the left until it’s pointing
straight up. Image CL2.10

11. Click the black dot and then click and drag Image CL2.10
the white dot on the rightmost point of the
graph to the left until you reach frame 19.
This new graph is exactly like the last one
except turned upside-down. You may stand
on your head to verify. When you’re done,
click OK to save and exit out of the Custom
Easing panel and test your new movie
(Cmd/Ctrl+Enter). Image CL2.11

Do you see how much harder the ball is hitting

the ground now? It’s clear that there’s a force
on it, other than gravity, pushing it down. In our
basketball scenario, that would be the player’s
hand (not shown). All we did was change a little
graph. We didn’t have to redraw anything or Image CL2.11

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Book 1.indb 31 22/09/2016 10:15

 reposition our keyframes. This level of control is what we want to
have in a program in order to get the results we’re after in our use
of the 12 Principles of Animation; in this case, Slow In and Slow Out.
But as I’ve said numerous times in this book so far, the whole point
is to be able to express multiple principles at the same time, so let’s
look at how Timing can be brought back in.

Beginning To Act
Currently, for all the animation we’ve actually done, this ball is pretty
inanimate. There’s no story it’s telling with its movement other than
“I fell and bounced back up again.” Pretty boring, truth be told. What
if the ball was a little scared about hitting the floor? What if this was
the first time our little basketball had ever seen a floor and didn’t
know if it was going to eat him alive? It would just want to touch the
floor ever so slightly and then retreat back to the safety of inexplicably
floating in the air (this is animation after all; we can do anything we
want). How might we do that?

Well, we know that it would need to start going to the floor slowly
and then slow down again just as it’s picking up speed because our
little basketball wants to barely touch the scary floor ever so slightly.
This motion will require a slow in and a slow out before even getting
to the bottom of the screen. Then it will dart away as fast as possible Image 2.3  Acrophobic
back to its starting position; that action is very clearly a slow out but a basketball.
very heavy one. You might be saying, “We can’t slow in and out in the
same tween … that’s madness! Surely we must add another keyframe in
there.” Nay, intrepid but weary reader, this feat can be accomplished
with a few simple clicks!

“More Custom Easing”

12. Click the first keyframe to select our first
tween and open the Custom Easing panel.

13. This span is already a slow in, but we need it

to slow out as well. In order to do that, we’ll
take this ski-jump looking line and turn it into
a wave. Click the black dot on the right to
bring up the Curve Editor. Image CL2.13

14. Click and drag this white dot and bring it all
the way to the top-center of the graph (making
Image CL2.13

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Book 1.indb 32 22/09/2016 10:15

 its line go from pointing down to pointing left
and the graph will get a nice “S” curve in it).

Chapter 2
This curve is what it looks like to have a slow
in and out in a single tween. Image CL2.14

15. Use the play button in the bottom left of the

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

Custom Ease panel to test the outcome. It looks
good, but the rebound isn’t as drastic yet … it
still looks a little stiff. I bet you know where
I’m going with this.

16. If you haven’t already, click OK in the Custom

Easing panel to apply the easing and close the
panel. Click anywhere in the in span of the Image CL2.14
second tween and open the Custom Easing
panel again.

17. To make the slow out already present to be

that much more intense, use the Curve Editor
of the leftmost point on the graph (the black
dot) to increase the arch by dragging the white
dot all the way to the top. Image CL2.17

Now you can actually feel some emotion out of this

bouncing ball. But it still feels a little dry. So far we
have brought Timing into this equation by editing our
motion graph (that’s the thing in the Custom Easing
panel) for our classic tween to slow in approaching
the halfway point at the 7th frame and then slow
Image CL2.17
out from there to the final position at the 13th frame
without adding another keyframe. However that first movement still feels a little fast and the second
movement feels slow. Just as we did in the previous chapter’s closer look, let’s change the timing of
the first two keyframes to better reflect the bouncing ball’s timidity.

“Keyframe Adjustment”
18. Click and drag the middle keyframe to the right by 5 frames. Image CL2.18

“That’s it?!” Yes. If you test the movie, as I figure you already have, you’ll now very clearly see a
ball that approaches the floor cautiously before
darting back up to its beginning position, having
determined that the ground is not cool … not cool!

I know the results might seem a bit tame right

now, but we’re just at the beginning. This Image CL2.18

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 is just scratching the surface of what’s to come. Changing the timing of a movement will almost
always  change its meaning. Changing the amount of slow in or slow out in a movement will
almost always change the intensity of that meaning. In traditional animation, changing the timing of
the keys after inbetweens were already done meant redrawing the whole sequence. In Animate CC,
as you just saw, the program adjusts the spacing within a tween for you on-the-fly when you change
the timing of the keyframes. Animating tradigitally within Animate CC means that we have more tools
and opportunity at our disposal now to get our motion right. Conveying meaning through motion is
the essence of acting as an animator. What you do matters mostly to the brain but how you do it may
matter more emotionally.

“Conveying meaning through motion

is the essence of acting as an animator.”

Using Slow In and Slow Out With

“Digital Timing Charts”
There was a moment in the closer look exercise in this chapter that we applied a slow in and slow out
to the exact same tween. The Custom Ease graph that allowed us to do that is a fantastic tool in Animate
CC, and it has its roots (like so many other features) in a classical animation tool. Before we get into
that, let’s cover a couple of necessary words in traditional animation terminology first. You already
know the term keyframe (key, for short). They’re basically the important drawings … ones that define
what the action is in broad terms. The inbetweens are the drawings which fill in the spaces between
the keyframes. This is where “tween” gets its name, because when an instance of a symbol is moved
from one keyframe to another via this feature, Animate CC is the one “drawing” all of the inbetweens.

Now we can talk about Timing Charts. In traditional animation, they are a simple method of showing
how the lead animator wants the timing and slow in/out of a span to be handled. You’ll usually see
them in the top-right corner of key drawings; they look like little rulers. It starts with the drawing
of what looks like a capital “I.” Usually, the top line is the start keyframe and the bottom is the end
(although sometimes it’s the reverse); both of which are labeled with their frame numbers. The vertical
line between them represents the span of the motion. The basic way the chart works is that the lead
animator will place more horizontal lines on the span to represent the inbetweens, and the way they
are spaced shows the proportional progression the assistant animator needs to “move” the drawing.
Remember what the bouncing ball looked like when you turned on the onion skin mode for the first
span of the bounce—the slinky? The balls were close together at the top and far apart at the bottom.
That’s what the Timing Chart for that span of the motion would look like, except with vertical and
numbered horizontal lines.

You may have noticed that the description of Timing Charts seemed familiar in function to the Custom
Ease graph, and there’s good reason for that. The Custom Ease graph is the Animate CC equivalent to
traditional animation’s Timing Chart. Think of it as its digital version. They both show the start and end

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 frame numbers in the span (x-axis in the Custom
Ease graph). They both use position to represent

Chapter 2
the percentage of the entire movement (y-axis in
the Custom Ease graph) where an object should be
by that corresponding frame number. And finally,
they are both simple graphical representations

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

of movement—specifically using the principles
of Timing and Slow In/Out. While the Timing
Chart is laid out like a ruler, the Custom Ease is a Image 2.4
line graph. They are both quite simple and very
powerful when you know how to read and use them.

“The Custom Ease graph is the Animate CC equivalent

to traditional animation’s Timing Chart.”
There is a lot you can do by simply changing the easing between two positions; just look at how much
changed when we did the small alterations for the bouncing ball in this chapter. Slow In/Out and
Timing work so intimately with one another. Think of a character sitting in a chair, minding his own
business. Someone walks by and our character turns his head. Simply by determining how long it
takes for that to happen and with what level of easing (the spacing of the drawings), I can already tell
the character’s emotional state. Think about it; if it happens in a short period of time with minimal
slow in or out applied to the movement, how might that be different than a head turn taking longer
with very smooth easing?

Timing and Slow In/Out inform each other. While Timing will help you determine the amount of
frames between two key drawings, the amount of Slow In/Out will determine how you get there.
These two principles already help you layout so much of the action in front of you. Look what we’ve
accomplished with the bouncing ball in only these two chapters. Manipulation of the Custom Ease
graph is as paramount to applying these principles within Animate CC as the Timing Chart is to
traditional animation. If you’re going to use tweens, knowledge of the Custom Ease is crucial.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
“Heavy Lifting”

Principles Used
Staging: All of the action must be clearly presented so that the audience can see what is going on. Use
negative area (a woman who has a hand on her hip would have negative area in the space enclosed
between her arm and her body) and obvious poses/postures to show what is going on even if there was
no detail in the form (as in, if you turned it into a silhouette, would it be clear what was happening?).

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 Timing: When something happens is always
important, but with pantomime it’s crucial. If the
character picks up an object that’s supposed to
be heavy too quickly, it won’t feel like that object
is actually heavy. There needs to be a struggle.

Solid Drawing: In the crash course in Chapter

10, we cover balance which also mentions the
center of mass. As a character picks up a heavy
object, the center of mass changes because for
all intents and purposes, that character and the
object are now acting as one.

Pose to Pose/Straight Ahead: Using the Pose

to Pose method to create the most important
story sketches when doing the rough animation
and Straight Ahead for the moments which feel
spontaneous (like how he positions himself under
the heavy object) is a good method when applying
this principle in shots like the one in this exercise. Image 2.5
Squash and Stretch: Simplified, when our character is lifting a heavy object it will result in a stretch,
and when holding that object it will result in a squash.

Slow In/Out: Use this chapter’s principle to enhance the feeling of weight. Heavy objects will have
“slower” easing (meaning the slow in/out will be slight and gradual) and lighter objects will be “faster”
(which makes their slow in/out harsh, quick and drastic).

Setting Up
Open the project file “ch2-real_world-heavy_lifting.fla” provided on the companion website. You can
probably tell from the title what we’re going to be doing here. Right off the bat, you can see that
the rough animation has been created for you. The keyframes sketched in blue were done using the
Pose to Pose method. Then between those sketches are the breakdowns in red. Finally, the rough
animation was further broken down in some spots using straight ahead action sketched in green, so
some spontaneity could be injected into the scene. Through that rough animation I looked at what
the needs of the cleanup would be. With this information, a character was created, its features split
up into symbols, and those instances were posed over his first main key (our character assessing
the task). From here, we will clean up the rest of the scene.

If there’s one area that Slow In and Slow Out are applied most heavily (pun), it’s in the presentation
of weight. When a character is lifting something heavy, like a boulder, the slow in/out will be much
more drastic than if he’s just lifting a tennis ball. Even the movement of the body in relation to the
heavy object will change based on its weight and configuration. The character is probably not as

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 heavy as the boulder, so as he’s able to lift it up
using strength and leverage, he’s going to need

Chapter 2
to reposition his body and get under it in order
to actually hold it in the air.

In the “looking around” example in the previous

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

chapter, the principles of Solid Drawing, Slow
In/Out, and of course Timing, showed up. This
time, it’s the same collection of principles but
with the  addition of Staging, Straight Ahead
Action, Pose to Pose, and Squash and Stretch.
When our character picks up the boulder, it’s Image 2.6  Positioning for carrying a heavy
like he just grew a really big, extremely heavy weight (left) is treating it as part of the
belly and is trying to deal with this new girth. To character (right).
sell that idea, all of the principles listed earlier
will come into play.

“Cleanup With The Rig”

1. Visually analyze the needs of the animation and the current “rig.” Make mental notes of any
time a feature changes perspective (like a hand opening or closing). These special cases will
need to be animated frame by frame: we’ll call them “problems.” Be aware, also, of the times
when these complicated features are not changing and could easily be tweened into position.
Anytime a feature stays relatively the same
in makeup and perspective between frames
(like most of the arm and leg segments and
the feet), these can be tweened: we’ll call
them “easies.” Image CR2.1

2. For the keys (blue sketches), insert

keyframes (F6) on the frames that make up
the “easies” for the movement that makes
up the sequence and move the body part
symbol instances into position over the
rough, rotating and squash/stretching as
necessary. Image CR2.2

3. Do the same as in step 2 for the breakdown

frames. Image CR2.3
Image CR2.1
4. If it looks like a feature could be tweened
easily from here, do that. Apply any easing that would be needed to make sure the feature lines
up with the breakdown position at that frame. Image CR2.4

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Book 1.indb 37 22/09/2016 10:15

 Image CR2.2

5. For any one of the “easies” that didn’t line up appropriately with the breakdown position in
the rough, insert a keyframe (F6) at the breakdown frame and move the symbol instance into
position. Adjust the easing for the first and second tweens that have now been created in this
span to apply proper slow in and out. Image CR2.5

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 Chapter 2
SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT
Image CR2.3

Image CR2.4

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 Image CR2.5

6. The “problems” are … problematic. You need to look at what their specific needs are. For
these, we are going to be using symblification (as described in Chapter 8). Where possible,
we can use shape tweens (like the body) for our form changes. Others are going to need to
be cleaned up frame by frame (like the hands). The following steps will focus on the shape
tweening of the body.

7. Right now, the body symbol is set to “Play Once” from frame 1 (and this keyframe is on frame 1,
so the timelines, internal and main, will match) and the symbol’s internal timeline is extended out
to the same number of frames as the main. When a keyframe is created, it will say “Play Once”
from whichever frame number it’s on. So going forward it’s important not to move around these
keyframes after they’re created, or else the timelines will become misaligned. Insert a keyframe
(F6) at the first key (blue) on the “body” layer and move the symbol into position with proper
rotation (but without squash/stretch). The part that will anchor our symbol is the waist, so that’s
what will determine the alignment and rotation. Image CR2.7

8. Double-click to enter the body symbol at the keyframe. The marker should be set to the same
frame as the main timeline (since they’re playing “together”). Insert a keyframe (F6) at that

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 Chapter 2
SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT
Image CR2.7

frame and alter the body shape as necessary to match

the rough sketch. Image CR2.8

9. Repeat step 8 for the rest of the keys (blue).

10. Do what we did in steps 3–5 to apply proper classic

motion tweens to the body symbol instances. When
Image CR2.8
you’re determining if the body symbol is lined up with
the breakdown sketch, it’s good to use the hip as the
reference point.

11. Enter the body symbol by double-clicking at the beginning of

each span, insert a keyframe (F6) there, and create a shape
tween. Use shape hints if necessary (described in Chapter 8)
and make sure to account for proper easing. Image CR2.11

12. Return to the main timeline to verify if the body shapes are
lining up correctly (it doesn’t have to be exact, but it should
follow a similar arc) throughout the rest of the rough frames.
If they aren’t aligned, figure out if it’s the position or rotation
that’s the problem or if it’s the actual shape of the body. If it’s
the shape, you’ll need to enter the symbol and put another
keyframe in the problem span and adjust the shape. Keep
adding keyframes until it fits the rough (or you end up just Image CR2.11

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Book 1.indb 41 22/09/2016 10:15

 frame-by-framing it). Don’t forget
that you’ll need to reapply shape
hints in that case if they were
applied. If the problem seems
to be the position or rotation,
you’ll insert a keyframe on the
main timeline and move/rotate as
necessary. Remember to always be
aware of the easing values as you
hijack a tween (shape or classic
motion).

13. Anything that needs to be cleaned

up frame by frame, you’ll be
doing the same process as steps
7–12, just without shape tweens.
You’ll be entering in each frame Image CR2.13
that needs a new hand shape
drawn or where you want a facial
expression change and creating it
there. Don’t forget to insert blank
keyframes (F7) and use onion
skin mode when in the symbol’s
timeline to keep track of the arcs
and make sure you’re always on
model. Image CR2.13

14. Sometimes the benefits of

symblification’s precision will
not outweigh the amount of time
it would take to replicate the
motion you wanted from the rough
animation. If it becomes apparent
while working through the
animation that there is a movement
that is just too complicated to clean
up using symblification, it would
be wise to abandon it and clean
that span up using frame-by-frame Image CR2.14
animation right on the main stage and go back to symblification after the problem point (just
remember that when you bring the symbol back into the workflow that the “Play Once” setting
has the proper frame number to it). Image CR2.14

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 “Continuing With Slow In/Out”

Chapter 2
The amount of slow in and out really determines
what amount of weight you’re going to show and
what proportional strength the “supporter” (the
guy lifting the boulder in this case) has. You can

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

see how many principles came into play here, but
the one that takes center stage is the slow in or
slow out of the character’s movements. They’re
the descriptors of the moment here. Once the
cleanup is done, you don’t have to stick with
it if you’re still not completely happy. Playing
with the easing values to increase, decrease, or
add nuance to the slow in/out of a motion is the
quickest way to change the feel of a scene apart
from timing. If you try new variations, don’t
forget to Save As with an increasing number
value or with “exploration_1” added at the end
of the file name, for instance, so you don’t lose
your wonderful work. Image 2.7  First Key.

The other thing to note is the use of symblification

and our “rig” to clean up the traditional rough
animation that was created first. If you have
already worked through the book or have an
understanding of Animate CC already, this process
isn’t much of a surprise. It can be summed up thus:

• ANALYZE … the rough animation in terms of

each possible moveable feature (upper arm,
lower arm, hand, etc.) and when you’ll need
to break the form. Mentally separate the
features into “easies” and “problems.”

• “EASIES” … get taken on first, while hiding

the rest. Most stiff features (like the
forearm) can be done at this stage (point 2).

• “PROBLEMS” … are started just the way the

“easies” were, by moving the symbols into
position and tweening them (point 3).

• SYMBLIFY … the animation by entering the

problem symbols and changing their form
Image 2.8  Last Key.

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 Image 2.9  Though not all are easily seen on the timeline and therefore not all are labeled, each step
is in use in this example. Some tweens, some frame by frame, with some both at the same time
(symblification).

from within. The body part is moved around the stage by classic motion tweens but is altered in
form through either shape tweens or frame-by-frame animation from within the symbol itself.

• ABANDON … the precision of this method if the problems of a movement are too great to try to
replicate using symblification and animate it frame by frame on the main stage (point 5).

In the “real-world,” creating an animated scene like this obviously has a lot of parts. Even the original
masters at Disney didn’t usually do every inbetween and especially didn’t ink and paint them. The “big
guys” were about the performance, and you probably already have an idea of how many things needed
to be figured into those performances—not to mention all of this was done off a blank page! It’s an
incredible amount of work and a very refined skillset. For us in Tradigital animation, the delegation
of the inbetweens and cleanup (coloring/inking) still usually rests back on our shoulders. For these
tasks, Animate CC helps lift the weight with tweening, symbols, and broad but precise drawing tools.

Animators always want to break the rules—it’s just plain too enticing to see what shouldn’t be done
and go do that; it’s one of the great joys and benefits of the medium. Methods, techniques, and set
workflows are there to help us stay on track and not get too carried away, but sometimes that’s just
what needs to happen. That last step of “abandoning” the symblification of nested animation and
tweening to clean it up using the time-honored technique of frame-by-frame animation is a very
important one. Sometimes the movement you have in mind is just not something that the program,
any program, would be ready or able to handle. For that, even though it may take longer, you will
need to be more traditional than digital in your Tradigital work.

“Animators always want to break the rules—it’s just plain too enticing to
see what shouldn’t be done and go do that; it’s one of the great joys and
benefits of the medium.”

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 FINAL WORDS

Chapter 2
Slow In/Out
Realistically, there aren’t too many reasons that you won’t use this principle in your animation because

SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT

pretty much everything has at least some naturally cushioned movement. Taking away this easing
makes things look harsh, mechanical, explosive, and a bunch of other similarly veined adjectives. As
with everything, though, knowing when to not use a principle can be just as valuable.

As we continue with the chapters, you will see exactly how important a handle on the basics are. You
may think that things are moving slowly, but this foundation is imperative to being able to put it all
together. Conceptually, a lot of these principles are rather easy; though the use of them gets more
complicated as we try to apply them. Animation rarely works in a vacuum as far as the 12 Principles
are concerned. So as we continue to layer the principles, your understanding of how these slight
alterations can have large effects on the whole will grow.

Image 2.10  Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor McCay (1914).

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 Slow In and Slow Out is a magnificent principle because it probably does the most to make motion
believable. There is a huge difference between animation that employs it and that which doesn’t.
Gertie the Dinosaur, by animation pioneer Winsor McCay, while not the first animated short is pretty
close to it. It was completed in 1914, well before any of these principles had been worked out by the
Nine Old Men at Disney. If you’ve seen it, you’ll notice one thing that is largely missing: it has almost
no Slow In/Out. There is still a lot of great work in Gertie’s acting, specifically within the timing
(and arcs, but we’ll get to that in a later chapter) for being such a new art form. But think of how
much more lifelike it would be if when Gertie picks up her foot it were to have some nice Slow In/
Out applied to it (like we did to the first tween of the ball in the closer look section in this chapter).
Think of how much larger this enormous dinosaur would feel rather than having to already know,
be told, or guess based on its size in relation to the ring leader. This principle really adds a lot, and
movement just feels empty without it. You can’t hold this against Winsor McCay, however, since
these accepted principles of motion were just starting to be developed. Now that they have, though,
you can use it in your animation!

But I can’t bury the lead any longer; I know why you’re all here. In the next chapter, we’re going
over the pop-star of the 12 Principles: Squash and Stretch. If you take one thing away from this
chapter it should be that while everything starts with Timing, the Slow In/Out gives some much
needed realism to the motion. This sense of realism is important because no matter how cartoony
something is, there is almost always a need on the part of the viewer to see something relatable. You
may not know all the details and physics of why a ball bounces the way that it does, but you know
when it looks right. It’s the same for the audience. Keep that in mind as we move on to smushing
things around in the next chapter.

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 Image 3.0  A cat will crouch (squash) before it leaps (stretch).
Example taken from “ch3-examples-cat.fla”
on the companion website.

Book 1.indb 48 22/09/2016 10:15

 Chapter 3
SQUASH AND

Chapter 3
STRETCH

SQUASH AND STRETCH

INTRODUCING
Squash and Stretch
Here we go. Squash and Stretch:
the cool uncle of animation. If Timing and Slow In/Out are the
meat and potatoes of the 12 Principles, Squash and Stretch is
the pizza. It’s what you bring to a gathering to officially make
it a party. Because of its popularity, tutorials abound on the
internet with this principle, and often only this one. It’s not the
be all and end all but a fantastic tool in your animation. Both of
these statements are especially true for a young artist, because
when learning these principles it’s really the first crazy way
you can play within the world of movement. It can be overused,
of course (one pizza’s great, ten are a bit much), but the variety
in which it can be implemented is truly amazing.

So what does this principle mean exactly? Squashing and

Stretching an object aids in the illusion of weight and flexibility
and helps the audience feel more of the action. Imagine a
water balloon. If you set it on a table, you will see it squash. If
you pick it up by the tied end, it will stretch. Notice that only
the shape of the container changes and not the contents or
volume. This idea is important because as we’ll be morphing
the shape of images the idea isn’t to stray too far into the
actual “growing” or “shrinking” category à la Hank Pym (he
was Ant-Man; I read comic books). Using this principle is a

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Book 1.indb 49 22/09/2016 10:15

 matter of knowing what effect Squashing and
Stretching has on an animation and what your
intention is with that particular shot.

Take any live-action movie, go to a section with

an action scene, and pause. What you’ll see is
a big, blurry mess. That blur will be in just
about any frame that has movement in it. You
don’t notice this because you have a brain, and
that brain has a nifty little software capability
known as motion perception. If you’re really
curious about the science of it, I encourage
you to look up the phi phenomenon and go get
yourself a thaumatrope (I swear these aren’t
bad sci-fi novels). For now, focusing on the
point, why is this blur important to bring up Image 3.1  Whether it’s stretched (left) or squashed
in this chapter? Basically, your brain already (right), the volume of the balloon stays the same.
knows that something moving fast looks blurry.
Take a pencil, hold it in your hand, and move it back and forth in front of your face faster and faster
until all you see is a blur. Your eye can’t track it fast enough. It looks like it’s a completely different
shape now! In animation, we call that image a smear, which is basically just a big ol’ stretch. Squash
works much the same way but in reverse; it’s usually when something comes to a sudden stop or
is about to take off.

“The real magic of animation resides in doing things

live-action can’t.”
In the days before computers, there weren’t many ways to show motion blur in animation. Squash
and Stretch is a great way of doing just that. It’s all about creating the illusion that these images
are really moving, so you can suck the audience into the experience. This principle has many more
uses than just simulating motion blur however; it can be used to show a wide range of emotions as
well. If the character is sad, squash his form a bit to really show the weight of life on his shoulders.
If he’s happy, stretch him out to show him walking tall. This alteration is more than just posture,
we’re talking about actually changing the size
distribution of your character’s features. The
real magic of animation resides in doing things
live-action can’t.

As far as our bouncing ball is concerned, we’ve

already addressed that it’ll slow in as it’s falling
Image 3.2  Something moving fast like this bullet
to the ground, get faster and faster until it
could show up as a blur (top) or we could stretch
hits, and then bounce back up slowing out as
the bullet and insinuate the blurry trail with rifling
it reaches the top again. This spacing made
spin lines (bottom).

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Book 1.indb 50 22/09/2016 10:15

 it look much better, but it still looks a little uninteresting; a cardinal sin in animation. The physics is
good, but boring is boring. What we’ll be doing in this chapter’s exercise is adding a little flavor to
our physics.

Chapter 3
BOUNCING BALL Squash and Stretch

Setting Up

SQUASH AND STRETCH

When the ball hits the ground there’s no real feeling of impact. It just sort of exists. We’ve got the
relative size worked out in our timing and the sense of speed by way of slow in/out, but the bounce
still needs something extra. Giving the ball some elasticity will add to the texture of the movement
(remember that word from the last chapter). Texture of movement is something that will come up
a lot in this book. All that energy the ball is building up while accelerating to the ground has to go
somewhere, and in this case it’ll go into squashing the ball. The motion blur that a real ball would’ve
incurred due to its speed will translate to our stretching the ball.

We’ll be working off the file created at the end of the last chapter’s bouncing ball exercise (not the one
in the closer look section). The existing title should be “bouncing ball 2 – slow in out.” So, naturally,
we’ll be titling this one “bouncing ball 3 – squash stretch” (by using File > Save As). And don’t forget
that a good practice is saving duplicate files in ascending numbers whenever you do any work you
don’t want to lose. Don’t worry, I’ll remind you again mid exercise.

PART I
“Where We Squash”
1. Select the contact key (where the ball is on the ground).
Clicking the keyframe selects everything on the frame; in
this case, the “ball.” We’ll be squashing the instance of that
Image BB3.2a
symbol.

2. Locate the toolbar and choose the Free Transform Tool (Q).

You’ll see a few little boxes surround our instance of
the ball symbol on the stage. These are handles used to
transform the shape of the object. The white dot in the
middle is the object’s center point, but don’t mess with
that yet. Image BB3.2a and BB3.2b

3. We want to squash the ball, and I’m sure you know

what that looks like. You can scale the size manually by Image BB3.2b

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Book 1.indb 51 22/09/2016 10:15

 dragging the handles. It will take a little practice to
keep the same volume while also keeping the ball in
its relative position. For now, open the Transform
panel (Cmd/Ctrl+T) for more precise control.
Image BB3.3

4. There’s a link icon next to the % values. If it’s solid,

click it to make sure that icon turns into a broken
link. Unlinking the values makes sure we can change
them independently. Image BB3.4

5. Adjust the shape’s percentage manually in the

Transform panel to 120% horizontal and 80%
vertical. (Note: when attempting to keep the same
relative volume, the two numbers need to add up to
200.) Image BB3.5 Image BB3.3

6. The previous step moved the ball off

the ground a little, so it needs to be
repositioned. With the symbol selected,
locate the “Align” panel (Cmd/Ctrl+K) and
make sure the “Align to stage” box is Image BB3.4  Top: unlinked; bottom: linked.
checked. Image BB3.6

7. In the “Align” section of this panel click the

“Align bottom edge” icon all the way to the
right. Hovering over the icons will display
pop-up text for verification. Image BB3.7

Interlude
If you test the movie right now (Cmd/Ctrl+Enter),
you’ll see that it looks very weird. It’s squashing
as it’s falling! That’s not what we want. Stretch
needs to come into the equation first because
as the ball’s falling, it’s accelerating. We want
it to stretch to enhance the illusion of speed. Image BB3.5 Image BB3.6
Squash and Stretch are complimentary actions
and rarely exist separately. It’s like Newton’s
Third Law of Motion if it were more … animated. So likely
where there’s a squash, so exists an equal and opposite stretch.

BB3.7

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 PART II
“Where We Stretch”

Chapter 3
8. Up in the timeline, select the frame before
contact and create a keyframe (F6).
You’ve now essentially hijacked the entire
tween before it by changing the endpoint.

SQUASH AND STRETCH

Do what you did for squash now, but Image BB3.8
opposite values (80% horizontally and
120% vertically). We’ll call this frame the
“contact stretch.” Image BB3.8

9. Reposition the ball like you did in step 7.

Aligning the ball with the bottom edge will
assure that the impact is really felt. The
ball touches the ground stretched, then
is squashed in the very next frame (while
still on the floor). Image BB3.9

10. We want to apply that same stretch going

back up to the top now. To copy it easily, Image BB3.9 Image BB3.11
right-click the “contact stretch” from
step 8, and select Copy Frames.

11. Right-click the frame after our

“squash” frame and select Paste Frames.
Image BB3.11 Image BB3.12

12. You’ll need to reapply the slow-out for

the rebound tween (100 on the easing in
Properties panel) since step 10 changed
its starting keyframe. Image BB3.12

13. Right now, there are three contact frames

in a row (stretch, squash, and stretch
again). To make sure the ball doesn’t
feel as though it’s sticking to the ground
before bouncing, move the second stretch
key up about half its height so that it’s
not still touching the ground. We’ll
call this frame the “rebound stretch.”
Image BB3.13 Image BB3.13

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 If you test the movie now, you’ll see that the ball gradually
stretches more and more as it falls and squashes only on
impact and then shoots back up with a stretch. The speed
has been emphasized by the stretch, the weight has been
emphasized by the squash, and the ball’s elasticity has been
emphasized by both of them. Now a simple bouncing ball is
more interesting to watch. We’ve just scratched the surface
of what this principle brings to animation and how Animate
CC can make it happen.

What you’ve added to the previous work on the bouncing ball

is the feeling of what the audience would expect to see … not
necessarily what they would see in real life. Frank and Ollie
titled their book The Illusion of Life for a reason. Complete
reality wasn’t the goal; realism was. The principles, and
everything they did in animation, were about representing
life without directly copying every aspect. Any scene with
the Seven Dwarfs or Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the two
oft-cited examples of Squash and Stretch use, will show you
Image 3.3
that. But there’s a trick being played on you.

When watching an animated film, like when watching sci-fi, you know it’s not real. It’s the ability
of people to imagine “well, if it were real …” that allows for these stories to be told and loved. The
phrase “suspension of disbelief” comes into play here. You know that Gaston’s sidekick, LeFou, is a
human character in Beauty and the Beast; but you also know he couldn’t really move like that if he
existed in real life. In a few sequences, it seems like there’s no way his head could possibly have a
solid skull in it at all. It doesn’t matter though because the use of form flexibility is done in support
of the acting—so in a way the unreal aspects of this anatomy feel somehow even more real than if
strict physics were adhered to. Squash and Stretch is this first principle that introduces you to the
world of doing something that doesn’t actually happen that much in real life to make your animation
actually feel more real.

One of the brilliant things about animation is that you can break the rules of reality, but one of the
needs of humans is to relate. The reason you see faces in inanimate objects around town is the same
as why you can look at Daffy Duck and not only know that’s a duck who talks but also identify with
parts of his personality and can anticipate his reactions to events before they happen. People are
putting themselves into the characters they see. You know when you fall out of a tree and hit the
ground you feel all squashed up. This great force has compacted you into a little strip of a human
being—and it hurts, a lot. The fact is, you didn’t actually squash so much anyone could see. But if
you were to animate that happening, you might go ahead and add that squash because that’s what
it feels like is happening and that is more important than the reality.

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 CLOSER LOOK
Supporting The Action

Chapter 3
This time we’ll be working from the “bouncing ball 2 – slow in out – closer look” file that we created
last time. In it, there was a timid ball that starts to approach the ground, afraid of what might happen
once it gets there; and once reaching the ground it immediately shoots back up to a floating position
of safety and happiness. It looks good, but we can add more life to that action with a little Squash

SQUASH AND STRETCH

and Stretch. When the ball is approaching, what should it do? Well imagine that a character in a
bank is scared to step onto a floor that might set off an alarm. They’ll stick out their foot as far away
from them as possible and only touch with the end of the toe. Now once that’s done and the alarm
actually goes off, they’ll jump away as fast as possible. Let’s do that. Before we continue, though,
don’t forget to Save As the file mentioned above to “bouncing ball 3 – squash stretch – closer look”
before we continue.

“Squash and Stretch Acting”

1. You should be seeing three
keyframes (on frames 1, 18, and
25). Since we know we want a
stretch on the way down, let’s
make that happen like in step 6
above. Create a keyframe (F6) Image CL3.1
on frame 17, before the middle
keyframe with the ball in the
contact position. Image CL3.1

2. Either with the Free Transform Tool (Q) or by manually imputing % via the Transform panel
(Cmd/Ctrl+T), create a stretch on the ball. Don’t forget to move it back down to touching the
ground.

3. Select the contact key (at frame 18)

and apply a squash to the ball.

4. Create a keyframe on frame 19.

Image CL3.4
Image CL3.4
5. Simply copy (Cmd/Ctrl+C)
the stretched ball from frame 17, Delete the ball from frame 19, and paste-in-place (Cmd/
Ctrl+Shift+V). This does the same as steps 10–11 in this chapter’s main bouncing ball
exercise. But with these hotkeys and a little practice, this will be the faster method for
copy/paste.

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 Notice that we did not move the last stretch key up so that it wasn’t a contact frame as we did in
the main exercise. We’re keeping it in contact with the ground in this case because our newly
anthropomorphic ball is pushing off the ground, so it makes sense that it would be still touching the
ground in the beginning of the last tween. It’s no longer a rebound; it’s now a push.

Remember what happened earlier in this chapter during the main bouncing ball exercise: placing
a keyframe in the middle of a tween doesn’t change the easing value before it, but it does create
a different one after it. For example, click on the “squash” keyframe (18) and look at the Custom
Easing graph. You’ll see the same hard slow-out curve that we applied to this part in the last
chapter’s closer look section. If you select our newly created key on frame 19 and look at the Easing
Editor for that, you’ll see a different graph. We want to replace the tween on key 19 with the one
currently on 18.

“Copying Motion And Changing Frames”

6. Right-click frame 18 and select Copy
Motion.

7. Right-click the key on frame 19 and

select Paste Motion. Image CL3.7

8. A new keyframe has been created on

frame 19 and pushed the existing key
forward one frame. Right-click that key
on frame 20 and select Clear Keyframe
to remove it. (Note: NOT clear frames …
that would just delete everything on that
Image CL3.7 Image CL3.8
frame.) Image CL3.8

9. To make the “push” read better and

shorten the time it takes for the ball
to get back to its top position, click
and drag to highlight both keys on
frames 18 and 19. With those two
frames highlighted, click and drag them
one frame to the right so they now
inhabit frames 19 and 20. Image CL3.9 Image CL3.9  Progression is shown
top to bottom.
Keeping Things Clean
You can alter the tween on frame 17 to your heart’s content, though currently it should already be
slowing-out, and that’s the way I would keep it. Another thing to note is that there is still a tween
applied to frame 19 though there are no frames inbetween that and the next keyframe, so it effectively

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 does nothing. I will bring this topic of “legacy tweens” up
later in the book, but if you would like to keep things clean
(like I do) you can right-click that keyframe and select
Remove Tween to bring it back to just a normal, single
image. It won’t hurt being there, but if you’re a clean freak

Chapter 3
in real life this will keep you sane.

Pencil Tests And Changes

SQUASH AND STRETCH

If you test the movie now, you’ll get more of a sense
on  how this effect is coming together. Traditional
animators reading this passage will agree that one of
the things that was important but also cumbersome in
the time before computers was testing out an animation.
The “pencil test” is pretty famous now among young,
aspiring animators to see what is essentially the raw
vision of their favorite animator’s work. Viewing a pencil
test involved taking a picture of each frame and playing
it back at their selected frame rate on the closest TV
they had. Even that sentence masks the frustration this
process often caused, but the test was necessary to see
how the animation was coming along. The real punchline,
though, was that if a mistake was found, you’d better
hope it wasn’t in the timing because that would often
mean redoing work. Simply shifting frames around
wouldn’t change the outcome of the other principles
that were applied to the sequence. In this regard, with
Animate CC things have become much easier.

Our current acting chops shown off in this iteration of

the bouncing ball has it timidly approaching the ground,
stretching out along the way out of fear, squashing to
build up the power necessary to jump and stretch its way
back to the starting position. The concept is great, we have
some well-done Slow In/Out and you have just applied that
wonderful Squash and Stretch. The problem currently lies
in the timing. The ball approaches the ground a bit too
fast to really sell that idea of fear. Because our “character”
here has no face or other anthropomorphized features,
it’s all down to the movement, so we really need to be Image 3.4  “Donkey Chew Cycle”
particular. As I said in the previous paragraph, because (reads counter-clockwise).

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 the ball is stretching on its way down, finding any mistakes in the timing would normally result in
having to redraw the entire span of frames to adjust its spacing and amount of incremental stretch
applied to each drawing. Let’s see how easy it is with Animate CC.

“Adjusting The Timing”

10. Before we do anything, close your eyes and time how long you feel it should take for the ball
to hit the ground. This time estimate will serve as the blueprint for our changes. Currently,
going up to frame 17, the “approaching” tween is 0.7 seconds long (remember it says so right
under the timeline). You can choose whatever timing you like, but for sake of following along I
will be doubling the approach time, meaning it’ll be 1.5 seconds now.

11. Click anywhere in the tween between the first and second keyframes. Hold down F5 to create
extra frames and push everything in front of that point forward until the next keyframe is
at the 37th frame. (Pro-tip: remember “animation math”? At a frame rate of 24fps, 1.5 seconds
would be 36 frames …
multiplication. Since we’re
starting on frame 1, the
ending keyframe of this tween
will be on 37 … addition).
Image CL3.11 Image CL3.11

12. Cmd/Ctrl+Enter to test the

movie. You can see that now the ball’s approach looks much more timid, but the loop makes it
hard to see the acting properly. Let’s change that.

13. Again, closing your eyes, timing out the shot and deciding where you would like the movie
to stop is pretty essential. When I did it, I arrived at 3 seconds as a good complete time. My
animation math tells me that should be on the 73rd frame, so go out to that frame, click on the
gray box, and hit F5 one time to extend our timeline out to that point. Image CL3.13

Image CL3.13
14. Follow step 12 again and, if you’d like, step 13 again until you have a happy loop. This loop
right now is just for you, but ultimately this process will help you with timing out how long a
scene should be by putting yourself in the audience’s position.

As you moved around the keyframes, the tween adjusted to accommodate. We didn’t mess with a
single thing on the main stage, only the timeline. You will see this helpful little feature come up further
in later chapters and in a huge way on your own work; tweens help in more ways than one. Tweens

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 aren’t just about saving you time in the initial drawing of inbetween frames but in the redrawing of
those frames if you need to change your timing.

Our squash and stretch was preserved throughout this alteration in the intuitive way you would
expect. So far, the only thing we have drawn is a ball. The Free Transform Tool has allowed us to
give new qualities to the drawing to either emphasize the real-world physics of a movement (as in

Chapter 3
the main bouncing ball exercise) or add feeling to the acting on a shot (as in this closer look).

During this closer look, we have applied Squash and Stretch, copied and preserved Slow In/Out, and
adjusted our Timing all to service the acting. All of these tools and hotkeys are layering onto one

SQUASH AND STRETCH

another in our work as are the principles we’ve covered. Now we’re rolling (pun, intended)!

“Tweens aren’t just about saving you time in the initial drawing of
inbetween frames but in the redrawing of those frames if you need to
change your timing.”

 sing Squash and Stretch with ­

U
“Real-World Reference”
You can already see that Squash and
Stretch is a hugely versatile principle.
Remember the grasshopper example
from the Introduction? Translating a
real jump into an “illusion of life” jump
means seeing certain positions and
actions in terms of the 12 Principles.
For instance, as it’s about to take off
with its legs folded up next to its body,
that’s a squash. Right after jumping Image 3.5
with its legs extended, that’s a stretch.
So in order to express these actions within animation, take the squash moment and actually add
some squash (and likewise for the stretch moment). With life as our reference point we can interpret,
infuse, and implement. Interpret the action using the 12 Principles, infuse this interpretation into the
planning for the animation, and implement it into our work

Let’s take another example. You’re in a creepy old building’s boiler room. You think you’re alone.
It’s dark, quiet, and musty. You could swear that you heard something behind you, but when you
look back nothing can be seen. Your senses might be playing tricks on you. Suddenly, you feel hot
breath on your neck. What would you do? First thing that would happen is you would probably
grit your teeth, squint your eyes, and duck your head down into your shoulders; you’d flinch. But
immediately after that, you straighten up like a board and freeze. Your neck stretches out like a weak
attempt at fleeing, but every bit of you is tense and wide-eyed. Act it out. The flinch is a squash, while

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 your freeze moment will be met with a stretch. When animating, you’ll use Squash and Stretch to
accentuate those moments.

Every time you watch cartoons from now on you will be seeing Squash and Stretch. It’s ubiquitous.
Running, jumping, falling, cowering, celebrating, yelling, pointing, fighting, sleeping … all the ,ing’s
really—they can and usually do use some form of this incredibly flexible (I am killing it with these
puns) principle. Accentuating a squash can easily be done with a good stretch before it. We all know
the “movement” principles (Timing and Slow In/Out) impact just about everything in the animation.
But the other fairly unique characteristic about this particular principle is that even though it’s more
on the “look” side instead of the “movement” side of the spectrum (meaning its work is done on the
image rather than the timeline, like timing), it too pairs well with other principles. It’s in these pairings
that Squash and Stretch really shows its effectiveness. We’ve already seen how it’s paired up with
the likes of Slow In/Out (or vice versa), but in next chapter’s Anticipation or the later chapters like
Exaggeration you’ll really see Squash and Stretch shine.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
“Bite and Chew”

Principles Used
Overlapping Action: Features rarely move at the same time, even (and
especially) when linked. Since the jaw is the main part of the action, that
will move first and the rest of the features will follow.

Slow In/Out: Chomping down on something means that you are compacting
it under pressure, which will mean a quick slow in when closing but a longer
slow out as the jaw really shuts. When the jaw releases for another bite, all
that pressure is released and is really easy to open, which means that the
easing is opposite—slight slow in but a drastic slow out.

Solid Drawing: The features of the head/face are full of volume and specific
arrangements. To sell the idea that something has entered our character’s
mouth and he is chewing on it, care needs to be taken to present the volume
and construct of his head and their features at all times.

Anticipation: Before the bite (down) there needs to be an anticipatory beat

(an up) that precedes it. This setup makes the bite itself more intense as well Image 3.6
as leading the viewer to a quick visual payoff.

Squash and Stretch: This principle is what really gives that visceral feeling to the chewing motion.
Structural (mouth opening and closing) and exaggerated (head squashing and stretching back up)
versions of the application of this principle are being used to best sell the flexing of the features.

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 Setting Up
Open the project file “ch3-real_world-chew.
fla” provided on the companion website. Just
as in the “Heavy Lifting” real world example

Chapter 3
in Chapter 2, the rough animation is already
done. What we’re going to be doing isn’t much
different than that example either, workflow-
wise, but as the squash and stretch was used

SQUASH AND STRETCH

mostly in the body, in this example we’re
using this principle in the structural makeup
of the face. An example of a structural squash
and stretch is a folded and unfolded umbrella
(Image 3.7). When biting down, the cheeks will
bloat out and the chin will pull up further into the Image 3.7  “Squash” (left) and “stretch” (right).
head; these will reverse when the mouth “opens”
during the chew. These are structural squashes
and stretches, but we want to go further than
that. Every facial feature will squash and stretch
together to really exaggerate the size of the bite
our character has taken.

In Chapter 2’s real-world example, there were

more principles at work in an obvious way than
this one. I say “obvious” because, really, there
are more principles at play in this example than
I specifically listed. Timing, for instance, is in
every sequence. Appeal is something you should
always consider. Arcs are a constant need while
animating and as a double-check. But certain
principles are more integral than others in any
given animation sequence, and those are the
ones we’re focusing on in this example: Slow
Image 3.8  Frame layer visible (left) and frame
In/Out, Solid Drawing, Anticipation, Pose to Pose/
layer hidden (right).
Straight Ahead, and Squash And Stretch (which
takes center stage). One thing to note before we
continue is the layer above the rest named “frame.” In Animate CC, as you know, even though only the
stage is exported to video (and not the gray work area) you can still see everything which expands
outside of that area. Sometimes it helps to see what will be visible in the final export without actually
exporting it, that’s where the “frame” shape comes in. Unhide this layer if you ever want to cover
up what won’t ultimately be seen on export (Image 3.8).

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 “The Bite”
1. The only feature which requires
symblification is the head, so that’s what
we’ll focus on first. The interior of the “head”
symbol is already extended out the full
length of the main timeline, it’s set to Play
Once from frame 1 and cleaned up using
the first key of the rough so we’re all set
to work. Still on the main timeline, hide all
layers except for the two “head” layers (the
one in “cleanup” and the other in “rough Image BC3.1
animation”) so that we can focus the work on
this feature without clutter. Image BC3.1

2. Scroll ahead to the first moment where the

mouth is open (frame 15), place a keyframe
(F6) on the cleanup “head” layer, move the
head instance up to the rough, and double-click
to enter the symbol on that frame. Image BC3.2

3. Insert keyframes (F6) for all layers on the

frame you entered into in the previous step
(frame 15) and then hide everything except the
“mouth” layer. We’ll tackle this one first.

4. Because of the complexity, the mouth opening

motion is best animated frame by frame. The
Image BC3.2 BC3.4
first key has already been done for you so you
can delete what’s on the “mouth” layer on the
keyframe created in step 3 and clean up the
mouth design I’ve sketched in the rough, which
you can see ghosted on the stage. Image BC3.4

5. Insert a new layer, name it “rough.” The mouth

opening motion will be a fast action and the
one which leads the other features (that will
follow via subtle overlapping action). Create
three blank keyframes (F7) on the newly
created “rough” layer on frames 12–14 and
use onion skin mode to sketch those three
inbetween frames. These are best to complete
using straight ahead action. Image BC3.5

Image BC3.5

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 6. Return to the “mouth” layer and clean up the inbetweens
you created in the previous step. To call this particular part
of the cleanup done and move on to others, lock and select
outline view for the “mouth” layer and then guide and hide
the “rough” layer.

Chapter 3
7. One by one unhide and cleanup the “easies” of the face (eyes,
ears, cheek lines, nose, and head) on frame 15 using classic
tweens for the symbols and shape tweens for everything
else (the level of easing is up to you). Then lock and select the

SQUASH AND STRETCH

outline view for each of those layers as well. Image BC3.7

Interlude
There is a layer in the head symbol called “PATCH” right above
the “jaw” layer. If you unhide the jaw layer and then the patch
layer you’ll see what purpose the patch layer serves. It covers
up the top line segment of the jaw shape. In Animate CC, a shape
needs to either have no outline or be fully outlined in order for a
shape tween to work correctly. This means that in the case of our
character’s jaw we can’t delete the top line which runs through
his face if we also want to shape tween it. There are a couple
workarounds for this and the one we’re using here is a “patch.” Image BC3.7
Simply stated, a patch covers up unwanted artifacts that come
up during animation. In this case, we want to shape tween the jaw and to not see the line currently
running ear to ear so the patch’s only function is to hide that line. The patch itself is nothing more
than a flesh-colored shape with no outline which overlaps the jaw shape in just the right way to cover
what we don’t want the audience to see. Since it’s on its own layer, this shape can and will be moved
and shape tweened whenever it’s needed in order to cover up the problem line on the jaw shape.

8. With only the “jaw” layer visible, on the keyframe created in

step 3 (on frame 15) alter the jaw shape to match the rough
key using the Selection Tool (V) by dragging the vector points
and curves around stage (the same method used in Chapter 8’s
bouncing ball exercise, steps 9–11). Try to move the points to
similar corresponding positions so that Animate CC, will have an
easier time with the shape tween. (Note: if it’s hard to see what
you’re doing with the flesh-colored fill in the shape, click and delete
the fill (the way I did in the corresponding image) to make the
alterations, then use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to select the color from
the previous keyframe and refill this one with the Paint Bucket Tool
(K).) Image BC3.8
Image BC3.8

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 9. We’ve determined that the beginning of
this mouth opening animation is frame 12
(in step 5) so the entire motion will be
four total frames. Insert a keyframe (F6)
at frame 12 on the jaw layer and apply a
shape tween. Use shape hints if the shape
tween gives unwanted results.

10. Repeat step 9 for the patch layer.

Image BC3.10

11. Still inside the “head” symbol, unhide and

deselect outline view for all layers so you
can see everything except the rough and
hit Enter to test the animation to see if it’s
performing the way you want. (Pro-tip:
select the loop feature from the icon under
the timeline and drag the markers the way Image BC3.10
you would in onion skin view to select the
loop region.) Image BC3.11

12. Repeat steps 2–11 for the rough key on

frame 26 (which will hereafter be referred Image BC3.11
to in these steps as mouth closed – squash).
Remember that step 2 starts on the main
stage. (Note: the precision we get from
Animate’s tweens is well used in a loop
(which is what we’re creating next). So to
make the tweening easier, be sure the facial
features such as the closed eyes and the
eyebrows are simple shapes and that the
mouth is represented with a line created
using the Line Tool (N).) Image BC3.12

Interlude
At this point in the scene, our character chews
a few times so we’re going to create a separate
looping symbol for that. So far, it’s been important
to use “Play Once” in the instance looping options
on the Properties panel to lock the main and
symbol timeline’s playback together. For a loop,
these two timelines will be independent of one
another so it’s important to keep an eye on Image BC3.12

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 symbol instance names and looping options as
we progress onward from here. You’ll notice I
wrote “LOOP 1” in the top-right of the key on
frame 26. There are four total loop labels in
top-right of the rough animation so this chew

Chapter 3
sequence we’re about to do will loop four times.
The first loop is from frames 26–37 (we don’t
include the key on frame 38 in our first loop since
that’s the starting frame of the next loop). This Image 3.9

SQUASH AND STRETCH

means our chew cycle is 12 total frames because,
remembering “animation math,” we have to add the starting frame to the difference between the
frame numbers. This information is necessary to determine how to actually create a loop that fits
the needs of our scene.

“Creating The Loop”

13. On the main timeline at frame 26, right-click the “head” symbol and select Duplicate Symbol.
Name this something easy to remember such as “head-chew_loop.” With the instance of the
“head-chew_loop” symbol you just created, set it to “Loop” from frame 1 in the looping section
of the Properties panel. You’ll notice the image displayed on stage has reverted to our first
key; we’ll fix that in the next step. Image BC3.13

14. Double-click the “head-chew_loop” instance on stage, highlight everything on the timeline
from frame 1–25, and Remove Frames. Go ahead and delete the “rough” layer too. This should
leave you with the third rough key’s mouth closed design on frame 1 inside this symbol.
Image BC3.14

Image BC3.13 Image BC3.14

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 15. Return to the main stage, insert a
keyframe (F6) at the next rough key,
which is on frame 32 (we’ll cleverly
refer to this design as mouth closed –
stretch in the following steps), move
the head into position over the rough
(I’ve placed the registration point at
the spot where the next would attach
to the back of the head so you can
use this to approximate where “into
position” is) and double-click the
instance to re-enter the “head-chew_
loop” symbol. Image BC3.15

16. Notice that you are not on frame 32

within the symbol. You are on
frame 7. As we saw in step 13, the
“head-chew_loop” instance is now
looping internally starting on frame 1
but beginning that loop on the main
timeline’s frame 26. So since we
scrolled ahead six frames to frame 32 Image BC3.15
on the main timeline, that
corresponds to scrolling
ahead six frames (starting
from frame 1) on “head-chew_
loop”’s own internal timeline to
frame 7. Knowing that, clean
up this mouth closed – stretch
frame using the same process
as we cleaned up the others
before it. Image BC3.16a and
BC3.16b Image BC3.16a
Image BC3.16b
17. Return to the main timeline, scroll ahead the next key (mouth closed – squash) on frame 38
but this time do not create a keyframe. Instead, we’re using this to time out the perfect loop.
Double-click to re-enter the “head-chew_loop” symbol here and you should be on the symbol’s
internal timeline at frame 13. As mentioned in the interlude right before this section, this is
the starting frame of the next loop. Highlight all frames from 13 until the end of the timeline
in use (which should stop at frame 56), right-click and Remove Frames.

18. Somewhere between frames 1 and 7, click and drag to highlight one frame from each layer
and then drag and drop the highlighted frames over to frame 12 all at once. This clicking and

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 dragging of already highlighted frames
essentially does a copy/paste of those
highlighted frames onto the new frame
they were dragged to (frame 12), creating
keyframes for them in the process. The

Chapter 3
cleaned up image on frames 1 and 12
now are the same. When this loops on
the main timeline, this mouth closed –
squash design will be shown for two

SQUASH AND STRETCH

frames as it finishes on frame 12 and
reverts back to frame 1 to repeat the
loop. That’s OK for our purposes because
it will sell the “chomping” part of the bite
more. Image BC3.18

19. Use tweens to finish cleaning up this Image BC3.18

looping animation. You’ll want to
apply a slow in to slow out for the span
between the squash (1 and 12) and stretch
(7) keyframes. Since there’s no Easing
Editor for shape tweens, you can do this
by creating a tween with 0 easing, insert a
keyframe (F6) as close to halfway through
the span as you can (splitting the one
tween into two) and then go back to set the
first tween to slow in with a value of –100
and the second to slow out with 100. Use
shape hints as necessary. (Note: to keep
your timeline even cleaner, since the eyes
are closed in this loop you’re free to delete
the pupil layers as I did (notice their absence
in this step’s image versus the previous).) Image BC3.19
Image BC3.19

“Swallowing”
20. Back on the main timeline, insert a keyframe (F6) at the second to last rough key (frame 74)
and drag the instance of our “head-chew_loop” symbol up to the position indicated on the
rough animation.

21. Right-click on the instance of the head symbol, select Swap Symbol, and choose “head.” This
is the symbol we started with. The reason for this is because we want to return to the first

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 frame and this symbol also
has the design for the mouth
closed – squash, which is
what should be showing on
the frame we’re currently on.
Image BC3.21

22. Set this symbol instance to

“Play Once” (it should already
be set to start from frame 1).
Then right-click the head, Image BC3.21  Image
Duplicate Symbol and name it showing after Swap
“head-swallow.” Symbol action.

23. Double-click on the instance to enter the newly created

“head-swallow” symbol. We want only the first and last
key designs, so highlight all frames between them (that
would be everything on frames 2–25), right-click and
select Clear Keyframe. Image BC3.23 Image BC3.23

24. Since we’re returning to the first key, we

want to switch their order on the timeline.
Right-click anywhere on the timeline and
Select All Frames. Right-click again and
Reverse Frames. Image BC3.24

25. The timing is still messed up though, so

return to the main timeline, insert keyframe
(F6) at the last rough key (frame 81) which
happens to be the last frame of the timeline
in use.

26. Double-click on the instance of “head-

swallow” to enter the symbol. You should
Image BC3.24
now be on frame 8 of the symbols internal
timeline. (Note: remember this frame number as you’ll need to know it a few steps from now.)
Bring the second set of keyframes on the
timeline back to this frame number so there
is a set of keyframes at frame 1 (mouth
closed – squash) and another at frame 8 (the
design we started with). Image BC3.26 Image BC3.26
27. Clean up the animation as we did previously and take into account what’s happening in this
action overall in order to know where to start the span. I chose to start the return animation

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 at frame 5 of the internal timeline, which would
make the entire span last four total frames (5, 6,
7, and 8).

28. We still have to return the instance of this symbol

on the main stage back down to the starting

Chapter 3
position. Return to the main timeline, right-click
the keyframe on frame 1 of the “head” layer and
Copy Frames. Right-click on the last keyframe (81)
on the “head” layer and Paste Frames.

SQUASH AND STRETCH

29. While the previous step put an instance in the
correct spot, it also replaced the existing instance
so the one there now is representing the wrong
symbol. So right-click the head instance on this
frame and Swap Symbol with “head-swallow.”

30. With the instance of the “head-swallow” symbol

still selected, set it to “Play Once” from the frame
you made a note of in step 26 (hint: it’s frame 8).

31. Now that the symblified animation of the head

is complete, return to the main timeline and
clean up the character’s other features by
unhiding the layer of the feature you want to
focus on, inserting keyframes (F6) at each rough
key and moving them into position. Use the
Free Transform Tool (Q) and be mindful of size, Image BC3.31
rotation, and distortion. Image BC3.31

32. Finally, decide what timing you want

for each span, insert keyframes (F6)
where necessary and apply classic
tweens to the spans. Image BC3.32 Image BC3.32

33. You can play around with what easing you would like for the movements, but I chose an
“S” curve for all of them to apply a slow in and out in the same span which will make this
sequence feel more wobbly and oscillating.

“Continuing With Squash And Stretch”

The main timeline (as long as you’re not moving around keyframes on the “head” layer) is simpler
to follow. For instance, I decided that I wanted the character to slowly drop his hands a bit while
chewing. So all I did to make that happen was to insert keyframes toward the end of the animation

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 Image 3.10a

on the arm, hand, and body layers (to preserve the position) and then returned to where he first
brings his sandwich down after taking a bite and adjusted those layers to make him not bring it
down as far. Then it was a matter of applying another
tween between those keyframes with a long, slow “S”
curve in the Easing Editor to bring them back down to
the starting point (Image 3.10a). I also added a bit more
squash or stretch to the head in some parts that I thought
could use some more exaggeration (Image 3.10b) and
enlarged the instance of the head symbol a bit when
he takes the bite, which added more dimension to the
scene by making it feel he was leaning forward more
(Image 3.10c). You can add extra bits of movement like
these with very little effort or risk. Try it out!

In this example there was more work with symblification

and straight ahead frame-by-frame cleanup animation
to complete the scene. Tradigital animation needs to
jump back and forth between these methods seamlessly
to work properly. It’s not hard to see what features
need to be animated frame by frame, which can be
shape tweened, and which need to have a combination
of both and motion tweening to get the proper and
precise results. Though there was less attention on the
full body, like in Chapter 2, the fact the face is taking up
most of the entire screen means that greater attention Image 3.10b
needs to be paid to the finer details.

The squash and stretch in the scene is an exaggeration of

life, but almost all animation will be exaggerated in some
way. You will rarely be done with a scene on the first
pass, especially not the more complicated scenes which
display multiple features in movement and distortions (like
this scene). Take a break and then come back at it with
fresh eyes to see if it can be improved in some way. And
don’t forget to check out the finalized scene that has been
provided on the companion website to deconstruct it and
see if something more can be learned about the setup. Image 3.10c

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 FINAL WORDS
Squash and Stretch
So far, we have gone through three chapters and three different principles. The bouncing ball exercise

Chapter 3
now reflects each of these, and you have learned how to create a ball, turn it into a symbol, adjust it,
tween it, ease it, and now squash and stretch it. In the closer look areas of these chapters, you have
learned how to take these tools and properties (no matter your previous knowledge of either) and
take an inanimate object like a ball and apply some acting to it, overlapping your knowledge of the

SQUASH AND STRETCH

principles and tools.

I’ve been where you are now, and I know you still may
not feel like it’s getting you anywhere. Believe me, I
understand. Truth is, you’re probably not going to feel
satisfied until you’ve animated a full shot from start
to finish; I know I didn’t. When you’re learning, it can
feel like everything is going so slowly. But somewhere
down the line, after you have a good grasp of the basics,
everything will just click and the creativity in your head
and that which you can actually create will finally start
to match! In the words of Kaa, “trussssst … in meeeee.”

Squash and Stretch, in a lot of ways, is emblematic

of animation as a whole. It’s all about a heightened
sense of movement—more interpretive than actual.
It can be subtle or extreme, and both are equally
valid. There are no real strict terms or rules for its
application. Actions in real life can be seen in terms of
these two complimentary concepts and so can feelings.
In animation terms, to squash or stretch something is
usually that which goes beyond its standard form. A
hard blink can have a squash to it, for instance, if the
eyelids are spread out a bit more than anatomy would
actually allow in order to punctuate the intensity of
the act. All of these principles live and die on their use;
it’s up to you to decide if the movement needs it and
to what amount. That simply takes practice—practice
and observation.
Image 3.11  Squash and Stretch is the
I was going to make a joke about anticipating the next foundation of this amebic blob’s entire
chapter on Anticipation, but I couldn’t come up with a locomotion. Example taken from
good one … so I settled on this self-referential sentence. “ch3-examples-blob.fla” on the companion
Next chapter! website.

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 Image 4.0  The more that time passes on a long shot of a guy at his
most vulnerable the more anticipation is built. My Friend the Toilet
#3: Surprise Guest by Stephen Brooks (RubberOnion.com).

Book 1.indb 72 22/09/2016 10:15

 Chapter 4
ANTICIPATION

Chapter 4
INTRODUCING

ANTICIPATION
Anticipation
If you were to look up “anticipation”
in the dictionary, you would find this: the action of anticipating
something. Helpful. But if you look up “anticipate” in that same
dictionary you’d find its synonyms: expect, await, look forward
to, and be prepared for. So now that we have covered some
principles on the physics of movement (Chapters 1 and 2) and
the interpretation of motion (Chapter 3), this principle is our
first exposure to one of the 12 Principles of Animation which
focuses on the storytelling aspect of our medium: Anticipation.

Try to imagine a world of storytelling without anticipation;

that impression should illuminate just how important it is.
What would a storm really be without the calm before it? In
animation terms, Anticipation is about guiding the audience
through the actions. Sometimes it’s to lead into a reveal, which
is as simple as someone looking at something off screen before
seeing what’s there. Other times it is used to accentuate an
action. When a person is attempting something difficult, like
lifting an abnormally heavy bag of laundry, the sense of weight
is greatly intensified if, before the difficult lift, our intrepid
character prepares for it intently … fearfully. That little beat
of anticipation serves to prop up the audience’s focus on the
importance of what comes next.

We will be making a little detour with this chapter’s bouncing

ball exercise. It’s still building on our previous work, but the
purpose of the shot will change. Up till now the intent of our
exercise was to have this ball starting from a height drop and

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Book 1.indb 73 22/09/2016 10:15

 bounce back up by the force of its own momentum being redirected. There was no discernible start
and no end. This time, instead of an endless loop, we will create an actual beginning to this action.

BOUNCING BALL Anticipation

Setting Up
Our good friend File > Save As comes back to save us from the perils of overwriting work. Saving
from the last file (bouncing ball 3 – squash stretch) we’re moving one up and naming this “bouncing
ball 4 – anticipation.” The goal of this particular exercise is to take what we’ve done and turn it into a
scene. The ball will start in the “contact” position and slowly squash until it looks like it can’t anymore
and enough potential energy has built up (anticipation) to allow it to shoot up off the ground and into
the air. Then it will bounce once before coming back to the starting position (which Animate CC will
loop for us when exported to SWF).

Part I, here, will essentially be more setting up than this actual “Setting Up” section. You’ll notice, too,
that I’m not spending as much time clarifying the steps, as many of them we’ve been over multiple times
in previous chapters. In some I give new ways of doing the same things. This varying level and type of
step description is all built to help you become accustomed to the versatility Animate CC offers. Let’s go.

PART I
“Positioning Keys”
1. On the timeline click and drag the full length Image BB4.1
of the movie from frame 1 to 25 to highlight all
work done so far. Image BB4.1

2. Right-click on this highlighted portion and

select Copy Frames. Image BB4.3

3. Right-click on the final keyframe (frame 25)

and select Paste Frames. Image BB4.3

4. Using the “Go to first frame” button on the timeline (vertical

line followed by a back arrow) and then the “Play” button
(obvious) check out what you did in steps 1–3. Everything has Image BB4.4
copied over: every tween value, every symbol position. You
even replaced the last keyframe with the first (even though they were in the exact same position
anyway). With an extra bounce in there, now we can create our new start and end frames.
Image BB4.4

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 5. Right-click the key on frame 12 (the “contact stretch”)
and select Clear Keyframe. We won’t need that because ...
Image BB4.5

6. We’ll be starting on the ground. Click the key on frame 1;

as you know, that will select the ball on that frame.
“Align bottom edge” from the Align panel (Cmd/Ctrl+K).
Image BB4.6

Chapter 4
7. With our starting position created, let’s make the ending.
When it lands on the ground we want some squash/
stretch to cushion the impact. So we’ll need the three
frames which make up the bounce earlier, as well as the

ANTICIPATION
“up” key. Click and drag to highlight frames 25 to 38.
Image BB4.7 Image BB4.5

8. Right-click the highlighted area and select Copy Frames.

9. Right-click on frame 49 (currently the last keyframe)

and select Paste Frames. The keen observer will notice
that leaves us with a stretched key as the last frame.
Good eye! We’re not yet completed with our end frame.
Image BB4.9

10. We’re going to copy the first key and paste to one frame
after the current end. You already know how to copy
and paste with right-clicks. Alternatively, you can click Image BB4.6
frame 1 and copy with Cmd/Ctrl+C, select the empty
box at frame 64 and hit F7 to “Insert Blank Keyframe”
(which can also be done with a right-click), and use the
hotkey sequence Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+V on that same frame
to paste in place. This is a commonly used approach,
Image BB4.7
and you’d be amazed how fast it is when you get used to
it. Image BB4.10

Image BB4.9

Image BB4.10

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 Interlude
As we mentioned, the goal is to have the ball slowly squash until it’s built up enough energy to jump,
shoot up in the air, bounce once, and then come back down to the starting position. Play the timeline.
What’s missing so far? “Until it’s built up enough energy to jump” for starters. I’m not convinced there’s
enough energy buildup the way it is now, are you? Also, when it comes back down to the ground, the
squash and stretch is much too fast—the timing there needs to be adjusted. Finally, there’s something
strange about the way it’s bouncing in the air. It feels like the ball shouldn’t be bouncing as high the
second time. Actually, there’s a physical reason for this. It’s called “decreasing max height,” and it
simply means that each time a ball bounces, it loses some of the energy it had before crashing into the
ground. That’s why a bouncing ball won’t bounce forever when it’s dropped. Otherwise there would
be stray bouncing balls everywhere, taking over our cities. Let’s fix these issues in Part II.

PART II
“Improving The Action”
11. First fix is going to be the final squash and stretch; it’s too fast. Let’s give it some breathing
room to come to a full stop by putting an extra frame in the last tween by using F5 once at
frame 61. The final key should now be on frame 65. Image BB4.11

Image BB4.11

12. Next up is the actual anticipation, the reason we’re here! That first tween, where the ball is
slowly squashing, needs more time to develop, and it needs a nice slow in and out. Use F5
again to extend it. Around 1.5 seconds would work, so push the squash key out to frame 40
just to make things easy (meaning the final frame of the whole movie would now be at 92).
Image BB4.12

Image BB4.12

13. If you test the movie right now, it clearly looks better this way, but to really drive home the
anticipation we need a beat after the ball is fully squashed before it jumps. Insert five frames
(F5) at frame 40 to add about one-quarter of a second between the squashed and stretched
keyframes. Image BB4.13

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Book 1.indb 76 22/09/2016 10:15

 Image BB4.13

14. If you’re following along exactly, you’ll notice that even though it wasn’t doing anything there
was a tween applied to the keyframe on frame 40, and now there’s a horrible tween from
the squash to stretched state before our jump (if you cleaned that up earlier, good work! You
already did this step). Right-click the tween between frame 40 and 46 and select Remove

Chapter 4
Tween. If you test the movie now, you can see the anticipation is much stronger with this
extra beat. Image BB4.14

ANTICIPATION
Image BB4.14

15. With the first tween selected, open the Easing Editor.
You should see that right now it’s a slow in (−100) and
looks like a ski jump. We’re going to give this tween a
hard slow in and out like we did in the closer look “More
Custom Easing” in Chapter 2. Remember that it looks like
an “S.” Image BB4.15

16. Click the first edit point (remember the black dot, lower
left) to get the handle. Move that white dot on the
end until it’s about two-thirds of the way to the right
and the handle is perfectly horizontal on the bottom.
Image BB4.15
Image BB4.16

17. For the end edit point (top right), do the same in the opposite direction, and then click OK to
save this new tween. Image BB4.17

Image BB4.16 Image BB4.17

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 Interlude
There’s not a lot to say here; just thought you might want a break. What we’re going to do next
is deal with the “decreasing max height” issue. Addressing this issue may not seem like it fits in a
chapter about Anticipation, but it does. Decreasing max height builds Anticipation in its own way.
“What’s going to happen when it gets to the bottom?” In this case, we don’t allow it to play out to
the full extent of physical law. We’re animators after all, and that’s our prerogative. What we’re
doing is creating anticipation for the first jump (with the squash) and anticipation for the final rest
(with a decreasing max height), which in turn is the anticipation for the buildup. That’s the way this
principle works. Anticipation, at its core, is about stringing events together in a visually meaningful
way. There’s the setup and the payoff.

I think you all understand that the decreasing max height of a bouncing ball is owed to the ball losing
energy due to friction every time it hits the ground. For this same reason, the amount of squash and
stretch added to the ball will be decreasing proportionally (we’ll “guesstimate” on the amount). Losing,
decreasing … these “changing” words are a sign of building expectation. Sometimes in storytelling
you’ll want to pay off those expectations with their natural conclusions; other times it would be best to
do something unexpected. The more you create anticipation and pay it off with expected conclusions,
the more effective an unexpected result will be. As much as I hate jump-scares in horror movies,
they’re pretty effective for this reason. Back to the exercise. Remember, we’re going to deal with the
height, the levels of squash and stretch, and some timing alteration.

“Anticipation, at its core, is about stringing

events together in a visually meaningful way.”

PART III
“Decreasing Max Height”
18. The first height is fine, but we need to make the second up position lower.
Locate its keyframe (hint: it’s frame 81). Move the ball straight down until
the ball is about one-third its own height lower. Image BB4.18

19. Now that the ball bounces lower, it shouldn’t be in the air as long—so the
timing must be adjusted. Just take three frames out of each tween in the
second bounce sequence (tween spans from frames 70–81 and 81–92).
You should be comfortable performing this action by now (highlight the
amount of frames, right-click, and Remove Frames). After the timing

Image BB4.18

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 is adjusted like this, the movie will end on frame 91.
Image BB4.19

20. Let’s adjust some of these squashes and stretches, starting

with the first squash on frame 40. If we really want to
create anticipation, the ball should have more squash on
it. It should look like a balloon almost ready to pop. Select
that frame and give the ball slightly more squash. I used
Image BB4.19
the Transform panel with values of H:125% and V:75%.

Chapter 4
Realign to the ground. Image BB4.20

21. One final alteration before we continue with

the squash/stretch changes. With this new,

ANTICIPATION
more intense squash, the slow out applied
to the first “jump” should be more intense
as well. Click that tween (between frame 46
and 57) and open the Easing Editor. Drag
the left edit point’s handle all the way to
the left so that it’s pointing straight up and
extend it to reach around 80%. You can see
the curve change as you drag. The more
vertical the beginning part of the curve is, the
more speed the tween will have at the start. Image BB4.20
Image BB4.21

22. Do the same as you did for the squash in step 20 for the next keyframe’s stretch (H:75%,
V:125%) on frame 46. Image BB4.22

23. Skipping the next bounce’s squash and stretch,

move onto the final set of keyframes. Adjust
these to have less of each. For instance, the

Image BB4.21 Image BB4.22

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Book 1.indb 79 22/09/2016 10:15

 stretch on frame 86 should still be 80/120 horizontal/vertical. We want to change these
settings to something less stretched like 85/115. To really get the sense that the bouncing
is coming to a stop, each successive squash/stretch should be less. So if that stretch was
85/115, the next squash should be 110/90 followed by the final stretch at 95/105. But feel
free to play around with it! And finally, don’t forget to realign it. Image BB4.23a, BB4.23b,
and BB4.23c

Image BB4.23a Image BB4.23b Image BB4.23c

I know that was a long one, but you’ll definitely want to be testing this movie. Look what’s been
created. Now we’re on a roll! This single, 3.5-second, looping video incorporates the four principles
we’ve covered so far (Timing, Slow In/Out, Squash and Stretch, and Anticipation) as well as a myriad
of tools and functions in Animate CC and multiple ways to use them … with hotkeys! We created new
keyframes, copied some over, and altered almost all of them to fit our needs. Now might be a good time
to go back to your folder and one by one open up and view each SWF created in this main exercise
for each chapter. See how they compare. This movie is vastly different than what we started with,
and we’re still working from the exact same ball! It’s just one symbol; we haven’t even altered it
from Chapter 1. If you’re following along with the bouncing ball exercises, skipping the real-world
examples for now, and itching to finally draw something more than a circle, don’t worry. We will
get into drawing (obviously, since one of the 12 Principles is literally called “Solid Drawing”) in the
later chapters.

The held squash before the jump in our bouncing ball in this chapter adds a lot to the following
action. Before it happens, you know what’s going to likely happen. How anticlimactic would it be if
after intensely squashing like that, the ball just sort of went back to its normal position? There are
really only two options your brain wants: either jump or explode, because either way that energy
has to go somewhere. If it doesn’t, it’ll just feel wrong. Breaking this rule to surprise your audience
is effective but if you don’t do it in the right way they will feel tricked and robbed of a proper payoff
(see horror movie jump scares comment from the previous interlude). Anticipation is like a promise
to the viewer, “this is what’s coming next.” It’s been used on the stage for centuries. When playing
up to an audience in the back of the theater, actors would need to make their actions readable.

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 Inserting anticipation into their movements was one way to help convey the following action better
for everyone watching.

One of my favorite examples of anticipation used in acting is basically every punch thrown by
Harrison Ford in any movie. He’s a master of acting in action. When Indiana Jones is fighting
the big, bald mechanic by the plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark, every punch is preceded by a huge
windup. Each time, Indy leans back and brings his fist up next to his head while lifting his elbow
high. If you were to take a picture of that moment, what else could possibly be coming next? He’s
not answering a phone. In real life, obviously a punch like that would never land because you would

Chapter 4
see it coming from a mile away. It’s the very definition of telegraphing a punch. But on stage, film,
and in animation, this anticipation sets up
our audience for an emotional reaction,
one way or the other. When the promise

ANTICIPATION
is kept there’s a feeling of jubilation, for
our hero has landed a solid shot. When
the promise is stifled, either by missing or
the punch’s apparent ineffectiveness due
to the iron chin of his villain, the emotion
shifts to distress. Anticipation has taken
the fight scene and upped the emotional
ante.

“Anticipation is like a promise

to the viewer, ‘this is what’s
coming next.’” Image 4.1

CLOSER LOOK
Advanced Easing Editor
You have learned so much about the layout, terms, and movement tools in Animate CC. These are usually
what people have the hardest time learning when first starting. Everyone knows what something called
the “Pencil Tool” does, but not many know about the “Easing panel.” There’s a level of intimidation
with this new stuff which can stilt creativity. By focusing on the movement aspects first, we have
covered a whole area around what it takes to make things move in Animate CC. and how it can help.
You’re one-third of the way to the end of the book and things will, of course, get more involved from
here. But as the concepts and execution get more detailed, the tools are more intuitive after this point.

What we’ll do in this section is look at what more can be done with the Easing panel. So far we’ve
been able to adjust the curve of a simple slow in or slow out to be more intense (obviously you can
do the opposite as well), and we’ve also created an “S” curve to apply a slow in and out to the same
tween (as in the case of the closer look section of Chapter 2). We’ve also compared the Custom Ease

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 graph to Timing Charts in traditional animation. But there’s something we can do with the Easing
panel that can’t be replicated on a single Timing Chart.

You’ve seen that there is an edit point at the bottom-left of the graph (start) and the top-right (end).
This time, we’ll be creating new points along the line to make a more sophisticated easing graph and
create a “quivering” look to the ball during the anticipatory squash. Don’t forget to Save As your file.
This time, since we’re exploring two ways of doing the same thing, save it with a “- closer look –
method 1” suffix on it so that we don’t lose any work
we’ve done.

“Quiver, Method 1:
Tween”
1. Open the Easing Editor for the first tween in
order to cause a quivering effect, it’s a “two
steps forward, one step back” kind of situation.
In this case, we want the ball to squash a little,
then unsquash a little less, and continue that
until reaching the end. Keep in mind going
forward that Cmd/Ctrl+Z does work to undo any
mistake you make in here. Image CL4.1
Image CL4.1
2. The quiver shouldn’t start until the slow out
since that’s the moment of most tension, so click
on the graph after the halfway point to create
a new edit point. I chose just before the 25th
frame. (Pro-tip: If you need to delete a point,
hold Alt and click the point you want to delete.)
Image CL4.2

3. Now we want to create a few more points to the

right of this last one. These will be our “anchor
points” on the original tween. Try making the Image CL4.2
“anchor points” spaced in a slow in and out
fashion. In other words, they should get denser
in the middle of the grouping than the beginning
and end. I put seven more points in this way
(spaced wide, spaced narrow, and then wide
again). Image CL4.3

4. Now we need “quiver points” where we take a

step back before returning to the next “anchor
point.” Click and drag down a point inbetween
the first two “anchor points” to de-squash Image CL4.3

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 the ball a little. So if you click a point on the
25th frame position which should be around
80%, drag that down to around 70% so that it’s
lower than our previous point (which should be
around 75ish). Image CL4.4

5. Do the same as you did in step 4 to create “quiver

points” between each of the “anchor points” you
created in step 3. Try to also do these in a slow

Chapter 4
in/out fashion proportional to the amount they’re Image CL4.4
pulled down. Image CL4.5

6. You should now have something that looks like

ANTICIPATION
a small earthquake went off on the last half of
our tween. You can press the play button in the
Easing Editor now to see what it looks like. You
can adjust to your heart’s content, and when
you’re satisfied click OK to save the tween.

This kind of special manipulation of the Easing Editor

in Animate CC is what makes it so valuable. There’s
one line on the graph to deal with, any point you
create you can undo or delete, each point is editable Image CL4.5
in both position and curve that comes before and after
it … this is the type of functionality we want from programs. It only gets more complicated as we add
more features to our own project. It’s directly scalable in this way to the user’s skill level.

Even though the ability is there, you don’t have to do this kind of graph manipulation at all. What
you will see next is how to make similar adjustments by moving the keyframes around instead.
This method won’t allow for the kind of flexibility that the Easing Editor does, but it is a bit more
tangible (if I can use that term in a book on digital animation) and straight forward in understanding.
Many animators I know, including myself, actually still use this method from time to time because in
certain situations it can be a hair faster to get an expected
result. Before doing anything, Save As and add the suffix
“- method 2.”

“Quiver, Method 2: Manual”

7. First, let’s undo what we did in this section so far.
Open the Easing Editor for the first tween again,
and press the Reset button. You should see our
beautiful, but slightly complicated, graph turn back
to a single, ramp-like line. Click OK. Image CL4.7
Image CL4.7

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 8. Our tween’s easing is
set back to 0. We still
want the first half of the
squash span to slow in. Image CL4.8
Click a frame halfway down the tween (about frame 21) and create a keyframe. Image CL4.8

9. Select the newly sectioned first tween and apply a slow in (ease of –100). Image CL4.9

10. Do the same as step 3

for the second tween
(between frame 21 and
40) but this time with a Image CL4.9
slow out. Image CL4.10

11. What we want to do

now is make each one
of these frames along
the slow out portion of
the tween, a keyframe. Image CL4.10
Click and drag from
frame 21 to frame 39
(not keyframe 40) to
highlight all 19 frames
and press F6. The tween Image CL4.11
is now broken up into a
keyframe for every
frame. Image CL4.11

12. Each frame still has a

tween applied to it. These
legacy tweens will get
confusing if we don’t
remove that, so with
Image CL4.12
all the 19 frames still
selected from step 5 right-click and select Remove Tween. Image CL4.12

13. With these frames, we’ll apply the “step forward, step back” pattern literally. But first we
need to create a little space. Select frame 25 and press F5 to insert a frame (we’ll remove this
later). Image CL4.13

14. For sake of clarity, let’s

call the frame directly
to the right of the space Image CL4.13
our “base” keyframe.
Currently it’s on frame 27. Now take the frame to the right of that base keyframe (that would

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 be frame 28) and click-and-drag it back into
the space (frame 26). Image CL4.14

15. Repeat the process in step 8 down the line

until you get to a couple frames before the Image CL4.14
end (moving key 38 to frame 36 is a good
place to stop). Image CL4.15

16. Right-click on the space and select Remove

Chapter 4
Frames. Image CL4.16
Image CL4.15
Now when you test the movie, you can see what
effect it had on the final. It looks almost identical,
though “method 2” probably has a more subtle quiver effect to it. A

ANTICIPATION
lot of people (myself included) find this method easier to understand
on a visceral level. The real benefit to this method is if you have a
longer tween where you want a shutter like this, you can get right
in there and make it happen. The Easing Editor window doesn’t get
any bigger or smaller (as of the writing of this book), so if you need
the frequency of the quiver to be high, then it’s probably easier just
to move the individual frames than try to get the edit points on the Image CL4.16
graph close enough together to get you the effect that you want. Conversely, the biggest benefit to
“method 1” is its ability to easily control and edit the amount of the quiver.

As with all things, both methods clearly have their benefits and their weaknesses, and it’s up
to you to decide which one should be employed at any given moment. A lot of traditional
animation was about manipulating the spacing of keyframes. Even the original masters of animation,
like Ollie Johnston, would manipulate the spacing of frames often when blocking out a shot,
apparently much to the chagrin of the animation assistant responsible for deciphering the scarcely
legible frame numbers on each sheet and applying the inbetweens according to the Timing Chart.
If you notice the comparison here, Animate CC is our assistant animator. At least we don’t hear
complaints from the program for changing things around and all of the numbers are perfectly
readable.

A big part of this book is exposing you to different workflows, not just the simple tools. Workflows
are kind of like the unseen signature of artists, and you’ll often hear animators talk about how they
accomplish the exact same thing. Everyone has their tricks of the trade and methods that help them
cut those unnecessary corners to get right to the creative core of their work. Which corners an
animator decides are unnecessary is what makes them unique. Everyone has a different focus in
their work and, not that it’s reading tea leaves or anything, but you can tell a lot about a person by
the way they animate. You will increasingly find that as you progress with bringing these traditional
principles into the digital world of creation, the goals you have will ultimately result in adopting
certain methods and rejecting others. This progression all culminates in creating a workflow that’s
very “you.”

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 Image 4.2  Two alterations to timing and one of them with changes in spacing could make for
a messy Timing Chart (top right), which is hard for an assistant animator to follow. These same
changes (below, left to right) are altered by Animate CC in real time with no complaints.

“You can tell a lot about a person by the way they animate.”

Using Anticipation by “Knowing Your Purpose”

If you have the opportunity, watch some Olympic fencing and then compare and contrast with
Inigo Montoya fighting the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride (1987). You’ll see some drastic
differences. The major one is that real fencing is all about “economy of motion.” The fencer wants
to be quick and efficient, which directly leads to their effectiveness. It’s completely the opposite in
movies. First and foremost, you want to tell a story. Second, there needs to be an emotional reaction
to the fight as it progresses. Finally, it needs to be clearly understood by the majority of the non-
fencing audience. One thing you’ll notice is not on this list: whether or not it would actually work in
a real-life sword fight. That’s not important at all … not even a little.

What if in Peter Pan (1953) those great Disney animators were worried about the economy of motion
in Peter’s fight with Captain Hook? There would be no flare, no fun, we would have absolutely no
idea what was happening during that scene nor would we probably care. He also could’ve just flown
over Captain Hook with a big net and then delivered the old codfish to Tick-Tock the Croc—done and
done. But that wouldn’t be an entertaining climax either. Each sword thrust, slash, and attempted
death-by-hook attack had a wonderful anticipatory action in front of it. This made everything readable
to the audience so that they could be invested in the story. I understand that Disney didn’t write the
original play (J. M. Barrie did), but in both the play and the Disney animated film, anticipation was

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 used to heighten the emotional connection of the audience to the action
played out in front of them.

Let’s look at one more film reference. This one is from even earlier:
the 1925 silent film masterpiece The Phantom of the Opera, with the
great Lon Cheney as the Phantom. The famous unmasking scene is
one with almost unparalleled anticipation and ultimate payoff. As
Christine Daae, played by Mary Philbin, very slowly approaches the
Phantom from behind as he’s distracted playing the organ, there’s a

Chapter 4
look of equal parts fear and delight on her face. She’s intensely curious
about what is under that mask. The camera shows a profile two-shot
of Christine and the Phantom (the disconnected observer view) as her
hands get close to the mask. First time she’s close to the mask she

ANTICIPATION
pulls her hands back in a moment of trepidation but then goes back
to pursuing this desire to satisfy her curiosity. The anticipation is
extremely high in those moments. What will he look like under there?
What will he do when she rips it off? When the moment finally comes
and Christine lifts the mask off the Phantom, the camera immediately
cuts to a shot from the front of Phantom, now fully unmasked. It’s an
incredibly up-close and personal view and a terrifying reveal to the
audience. But there’s another layer of anticipation because Christine
is shown still standing behind him. We, the audience, have seen
what horrors lie beneath the mask and how angry he is about being
revealed, but Christine hasn’t yet. That moment lasts a full 3 seconds
as he quickly stands up and turns around, now out of frame, with
Christine taking the full attention on screen and recoiling in terror. We
get anticipation, payoff, more anticipation, and more payoff—all in the
same brilliant scene.

“Anticipation is like salt in cooking; it intensifies the

flavor that’s there.”
Each of these examples has taken us back through the decades of film
all the way to the silent era. Because it was so prevalent in theater,
the closer you get to the beginning of film the more obvious the use
of Anticipation is to see. It makes sense for silent films because they
lived and died on pantomime. Charlie Chaplin is a perfect case, but even
contemporaries like Rowan Atkinson’s Mr. Bean use the same methods.
In order to use this principle properly, you must know the purpose Image 4.3  The Phantom
of the scene. If it is to highlight the sword-fighting skill of your hero, of the Opera (1925)
you’ll want those special moves to be anticipated before they happen. unmasking scene,
In the event you want to scare your audience, make them worry about progression order top to
what might happen next (but don’t forget to make the pay-off actually bottom.

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 satisfying). At its core, Anticipation is all about leading the audience into predicting a following action,
whatever that may be, to better sell the impact when it does (or does not) happen. Anticipation is
like salt in cooking; it intensifies the flavor that’s there. This principle may take different forms, but
it always plays that same roll.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
“Pitching A Bomb”

Principles Used
Timing: Though this principle is the lynchpin to many
scenes, it plays a big part in anything which also employs
Anticipation. The timing of how long it takes for the bomb’s
wick to run out, the windup sequence to elapse, and when
the bomb finally goes off will make or break the scene. For
this scene, it will enhance the anticipation and make the
payoff more enjoyable.

Staging: To clearly see the pitcher, what’s he’s doing and

what’s in his hand, proper staging is needed. The size
difference between him and the bomb is a large one, so we
have to make sure that the focus is on what’s in his hand
and the fact his eyes/brain don’t notice it. Then when the
windup for the pitch comes, we need to see the whole action,
so this final lead-up to the payoff doesn’t become muddy
when everything before it was so clear.

Solid Drawing: This principle is mostly needed in a big way

for the windup to the pitch. There are perspective changes
in the pitcher’s form, so in order to make sure he doesn’t
seem flat and the illusion isn’t destroyed before the final
joke, solid drawing will take care of maintaining the volume Image 4.4
and strength of form of the character.

Arcs: Again, the windup sequence will need to follow arcs to clearly follow what’s happening. Arcs
also reinforce the living, organic nature of the character which emphasizes the illusion of life … before
a cartoon bomb explodes in his face.

Pose to Pose/Straight Ahead: To finish the rough animation of the windup, employing both Pose to
Pose and Straight Ahead action will be needed. The keys are already sketched out in blue, which is
the bulk of the pose to pose work, and a couple breakdowns in red on your part couldn’t hurt. The
Straight Ahead work will be most useful between these frames.

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 Anticipation: The namesake of this chapter comes into
play in two ways—story and movement. The anticipation
present in the story is the audience waiting and watching
the wick burn closer to the end, while reversing the
forward movement and adding an anticipatory beat in the
windup help the audience follow and expect the movement,
leading to a better payoff.

Setting Up

Chapter 4
Open the project file “ch4-real_world-pitcher.fla” provided
on the companion website. There are three main parts to
this scene: the ball being replaced by the bomb, the windup,

ANTICIPATION
and the explosion. I have provided rough animation for
the windup sequence (“on twos,” which means I drew one
image for every two frames) for you to follow along so you
may focus on how to do cleanup on a more complicated
shot than you may be used to up till now. There’s a lot
Image 4.5  The rough animation for the
going on here, and a lot of animation principles to keep
“windup” sequence is provided for you.
in mind. Working out the timing between the shots will
(Note: Screengrab from Flash CS6 to
be a lot like what we worked through in Chapter 1’s real-
show separate frames with colors as
world example, “Looking Around.” The process of working
they are.)
through the windup sequence will be a lot like that in
Chapter 2’s real-world example, “Heavy Lifting.” And the wick burning and explosion employ loops
like in Chapter 3’s “Chewing” example.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, there are technically more principles at work than the ones
listed—these are just the major players in the scene. You’ll notice other principles being brought up
in the steps, because they need to be considered. As always, remember that as you move through the
steps there are many ways to do the same thing. This example is another step forward to show the
Tradigital animation workflow: using symbols and tweening within Animate CC to aid in precision
and reduce the workload, and calling for frame-by-frame animation with digital drawing tools for the
more complicated movements. Animate CC is acting 100 percent as a tool for the creation of “hand-
drawn” animation. Tradigital “hand-drawn” animation is the slight update to traditional methods and
techniques which results from the use of digital tools that aid in illustration and movement. From now
on, there will be even less explanation of each step. Follow the cleanup methods from the previous
chapters’ real-world examples to finish the scene outlined in the rough.

“Tradigital ‘hand-drawn’ animation is the slight update to traditional

methods and techniques which results from the use of digital tools that aid
in illustration and movement.”

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 “The Switch”
1. The pitcher’s first pose has been created for you, so you will animate the mysterious hand
which comes out and replaces the baseball for a bomb. There are mainly just key drawings
(in blue) in the rough animation for this sequence
(some breakdowns in red) so there’s a lot of room
for experimentation in how you clean this up. I opted
to create a symbol for the arm (“mystery_arm”),
and inside that create another symbol for the hand
(“mystery_arm-hand”) with the registration point at
the wrist on a layer above the arm. The hand symbol’s
internal timeline is extended a few seconds and set to
“Play Once” starting from frame 1. This will allow a
range of motion for the hand to express, demonstrate
overlapping action, and be able to hold objects while
the instance of the whole arm (including hand) will be
tweened on stage. Image PB4.1 Image PB4.1

2. Back on the main stage, drag an instance of the “mystery_arm” symbol onto a new layer you
create in the cleanup folder called “mystery arm.” The layer is best positioned at the top of
the folder. On the first frame, make sure it’s set to “Play Once” from frame 1, and then using
keyframes (F6), Free Transform Tool (Q), and classic tweens apply its movement across the
stage as presented in the rough animation. Use appropriate easing. We’ll address the hand
animation in the following steps. Image PB4.2

Image PB4.2

3. First we’ll deal with the differing hand

designs. At frame 60, you should see that
the once open hand of the mystery arm
closes around the baseball in the pitcher’s
hand. Double click the mystery arm’s hand
until you’re inside the “mystery_arm-hand”
instance, insert a blank keyframe (F7)
and clean up the design as shown in the
rough. Image PB4.3

4. Still in the “mystery_arm-hand” symbol, create

a new layer below the one with the hand
and insert blank keyframe (F7) on the same
frame (60). Drag the baseball from the library Image PB4.3

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 here and line it up with the one you can see the pitcher holding ghosted on the main stage.
This is the first handoff point.

5. Look back at the main timeline and determine where the mystery arm is out of view to
the audience (I chose frame 70) and where the second handoff happens (frame 76). Where
the arm is out of view to audience, back in
the “mystery_arm-hand” symbol insert a
keyframe (F6) on the baseball layer at this frame
and Swap Symbol with the “bomb.” Then insert

Chapter 4
Image PB4.5
a blank keyframe (F7) on frame 77 so it’s after
the handoff, since at this point in the scene the
bomb should be in the pitcher’s hand. A frame
or two will be enough to animate the hand

ANTICIPATION
from closed around the bomb to open again.
Image PB4.5

6. We want some overlap of the hands during

the handoffs to sell the idea that they’re
interacting. On the main timeline, create
a new layer above the mystery arm and
name it “thumb” since that’s all we’ll
need to sell the illusion. Copy and paste
in place the pitcher’s hand to the thumb Image PB4.6
layer to a blank keyframe (F7) at the first
handoff (frame 60). With the instance
highlighted, Break Apart (Cmd/Ctrl+B)
the hand symbol and delete everything
but the object with the thumb. Turn Image PB4.7
on outline view on the thumb layer
and use the Eraser Tool (E) to remove everything covering up the mystery arm’s thumb
but not the baseball. Image PB4.6

7. Create a keyframe (F6) at the next handoff frame (76) so it will serve the same function there
and then insert blank keyframes (F7) on the frames immediately after the handoffs (61 and
77). Image PB4.7

8. Finalize the mystery arm animation by rotating the hand and tweening where appropriate
in the “mystery_arm” symbol itself to add some acting and overlapping action to this mostly
hidden character.

9. To complete the switch, you’ll need to enter the pitcher’s “hand” symbol at the moment
where the mystery arm gives the bomb to the pitcher (frame 76), insert a keyframe (F6) and
Swap Symbol of the “baseball” for the “bomb.” And finally, still in the “hand” symbol, you’ll
need to insert a blank keyframe (F7) on the “ball/bomb” layer at the moment the mystery arm

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 takes the baseball away from the pitcher (frame
60). Image PB4.9

“Wick Burning”
10. The bomb and spark symbols have been provided
for you, now you need to animate the wick burning.
We will be using motion guides (if you’re following
the suggested reading path as outlined in this
book’s Introduction, these guides are described in
Chapter 5’s closer look section). Enter the “bomb”
symbol by double-clicking it in the library and
you’ll see two layers: bomb and wick. The wick is a
simple, curved line. Image PB4.9

11. The “bomb_spark” symbol is an FX loop of the

sparks flying off the wick as it burns—it will travel
along a guide which hasn’t been set yet. Create a new
layer in between the bomb and wick layers, name it
“spark,” and drag the “bomb_spark” symbol from the
library onto the stage on that layer. Make sure it’s set
to loop from frame 1.

12. Since the wick is just a single line and that’s what we
want the spark to travel down, this can act as the guide.
Create a new layer above the “spark” layer and name it
“guide.” Copy the line on the wick layer, paste in place
on the guide layer, and drag the spark symbol so that
it connects with the end of the wick (make sure Snap to Image PB4.12
Objects is on and the transform point should lock onto
the line tip). Image PB4.12

13. We want to create a good anticipation buildup as

the spark travels down the wick and timing will
help us determine the length needed for the span
to do that. I used 4.5 seconds. Create a keyframe
there on the “spark” layer, drag the instance of the
spark symbol down to the base of the wick until
it connects like in the previous step. It might help
to momentarily hide the “bomb” layer while doing
this. Image PB4.13

14. Knowing that the mystery arm will be holding the

bomb for a few frames, apply a classic motion tween Image PB4.13

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 with no slow in or out (easing setting of 0) starting a few frames in (I chose to start the span
at frame 10). (Note: because the spark animation is rather random looking and the handoff
happens so quickly, it was not important to match the internal timeline of the bomb symbols
between the mystery arm and the pitcher’s hand. The only thing at risk of being an obvious jump
to the viewer would be the spark traveling down the wick. This is why we left these few frames
as a buffer for that motion.)

15. Guide the “guide” layer (you probably saw that step coming) and drag the “spark” layer into
it until it becomes parented to the guide. Hit Enter on your keyboard to quick test this tween

Chapter 4
span and make sure the spark is following the path.

16. We want the wick to burn away. Hide every layer except “wick” and create a layer above
it called “mask” (because of the order of your actions, this layer and “wick” should be the

ANTICIPATION
only two visible layers). On this layer, draw a
rectangle which covers the entire wick line but
stops just at the right-most edge. (Pro-tip: it’s
best to create masks using a fill color with some
Alpha, like 50%, so that you can see through
them. Whatever the mask covers is what will
be shown when everything is locked, so to work
with them it’s good to have this x-ray vision to
Image PB4.16
know what it is exactly that you will be showing).
Image PB4.16

17. Insert a keyframe (F6) on the “mask” layer

at the end of the timeline and manipulate
the existing rectangle so that it is now
only covering the left-most portion of the
wick. Insert a keyframe at the beginning of
the span chosen in step 14 (I chose frame
10) and apply a shape tween between the
two keyframes with no slow in or out.
Image PB4.17 Image PB4.17

18. Turn the layer we named “mask” into an

actual mask layer and drag the “wick”
layer into it until one parents the other.
Lock all layers and make sure they’re
all visible except for “guide.” Now if the
timing ends up being wrong, all you need
to fix it is add or remove frames in this Image PB4.18  After parenting and locking the
timeline and the tweens will do the rest. mask, you should see the spark burn away the
Image PB4.18 wick like this (left to right).

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 The “Animate” Difference: Paint Brush Tool

Image AD3
tweened. Any vector line can also have an Art
There’s a new tool in Animate CC called the Brush applied to it after it’s drawn, no matter
Paint Brush Tool (Y), bot to be confused with which tool created it (such as the Pencil or
the Brush Tool (B). If you’ve used Adobe Line tools). Art Brushes are found in the
Flash in the past, the easiest way to think of Brush Library by clicking its icon next
the Paint Brush is that it is an enhanced Pencil to “Style” in the Fill and Stroke area of the
Tool (Shift+Y). With the Paint Brush, you Properties Panel. Note: The hotkey Y in Adobe
can draw with “Art Brushes” directly on the Flash brought up the Pencil Tool, but it brings
Stage. If you’ve used Adobe Illustrator you up the Paint Brush Tool in Adobe Animate.
will be familiar with Art Brushes, which are Since this book was designed to work with any
essentially images that can be drawn in as version of Adobe Flash/Animate, we will be
lines (like the clouds shown in Image AD3). using the Pencil Tool whose hotkey in Animate
The big benefit of these Art Brushes is that CC is Shift +Y. So if you’re a Flash user, anytime
they are treated as normal vector lines, which you see Shift +Y simply press Y instead to bring
means that they are easily adjusted and up the Pencil Tool.

Interlude
The windup is a bit more complicated of a cleanup process than previously seen in this book because
of the way the pitcher character is designed. In Chapter 2’s “Heavy Lifting,” for example, all the
features were relatively simple Graphic Symbols except for the design of the hands. Because of
that, we were able to apply classic tweens to almost all the action. There were some shape tweens
symblified in the body symbol but the only feature that needed a frame-by-frame, hand-drawn
approach was the hands themselves. With this pitcher character, the body is drawn with the Brush
Tool to let the shirt have creases, folds, and weighted (thick-to-thin) lines. This type of body design
can be set up to be cleaned up with a series of shape tweens inside a symbol that would be classically
tweened on stage, but the windup shot is just a hair under 1 second in length so it would be more
time efficient to clean it up by hand, frame-by-frame, with the Brush Tool. There are a couple of
changes of perspective for the rest of the features, such as the thigh, glove hand, and upper arm.

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 We will use the other methods we’ve gone over so far like swapping symbols, symblification, and
shape tweens to make these transitions happen smoothly.

“Windup”
19. Looking at the rough animation, we need to determine in which order we’re going to clean up
each feature. Since the head doesn’t change (it’s an “easy”) and looks like it’s traveling in the
most interesting arc, we’ll let this guide the
cleanup. To achieve its movement we’ll use

Chapter 4
a motion guide. But first we need to find
the correct arc. Use the arc double-check
method described at the end of Chapter

ANTICIPATION
5’s bouncing ball section (that is, go frame
by frame through the rough animation
and put a dot at each head position on a
newly created layer). (Note: if you click on
the “head” symbol in the library you’ll see
the registration point is at the base of the Image PB4.19  (Note: Screengrab from Flash CS6
jaw, so you’ll use that point to track the to show separate frames with different color as
arc.) Image PB4.19 they are)

20. Create a new layer above the “head” layer

in the cleanup folder, name it “guide,” and
insert a blank keyframe (F7) at the start
of the windup sequence (frame 161). Use
the Line Tool (N) to create a line and then
manipulate it by using the Selection Tool (V)
to pull at the curves and holding Cmd/Ctrl to
drag out new vector points (as demonstrated
in Chapter 8’s closer look section, steps 8–12)
to match the arc which became apparent
Image PB4.21
through dots on the previous step.

21. Turn the “guide” into an actual guide layer, parent it with the “head” layer below, and insert
keyframes and apply tweens as necessary to achieve the proper timing and slow in and out as
demonstrated in the rough animation. Image PB4.21

22. The next thing I like to work on is the feet (they are “easies”). You’ll notice the right foot
doesn’t move, it stays planted. The left, however, is picked up after pushing off so the pitcher
can balance on the right. Focus on matching the animation for the left foot demonstrated in
the rough with classic tweens and whatever easing is necessary.

23. The next set of easy features are the right shin and thigh and the left shin. Match the
animation as shown in the rough using classic tweens.

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 24. If you compare the first and last keys in the rough animation for the windup sequence you’ll
notice that the designs of the left thigh are different. Scrolling through the rough, though,
you’ll see that the transition between designs happens in just a couple of frames as the leg is
lifted. We’ll clean up this animation by swapping symbols but first we need a symbol for the
end design. Insert a blank keyframe (F7) at the end
of the sequence (frame 183) and using the Brush
Tool (B), clean up the end left thigh design. (Pro-tip:
to get the thigh shape to be filled with the color of the
pants, use the Line Tool (N) to close off the shape at
the hip and knee areas, fill with the pants color using
the Paint Bucket Tool (K) and then delete the lines.)

25. Turn the left thigh image you drew in the previous
step into a Graphic Symbol named “thigh_left-2” (since
the existing symbol was named “thigh_left”) and then
move the pivot point which is visible with the Free
Transform Tool (Q) to the hip. (Note: once created, you
may enter the symbol, move the image so the registration
point is at the hip, return to the main timeline and realign
as I did. But because it’s the end of the scene, this is the
only time this symbol will be used. So for our purposes,
as long as the pivot point is in the correct place it doesn’t Image PB4.25
matter where the registration point is.) Image PB4.25

26. The transition between thigh designs should happen in the moment where the feature is covering
the greatest space, which in this case is when the left leg is being lifted (frames 175–177). Insert a
keyframe (F6) at frame 175 and position the “thigh_left” instance to align with the rough.

27. Insert a blank keyframe (F7) at frame 177, copy/paste in place the “thigh_left-2” instance
created in step 25 here, and position it to align with the rough.

28. Insert a blank keyframe (F7) at frame 176, hide every layer except “thigh left,” turn on
onion skin and adjust the span to only view one frame before and after and then draw an
inbetween frame for the left thigh to transition between the two designs. Image PB4.28

29. Now that the “problem” area of the sequence for the left thigh is taken care of, clean up the
spans before and after it with keyframes and tweens.

30. Clean up the left arm (not the glove, yet). Use shape tweens for the sleeve and classic tweens
for the bicep and forearm. (Note: depending on how you want to achieve the end pose, you
could draw a different image for the end bicep design and apply the tween the same way as we
did for the left thigh.)

31. There are three different designs sketched in the rough animation for the glove hand. You can
see them on frames 175, 177, and 181. Clean the last two designs up the same way you did

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 Chapter 4
ANTICIPATION
Image PB4.28

with the left thigh (naming the symbols you create

glove-2 and 3 in the order they appear on the
timeline). Image PB4.31

32. Inbetweening these designs with new hand-drawn

images isn’t entirely necessary because the glove
is moving fast enough across the stage that an
Image PB4.31
implied transition will fool the eye. So to save
time, using the same method keyframe and onion
skin setup as we did for the thigh, we will use the
Free Transform Tool (Q) on the transition frames
(176 and 180) to squash, stretch, and/or skew the
symbol instance on those frames to get as close to
an inbetween as possible. (Note: you may want to
keyframe and position the “glove-2” instance to the
rough on frame 179 to complete the second of the
two transition frames.) Image PB4.32

33. Finish the cleanup of the glove hand using classic

tweens. Use frame-by-frame dragging of the
symbol into position where necessary if it comes
off the arc shown in the rough animation (such
as when it’s being picked up from the knee to the
head). Image PB4.32

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 34. Now we’ve arrived at the body animation. This is best
cleaned up using good, old-fashioned, traditional, frame-
by-frame, hand-drawn animation using the Brush Tool (B).
First, lock every layer except for “body,” turn outline view
on for everything except the “body” layer and the rough
animation folder, and finally drag the entire rough animation
folder below the cleanup folder. Now you can use onion skin
mode and reference the rough animation as needed. But
while I did the rough animation on twos (one drawing for
every two frames) you will need the cleanup to be on ones
(one drawing for every frame). (Note: I cleaned this sequence
up myself by working on the key (blue) and breakdown (red)
frames from the rough and then mostly animating straight-
Image PB4.34
ahead between them (using my own inbetweens from the
rough, drawn in green, as a reference).) Image PB4.34

35. The last things left for cleanup are the features making up
the right arm. The sleeve and arm are only in view for a
short time so it will be easy to clean those up. Use shape
tweens for the sleeve and classic tweens for the forearm.

36. The hand is currently on a layer above the body but needs
to disappear behind the body. Insert a new layer below
everything except the left sleeve and forearm and name
it “hand-BACK.” Clean up the hand animation as normal
(keyframe and classic tween) and when the move from
front to back needs to happen, copy/paste in place the
“hand” instance from its existing layer to this new one
(don’t delete anything though, this is an overlapping
moment). Frame 165 is the perfect place for a transition
Image PB4.36
like that because it’s not covering up or being covered
by anything. Image PB4.36

37. At the very next frame (167) on the layer we’re

transitioning from (the layer labeled “hand”), insert
a blank keyframe (F7) so the hand disappears from
the “hand” layer in front of the body and continues to
be shown on the “hand-BACK” layer which is behind
the body. The transition should be seamless. Continue
with the cleanup of the hand symbol until complete.
Image PB4.37 Image PB4.37

Explosions fall under a specialty in animation: effects (FX) animation. They’re pretty hard to do even
for experienced character animators. When creating animated scenes or entire shorts by yourself,

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 there can only be so many specializations you endeavor to work through before hitting one that causes
an artistic problem for you. We’re going to treat this explosion as one of them and trick the shot by
going with a Wile E. Coyote-style large explosion. The effect is like this, a flashy series of multicolored
shapes to represent the actual explosion for about 1 second, and when it quickly dissipates it reveals
the ashed-over remains of the character (comically, of course).

“Payoff”
38. At the explosion rough key (frame 218), insert

Chapter 4
a layer called “explosion” and create a blank
keyframe (F7). Draw a jagged, star-like shape
with the Pencil Tool (Shift+Y). Repeat this

ANTICIPATION
process over and over until there are many of
these inside the one you drew as well as outside
(containing it) and they obscure the entire
screen. Image PB4.38

39. Use the Paint Bucket Tool (K) to fill in the shapes
with various “explosion-like” colors.

40. Draw one line through all the shapes with the
Pencil Tool (Shift+Y) so that all the lines are
now connected, double-click a line with the
Selection Tool (V) or Quick Selection (holding
down Cmd/Ctrl from any other tool) which
should select all the lines on the stage and Image PB4.38
Delete. Now all you are left with are the fill
colors. Image PB4.40

41. Select the explosion frame you’ve created

and turn it into a Graphic Symbol (F8) called
“fx-explosion.” And on its internal timeline,
repeat the previous three steps to create
three more images, one frame after the other.
These frames should create a flashing loop of
colored, star-like explosions.

42. Back on the main timeline, drag the playhead

forward about 0.5 seconds, insert a keyframe
(F6) on the explosion layer. With the instance
of “fx-explosion” highlighted on stage, locate
the Color Effect drop-down menu in the
Properties panel and select Alpha. Set it to 0%
so the instance looks to disappear on stage. Image PB4.40

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 43. Insert a keyframe (F6) halfway between the existing two keyframes on the “explosion” layer
and apply a classic tween between this new keyframe and the one created in the previous
step. If you quick test the footage you’ll see the explosion appear suddenly and then quickly
fade away.

44. Finally, drag back to the beginning of the

explosion (frame 218) and hide the explosion
layer. We’re going to be replacing our existing
character with an “explosed” version. Insert a
blank keyframe (F7) on every layer of the pitcher’s
cleanup at this frame and insert a layer above
them all called “pitcher boom” (because why not?).
Turn on onion skin and unlock the cleanup layers
so you can see your character from the previous
frame and draw a version of him like Wile E.
Coyote after an Acme explosion. This image will
be completely still for comedic effect, so only one
drawing needs to be created. Image PB4.44

45. For added effects, you can create a looping

animation showing smoke coming off of the
character, nest it in a Graphic Symbol (like
the chewing loop from Chapter 3’s real-world
exercise) and copy it to a couple of places on the
body. You may also add a nod (from the pitcher
Image PB4.44
to the catcher off-screen) during the wick
burning sequence and/or a settling tween after
the windup and before the explosion (to do
that you’ll have to make the last body image a
symbol to tween it. I did this in the completed file
which you can find on the companion website).
Image PB4.45

The big anticipation moment came into play in the

moments before the windup while the wick was slowly
burning down. Without it, the scene just wouldn’t work.
You can try it. Remove all the frames from every layer
during the moment where we see the wick burning
down and you’ll see just how flat, boring, and completely
unnecessary the scene is as a whole. You could’ve done Image PB4.45
all that work of animating for nothing, just because the
anticipation of the moment wasn’t established and the animation wasn’t pre-empted with a short bit
to let the audience know to pay attention to what they were about to see. Sometimes it’s difficult to

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 Chapter 4
Image 4.6  Scene progression for this real-world exercise is shown left to right and displays setup,
anticipation, and payoff.

ANTICIPATION
maintain focus on your animation in terms of what is best for the scene, but it’s always easy to think
in terms of what’s best for you and your time. And really, what’s the purpose of animating something
like this if it doesn’t work for the scene? It’s just wasted time, then.

In the case that you have spent all this time animating something like this scene and find out that
the timing is wrong and it’s affecting the feeling of anticipation, you can see how Animate CC can
really help to salvage the work you’ve already done. Frame-by-frame work will always need to
be redrawn, but in the case of the holding moment with the wick burning, the speed at which the
sparks travel down the wick, the amount of animation in the spark loop itself, and the time we spend
looking at that moment as a whole, Animate CC can help you adjust the timing to your liking since
it can redraw its own tweens on the fly. Knowing this strength is really key in being able to use this
program effectively in your work. Editing your work is just a fact of life—rarely does someone get it
right the first time. If you can save time on the editing, it can make you more confident in the choice
to take more time in the preparation and initial execution of the scene. This approach is the best way
to think about the benefit to this workflow because there’s nothing more valuable than taking care
the first time around. It’s the fear that you spend so long working on something and have to scrap it
all and redo it because some tiny little thing was wrong that made traditional, hand-drawn, frame-
by-frame animation so intimidating to many. If even half of this fear can be taken away, it makes the
whole process less headache inducing. Notice I said less—you’re doing animation after all.

FINAL WORDS
Anticipation
This principle is used for readability (looking off screen before showing what’s there),
intensifying interest in a following action (squashing the ball down before it bounds up in the
air), and tension in horror (Phantom), comedy (Mr. Bean), action (Indiana Jones), and drama (“will-
they, won’t-they?”). You’ll find that the more you think about the 12 Principles of Animation,

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 the  more  you’ll start to see their live-action equivalents in film and interpret them yourself
from everyday life.

“A well-constructed scene is made up of

a setup, payoff, and follow-through.”
Let’s say some kids are playing kickball. A ball rolls toward a boy. Boy kicks ball. What happened
right before he kicked the ball? Did he just stand there straight up and down, and when the ball
approached, his foot just shoots forward from this static, standing position? Is this boy a robot? Did
Skynet become self-aware already? Obviously, he must have wound up his kicking power in some
way first—either by leaning back to prepare for shifting his weight forward or by literally swinging
his entire leg back before letting the kick loose like a golf swing. When blocking out the shot, you
should know that the movement was anticipated by a pre-kick posture. The kick will slow in before
contact and slow out after, and the foot will travel in a smooth, pendulous arc.

Arcs! That’s the next chapter. Before we move on, though, remember that a well-constructed scene
is made up of a setup, payoff, and follow-through. Anticipation is the setup. Most jokes won’t be
very funny if you say the punchline and nothing else. So remember to use Anticipation. Remember
Harrison Ford’s punches. They are glorious.

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 Image 5.0  While every feature on the character follows a different path
they’re all clearly representable with smooth arcs. Even the relative
difference in the two characters’ motions can be seen through their arcs.
Zombie Cage Fighter by Stephen Brooks (RubberOnion.com), Creator and
Executive Producer Nathan Quarry (www.ZombieCageFighter.com).

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 Chapter 5
ARCS
INTRODUCING

Chapter 5
Arcs
The swing of an ax, a home-run hit,

ARCS
the sun across the sky … these all travel in arcs. A businessman
putting his briefcase on the table, a barista pouring coffee and
the mechanic putting a tire on your car all also follow arcs.
In animation terms, an Arc is a smooth path. It really seems
quite obvious when you think about it—or rather, act it out.
Do pretty much any singular motion (meaning something from
“point A to point B”) like bringing
a burger up to your mouth. Going
step by step through the motion
and acting out what would be the
frames, you’ll see that there isn’t
one moment where on the way
up to your mouth that delicious
burger suddenly ends up way off
path. Nor does your head veer
off course as it’s going to take a
bite. Tracing the path works with
practically any action. Think of
how odd it would look picking
something up to put it on a table
only to suddenly jitter to the left
for one-tenth of a second and come
back to your previous trajectory.
Living creatures mostly move in
nice, smooth arcs. Arcs will make
your animation flow. Image 5.1

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 Readability is very important in animation. I briefly mentioned it at the end of the last chapter. We’ll
go over it much more in the next chapter (“Staging”), but let me expand on it a little bit here. It’s
exactly what it sounds like: the ability of the viewer to clearly follow what is happening. Implementing
readability can be accomplished in many ways (strong silhouettes, clear layout, clever timing), but
chief among them is movement through smooth arcs. In the chapter on Anticipation we talked about
the setup leading to a payoff to fulfill an expectation; the same idea applies during the movement
itself. There’s a kind of superpower that pretty much everyone has, and that’s the ability to predict
motion’s trajectory. This ability is what allows you to play catch. In the air, a ball is constantly moving
and changing its size relative to your field of view
because it’s getting closer—but you can catch it.
Or maybe you can’t, I don’t know you, but “people”
can. Having basic life experience of periodically
seeing things thrown in the air (to you, near you,
or at you), your mind can now accurately see
the current path an object in a free-fall is taking
and predict the final position. In animation, we
replicate these trajectories, paths, and routes with
arcs.

For our bouncing ball exercise, arcs relate in

the most obvious way. Instead of making the
ball bounce up and down, we’re going to have it
bounce across the stage. If you close your eyes
and picture it, you already you know what it’ll look
like. But if you want another way to illuminate the
importance of arcs, imagine what it would look like
if the ball follows a straight line from the contact
position to the up position and back down again
while it’s moving left to right. These lines would Image 5.2 A ball bouncing across a room will
make a triangle shape and would look very stiff, have smooth arcs (below), not straight lines
wouldn’t they? The paths on the way up and down (above).
need to be connected into one smooth arc.

“In animation terms, an arc is a smooth path.”

BOUNCING BALL Arcs

Setting Up
This time we’re basically going to be skipping the last chapter and working off our FLA (Animate CC
project file) from Chapter 3 on Squash and Stretch. So before we do anything, open “bouncing ball

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 3 – squash stretch” and Save As to rename it “bouncing ball 5 – arcs.” It’s important to familiarize
yourself with what was done at this time in the exercises to know what is going to come next. In
Chapter 3, we had already picked out our timing, applied slow in/out and some squash and stretch.
Our work so far has resulted in a nice 25-frame loop.

The goal of this chapter’s exercise is to take that bouncing loop and make it move across the stage
in a convincing way. But this time we’re going to work a little differently. We’re essentially working
backward on the principle, meaning that we will do the animation and then use our understanding of
arcs to verify the quality of the path. In truth, this type of verification happens in traditional animation
all the time. Strangely, the principle of Arcs often plays more of a checks and balances roll. We can
do our best to plot out a smooth arc most of the time, but frequently its value is truly seen after we’ve
done our best and need an impartial judge.

Chapter 5
Since we’re building on what came before, we will be nesting our animation inside another symbol
to keep it separate. Nesting is a method by which we take animation and put it inside a symbol which
can then be moved around the stage as one unit. This technique is valuable for so many reasons,
the bulk of which we will see in later chapters. But even by the end of this exercise, your concept of

ARCS
what is possible within Animate CC will expand with this introduction of nested animation.

Like so many of these principles, there are a few methods of applying arcs to movement within Animate
CC, and they each have their strong suits. There will be another exercise in this chapter exploring a
tool seemingly designed specifically for this principle (I’m sure there are a lot of you who already know
what this tool will be: motion guides). That tool has its place, but not in what we want to do within
this first goal of bouncing the ball across the stage, and we will see why after this exercise is done.

“Nesting is a method by which we take animation and put it inside a

symbol which can then be moved around the stage as one unit.”

PART I
“Nesting The Animation”
1. Highlight all 25 frames of animation on the
main stage. (Pro-tip: clicking on the layer Image BB5.1
name, in this case “Layer 1,” to the left of
the timeline will select all frames on that
layer.) Image BB5.1

2. Right-click the highlighted section and

select Copy Frames. Image BB5.2

3. In the Library panel (Cmd/Ctrl+L) click the

icon at the lower left that looks like a piece Image BB5.2

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 of paper with one corner folded up to create a New Symbol
(alternatively, the hotkey is Cmd/Ctrl+F8. Intuitive, right?). We
want this new symbol to be a Graphic Symbol that will hold
our bouncing ball animation. Since you already have a symbol
named “ball,” let’s call this one “ball-bouncing” (object-action).
Image BB5.3

4. As we know from Chapter 1, you are now inside the symbol.

Right-click the first empty frame here and select Paste
Frames.

5. If you can’t see anything, select “Show All” from the Zoom
drop-down menu. Now you see that the bouncing ball from the
Image BB5.3
main timeline has been copied into this symbol. Image BB5.5

6. Above the stage, you see two clickable icons saying “Scene
1” and “ball-bouncing.” Since we’re inside the symbol, click
“Scene 1” to go back to the main timeline. Image BB5.6

7. We’ve now created the new bouncing ball Graphic Symbol

with the nested animation, but still need to place an instance of
it on stage. At the bottom left of the timeline, under the layer
names there is another icon which looks like the one in step Image BB5.5
3. Click this icon to create a New Layer (you can also create
a new layer by right-clicking on a layer name and selecting
Insert Layer from the drop-down). Image BB5.7

8. Make sure frame 1 of this new layer (“Layer 2”) is highlighted,

Image BB5.6
then drag and drop “ball-bouncing” from the library onto the
stage. Image BB5.8

Image BB5.7 Image BB5.8

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 9. Drag the instance of the “ball-
bouncing” symbol to the same
position as the “ball” instance. If you
ever lose track of which instance
is which, you can see its symbol’s
name in the Properties panel next to
“Instance of.” (Pro-tip: in the toolbar,
make sure the magnet at the bottom
is selected. This modifier is the “Snap Image BB5.9a
to Objects” feature, and it’ll make one
object lock onto another object’s position). Image BB5.9a and BB5.9b

Chapter 5
10. Right-click on “Layer 1” and select Delete Layers. We don’t need this layer Image BB5.9b
anymore. As you can see, the animation that
was on the main timeline has been replanted
into this new symbol. Image BB5.10

ARCS
11. Now let’s make the ball move. I think three
bounces will be enough, so extend the
timeline to frame 75. Image BB5.11
Image BB5.10
12. We want the ball to bounce in from the left
and then leave to the right. Hold Shift while
you click and drag the symbol to the left
until the ball is off the stage (white area) Image BB5.11
and onto the work area (gray). Holding Shift
while dragging constrains your movement
along a straight path so that it doesn’t get
out of line. Image BB5.12

13. To make our end position, turn frame 75

into a keyframe (F6) and repeat as in Image BB5.12
step 12 to the right until the ball is off
stage. Image BB5.13a and BB5.13b
Image BB5.13a
14. Create a tween between these two keys.

Interlude
It looks pretty good. But if you look closer, there
are a couple of missing details. The obvious issue
is that there is no decreasing max height; the ball
just keeps bouncing ad infinitum. That’s fine if
the ball is alive and pushing off the ground, but
in this case a ball is just a ball. Another aspect Image BB5.13b

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 that feels off is the stretch. The ball is still stretching directly downward when it’s actually falling
at an angle (it’s moving left to right). Because of this misaligned stretch, the ball doesn’t feel like it’s
bouncing as much as doing a sort of a float/glide combo … and it’s weird. These sorts of observations
and applications take a sequence from being something like motion graphics to full-blown animation.

PART II
“Continuing The Bounce”
15. Make sure the timeline’s playhead is on one of the keyframes and double-click the ball (you
can also double-click the symbol in the library, but we’ll want to be able to see the stage for
reference on where the ground is).

16. Now that we’re inside the “ball-bouncing” symbol, let’s make the bounce repeat three times.
Highlight the animation, Copy Frames, and Paste Frames on the last keyframe twice to replace
that “end” key with your copied sequence’s “start” key. The symbol’s timeline now ends on 73.
Image BB5.16

17. First, we’ll deal with the decreasing max height

just like in the last chapter. The ball has four “up”
position keyframes separated evenly on the timeline Image BB5.16
at frames 1, 25, 49, and 73. Decreasing max height
should decelerate a little over time. This means
that the difference between the max height of
the first and second bounces will be greater than
the difference between the second and third, and
so on. So for instance, with a zoom level of 50
percent, if you Shift+down-arrow the ball on frame
25 five times, you should do it only four more than
that for frame 49 and an additional three on frame
73. In effect, the “up” keys are slowing out as they
decrease their height. Image BB5.17

18. Since the ball isn’t bouncing as high in each

sequential bounce, remove frames to readjust the
timing proportionally just like in the last chapter.
From contact to contact position is one sequence.
Remove one frame from each tween in a sequence, Image BB5.17
and one additional from the next. And don’t
forget to remove (three) frames from the
last tween (because it’s the first half of a
sequence). Image BB5.18 Image BB5.18

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 19. Let’s take this opportunity to readjust the timing
for the symbol on the main stage. Look at where
our nested animation timeline ends (hint: it’s
frame 64) and then click “Scene 1” to return to the
main timeline.
Image BB5.20
20. Since the main timeline ends at 75 and we want
it back on 64, animation math says we need to remove 11
frames. Highlight any 11 frames (no keys) in the tween and
Remove Frames. The timeline should now end on frame 64,
the same as inside our Graphic Symbol. Image BB5.20

21. Click the tween and in the Tweening area of the

Chapter 5
Properties panel, make sure the box for “Sync” is selected.
Image BB5.21 Image BB5.21

Interlude

ARCS
“Uh, what was that?” I can actually hear this through time and space as I write these words. There
is a lot going on right now and I don’t think it’s wise to dive too far into the workings of these two
timelines and what “sync” does. We’ll definitely go over this option in more detail later in the book.
The quick answer is that you have the option in Animate CC to select which frame you would like the
Graphic Symbol to display. You can even set it to play its nested timeline once or loop. The control
over which frame within a Graphic Symbol plays on the main timeline (and how) is an extremely
valuable feature. However, because the Graphic Symbol’s timeline isn’t locked to the main timeline,
when we move around the keyframe of a Graphic Symbol instance that’s already playing like we did
above, it can move some of the timing out of sync. Clicking the Sync box synchronizes the Graphic
Symbol instances along a span to play uninterrupted. By doing that in step 20, frame 64 on the main
timeline now shows frame 64 in the symbol. Don’t worry if you don’t completely understand it yet
because almost the entirety of Chapter 9 on Secondary Action will be on nested symbols and how to
use them. Now that we’ve adjusted our decreasing max height and the timing in the symbol’s tweens
as well as back on the main timeline, it’s time to fix the keys with stretch on them.

PART III
“Skewing The Stretch”
22. Re-enter the “ball-bouncing” symbol by double-clicking its instance on the main stage. This is
known as “Edit in Place” mode. It allows us to see the stage while we edit, which will help on
step 27.

23. Frame 12 is our first “contact stretch” key. Click on it and use the Free Transform Tool (Q) to
slightly skew the ball so that the bottom is just right of the top. You can get the skew function

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 by hovering over the sides until the cursor turns into an
icon that looks like an equals sign with arrows on it. In
our case, you’ll skew from the top or bottom of the symbol
(with the registration point still in the center of the ball).
The easiest way to adjust these is simple trial and error as
there’s not a lot of precision needed here. Image BB5.23

24. Do the same as step 21 for the “rebound stretch” on frame

14. Except this time you’ll be skewing it so that the bottom
is left of the top. You don’t need much for these. If you look
at the Transform window (Cmd/Ctrl+T), the horizontal skew
should be labeled somewhere between 4 and 5 (minus goes
the other way as in step 22). Image BB5.24
Image BB5.23
25. Repeat for all the stretch keys (34, 36, 54, and 56).

26. Finally, we’ll adjust the amount of squash and stretch on the
ball to match the decreasing max height just as we did in Part
III of the previous chapter’s bouncing ball exercise. For each
of the last two groupings of squash and stretch (34–36, 54–56),
decrease the amount of each through the Transform window
by adjusting the percentage (85/115 and 90/110, respectively,
would work well here).

27. For the contact stretch, reposition the ball back down to
touching the “ground.” (Note: you cannot use the Align panel
here because there is no stage inside the symbol, you may use
the arrow keys to manually adjust the height and the onion
skin tool to compare the bottom line with a previous contact Image BB5.24
key.) Image BB5.27

28. For the rebound stretch frames, adjust their heights to

decrease with each bounce since they’re effectively losing
energy to the bounce itself. Using Shift+down-arrow once
for the second rebound stretch and twice for the third would
do nicely.

That was a lot more steps than we’re used to. If you feel unsure, you
can compare what you’ve done with the progress files I’ve provided
on the companion website. So, let’s review what we just did. There
were a number of new concepts and features in this chapter (nested
Image BB5.27
timelines, layers, sync, skew) as well as the fact that we used almost
everything we have covered in the previous four chapters. It may seem like overkill for a simple bouncing
ball to go from one side of the screen to the other. That’s not really so though, because you could’ve
called it done after Part I of the exercise. It looked pretty good. But this book isn’t about just making

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 something move; it’s about bringing the 12 Principles of Animation into
the world of digital animation with Animate CC, Tradigital animation
aims for something better than just “pretty good.”

If you have never animated on paper, you should now have a healthy
appreciation for what it took to make great classical animation. All of
these tools and steps are really just an external representation of what
goes on inside the head of a traditional animator. Timing, Slow In/Out,
Squash and Stretch, and Arcs are all things that need to be running
through their head while drawing and plotting out every frame. Since
each position had to be drawn individually, if you were a fully traditional
animator you would have had to know exactly what you wanted to

Chapter 5
accomplish with each individual frame (and how it would impact the
next). In Animate CC, with its toolset designed for delegation, you can
build your scene up from the bottom. We do the same work, except
instead of doing it all in our heads and all at once, we can sometimes

ARCS
apply the principles one at a time. It’s like long division vs. using a
calculator. The calculator is a tool to make your life easier. But if you
input the wrong numbers, you’re going to get a bad result either way.

It’s important to note that you have still only drawn a single circle in
this main exercise. With that one image, we have created a couple of
animated shots while simultaneously learning the program. Think of
working in Animate CC, like sculpting from stone. You chip away at
the stone until the general form is achieved. Then you remove more
and more stone to reveal increasing levels of detail until ultimately
you have your finished sculpture. You start with the biggest tool and
knock away the biggest chunks of stone and by the end you’re using
some sandpaper to just polish off little specks to make it more refined.
When animating in Animate CC with a Tradigital workflow, you also
start with a basic form of movement with the most general tools. Then
with each succeeding step you change the basic movement into a more
refined one by removing the moveless and stiff parts of the overall
sequence. Each time you enter a symbol and edit a nested animation,
it’s like you’re chipping away at a block of lifeless stone to reveal how
lifelike it can really be.

If I were to ask you to make this ball bounce exactly as in this chapter
from a blank Animate CC file, could you do it? Do you feel confident
that you can make a symbol of a circle, block out the shot on the Image 5.3 Creating and
timeline using your knowledge of timing, apply some slow in/out and refining a sculpture is a lot
squash/stretch, give it a decreasing max height and bounce interval for like the cleanup process in
realism, copy/paste that whole animation into a symbol, and tween it Tradigital animation.

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 across the stage with constant velocity? If you had read that exact sentence four chapters ago, would
you have thrown a conniption? I bet the answer is “yes” to both of those. But now you are ready to
see the deeper realms of what Animate CC has to offer.

“All of these tools and steps are really just an external representation of
what goes on inside the head of a traditional animator.”

Checking Your Arcs

There’s one more thing that’s important to do: double-check our
work. I can tell you that there won’t be any arc problems because
of the way they were made. But this double-check method will
come up in later chapters, so it’s important to see how it works
now. It’s quite simple:

1. On the main timeline, create a New Layer. You might also

want to lock all the other layers now to prevent mistakenly
Image AC5.2
drawing on them instead of the one just created.

2. Starting at frame 1, use the Brush Tool (B) to draw a dot on

this new layer in the center of the symbol whose arc you’re
testing. Image AC5.2

3. The < and > keys (also where the “,” and “.” are located
respectively) functions to step one frame backward or
forward. Step forward one frame and repeat your action in
step 2. Image AC5.3

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you reach the end of the

Image AC5.3
movement which you’re testing. Image AC5.4

5. Draw a smooth curvy line through all the dots. If any dots
are out of that line, there’s the problem frame. Image AC5.5

6. Adjust the problem frames to fit the curve.

This process will come in handy when you’re doing character

animation … very handy! For the type of motion in this bouncing Image AC5.4
ball you can also see the arcs fairly clearly by turning on onion
skin mode and dragging the markers so that they cover the area
of the arcs you want to see. Both of these methods of double-
checking your arcs will be increasingly valuable to you the more
animation you do.

Image AC5.5

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 CLOSER LOOK
Motion Guides And Pivot Points
We’re breaking all the conventions in this chapter because we’re going to be creating two brand
new FLAs to look at two new areas of our program: motion guides and the pivot point. First up, we’ll
be tackling motion guides by making a Sun move across the sky. Set up by creating a new file (same
resolution as before, 1920 × 1080) and naming it “ch5 – closer look – sun”.

“Motion Guiding The Sun”

Chapter 5
1. On the stage, draw a sun. Many of you might
already know how to illustrate in Animate CC,
but if not, a simple way to make a sun is to pick
two shades of yellow to represent the outline

ARCS
and the fill and use the Oval Tool (O) as you did in
Chapter 1 (I’ve used a 50% alpha setting for the
outline to get a corona effect). You may also draw
a sun using the Brush Tool (B). Image CL5.1

2. Highlight this new image and make it into a Graphic

Symbol. (Pro-tip: holding down Cmd/Ctrl will turn the Image CL5.1
cursor into the Selection Tool arrow for as long as
it is depressed.) Name this symbol “sun” and make
sure that the registration point is in the center.
The default in Animate CC is top left. Image CL5.2

3. Create a keyframe (F6) somewhere ahead on

the timeline. Use your knowledge of timing to
decide how long you want this shot of a sun
moving across the sky to take. I’m using around
8 seconds, so my next key is at frame 200.
Image CL5.2
4. Create a new layer.

5. Use the Line Tool (N) to make a line spanning

horizontally beyond the width of the stage about
one-third of the way up from the bottom. (Note:
you might want to change the color of your line to
black with 100% alpha setting so you can see it
better.) Image CL5.5

6. With the Selection Tool (try using the pro-tip on

step 2 for this—holding down Cmd/Ctrl while the Image CL5.5

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 Line Tool is still selected from step 5), click and
drag the center of the line up to about one-third
from the top so that it looks like a hill. This curve
is our motion guide, the path the sun will follow.
Image CL5.6

7. Create a tween between the two keys on Layer 1.

8. For the next steps we need to make sure of two

conditions: first that the “Snap to Objects” is Image CL5.6
on (as we did in this chapter’s bouncing ball
exercise, step 9) and second that the sun’s pivot
point is lined up with its registration point. To
check the pivot point, click the instance of the sun
symbol and select the Free Transform Tool (Q).
There’s a white dot that shows up in the middle of
the Transform box around the symbol—that’s the
“pivot point.” It’s what the motion guide will snap
to. Make sure that it is sitting on the registration
point, which is the + symbol. (Note: in some
versions of Animate CC, the pivot point covers up
the registration point when aligned, so if you can’t
see the registration point it’s possible that the
pivot point is already sitting on it, as is showing in
the image accompanying this step). Image CL5.7 Image CL5.7

9. We have a path and we have set up two keys with

a tween. Now we just need to tell the computer to use these together. Right-click on Layer 2 to
the left of the timeline with the motion guide and select Guide. You’ll see the icon next to the
layer title turn into a straight-edge ruler.

10. To attach Layer 1 (sun) to Layer 2 (guide), click and

drag Layer 1 into the guide layer above. In most
versions of Animate CC, you will see Layer 2’s
icon change into a dotted line arc and Layer 1 is
indented under it. These changes indicate that the
previously unassigned guide Layer 2 now is set as a
Image CL5.10
guide for Layer 1 to follow. Image CL5.10

11. On the first key, drag the sun symbol to the left
until it’s at the beginning of the guide-line—it will
snap into place. Do the same for the second key to
the right (for this key, make sure the pivot point is
snapped to the end of the line). Image CL5.11 Image CL5.11

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 Guiding motion is what guide-lines on guide-layers do. They’re guides.
These are incredibly useful, albeit admittedly in a small selection of
cases. Just like the bouncing ball exercise, nested animation can be
used with motion guides as well. In the FLA provided, you’ll see that
I have animated a loop of rays coming out from the sun which plays
as it’s traversing the sky. Comets, satellites, and other space travelers
are obviously benefited by guides, but so are creatures like fish, flies,
and other small flying insects and effects such as snowflakes drifting
down from the sky wherein the path can be a wavy or squiggly line.
A line doesn’t need to be a single curve in Flash to work as a guide, it
just needs to be unbroken. Also something like a skateboard rolling
its way down a ramp all by its lonesome and up a little the other side

Chapter 5
can follow a guide. Why, then, did we not use it for our bouncing ball?

We didn’t use a motion guide for the bouncing ball because of the
constant horizontal velocity. Remember that the ball is moving at a

ARCS
steady rate in one direction, nothing’s really stopping that. The only
part of that movement with slow in and out is the up-and-down motion
of the bounce; that’s because gravity is always trying to stop the ball
from getting away from the Earth. If you were to take an instance of
the ball right now, draw a couple of arcs the way we did in the closer
look “Motion Guiding the Sun” section’s step 6 (which will get you Image 5.4 Motion guides
the correct arc the ball should follow, incidentally) and then tween it come in very handy for
with a motion guide, you’d see that there’s no amount of easing that objects like snowflakes.
will make it look right. If the easing is set at 0, the bounce will look
like it did in Chapter 1 with no accounting for acceleration due to gravity. If the easing is set with
a slow out on the way up and a slow in on the way down as we did in Chapter 2, it will change the
speed our ball is traveling across the stage. This would make it look like a car that revs forward
every second or two, going fast then slow then fast then slow.

You’ll notice that our sun’s movement looks a lot like a pendulum, just upside down. We can absolutely
use a motion guide to create a pendulum (like a grandfather clock or a wrecking ball). But as physics
tells us, the path would be part of a perfect circle because the radius is constant. In this case, it would
be better to simply animate the symbol pivoting around a point at the origin. Introducing ... the pivot
point. First, open a new file and name it “ch5 – closer look – pendulum.”

“A line doesn’t need to be a single curve in Animate CC

to work as a guide, it just needs to be unbroken.”

“Pendulum By Pivot Point”

12. Draw something to be the end of our pendulum. I’m going with a wrecking ball. To create
the wrecking ball, I selected the Oval Tool (O) and then used the “Fill and Stroke” area of the

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 Properties panel to select a stroke size of 15
and a gray outline with the alpha set to 75%.
Then I went to the Color panel (Alt+Shift+F9),
clicked the paint bucket there and selected
Radial gradient from the drop-down menu.
Then it was just a matter of swapping the
black and white pointers’ positions, changing
the white to a light gray, and then drawing
the circle on the stage. Sound like a lot? If you
followed along great, if not … I bet you can’t Image CL5.12a Image CL5.12b
wait until Chapter 10! We’ll go over all this
stroke and fill stuff there. For now, a simple
circle will work just fine. Image CL5.12a and
CL5.12b

13. Change the line alpha back to 100% and, using

the Line Tool (N), draw a line straight up from
the center of our object. This will be what our
object is swinging from (in my case, the cable
holding the wrecking ball). If you want the
line to stop at the outline of the object but you
drew it into the center, click on the part you
want removed to highlight it and just press Image CL5.13 Image CL5.14
Delete or Backspace on the keyboard. Simple.
Image CL5.13

14. Highlight the whole graphic and turn it into a symbol.

This time, put the registration point on the top-center
so that we can easily snap our pivot point to it later. I
named mine “wrecking ball.” Image CL5.14

15. Use the Align panel (Cmd/Ctrl+K) to center the ball on

the stage. Remember that the “Align to stage” box Image CL5.15
must be checked, and then click the “Align horizontal
center” icon. Image CL5.15

16. If needed, move the symbol straight down so that it’s close to the
bottom of the stage (simply to see it swing). You may also use the
“Align vertical center” button.

17. Use the Free Transform Tool (Q) to drag the pivot point (white circle)
up to the Registration point (+) which should be at the top of the line
we drew in step 2. Animate CC will tween any rotation around this
point. Image CL5.17
Image CL5.17

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 18. Still using the Free Transform Tool, hover
the cursor just outside one of the corners
(bottom ones will be easiest here) until you
see the pointer turn into a rotation arrow.
Rotate the pendulum to the left about 45
degrees. (Pro-tip: holding Shift while rotating
will lock the positions to 45-degree intervals.)
This position will be the starting point.
Image CL5.18

19. Using what you know about timing, create Image CL5.18
a keyframe ahead on the timeline. Since

Chapter 5
I’m using a wrecking
ball, I went with 2
seconds (animation
Image CL5.19
math means that’s on

ARCS
frame 49). Knowing
that we want the ball to come back to
the starting position, let’s create another
keyframe further down the timeline by the
same amount of time while we’re at it (for
my wrecking ball that would be frame 97).
Image CL5.19

20. On the middle keyframe, adjust the rotation

using the Free Transform Tool the way you
did on step 7; this time rotate it 45 degrees Image CL5.20
to the right. Image CL5.20

21. Click and drag to highlight

both the areas between all Image CL5.21
three keyframes, then right-
click and create a classic tween. This should
create two tweens spanning between the
three keyframes. Image CL5.21

22. With these two tweens still highlighted,

open the Easing Editor and create a simple
slow in/out “S” curve, much like the way we
did in Chapter 4’s bouncing ball exercise,
step 15. You should be bringing the end of
the handles to the middle frame area of the
graph so the movement is very smooth.
Image CL5.22 Image CL5.22

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 We’ve just created a pendulum by way of tweening
around the pivot point. We don’t need to get into the
physics of it all here but for simple pendulum swings
the period (time it takes to complete one full swing)
doesn’t change based on the starting height (meaning
the height of the initial drop to start the swing), but
the period will decrease (complete its swing faster)
the closer it is to the pivot point. So something like
a necklace pendant or a pocket-watch will swing
faster than a tether ball, but only because the strings
they’re swinging from aren’t the same length. If you
wanted the pendulum to be a water balloon on a
string you could even use nested animation to apply
some stretch as it approaches the bottom of its swing
and comes back to normal at the end (just as long
as you put the string and the balloon on different
layers). As it stretches it will do funny things to the
timing of the swing, but I think that’s best learned by
doing. Just don’t fill the balloon up too much because
it’ll rip open (something you’d also learn by doing).

You should now be seeing Animate’s ultimate strong

suits: tweening and nested animation. With these
two features, a universe of possibilities opens up in
front of you. The more intimately you get to know Image 5.5 The closer the weight of the
Animate CC, the more you’ll make combinations pendulum is to the pivot point, the faster it
of your own. In this chapter, you’ve seen three will swing (from left to right: fastest to slowest
different ways to animate on a clean arc: layering swing).
nested animation, motion guides, and tweening
around a pivot point.

In each of these examples, the arcs are so smooth and clearly readable because you input the information
Animate CC needs to do the inbetweening work for you. Communicating the details of an arc was
sometimes a hard thing to get across to an animation assistant because while it’s fairly easy to draw
a simple halfway point between two keys it’s not always as easy to draw one on an arc unless it’s
explicitly pointed out. Animate CC has many ways to help avoid this problem area. For instance, this
chapter’s bouncing ball exercise was all about delegating the workload. We wanted it to bounce up and
down at one rate of easing but also across the stage at another. So we put the up/down motion into a
symbol and moved the instance of that symbol around as we wanted. This combination gave us our
picture perfect arcs. In the closer look section, we saw the obvious benefit of the motion guide as an
easy way to dictate an exact path. It can be simple like the slight curve we gave to our sun’s path in the
example or more irregular like a curvy line for the path of a snowflake (see ch5-examples-snowflake.
fla on the companion website). But motion guides would fail to be of use in our bouncing ball example

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 because symbol instances can only travel along that path using one tween at a time (which means
only one easing value at a time). Also in the closer look section, the pivot point gave us yet another
method of achieving a smooth arc but only along a perfect circle (since the very definition of a pivot
point is the center point of a circular, rotational path), like our pendulous wrecking ball.

As we look deeper into the principle, keep in mind that even though there are all these tools and
excellent ways of creating and/or verifying arcs in Animate CC, there are loads of people out there
who either don’t know about them, don’t take advantage of them, or both. I’m going to say it again,
the whole point of this book is about bringing the 12 Principles together with the program to improve
your animation. Animate CC won’t do everything for you, but it can help you to not have to do
everything the long way. Use its toolset well, and you’ll have wonderful arcs; and in the event that
you check your work and something’s off, Animate CC will make it easy to adjust it back on track

Chapter 5
without having to redo a metric ton of work.

USING ARCS By “Plotting And Checking”

ARCS
You’ve read these terms in this book
already, but I would like to clarify the
exact differences here. A “span” is an
animation from one extreme keyframe
(which denotes a change of direction) Image 5.6 A “span” is one tween (above). A “sequence” is a
to the next. For sake of simplicity, it’s a series of tweens (below).
single tween. A “sequence” is a series
of spans that makes up one cohesive movement for either single use or a loop (such as a walk cycle).
Spans usually need a smooth arc, while a sequence can have harsh end points as those spans’ arcs
are chained together. An example might look something like the way a child draws ocean water,
looking like many “U”s connected together. In that example, each “U” would be a span and an entire
connected line of them would be the sequence (Image 5.7). So here’s the idea with arcs; if you have
an object’s span fully animated and play
connect-the-dots with the position of that
object on every frame (the arc double-check
method mentioned in this chapter), would
that line be a nice flowy curve? If not, one
or more of those frames are out of position.
In that case, the movement will look jittery. Image 5.7

If you have the opportunity, I encourage you to use the arc double-check method to plot out some span
of movement from any Disney animated movie. You could probably very easily do this by taping a
piece of paper to your monitor and going step by step through a sequence, making dots on the position
of Goofy’s hand, for instance, as he winds up for a pitch (bonus points if you can name the animated
short I’m thinking of here without looking it up). You will see wonderful flowing curves … unless a
character is shivering, or something, and then it’ll be purposefully very jagged. Not everything needs
to be smooth all the time; it all comes down to the purpose of the animation.

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 A large part of animation is control. Plotting
out your intended arcs ahead of time can help,
but usually it’s most beneficial to sketch a small
thumbnail image of what you feel the arc should
look like after you’re finished. Then use the double-
check method. It’s a little like in science, having a
hypothesis, using that to predict a result, testing,
and then verifying. In this analogy, the hypothesis
is the animation you envision, the prediction is
the thumbnail of the arc, testing is animating, and
the verification is your double-check method. This
workflow helps keep things loose but also on a
course to completion.
Image 5.8 Arcs show simple and compound
These principles are here to help you achieve a
movements. Example taken from Three’s Horrible:
sense that this art exists in a semi-realistic and
Part I by Stephen Brooks (RubberOnion.com).
believable world and that your characters are
alive and organic. Complete believability may not always be what you want. Everyone knows that
Wile E. Coyote couldn’t defy gravity or take punishment the way he does in every Road Runner short
in real life. Chuck Jones wasn’t going for that type of realism. But when the character moves, each
limb has wonderful arcs in it. This natural motion intuitively tells the audience that Wile is alive, and
incidentally those same arcs make all his crazy movements clearly readable. If you want to make
something seem mechanical, removing arcs from just about any motion or keeping them very basic
such as a simple pivot can help with that. Looking at the transformation scenes in any Transformers
(1984) episode is evidence of that. But not all robots need to seem that way. The Iron Giant, Rodney
Copperbottom from Robots, and even Wall-E have a great amount of fluidity and organic complexity
to their arcs of movement. Using those types of arcs was a clear decision to make them seem more
human, organic, and relatable. Arcs have that kind of power. Plotting mentally or physically how
you want them to be (i.e. smooth, jagged, squiggly, wave-like) and checking to make sure they were
applied correctly are the two not-so-secret secrets to using arcs.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
“Swing Set”
Principles Used
Slow In/Out: A swing is a pendulum, and as such, it speeds up on the way down and slows down on
the way up. Every other motion that helps in the swing will have slow in and out.

Secondary Action: The actual swinging is the primary action; the secondary action is the pumping to
keep the swing going. Leaning back/forward and throwing the feet back/forward are complements
to the main action of the swing’s pendulum.

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 Overlapping Action: The secondary action actually
is also overlapping action. Every motion happens in
succession—a chain reaction. At the top of the swing,
the legs start to kick out, and then the body leans back
as the swing starts moving downward and so on. The
pigtails will also be exhibiting overlapping action.
Follow through will be applied to the momentary
hold at the top of the arcs.

Arcs: There should be little doubt that the main

principle at play in animating a pendulous swing is
Arcs. The feet that pump travel in arcs, the head as it

Chapter 5
leans back will travel in an arc, and all of this action
will travel together in one big arc as the whole body
swings back and forth on the swing set.

ARCS
Setting Up
When you open the file “ch5-real_world-swingset.
fla” provided on the companion website you’ll
notice one thing right off the bat; there is no rough
animation at all this time. The only things that are
provided are a character design on the left, the swing
in the middle, and a thumbnail (small) storyboard Image 5.9
drawing on the top right. It is up to you to take this information and turn it into an animated looping
shot. The storyboard is there to give you the feeling of what we’re envisioning. The designs have
already been done, and you are the animator who is going to run it through the finish line.

There are a couple of things that are going on when this girl is swinging on the swing set. Her entire
character and the seat she’s sitting on are going to be moving back and forth in a pendulous arc.
During the swinging, she’s also going to be pumping her legs and leaning back or forward to get more
energy into her swing. All of these various actions happening in concert means that some planning
needs to be done. As always, it’s best to start with doing rough animation of the entire shot. When
the rough animation is done, you’ll be putting the character into her own symbol and replicating the
same animation inside of that as it’s moving. When you nest the animation in a symbol you can look at
just the symbol (when it’s not moving around on stage), see how the animation looks by itself, and fix
any arc issues that may have arisen from trying to keep track of all the different types of movement
at play. Then you move back to checking your work with the symbol moving and edit as necessary.
This built-in double-checking makes the cleanup process easier since you have essentially treated
it as a whole, then individually, and then as a whole again. It’s like looking left-right-left when you
cross the street (or right-left-right if you drive on the left side of the road).

There will be four parts to this example: roughing the whole, character animation tiedown, symblified
tiedown, and symblified cleanup. By introducing another facet to the rough animation in “tiedown”

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 Images 5.10a and b The arcs in the symblified “swing” container are simple and direct (left), but when
this once stationary character swings on stage the arcs will blossom into more elaborate and organic
paths (right).

and symblifying it, we will be able to address an issue which will arise—namely that since the
character’s pose changes are essentially overlapping action to the movement of the swing as a whole,
the key frames are offset. It is easier to address the swing and character animation separately which
plays right into symblification’s strengths. Chained movements like this are made much easier in
Tradigital animation within Animate CC. A final word before we get into the exercise: I’ve included a
background JPG for you to drop on stage (on its own layer under everything of course) if you want
to add a little scenery once you’re done.

“Roughing The Whole”

1. Since the whole character will be tweened in a pendulous arc like the wrecking ball in the
closer look section earlier, we’re going to start by working out the timing with the swing
symbol in that same way. To make our animation process easier, frame 1’s keyframe will
remain in the “down” position. The timing
I worked out was frames 1, 33, and 65 are the
“down” positions and frames 17 and 49 are the
front and back “up” positions (respectively). To
make the swing more energetic I chose the “up”
positions to be rotated at 65 degrees either way.
Insert keyframes (F6), use the Free Transform
Tool (Q) to rotate and tween with proper easing
to get the swinging moving within our timing
with good slow in and out. Image SS5.1
Image SS5.1 (Note: Motion and spacing
2. Now we’re going to work on the rough shown with overlapping images of all
animation. Lock the “swing” layer, insert a new frames.)

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 layer above it, and name it “rough.” We’ll need to address what the keyframes on the swing
layer represent right now. Frames 1 and 65 are in the down position and moving forward, so
we’ll call them the down-forward keys from here on out. They are the beginning and end of the
loop so they’re identical. You can probably figure out now that frame 33 is in the down position
and moving backward, so it’ll be called down-backward. Since the up positions are where the
character changes directions, frame 17 is up-backward and 49 is up-forward.

3. Insert blank keyframes (F7) where necessary

on the “rough” layer and very loosely sketch
the swinging positions for the down positions
(that would be frames 1, 33, and 65—and frames
1 and 65 are the same). You’ll see in the image

Chapter 5
accompanying this step that I’m not focusing on
anything other than the pose and the general
proportions of the character. We will refine this
more later. (Note: though they’re not in the lowest

ARCS
point of the arc in the storyboard, those are the Image SS5.3
backward and forward poses.) Image SS5.3

4. We’re going to have to pause for a second and acknowledge what happens at the top of the
swing. This is the transition moment between backward and forward poses so the character
will not be in one or the other but changing between them. Therefore, we need to include
the breakdown positions of the swing in our
rough. They are the halfway points between the
existing keyframes, so insert blank keyframes
on the “rough” layer at frames 9, 25, 42, and 57. Image SS5.4
Image SS5.4

5. The swing’s breakdown positions are actually the key positions for our character (which will
become clear soon), meaning that they will have the same forward or backward pose we’ve
already drawn. Which one it will be depends on if the swing is moving forward or backward
at the time. If it is moving forward (as on frame
9) then the pose will come from the previous
key (making it the outstretched pose from the
down-forward key on frame 1). If it’s moving
backward (as on frame 25), the pose will come
from the next key (making it the compact pose
from the down-backward key on frame 33). You
may copy/paste the rough poses you drew and
simply move and rotate them into position using
the Free Transform Tool (Q). Continue like this
for the other two blank keyframes inserted
from the previous step. Image SS5.5
Image SS5.5

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 6. Now that we have our down keys and some breakdown/not-so-breakdown frames completed
in the rough, we’re going to insert blank keyframes and sketch in the poses at the swing’s up
position keyframes (17 and 49). These are essentially the character’s breakdown frames so
we’ll treat them as such. If our character is
moving from leaning backward to leaning
forward as in frame 17, insert a blank
keyframe on the “rough” layer and sketch in
a pose with that in mind. Do the opposite for
frame 49. (Pro-tip: you can insert keyframes
in the frame before and after the breakdown
with the keyframe poses you’re breaking
down. Align them with the swing position on
the frame you’re drawing the breakdown, then
use onion skin mode to draw your breakdown
as normal. See accompanying image as an
example. Don’t forget to clear the two helper
keyframes created before you move on.)
Image SS5.6

“Character Animation Image SS5.6

Tiedown”
7. In this section you’ll be using straight ahead action and the very rough keys and breakdowns
you created in the previous section to draw in more accurate proportions and add in some
overlapping action of the features such as the foot and head as well as the pigtails. Refining a
rough animation in traditional animation is
sometimes called a tiedown. Though we’re
not going to be drawing in that kind of
detail here, we’ll borrow the term for this
section. Let’s start by inserting a new layer
above the rest called “tiedown” and draw
the pose from the rough animation on frame
1, adding in some other details like a flexed
foot and trailing pigtails. Image SS5.7 Image SS5.7

8. Insert a keyframe (F6) at the next frame which has a keyframe on the rough layer (that would
be frame 9). We inserted a keyframe and not a blank keyframe because we know this is the
same pose as before. For the sake of expediency, use the Free Transform Tool (Q) to rotate the
image into position.

9. Insert a blank keyframe (F7) on the “tiedown” layer at the next frame with a keyframe on the
“rough” layer (making it frame 17) and draw the pose as represented in the rough animation

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 but with more character detail as we did
before. Image SS5.9

10. Repeat the last three steps for the next

six keyframes. The accompanying image
shows the six keyframes of the entire
tiedown swinging sequence thus far
shown together. Image SS5.10

11. We’re going to want some more visual

information in the tiedown as we
continue. You should guide, hide, and
Image SS5.9
lock the “rough” layer at this point so

Chapter 5
your≈work doesn’t become confusing.
Back on the “tiedown” layer, insert a
keyframe or blank keyframe halfway
between each of the keyframes created

ARCS
in this tiedown section so far. Either
draw their inbetween positions or simply
rotate a pose from a previous keyframe—
whatever the situation calls for. Remember
to use the swing as the reference for where
the character should be at any given time.
Image SS5.11 Image SS5.10

12. Go over all the keyframes created in this

tiedown section so far and refine their
poses or animation as necessary.
Image SS5.11

“Symblified Tiedown”
13. Click on the tiedown layer to select its entire used timeline, right-click those highlighted
frames and choose Copy Frames and then lock this layer too.

14. Unlock the “swing” layer and double-click on the swing instance on the stage at frame 1 to
enter the swing symbol. Insert a new layer above “swing,” right-click on frame 1 and Paste
Frames. You will have noticed that it extended the timeline but not for the “swing” layer
which already existed. Help it out and use F5
to extend its layers timeline to meet up with
the tiedown layer (whose name was pasted
in with the frames). Image SS5.14

15. As seen in Chapter 8’s closer look section

(if you’re following along as recommended Image SS5.14

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 in this book’s Introduction) we need to realign
the images pasted into the new tiedown
layer to the swing. Use the Free Transform
Tool (Q) to rotate and align each frame so it
plays ahead as the character leaning forward
and backward on the swing (as seen in the
accompanying image to this step). Use the
ghosted image of the tiedown at frame 1,
which you can currently see on the main
stage, as a reference point. The alignment
doesn’t need to be absolutely perfect since
our tiedown wasn’t, but it needs to be close
enough so the images don’t distractingly jump
around. Image SS5.15 Image SS5.15

16. Return to the main timeline, guide and hide the tiedown layer. Highlight all the tween spans
on the “swing” layer, select “sync” from the tweening area of the Properties panel, and
hit Enter to quickly test how the new symblified tiedown looks in the swing symbol as it’s
tweened. Obviously it’ll look a little choppy but we’re looking for obvious position issues here.
Make note of any time you think her pose should be altered, specifically if it should be pushed
more or less in any direction (for instance tucking her legs in less, leaning the head back
more, etc.). Re-enter the “swing”
symbol, but this time through
the library by double-clicking
its icon there so we can edit in
isolation. Image SS5.16 Image SS5.16
17. Make any changes to the poses you noted in the previous step and repeat that previous step
to check that it’s what you wanted. Repeat as necessary until you’re happy with the poses and
how they help “sell” the swinging motion.

18. Back in the “swing” symbol, use the

arc double-check method to verify that
the arcs for any endpoint (meaning
extremities like hands and feet or joints
like the elbow) are smooth. Notice in the
accompanying image that while the arc
for the ankle is good, there is one point
(which I highlighted in red) on the elbow
and head arcs which is off path. With
this information, adjust the tiedown as
necessary. Delete the arc layers when
you’re done with them. Image SS5.18
Image SS5.18

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 Interlude
If you’ve been following along with the real-world examples in each chapter so far you’ll be able to
complete the steps by remembering what was done in those previous examples. If you feel you’re up
to the task of moving on more independently, consider the rest of this paragraph a refresher in the
steps. You’ll need to analyze the tiedown animation and determine which features are the “easies” and
which are the problems. There are so many ways to clean up an animation like this. You may drag
in the “girl-reference_model” symbol from the library onto a new layer in the swing symbol you’re
currently in and break it apart (Cmd/Ctrl+B). From here you can turn whatever features you want to
classic tween into Graphic Symbols and place them on their own layers. Any features you want to
shape tween (including the patches I have included in my design) go on their own layers. But if you
feel like that’s too much at this point, I have included a helper symbol named “girl_swinging” in the

Chapter 5
library. There’s also a folder named “girl_swinging-symbols” which contains all of the symbols which
are used in this helper. This is so that if you do decide to go ahead and create your own character
pack from the reference, any symbol you name won’t be confused with the ones used in this helper
since they’re collected away in a folder. In that case, you may skip ahead to step 21 and see how I

ARCS
completed the animation by working on larger sections of features and narrowing them down to
the smaller or chained movements. Otherwise you should continue ahead step-by-step using the
“girl_swinging” symbol I have provided.

“Symblified Cleanup”
19. In the “swing” symbol, guide and hide
the tiedown layer, insert a new layer (no
need to name it), drag the “girl_swinging”
symbol from the library onto it, and line up
the swings. Image SS5.19

20. Break Apart (Cmd/Ctrl+B) the “girl_

swinging” instance, right-click the resulting
highlighted objects and symbols, and
Distribute to Layers. You should now have a
series of named and unnamed layers on the Image SS5.19
timeline in the “swing” symbol which make
up the design of the girl character. The
named layers are symbols and the unnamed
layers are objects (shapes). Take a moment
to familiarize yourself with the setup and
name any unnamed layers for your own
benefit. You should also delete the “swing” Image SS5.20
layer which was already there before you
did these last two steps since the swing is built into the “girl_swinging” design layout anyway.
There is a leftover blank layer from all of this as well which you may delete. Image SS5.20

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 21. There are a lot of moving parts here so it’s best
to break up the bigger sections and chop away at
them individually, starting with the upper body. The
head, body, and upper arm are all in one symbol
so it will look strange after you complete this step
but we will then enter the symbol and work on the
other features’ cleanup. So right now on the “swing”
symbol’s timeline, insert keyframes and rotate the
body symbol (actually named “girl-body_head_arm”)
before applying classic tweens with the required
easing to match the basic movements in the tiedown.
To do this, hide whatever layer needs hiding and
unhide those that need to be seen (like the body and
tiedown layers). Image SS5.21

22. At each keyframe on the body’s layer of the “swing” Image SS5.21
timeline, enter the symbol, insert keyframes, and
move the symbol instances or morph the shapes into
position of any feature which needs it according to
the tiedown. Tween as necessary. Use shape hints
as necessary. We’ll come back to the overlapping
action of the head (and the pigtail on it) later. (Note:
sometimes for rotation tweens over 180 degrees,
Animate CC will rotate in the direction of the closest
position. This is just to say that if something like the
upper arm (bicep) instance doesn’t rotate the correct
way, you can change its rotation from Auto to CW
(clockwise) or CCW (counter-clockwise) in the Tweening
area of the Properties panel. The number of times
should be set to 0 as we don’t intend for it to ever
rotate all the way around.) Image SS5.22

23. Now is a good time to start moving from the upper to Image SS5.22
lower half of the character’s movements so we’ll start
at the shape tweening of the shorts and the classic
tweening of the waist. Shape hints will most likely be
necessary for the tweening of the shorts. If they aren’t
working for you, rotate them clockwise like musical
chairs and keep testing until it works. Sometimes
Animate CC just likes a different arrangement of shape
hints. The waist’s classic tweens should be easy.
Image SS5.23
Image SS5.23

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 24. The reason we haven’t animated the forearm yet is because we wanted to make sure that the
upper body’s animation worked as it is and that would be determined by animating the hips
(shorts and belly/back). If adjustments need to be made to the overall motion of the upper
body or the symblified animation nested within, make them now because …

25. … we need to finalize the major upper body

movement by tweening the forearm to match the
upper arm movements. The arcs are going to be hard
to follow using simple classic tweens and keyframes
evenly spaced so whenever they don’t you’ll need to
line up the forearm symbol frame by frame.

26. Shape tween the patch above the forearm to cover

Chapter 5
up the seams presented in the previous step, frame Image SS5.26
by frame where necessary. The upper body (aside
from the overlapping action of the pigtails) should
now be done. Image SS5.26

ARCS
27. The legs are split up into two parts: the thigh is
a shape and the shin and foot are packed in one
“girl-leg_lower” symbol (this symblification allows
for the shin to be shape tweened and the foot to be
classic tweened but move together inside this master
symbol). Start by animating the lower leg symbol
as a whole to match the tiedown (don’t worry if
the design of the shin doesn’t match up perfectly
just yet).
Image SS5.28
28. Now that the major position changes are accounted
for, enter the lower leg symbol at each keyframe,
insert keyframes on the shin and foot layers, and
then alter the shin shape and move/rotate the foot to
match the tiedown. Apply shape and classic tweens
as needed with appropriate easing. Use shape hints
if necessary. Image SS5.28

29. The thigh needs to flex and distort just as the shin
did so shape tweening is optimal here. Use shape
tweens and hints to complete the thigh animation
as well as the patch above the lower leg layer. If it
looks like the thigh design is distorted too far in any
particular position you may adjust the shin’s position
relative to the thigh in order to reduce the need for
that amount of distortion. Image SS5.29 Image SS5.29

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 30. Now it’s time to revisit the features and apply some overlapping action, starting with the foot.
Testing the overall animation, the only places where any overlapping action of the foot would
really be visible would be the beginning and end of the loop (meaning where the foot is pulled
backward). Enter the “girl-leg_lower” symbol and move the first keyframe in the first tween
span on the foot layer forward a few frames so the movement starts later than the shin. Then
drag the last keyframe on the foot layer
forward until it reaches the end of the
timeline (frame 65). Make sure that the foot
is lined up appropriately with the shin’s
shape tweens at all times as these changes
may have taken them out of alignment. Image SS5.30
Image SS5.30

31. Now we will focus on the animation for the

pigtails. At each keyframe of the “head”
layer enter its symbol, insert keyframes
on the two pigtail layers, and position
them to line up with the tiedown. Now it’s
a matter of adjusting the timing inside the
head symbol. To nail down the motion,
you’ll need a little trial and error. Apply
classic tweens and test the video export
via Cmd/Ctrl+Enter to see if all is well
(guide the tiedown layer if it’s showing up
and distracting you on export). If it’s not,
move the keyframes around and/or adjust
the rotational position of the pigtails to
match the movement you’re going for. I
ended up with the keys at 21, 45, and 65 Image SS5.31
(corresponding to the pigtails being back,
front, and then back again) and breakdowns at 33 and 55 (which were the pigtails sticking
straight “up”). (Note: even once the animation looks good, the pigtails can look a little stiff. In
that case, you can get the best of both worlds by supplementing the simple classic tweens of the
pigtail instances with nested hand-drawn, frame-by-frame animation inside the pigtail symbol
where needed to make them seem more flexible.) Image SS5.31

32. Complete the animation by adding in any settling tweens that may smooth out the sequence.
For instance, from frames 25–37 in the “swing” symbol it would be good to see her moving
forward even more instead of sitting in the same position. This means that every feature will
move and/or distort. It’s best to start with the key position at frame 37, re-pose it, and then
tween where necessary. This is also where you should address the overlapping action of
the head since after she leans forward and ends in that position at frame 25 the head should
keep going a bit. This phase is often called “sweetening” because we’re just making the

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 motions a bit more refined and giving extra
life to the overall sequence. Image SS5.32

At this point, you might feel as though the swing

feels a little stiff because there’s not much visible
dimension. You can only see one leg/foot and one
arm/hand … not to mention that the rope doesn’t
bend at all, which could make it feel more like a
metal rod (although some swings are designed
this way so that might be fine). These can all be
rectified easily. You can duplicate the layers of
the leg features, offset their positions so that you

Chapter 5
can see them, and then just animate them a bit
differently (like increasing/decreasing the slow in/
out, the actual distance it travels, and/or offsetting
some of the keyframes during the swing so that

ARCS
the movements aren’t exact). The same process
can be done for the arm as well.

As for animating the rope, it may seem like

a complicated thing to endeavor to do, but it’s
actually fairly straightforward. Think of it this Image SS5.32
way: when the girl leans back, she’s pulling
on the rope with her hands, so that’s the point
where it would bend. We know that the rope’s
pivot point (the top) shouldn’t move in the “girl”
symbol because that would throw the pendulum
motion out of whack. So if it’s going to bend at
the point where the hand is and the top has to
remain at the same point, that must mean that the
girl must move. Knowing this, all you’d need to do
is put the girl animation inside another Graphic
Symbol (but leave the hand in its layer above the
rope), drag it back into the “girl” symbol on a new
layer above the folder, line it up with the existing
image in the folder so it overlaps, delete the folder,
and then drag the pivot point to the center of the
hand. From there, you can animate her leaning
back or forward and shape tween the rope line
to match her movements. That may sound like
a lot of steps but in reality it would only take a
matter of minutes. It needs to be stated again that Image 5.11 The result of the extra dimension
in traditional animation, this change would mean applied and the supplied background added.

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 a complete redrawing of the frames. The Tradigital workflow of symblifying the animation nested
into various symbols that influence each other means that you can focus on one at a time and make
changes that will cascade down the line and ultimately on the main stage.

FINAL WORDS
Arcs
Animation is movement. Movement travels in paths. Those paths can either be straight or curved.
The straighter the path, the more rigid it is. Rigid movement can be used to show three main things
about an object. One, it can emphasize the mechanical nature of something—industrial machines,
insects, etc. Two, it can hint at the object’s size since immense objects alter their paths so rarely that
the arcs will be so slight they’re practically non-existent. And finally, three is showing speed and
power through straight paths, such as bullets, a character shivering, or Superman flying faster than
the previously stated speeding bullet. The more curved a path is, the more organic and soft. This
smooth movement supports the feeling of vitality and comfort in a character. This concept of smooth
vs. rigid is more readily obvious in design where it can be used to accentuate a character’s traits. In
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Splinter’s long, flowing kimono (smooth arcs) is a welcome alternative
to Shredder’s stiff, sharp-edged battle armor (no or rigid arcs). We will explore this concept better
in the “Solid Drawing” and “Appeal” chapters but it’s worth introducing now to help show the unity
of meaning between movement and design.

Readability is very important in animation, as you’ll continually see illustrated in the next chapter
on Staging. The principle of Arcs is very important to the readability of movement for the sole
reason that it is easier to follow movement through a well-defined, smooth path than through one
which changes direction harshly and suddenly. It’s always important to know what you want to

Image 5.12 Arcs can be as simple or complex as needed, and each of them tells a different story.

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 accomplish with your animation, but if no one can see it clearly it might not matter. As mentioned
earlier in this chapter, many times the most useful method of applying Arcs as a principle is by a
check to the work you’ve already done. It can be incredibly difficult to perfectly plot out paths for
every part of animation, especially as your scene becomes more complicated. Character animation
has a lot of moving parts, but as you’re seeing, Animate CC is there to make things easy on you in
case a change needs to be made.

Chapter 5
ARCS

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 Image 6.0  Bully Story by Stephen Brooks (RubberOnion.com).

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 Chapter 6 
STAGING

INTRODUCING
Staging

Chapter 6
Magicians use a technique called
misdirection to get a spectator looking away from something
they don’t want seen. This technique is essential to tricking

STAGING
the mind into thinking the performer could have supernatural
powers. The principle at the heart of this chapter is similar
in the way that we want to control our audience’s attention.
Staging is the presentation of an idea so that it’s absolutely
clear to the viewer. One example of this could be as obvious as
placing trees on the edges of the frame to bring attention to a
clearing in the center or as abstract as using bright colors in a
scene that needs to seem “happy.” It’s about getting someone
to think or feel what you want them to through a clever
direction of elements.

A story often told to illuminate the discovery of this particular

principle comes from the days when animation was exclusively
in black and white. A character such as Mickey Mouse, with
his solid black body color, was difficult to pose for clarity.
For instance, whenever his arms were in front of his body or
ears there was no way to tell what was happening because
they just blended into one another like a panther in the night
(which may be the coolest phrase ever typed by human hands).
Because of this problem, Walt Disney told his animators to
pose all of their characters with a clear silhouette in mind
so that no matter what problems with color contrast existed,
the body positions would always be readable. Case in point,
Mickey Mouse’s ears are always next to each other – even

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 when he turns his head to the side, they never overlap.
If they did, it would look like Mickey had only one ear and
his iconic silhouette would be ruined. Not many people
notice that little anatomical inaccuracy because … magic.

This principle covers such a wide variety of aspects in

the art of animation that it’s hard to pinpoint specific
exercises to work on. But the most obvious and useful
of these skills, as well as the one that even experienced
animators usually need to brush up on, is animating in
perspective. A character doing a little dance is fairly
complicated to do. Take that same sequence and animate
it in perspective (meaning dancing into the distance and
back again) and things get decidedly more complicated.
Now that this thought is running through your head,
take a moment to reflect on the fact that James Baxter Image 6.1 We see the iconic design
animated Belle and the Beast dancing a waltz in a giant from the front (top), how the ear shapes
ballroom … by hand … as the camera angle is constantly would overlap in profile view if turned in
changing. Take another moment. 3D space (middle), and the profile design
This is an area in which our brothers and sisters in CG staged to allow the iconic design to
animation are sitting pretty. Whereas they have a virtual remain after the turn (bottom).
camera to work with in a 3D plane, we in the 2D must fake this effect by way of staging the perspective
of our environment and adhering to that with changes in image size. That’s what we’ll be doing in the
next bouncing ball exercise. The idea is to create a perspective grid to represent the ground fading
off into the distance and to bounce the ball back into the horizon like Shane (from the movie Shane).
Consequently, Westerns are a great reference for the use of perspective in staging.

“Staging is the presentation of an idea so that

it’s absolutely clear to the viewer.”

BOUNCING BALL Staging

Setting Up
In the previous chapter, we made our wonderfully timed, eased, and squashed/stretched ball bounce
across the stage in exquisite arcs. This time, we’re giving some depth to our stage. The trick to animating
back into perspective is knowing what size the object or character would be at various points throughout
the layout. To accomplish this, we’re going to draw a perspective grid. After that, we’re going to complete
our bouncing ball so that it comes to a natural stop. Finally, we will combine these two and use Animate’s
tweening and our knowledge of slow in/out to effectively accomplish the illusion of depth. Open the

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 main bouncing ball exercise from the last chapter
(“bouncing ball 5 – arcs”) and Save As to rename it
“bouncing ball 6 – staging.” Also, make sure that
the Snap to Objects option is toggled (remember,
it’s the magnet icon in the toolbar) for the start
of this exercise.

Hopefully, you are aware of the basics of

perspective and know what one-, two-, and three-
point perspectives are. If you do, you’ve probably
also created a one-point perspective layout grid
before (it looks like a tiled floor); in which case,
now you get to see how to do that efficiently within
Animate CC. If not, I encourage you to search out
any number of excellent resources on drawing

Chapter 6
in perspective. That just isn’t something we can
cover fully in this book without getting really off
track. We’re working in one-point perspective Image 6.2  One-point perspective view is what
here, so let me define some of the terms just so you see looking straight down a city street. All
depth lines converge to the same point.

STAGING
that we’re on the same page for now.

One-point perspective (1pp for short) is what you see when you look straight down a city street. All
the lines showing depth (going away from you, like the sides of the street) converge to a single point
in the distance. This is called the vanishing point. That point sits dead center on something called
the horizon line, which effectively is your eyeline. To draw our grid on paper, there is another point
(called the diagonal vanishing point) that you have to use. Then you can create a series of tiles by way
of working your way down other measuring points that have been drawn. It’s a fairly tedious job that
you will not have to do at all in Animate CC because we have something called the Free Transform Tool.

The “Animate” Difference: Object Draw

With the Animate CC update, drawing objects
now have what’s called an “enhanced bounding
box” shown around them when selected. A
bounding box basically just shows us what
is being selected and in Flash versions it is
rectangular (left). Animate CC now shows us the
selection as an outline (right). This is a visual
improvement as it now helps to quickly and
easily distinguish drawing objects from groups
Image AD4 or symbol instances.

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 PART I
“1pp Perspective Grid”
1. Create a new layer. Refer to the last chapter
if you don’t remember how (hint: there are
icon and right-click options). This time, let’s
double-click this layer’s name and rename
it to something helpful like “perspective.”
And while you’re at it, name the one with Image BB6.1
the bouncing ball on it “ball.” Image BB6.1

2. In the layer name section, there are two

icons at the top: one is an eye and the other
is a padlock. These two functions are fairly
self-explanatory, so toggling off the eye
hides the layer and enabling the padlock Image BB6.2
prevents editing on it. On the “ball” layer,
click the dot under the Hide Layer (eye icon)
column so that we can work without clutter
on our other layer. Image BB6.2

3. Back on the “perspective” layer, use the Line

Tool (N) to draw a red horizon line across
the stage about one-third from the top.
Remember, holding Shift while you drag out
the line will lock it straight. Image BB6.3
Image BB6.3
4. I’m going to introduce you now to my
favorite feature of Animate CC: Object
Drawing (J). In the toolbar, with a drawing
tool (like the Line Tool) selected, you’ll see
an icon that looks like a circle with a box
around it next to the Snap to Objects icon
(the magnet). Click that or use the hotkey
J to toggle it on, if it’s not already. Image
BB6.4

5. Object Drawing takes every stroke you

draw and keeps it in its own self-contained
object so that it doesn’t affect other strokes.
This can be very confusing if you don’t
know how to use it but incredibly useful Image BB6.4

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 if you do. In this case, we want to create
a center vanishing point for our horizon
line and Object Drawing will let us do this
quickly and more accurately. First, draw a
small vertical line somewhere on the stage.
Image BB6.6
6. Drag this line up so that its bottom point
touches the horizon line. (Pro-tip: it bears
repeating, holding Cmd/Ctrl on any tool will
toggle the Selection Tool until you release.)
Use the Align window to set it to “Align
horizontal center.” The point where this
line meets the horizon line is our vanishing
point for our 1pp layout. Image BB6.6

7. Now that we have the horizon line Image BB6.7

Chapter 6
and vanishing point, we can draw our
measuring tiles (the squares of the grid).
First, we should create another layer
above the rest to keep this separate and

STAGING
easy to work with. Name this new layer
“grid.” Image BB6.7

8. The squares in our grid will be used as

reference measurements for our ball.
For instance, if the ball has a one-foot
diameter, it would sit pretty inside one
square foot (1 foot by 1 foot). Unhide the
ball layer by clicking the X under the Hide
Layer column (the one with the eye icon)
Image BB6.9a
so we can match the size of the square to
the size of the ball.

9. With the “grid” layer selected on frame

1 and Object Draw (J) still on, use the
Rectangle Tool (R), select no fill and black
for the line color and draw a perfect
square the way you did a perfect circle
before (by holding Shift) around the
bouncing ball to get its size right. If the
square doesn’t fit the ball perfectly on the
first try, use the Free Transform Tool (Q) to
adjust it. Image BB6.9a and BB6.9b Image BB6.9b

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 10. Re-hide the “ball” and “perspective” layers
again to keep things visually organized as
we work. We’re going to copy/paste this
box next to itself in one move. With the
Selection Tool (V) in use and the square
highlighted, hold Option/Alt while you
click and drag it to one side until there are
two boxes connected next to each other.
Image BB6.10

11. Repeat the previous step until you have Image BB6.10
ten perfect squares connected next to
each other. You might have to zoom out
to see more of the work area to do this.
(Pro-tip: whenever you open Animate CC,
get in the habit of clicking the magnifying
Image BB6.11
glass in the toolbar and selecting the
zoom out by default. When hitting the
hotkey Z you can easily get the Zoom
Tool and zoom out immediately. If you
want to zoom in, a simple click-and-drag
to select the area you want Animate CC
to zoom into works perfectly and quickly.)
Image BB6.11

12. Highlight the line of squares from step 11

and use the dragging copy/paste method
in step 10 to get two of these groupings
on top of one another and repeat until you
Image BB6.12
have a 10 × 10 grid. Image BB6.12

13. Click the “grid” layer to highlight all of

the squares created in the last couple of
steps and create a group out of them by
pressing Cmd/Ctrl+G. They’re similar to
Objects but Groups are more protected
(e.g. their features can’t be edited from
anywhere but inside). They’re functionally
halfway between symbols and objects.

14. Align to the stage’s perfect center by using

both “Align horizontal center” and “Align Image BB6.14 (Note: this image is edited to
bottom edge.” Image BB6.14 highlight the two align buttons needed.)

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 15. With the 10 × 10 grid group still selected,
hit Cmd/Ctrl+B a couple times to Break
Apart everything down to lines. The result
of this will show all the lines highlighted,
like in the accompanying image. Image
BB6.15

16. Use the Free Transform Tool (Q) to squash

the grid down until the top line is in the
center of the stage. In the most recent
versions of Animate CC this will squash Image BB6.15
evenly around the pivot point centered in
the image by default. To get around this,
you can hold Option/Alt as you squash the
image or put the transformation point at

Chapter 6
the bottom of the grid first. Zoom back
in using the Show All setting in the zoom
drop-down under the timeline. Image
BB6.16

STAGING
17. With Object Draw (J) still selected, unhide Image BB6.16
the “perspective” layer and draw a red line
from the bottom-left corner of the grid to
the vanishing point on that layer. Repeat
for the other side so that you make an
upside down V. Image BB6.17

18. Select the “grid” layer and the

Free Transform Tool (Q). Select the
Distort option. The icon looks like a
square with one corner pulled apart. Image BB6.17
Remember that rolling over icons will tell
you what they are through popup. Image
BB6.18

19. Click on the top-left transform point and

Shift-drag it (which moves both sides at
the same time) straight to the right until
it meets the red diagonal line you drew
in step 17. (Note: do NOT deselect the grid
in this process. Once you start distorting
an image through this method, if you click
away you will not get the same options. All Image BB6.18

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 transform points will reset into a rectangle.)
Image BB6.19

20. Unhide all the layers by clicking on the eye

icon, click and drag the “ball” layer to be
on top. Image BB6.20

Interlude Image BB6.19

As I mentioned, some of you will recognize this

and some won’t. This is our perspective grid.
We have used the Rectangle Tool, snapping,
distortion, objects, and groups in order to
efficiently create something that would have to
be done with a ruler on paper. You also learned
how to copy/paste objects, groups, and symbols
all in one move by holding Option/Alt while
Image BB6.20
dragging with the Selection Tool. This would
normally take much longer on paper as each line needed to be drawn and measured out proportionally
using a ruler and a completely different vanishing point.

I actually keep a collection of grids (5 × 5, 10 ×

10, 15 × 15 and so on) at the ready in an FLA,
so I can do these pretty much on the fly (Image
6.3). It takes about one minute to make a grid.
I know it may seem like a lot more to you right
now, but think about it. Draw a horizon line and
make a point in the center of it (vanishing point).
Make a grid (or drag it from another library, in
my case), put it where you want, and draw two
diagonal guide-lines to the outside of the grid.
Then distort the image, and you’re done. That
setup saves so much time in trial and error when
doing what comes next: throwing the ball into
the distance—aka animating in perspective.

Right now, we only have three bounces. We need

to complete the bouncing so that it comes to a stop.
You could follow what you had done in the last
chapter to do this, but since we want to control Image 6.3  Library view of a grid collection
the full bounce sequence to an ultimate stopping ranging from 5 x 5 to 50 x 50. Taken from
point ourselves, we’re going to repurpose the “help_me-perspective-grids.fla” on the
existing bounce into some new timing. companion website.

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 PART II
“Finishing The Bounce”
21. Enter the “ball-bouncing”
symbol and create new
layer named “ref” (stands
for reference) and turn it
into a guide layer. Image
BB6.21

22. Copy and paste in place the

ball from frame one of the Image BB6.21
other layer in this symbol to
the first frame of our new “ref” layer, and then move it straight up so

Chapter 6
that the top of the ball is level with the top of the stage. Image BB6.22

23. Insert a keyframe (F6) at frame 101 and Image BB6.22

Shift+drag the ball so that the bottom of

STAGING
the ball is level with the bottom of the
stage. Image BB6.23

24. Create a classic motion tween between

the two keyframes on the “ref” layer with
an easing value of +50, a slight slow out.
This is going to serve as our reference for
Image BB6.23

Image BB6.24

how high the max height should be at the “up” point of each bounce. We
have already determined by step 23 that we want this ball to come to a
natural stop after about 4 seconds of bouncing. You may lock the “ref”
layer if you like (or just be careful not to move it in the coming steps).
Image BB6.24

25. Back on frame 1, drag the ball on the other layer (named “Layer 1” by
default) up to the ball on the reference layer as we did in step 22. Image
BB6.25

26. Now that we are starting from a higher position, we want the drop to
take longer. Insert two frames (F5) within that first span. The second
keyframe (contact stretch) should now be at frame 14. Image BB6.26 Image BB6.25

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 Special Note
Because of step 26, now there are
13 frames between the first “up”
keyframe and its follow-up “squash” Image BB6.26
keyframe instead of 11. When we
started, each span (between an “up” key to a
“squash” or vice versa) decreased by one frame.
So the pattern (starting with an “up” to “squash”
span) was:

11, 10, 10, 9, 9, and 8 (ending on a “squash” to

“up” span.)

Knowing that the ball will approach the ground

faster in the beginning than the end (because of
our slow out applied to the reference ball in step
24), we want to do the same thing with the spans. Image 6.4  A visual representation on the
Ultimately, we want the pattern to look something pattern of decreasing frame difference in tween
like this: spans which we’ve had up to now (left) and
13, 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1 … what we want to change it to (right).

… and the rest of the bounces will be tiny, with no frames between the extremes of up and down. So
the idea going forward is to change the current spans to fit with their equivalents in our new ideal
and then to complete the new pattern with a new set of spans. I attempted to visually represent this
change in Image BB6.4. Each square in that image represents a frame and each row of squares is a
different tween span (first bounce is at the top, last bounce at the bottom). Notice the best fit line in
blue for the pattern we had is straight (no deceleration) and the best fit line in red for the new pattern
we will implement is curved (decelerating). The blue line shows that the spans we will change to in
the following steps are slowing out like the reference ball in step 24.

27. Remove one frame from each span after

the second “squash” (to make eight frames
between the “up” and “squash” extremes
instead of nine), and then remove two frames
from the last span (so that it has six frames
Image BB6.27
between the “squash” and “up” extremes).
Image BB6.27

28. We now want to complete the next spans. First we’ll put a keyframe (F6) ahead on the
timeline so that there are six frames between the last two keyframes (the keyframe you insert
should be on frame 69 if you’re following along exactly). Next we want to drag it back down to
the bottom of the stage. Image BB6.28

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 Image BB6.28

29. Repeat the previous step but this time for the next “up” (with five frames in between the
keyframes). You can place a blank keyframe (F7) on frame 75 and then copy/paste in place
the ball from the previous “up” key (which was frame 62). We will adjust its height to the
reference ball later. Image BB6.29

Image BB6.29

30. Repeat steps 28 and 29 in the pattern shown in the Special Note (13, 10, 10, 8, 8, 6, 6, 5, 5, 4, 4,

Chapter 6
3, 2, 1 …) until you reach the last frame (101), which also gets a keyframe. Image BB6.30

STAGING
Image BB6.30

31. Go back through all the “up” keyframes (26, 46, 75, 86, 95, and
100) and Shift+drag the ball to match the height of the reference
ball.

32. We have fixed the height and the spans, now we’ll see how to
create reference for the proportional decrease in each squash.
Create a reference layer like we did in step 21, copy/paste in
place the first “squash” ball on the same frame as the one on the
layer with the bouncing ball (frame 15). Do the same with the ball
on the second-to-last down keyframe (frame 98) which should
have no squash, and apply a tween between these two keyframes
with an easing of +50 (same as step 24). Image BB6.32a and
BB6.32b Image BB6.32a
33. At each one of the “squash” points on the bouncing ball layer, insert
a keyframe (F6) on the corresponding frames on our new squash
reference layer
(within the
existing tween).
Then delete Image BB6.32b

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 all the existing squashes on the bouncing ball layer and copy/paste in place those from the
reference squashes. Image BB6.33

Image BB6.33

34. To do the same for the rebound stretches,

you’ll be making a reference layer similar
to step 32. Create a new reference layer,
copy/paste in place the first rebound
stretch on the bouncing ball layer to the
same frame on the new reference layer,
place a keyframe and a ball with no stretch Image BB6.34
on frame 98 (since this marks the end
of the spans which include a stretch), and finally tween with an easing value of +50. Image
BB6.34

35. Repeat step 33 for the stretch rebound. Image BB6.35a and BB6.35b

Image BB6.35a

Image BB6.35b

36. Now that you know the workflow, do

steps 34 and 35 again but this time for the
“contact stretch” keys. Image BB6.36a and
BB6.36b

37. Now that all the keyframes are in place,

create classic motion tweens between the
spans which need tweening and make Image BB6.36a

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 Image BB6.36b

sure the easing is set to −100 for when the ball is falling and +100 for when it’s rising. Image
BB6.37

Image BB6.37

Chapter 6
38. We want one more tiny bounce so that it doesn’t look like the ball just stopped suddenly,
so add two more keyframes at the end of the sequence (making the end now at frame 103).
With the ball selected on the second-to-last keyframe (frame 102), hit the up-arrow on your

STAGING
keyboard once. Image BB6.38

Image BB6.38

PART III
“Bounce In Perspective”
39. The sequence should end at frame 103
now, so go back to the main timeline and
expand it out that far. The final keyframe
for the bouncing ball should end on the
same frame as the bounce stops in the
symbol now. In some versions of Animate
CC, using the Sync feature on the tween
will make sure the final keyframe is on the Image BB6.39

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 right internal frame. If that doesn’t work
on your version, adjust manually using
the Looping area of the Properties panel.
Image BB6.39

40. On the main stage, you should now see the

ball bouncing across the front of the grid.
Using this as measurement, you know that Image BB6.41
it travels across what should be all ten
squares. This is important to know because
we need to count back how far across it
traveled so we can match it with the size of
the square in the back.

41. Turn off Snap to Objects for this next part

as it’s easier without it. Drag the ball from
the last keyframe of the bouncing ball
tween (frame 103) until it’s sitting inside Image BB6.42
the last square in the top left of the grid.
Image BB6.41

42. Without changing the pivot point, use the Free Transform Tool (Q) to shrink the ball down
to fit inside the square’s size. We’ve already seen that holding Shift as you drag one of the
transform box’s corners will change the size in perfect proportion. We’ve also seen that
holding Option/Alt will ignore the pivot/transformation point’s position and allow you to edit
relative to the overall position of the image being transformed. So to shrink the instance of
the bouncing ball’s symbol in perfect proportion without moving the bottom of the ball shape
“off the ground,” hold Shift+Option/Alt while dragging the top right or left corner of the
transform box. The ball should now look like it’s sitting inside the box’s area (for reference to
your own work, the Transform window says I ended up with the symbol being 35.5% of its
previous size). Image BB6.42

43. Since the ball is bouncing away from us, we need to add slow out to its movement. Give the
tween on the main timeline an easing of 100.

44. If you test right now, you’ll see that it looks good but slows too fast at the end. That’s because
we ended on a bounce and we need it to actually roll a little to a stop. To do this, make sure
the first keyframe is set to “Play Once” from frame 1 in the looping area of the Properties

Image BB6.44

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 panel and that the last keyframe follows
suit (“Play Once” from frame 103). Extend
the tween and timeline by about seven
more frames so that it ends on frame
110. Now the ball should roll to a nice
rest at the end. Image BB6.44

45. Turn the “perspective” layer into a guide

layer (right-click > Guide), locking it and
hiding it from our view. Lastly, highlight Image BB6.45
the grid on the “grid” layer and give the
solid black lines an Alpha (transparency) level of 30% in the Color panel. Now test the movie
and behold the perspective goodness! Image BB6.45

This is the exact process you’ll be able to use to make a character walk back into the distance or reverse
it for an approach. It’s not always needed, however. There are going to be many times that you can

Chapter 6
simply “eye it.” But when it’s needed, it’s invaluable. For instance, obviously drawing backgrounds
benefits from this quick layout guide. When you do that, keeping the perspective guide with the
horizon line and vanishing point as well as the grid itself hidden on guide layers is good practice so
you have them for size reference when it comes time to animate. Say you’ve drawn a wonderful alley

STAGING
in Pamplona with impeccable perspective, but if you don’t follow the same guide when animating a
character running down that alley away from a hoard of bulls, it’ll just look silly (bull running, aside).
Using guide layers for references is a helpful technique because they’re hidden when exporting to
video but in full view while you work within Animate CC. Just think “guide to hide.”

What was just done in this exercise is not all

that easy by hand. If you’re just starting out
with animation in this book, you could have
just created a better bouncing ball exhibiting
five (arguably six) of the 12 Principles of
Animation than you could have done by
hand given the same amount of study. This
shouldn’t be taken as a testimonial that
animation in Animate CC is better than on
paper, but rather there are some things
that come easier. The arcs didn’t need to be Image 6.5
planned for this bounce, for instance, only
double-checked that they were right after the
fact. The inbetweens of the stretch approaching and leaving the ground on each bounce have been
done for you by the program.

Basically, you have given Animate CC the parameters by which to make this ball do what you want
and have adjusted where necessary. When it comes to character animation, things aren’t exactly this

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 easy, but they are similar in that many movements can be delegated to the program to interpolate
through tweening without looking like that’s what you’re doing. Many head movements, a backpack
on a child, and solid objects like swords, hockey sticks, and pencils all can get the tweening treatment
easily without giving away the secret. We’re not hiding from the “Flashiness” out of shame; it’s to
preserve the illusion. Animators have always tried to conceal the answer to “how’d they do that?”
It takes the audience out of the experience to even ask the question to themselves in the first place.
That’s part of the reason the 12 Principles exist: preservation of the illusion.

CLOSER LOOK
Improving The Stage
Speaking of preserving the illusion, in this section we’re going to improve the look of this scene by
essentially rounding off the rough edges. There are three glaring issues here, as far as a completed
shot goes. One, you can see the reference grid, and it’s distracting to a viewer. Two, if we take away
the reference grid, there will be nothing but white space; we’ll fix that with a gradient. Three, there’s
no shadow. Barring the idea that we’re animating a vampire bouncing ball, it needs to have a shadow.

“Creating A Shadow”
1. The “perspective” layer is already a guide layer, hidden from our view and locked. Before we
give some more depth to this scene with gradients and a shadow, let’s turn the “grid” layer into
a guide layer and lock it so it can’t be altered.

2. Now we need something to suggest depth

in the shot. First, create another layer and
name it “bg” (stands for background … you’ll
want to start using abbreviations like this if
you don’t already). Place it on the bottom of
the layer list so that the references and the
bouncing ball itself are on top. Make sure not
to attach it to one of the guide layers. If you
do accidentally, it’s OK—to detach it, just pull
the new layer down and away to the left until
you see it pop out of the indent. Image CL6.2 Image CL6.2

3. Go to the Color panel (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+F9). With the paint bucket (which represents fill color)
selected, choose “Linear gradient” from the drop-down menu. Double-click on the black
pointer, and choose a subtle color to change to white. I chose the lightest gray in the presets.
Image CL6.3

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 Chapter 6
Image CL6.3 Image CL6.4
4. We don’t want a line around this rectangle,
so when selecting the stroke color, look for

STAGING
a box with a red line diagonally through it
in the top-right corner of the color presets.
This is the “no stroke” option (for future
reference, you can select the same thing for Image CL6.5
fill). Image CL6.4

5. Use the Rectangle Tool (R) to cover

the same area as the grid (from the
bottom to the middle of the stage).
Image CL6.5 Image CL6.6
6. Pick the Gradient Transform Tool (F).
It hides in the same place as the Free
Transform Tool in the toolbar. This is the
transformation “drawer” of the toolbar,
and it functions in much the same way as
the Rectangle and Oval Tools being housed
together. Image CL6.6

7. With the Gradient Transform Tool

selected, click on the rectangle we drew
in step 4. You will see some points pop up. Images 6.7a and b  Rotate the gradient to fade
The white circle at the corner is to rotate north/south (top, Image CL6.7a) and pull center
the gradient. The box with the arrow in it tab down to keep the gradient within the box
on the side is to expand or shrink it. The (bottom, Image CL6.7b).

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 dot in the middle is to change its position.
Click and drag the white circle at the
corner to rotate the gradient so that the
dark area is at the bottom. Use the box
handle to shrink the gradient inside the
shape if necessary. You should now see a
nice gradient from gray at the bottom of Image CL6.8
the screen to white in the middle. Image
CL6.7a and CL6.7b

8. Let’s create a shadow. Double-click

the bouncing ball to get into the “ball-
bouncing” symbol. Create a new layer, put
it under everything, and name it “shadow.”
Actually now’s a good time to name the
ball layer “ball.” Image CL6.8 Image CL6.9
9. Lock all the layers except “shadow.” Now
click the colored box next to “ball” to
turn on outline mode for that layer. Now
we can see its position without the ball
obstructing our view of the “shadow”
layer below it, since that’s where we will
be working. Image CL6.9

10. In the Library panel (Cmd/Ctrl+L), right-

click the symbol “ball-bouncing” and select
Duplicate Symbol. Name it “ball_shadow-
bouncing.” Image CL6.10

11. Drag and drop an instance of this

duplicated symbol on the first frame of
the “shadow” layer and line it up exactly
with the symbol on the “ball” layer so they Image CL6.10
overlap.

12. Go to the final frame (frame 103) so that the bouncing ball is in the contact position with the
“ground” at rest and use the Free Transform Tool (Q) to squash and skew the ball’s shape, so
it looks as though it is being cast like a shadow. Remember that you can do this by holding
the Option/Alt key as you click and drag the transformation points so the bottom of the ball
images never leave contact with each other. Alternatively, you could move the transformation/
pivot point to the bottom of the ball (as I did in the accompanying image) in order to transform
around this point. Image CL6.12

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 Image CL6.14
Image CL6.12

Chapter 6
13. The movement of the shadow should look good, but it’s still colored. We need to turn it black.
Back in the library, right-click the “ball” symbol and Duplicate Symbol. Name it “ball_shadow.”

14. Inside the newly created “ball_shadow” symbol, highlight the ball image and from the Color

STAGING
panel turn the fill to black with no outline (by clicking the no stroke icon, as in step 4 in this
very closer look section). Return to the symbol “ball_shadow-bouncing” by double-clicking it
in the library. Image CL6.14

15. Enter the “ball_shadow-bouncing” symbol and then open Edit > Find and Replace (Cmd/Ctrl+F).
To replace all the colored “ball” symbols in this timeline and only this timeline (meaning, not
on the main stage or in any of the other symbols’ nested animations) with the recently created
“ball_shadow” we’re going to use a specific setting in the following step.

16. In the Find and Replace panel, there are a series of drop-down menus. The provided image
is what you see in Adobe Animate, for previous versions it will look different but the general
method is the same. The first thing of
note is in the “Options” subsection where
the “Context” value is set to Current
Scene. This will find-and-replace within
whatever timeline you currently have
open. In our case, it’s the timeline nested
with the “ball_shadow-bouncing” symbol
we’re currently in.

17. For the other values, we’re searching

for a Symbol. We want to “Find” ball
and “Replace” it with ball_shadow.
Image CL6.17 Image CL6.17

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 18. This part is easy. Click “Replace All.”

19. Now you have a great shadow with

corresponding movement, but it shouldn’t Image CL6.19
be as dark. Back in the “ball-bouncing” symbol, click on the shadow and find the Color Effect
area of the Properties panel. From the “Style” drop-down menu, choose Alpha and set it as
you like. I chose 30%. Image CL6.19

USING STAGING With “The Story Point”

What’s the point of animating something wonderfully if no one can see or understand it? That’s the
essence and purpose of Staging. In Disney’s The Jungle Book there is a scene where Shanti, the human
girl, is singing “My Own Home.” She is wearing a subtle pink dress—not formal, but not tattered.
There’s a container with her as she kneels by a strip of land peeking out into the still water. No one
has accompanied her to this watering hole, but a long dirt path carved into the jungle stretches behind
her to right of the screen. The sky back there shows no dense trees, and the vegetation seems to get
lighter the farther back with the path it goes. Mowgli is watching from a tree to the left of the screen,
on all fours like a panther with his orange loin cloth being the only covering. At the point where
he sits, the branch is angled directly toward Shanti, almost pointing her out to us in the scene. The
jungle Mowgli has just crawled out from to get this closer look is dark and dense. Everything about
this shot is clearly laid out in a way to tell you the relative social situations of these two characters,
what they’re doing, and where they are in relation to each other and their surroundings. It’s not just
about the perspective as Shanti walks toward us and Mowgli crawls away. It’s the colors, arrangement

Image 6.6  “My Own Home” musical number from Disney’s The Jungle Book (1967).

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 of background elements, clothing, conditions—everything works together to tell you what you need
to know without saying a word.

Staging is so much more than just working in perspective. For proper staging to occur, the artist
must know the “story point” of the scene. That is to say, the thing which is most important to the
overall story as represented in this scene. Every element has to work together to get you where they
want you to go emotionally. That’s what makes this principle, while not hard to write about, hard to
sum up. It’s kind of like this principle exists to remind you to be aware of your story and what your
purpose is in the scene. Staging is trying to remind you to not forget the planning when it comes to
this shot you’re approaching.

“For proper staging to occur, the artist must know the

“story point” of the scene.”
In our bouncing ball example, the goal was to have a ball bounce into the distance. Believe it or not,
there was a story decision made in this scene, albeit a small one: whether it would come to a stop

Chapter 6
or keep bouncing to the horizon. The story point, then, would be that this one lonely bouncing ball
comes to a stop. The plain white environment, the trajectory hugging one side of the frame while
leaving most of it completely empty, and the shadow cast away from the empty space, all give weight
to the “lonely bouncing ball comes to a stop.” How would that have been different if it were in the

STAGING
middle? Would it have the same feeling if the room were red? It’s not a complicated scene, but every
element still impacts the projection of the story point in one way or the other.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
“Golf Swing”

Principles Used
Arcs: This seems obvious, a golf swing is a pendulous one, so it (and the motions that make up the
whole) will travel in obvious and smooth arcs.

Slow In/Out: As with most organic movement, there’s an acceleration and deceleration to each. The
severity you choose for these during the swing will determine a lot about the feeling of the motion.

Anticipation: Before the swing, there’s a small reverse motion before swinging forward—like a tiny
windup. Because the golf swing is more about grace, if this anticipatory motion is quick, the swing
will feel muscled. If it is slow and smooth, the swing will feel more calculated.

Overlapping Action: There are three joints to consider on the arm alone—shoulder, elbow, and
wrist. The chest can move independently of the hip at the top of the legs, which also have knees
and ankles. All these joints will start moving at different times and, when they do, they’ll move at

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 different rates. The golf club plays follow the leader to the rest
of the body’s “leader” status and, though the primary action, is
the overlapping action. The follow-through will actually be the
similarly named motion in professional sports—after the body
has turned in full to the swing and come to a stop, the arms and
club continue to a stop.

Pose to Pose/Straight Ahead: Which method you use to com­

plete the rough animation will mostly determine if this is a
professional’s golf swing or an amateur’s. Using pose to pose,
you can analyze footage of golfers or step-by-step guides in a
golfing magazine and sketch the perfect swing. Using straight
ahead action, you’ll get more spontaneity from the swing and it
will probably be out of position at parts, making it feel like the
kind of swing you would see someone making at a course for the
first time after work with some buddies.

Staging: The contact position of the swing which actually shows

the golf club hitting the ball when the character is facing the
camera is an almost ambiguous pose. There’s very little negative
area which really says what you’re looking at with a quick glance.
This is why the staging of every surrounding key is so important.
It’s the flow which will really sell the motion to the audience.

Setting Up
Open the “ch6-real_world-golf_swing.fla” file provided on the
companion website, and you’ll notice that the character you’ve
Image 6.7
been given this time around isn’t much more than a glorified
puppet. I named him “puppet.” You may use the pose to pose method or straight ahead action
for the rough animation. Quickly explained, using the pose to pose method you will rough sketch
only the key frame positions, keeping the staging of each pose in mind, and then clean up by
arranging the simple puppet into position for each key and tweening between them to get a smooth
swing. When using straight ahead action for the rough animation, you will be sketching many
more frames to complete the swing because of the unpredictability inherent in the method. The
cleanup process is similar to what I explained for the pose to pose method. The main difference
is that while the pose to pose method shows us the most important (key) drawings by design, you
will need to analyze your straight ahead rough animation to determine what its key drawings are
and use those for the cleanup.

For the sake of simplicity I will be using the pose to pose method in the step descriptions. I encourage
you to follow the steps in this fashion first and then return after the exercise is done to redo it using
straight ahead action for the rough animation. Look to the “Note” sections in the steps for help on

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 working with straight ahead action. Ultimately, the point of this
exercise is that no matter which method is employed for the rough
animation, after the cleanup is done you’ll use the “Color Effect”
section of the properties panel to turn the puppet symbol instance
into a silhouette in order to analyze the staging and adjust it if
necessary. There won’t be a lot of steps in this example, since by
this point the methods have already been covered. So let’s just
get started!

“Creating The Swing”

1. Start by tracing the puppet’s design in a form you can keep
consistent for your rough animation on a new layer above
the rest. Image GS6.1

2. Complete the rest of the rough animation for the golf swing

Chapter 6
using the pose to pose method. The sketch you made in
the previous step is your first key. There should be three
more key drawings: the golf club pulled back in a windup,
making contact with the ball, and then up in its resting

STAGING
position after the swing (the contact key could arguably be
considered a breakdown because it’s between two extremes Image GS6.1
but nomenclature is not as important as function). (Note:
if you are working through this exercise a second time with
straight ahead action, you will need to analyze your rough
animation for points on the timeline where a feature changes
direction or spacing as that is where a keyframe will be needed
on the timeline. Experience alone will improve your ability to
determine these points.) Image GS6.2

3. Lock the rough animation layer and enter the puppet symbol
to analyze its design. The “body” (upper body) and “legs”
(lower body) are each their own symbols on their own layers.
The only other layer in the puppet symbol is one for the
“feet,” which is locked since they won’t move. In the “body”
symbol there are three layers: head, arms, and body shape.
The head is a symbol and will be classic tweened, the body
is a shape and will be shape tweened, and the arms are
symblified containing the sleeves, forearms, and golf club (all
of which will have classic tweens). Finally the legs symbol
is made up of the thighs, shins, and a waist which are all
instances to be tweened. (Note: the feet are symbols, however, Image GS6.2

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 and can be tweened but only one instance
can be tweened at a time. So if your straight
ahead action rough animation had the
golfer’s feet moving, you’ll need to separate
the feet layer into two, one for each foot,
and animate them individually.) Image GS6.3

4. On the main timeline, scroll ahead to the

first key (the windup which for me was
drawn on frame 13) and enter the puppet
instance there. Insert a keyframe (F6) on
the body layer and move the instance up
a few spaces until the bottom of the shirt
better lines up with the one in the rough.
Image GS6.3
5. Enter the body instance and insert keyframes
on each of the layers at this frame (still on the windup key
from the previous step). Position the head and alter the body
shape to fit the design in the rough. Image GS6.5

6. Rotate the arms instance so the near shoulder

approximately matches the rough. Though the pivot point
is at the neck, the near shoulder rotational position will
be used as a reference for how far the arms instance will
be rotated. This will keep the amount of features which
need to be rotated within the arms symbol to a minimum.
Image GS6.6

7. Enter the arms symbol on the same frame we’ve been on

since step 4 and insert keyframes at this frame across all Image GS6.5
layers. Position the features to match the rough. You might
need to rotate, squash, stretch, and/or skew the symbols to
make this happen. Image GS6.7

8. Repeat steps 4–7 for the next two rough keys (contact and
resting positions). Keep in mind that for the action you’ll repeat
from step 4, you may need to move the body instance left or
right on stage as well depending on how you drew the rough
animation. The goal there is to line up the center of the shirt’s
bottom edge in the symbol to the corresponding position on the
rough. Image GS6.8

9. You should now have keyframes which need tweening on the

body layer in the puppet symbol, all three layers in the body Image GS6.6

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 Image GS6.9 Puppet, body and arms
Image GS6.7
symbols after tween (top to bottom).
Image GS6.8

symbol, and all layers in the arms symbol. Apply these

Chapter 6
tweens with appropriate easing. Remembering that
the image on the body layer in the “puppet-BODY”
symbol is a shape, you’ll need to use shape tweens
and possibly shape hints to complete this inbetween.

STAGING
(Note: if the body shape becomes out of position at
any point revealing the arms to be disconnected from
the body, you may need to insert a keyframe along the
tween span to adjust its shape, as I did on frame 7 in
the accompanying image.) Image GS6.9

10. In my rough animation there was a little forward lean

during the swing so I will be skewing the leg instance
forward at the moment of contact. But before that,
the body twists as the club is wound up before the
swing and so do the legs slightly. So at the windup
key in the rough on the main stage (which again is
frame 13 on the rough animation I did), enter the
puppet instance, insert a keyframe on the legs layer,
and then enter the legs instance.

11. Insert a keyframe across all layers in the leg symbol

and adjust the instance positions as needed to
replicate the legs’ positions shown in the rough.

12. Repeat steps 10 and 11 for the last key in the rough
(the resting position, which for me was on frame 25).

13. In the “puppet-LEGS” symbol, apply a classic tween

across all three keyframes on all layers with an “S” Image GS6.14

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 curve in the Easing Editor to get smooth
slow in and slow out spacing for those
movements.

14. Return to the “PUPPET” symbol, insert Image GS6.15

a keyframe on the legs layer at the contact
key frame (this will be on the same frame as
the one created on the body layer, which for me was frame 16), and skew the legs symbol
instance forward until it looks like it’s connected to the body. Image GS6.14

15. Apply classic tweens to the last three keyframes on the legs layer with whatever easing is
appropriate for the action. Make sure that the legs and body don’t look detached on any frame
along the tween spans. Image GS6.15

Interlude
You should now have a complete golf swing animation. The character
puppet is rather simplistic in design but it gets the idea across—or
at least it should. This is where we test how visually readable the
form is as it changes throughout the course of the swing. We will
be using the “silhouette test.” What we are looking for here is that
the overall form is readable throughout the sequence even though
there’s no color variation or surface detail. Negative area in the form
(such as gaps through which you can see the stage, like between
the arms) is especially helpful to communicate the content of a pose
when all other visual information (like shirt color) is removed except
what the form can obstruct (like the background). You’ll notice that
there are only two steps in this next part. I think this best illustrates
how easy it is to implement this quick review into your Tradigital
workflow; so let’s do just that!

“Silhouette Test”
16. On the main timeline, highlight the puppet symbol
instance on stage and locate the Color Effect area of the
Properties panel. Choose “Brightness” from the Style
drop-down menu and drag the slider down to –100%. You
should now see the puppet instance which used to have
color variation in its design become an all-black silhouette.
Image GS6.16

17. Use quick play (hitting Enter on the timeline) to test the
animation and see if it is still clear in this silhouetted form. Image GS6.16

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 You may also drag the marker across the timeline
or step frame by frame through the animation
using the < and > keys (which are also the “,” and
“.” respectively) to determine if there are any
problem poses … ones that don’t communicate
the purpose effectively. If everything looks great,
you’ve confirmed that the action is readable in
its most basic representation and you can set
the Style drop-down in the Color Effect area of
the Properties panel back to “None” and call this
golf swing animation done. If any pose(s) seems
ambiguous in silhouette and the readability of
the golf swing is muddied as a result, enter the
instance holding the form in question and edit as
necessary. Image GS6.17 Image GS6.17 (Note: Shown are each

Chapter 6
frame overlapped -- you’ll want to look
One of the super benefits to animating by symblification
at each image individually.)
in Animate CC is that when the final animation is nested
within a symbol, you can very easily do this silhouette test. It’s a quick way of noticing any staging

STAGING
problems with the poses you’ve chosen. Of course, staging should be considered in the rough animation,
but sometimes it’s hard to notice problems until the form is completely filled in and the negative area
really pops out at you. This is how you truly see the effect and importance of negative area on the
form. And if you’re not used to considering this particular facet in your work yet, this silhouette test is
a quick and easy way to double-check the readability of your work without adding many more steps.

FINAL WORDS
Staging
This is a fairly vague principle, but that should be comforting in a way. Remember that these principles
are not to tell you what to do; they’re to help you stay on track and improve your animation to create
a cohesive look. In much the same way that Animate CC is a tool to help you do what you want to do
in your art, the 12 Principles of Animation seek to remind you that what you’re doing is art—and
art needs as much feeling as it does careful consideration. Staging is a nexus zone between those
two. You have to know what you want the audience to get out of what they’re seeing, and then use
all your knowledge of illustrative draftsmanship and cinematography to make that happen. It’s not
something that can be taught in a few paragraphs.

“For staging, success or failure mostly comes from deciding where and how
to put things on the screen.”

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 That’s actually why it should be comforting. Art is about growth, and animation is no different. You
will always learn more about staging, no matter how skilled you become. Just do the best you can,
and do it honestly with consideration and the essence will come through. For staging, success or
failure mostly comes from deciding where and how to put things on the screen. Get a handle on that,
and you’re a long way into applying this principle. Perspective gives depth, which will help your
audience suspend their disbelief more readily. But sometimes you don’t want to engross an audience;
you may want something to hit dry, to let them see the moment from the outside. Take a look at any
top-ten best of The Simpsons lists, and any episode therein is a good place to start in the economy
of moving between depth to bring audiences in and flat staging to let them stand back and laugh.
The flow from one to the other isn’t easy to keep seamless, but I’m sure this homework will come in
handy … as painful as it might be.

You should now be feeling more comfortable with

the program as well as how it merges with the
12 Principles. In the next chapter, we’re going to
explore the two animation methods referenced
in the principle’s title. Everything we’ve gone
over up to this point will be used. If you have
a graphics tablet and have been itching to use
it more, now’s your chance. In Straight Ahead
Action and Pose to Pose, we’re going to work
Image 6.8  Three’s Horrible: Part I by Stephen
some frame-by-frame magic!
Brooks (RubberOnion.com).

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 Image 7.0 This scene from Animator vs. Animation IV by Alan Becker was
animated using the pose to pose method and depicts on-screen characters
animating with straight ahead action (www.AlanBecker.net).

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 Chapter 7 
STRAIGHT AHEAD
ACTION AND
POSE TO POSE

INTRODUCING

Chapter 7
Straight Ahead Action
and Pose To Pose

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

This chapter could easily be called
“animation methods” because that’s what this principle really
is. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose are two ways of
approaching animation at different ends of the productivity
spectrum. Straight Ahead is an unplanned technique where
the artist starts with a certain image and then just animates
frame by frame (fbf) until the end of the scene. Pose to Pose is a
planned process by which the most important visual beats (key
frames) of the story are created first, and then the spaces are
filled with inbetweens. Both have their merits and deficiencies,
as opposites often do. Knowing those failings and how to
combine the two processes to maximize their benefits have
allowed generations of animators to use these two animation
techniques to better service their visual storytelling.

With Animate CC, you have additional features that weren’t

easily available when drawing on paper though … if at all. The
ability to use symbols, tween them around, set precise sizes
and transformations, and easily alter just about anything off an
existing drawing without having to redo it completely are all

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 immense time savers. When sketching out a drawing, if you don’t
like the position of something, a quick selection and movement or
transformation can usually fix the problem. You do have an Erase
Tool (E), and a good graphics tablet will have an eraser function on
the other side of the pen. But sometimes you want an arm you just
drew to be a little bit to the left, which can be done by selecting the
feature and either dragging it or moving it using arrow keys. It is
in these quick, on-the-fly alterations where Tradigital work shines.

“Rough animation is made up of relatively quickly

sketched drawings that are used to specify
position and pose.”
It’s around now it should be mentioned that what we’re talking
about when referring to the animation you’ll be doing using straight
ahead or pose to pose is “rough animation.” Rough animation is
made up of relatively quickly sketched drawings that are used
to specify position and pose. These rough sketches can be very
fragmented images or even just simple stick-figures, so in traditional
animation there’s usually a process called a “tiedown” after the
rough animation where those rough sketches are tightened up by
drawing over them to get a better sense of the line economy (best
use of lines in the figure). Finally, there’s “cleanup.” This process is
where the forms’ lines are nailed down and great care is taken to
refine each image. In the traditional (classical) style of animation,
every frame with animation on it had to be worked over several
times before completion. In this chapter after working through the
rough animation, you’ll see what the quick cleanup in Animate CC
can be like! Image 7.1  Rough animation
(top), tiedown pass (middle),
and cleanup (bottom).

A WORD ABOUT
Traditional Methods
This chapter is unique in that this principle is about the actual processes used in traditional animation.
If you want to hand-draw everything in Animate CC, you absolutely can! All you ever needed for hand-
drawn animation, really, was a way to draw (like the Brush Tool, B) and create multiple sequential
frames (insert keyframe F6, or F7 for a blank one). In this way, you’ll probably feel very at home in
the first parts of this chapter’s bouncing ball exercise because that’s exactly what we’re doing. So
far, we have made all of our movements in Animate CC without drawing much more than a simple
circle. The reason for this simplicity was so that you could get accustomed to the movement tools

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 within the program before really addressing workflows as this chapter does. Now that we’re on the
other side of the hill, so to speak, the last half of this book is going to involve much more drawing,
frame-by-frame animation techniques, and actually putting all this stuff to work.

“Drawing is where everything

begins.”
Frankly, just about anyone can draw
something sequentially to make animation;
it doesn’t make it good, but it can be done.
The same can be said for tweening a symbol
around a stage. It’s the merging of these two
basic abilities and the application of the 12
Principles of Animation with them where skill
and dedication meet and payoff. Animation
can be approached from an academic or
trade angle, and both are equally valid and
effective. But just like straight ahead and
pose to pose, it’s best to combine the two. It’s

Chapter 7
great to have a conceptual knowledge when Image 7.2  Depiction of animation paper with Acme-
learning, but if it can’t be implemented then style peg bar holes.
it becomes rather useless. Learning by doing
is clearly invaluable. However, if that’s your sole manner of learning either traditional animation

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

techniques or Animate’s vast toolset, you might miss out on the experience of the great animators
who came before you. It’s easy to overlook their wisdom when you get caught up in the wave of
excitement that comes from making your own progress. We haven’t jumped into roughing animation
by hand or illustrating characters to move for that exact reason: it’s too tempting to stop there.

As argued in the Introduction to this book, learning by doing can’t be understated and is huge to
progressing in just about everything. Even though we really haven’t drawn anything so far while
learning half of the principles and a bunch of the program, I cannot overstate how immensely
important drawing is to animation as a whole. Drawing is where everything begins. That is the first
time in the process that the concepts and ideas in your head get translated to a visual form. It doesn’t
need to be pretty; it just needs to be honest. The whole reason a workflow exists is to help you get
something done incrementally and efficiently. If you could make perfectly drafted illustrations while
keeping all the animation principles needed in play and act for the character being animated straight
from your head to the page with no need for cleanup, you would be a nigh unparalleled artistic genius
(or Milt Kahl … same thing). You will usually start with ugly drawings and work your way up, which
is what we’ll be doing here.

“Animation can be approached from an academic or

trade angle, and both are equally valid and effective.”

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 A FINAL WORD TO THOSE
Without Graphics Tablets
If you don’t have a graphics tablet and plan to draw
with a mouse, this chapter’s bouncing ball exercise
might be a little hard for you to follow. In that case,
you can drag the “ball” symbol around the stage into
position on each keyframe instead. Every time in the
steps you see us drawing specifically with the Brush
Tool, just mentally replace that with dragging the
“ball” symbol into a new position. That being said,
the rest of the book from this point forward will be
Image 7.3 Some printer paper stacked in
using this chapter’s methods of rough animation to
a three-ring binder is a cheap and portable
plot out all the action. It is possible to draw with
solution to a starter animation table. Some
a mouse, but I wouldn’t recommend it if it can be
binders are even translucent, which would
helped. If you absolutely cannot get a graphics tablet,
give a light-table effect.
draw on paper! A very cheap way to keep all pages
lined up with one another is to use thin (read: cheap) printer paper and hole-punch it so that you can
put the stack in a three-ring binder. Animating on paper is really the best way to learn animation
anyway.

BOUNCING BALL Straight Ahead Action

And Pose To Pose

Setting Up
You’re going to be working more independently in this series of exercises. There isn’t any way you
can draw wrongly right now; it’s just step one in a longer process. You might feel overwhelmed at
some point if this is your first time animating frame by frame, but don’t give up. Everything can be
worked on and cleaned up, and don’t forget to check out the work files provided on the companion
website to see more of how they should look.

For these exercises, we’re not saving from a previous FLA, but instead creating a brand new one. This
file will have the same naming scheme. We’ll be splitting up the two principles into different work
files, so this first one will be named “bouncing ball 7 – straight ahead.” In Chapter 6, we created a
simple environment with depth. Here, we’re creating an environment with no depth but an uneven,
2D terrain. This background will serve as the setting for our ball to bounce, and the randomness of
the surface will show the differences between the methods better than a flat one.

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 “Setting the Stage”
1. Select the Pencil Tool (Shift+Y) and select
Ink from the options area of the toolbar.
This setting will have Animate CC read each
tiny move of the pencil instead of smoothing
it out in some way. It doesn’t matter which
color you choose so I just opted for black to
keep things simple. Draw an uneven terrain
roughly in the shape of a “V” with high
walls on either side of the frame so the ball Image BB7.1
can’t bounce out. Image BB7.1

2. To give this ground some color, we have

to close off the shape. Making sure to only
draw in the gray work area, make a line
or lines to connect (overlapping counts
as connecting because they cross) with
the left and right side of the one drawn

Chapter 7
in the previous step. (Pro-tip: hold Shift
while drawing to make a straight vertical or
horizontal line.) Image BB7.2 Image BB7.2
3. Choose a fill color for the ground (I chose a

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

light gray) and with the Paint Bucket Tool
(K) selected, click on the interior of the
shape created in the previous step to fill it.
Image BB7.3

4. Name this layer “ground.”

5. Create a new layer and name it “reference

ball.” Image BB7.5
Image BB7.3
6. Open one of the previous work files like
“bouncing ball 1 – timing” so that there
are two project files open at the same time
within Animate CC. You’ll see the names of
both files on tabs above the stage.

7. Click on the tab which has the project file

we were working in before (“bouncing Image BB7.5
ball 7 – straight ahead”) to return to it.
Image BB7.7

Image BB7.7

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 8. In the library, there is a drop-down menu at the
top which has the names of both project files open
right now. Chose the previous work file (“bouncing
ball 1 – timing”) from that menu so that you can see
its contents. Image BB7.8

9. Drag and drop the “ball” symbol from the library onto
the upper-middle part of the main stage of the focused
file which should be “bouncing ball 7 – straight ahead”
and close the older work file (“… timing”) by clicking
Image BB7.8
the “X” on its tab. Image BB7.9

10. Choose the size you would like your ball to be

relative to the environment on stage and resize
it. You’ll want enough room to play around with
the bounces so I recommend making the ball
50% of its default size. Image BB7.10
Image BB7.9
11. Create a new layer, and name this “ball rough.”
This layer is where you’ll be drawing.

12. We need to pick a good amount of time for our sequence to

play through. Around 4.5 seconds is enough, so extend the
timeline out to frame 110. Image BB7.12 Image BB7.10
13. Chose the Brush Tool (B) and a
good rough animating color like
blue. Image BB7.13
Image BB7.12
14. Lock every layer except “ball
rough” and turn the “reference ball” layer into a guide. You’re ready to animate. Image BB7.14

Image BB7.13 Image BB7.14

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 Now that we have our setting, what are we going
to be doing with it? Two things … namely working
through the animation using the two methods in this
principle. We’re starting with Straight Ahead Action.
As mentioned in the Introduction, this method (out
of the two present in the principle) is all about being
dynamic and flowing from one part to another with no
Image 7.4  In this visual example, the ball
premeditation as to what exactly will happen, or how.
has seemingly shrunk in size from the
There could be two obvious problems with this method.
first to the final bounce (compare the red
One, it’s very easy to get carried away animating based
highlighted sketches).
solely on the frame before each one drawn that the
sequence can turn into a runaway game of telephone. To fix that, we keep a story point in our heads
to remind us why we’re animating this scene in the first place: “what’s its purpose?” In our case, it’s
that the ball is bouncing around wildly and hectically on the rough terrain and ultimately comes to a
natural rest. The second problem is that we can wander “off model.” Wandering off model basically
just means that the design (model) we start with doesn’t match what we end with—like if our ball ends
up inexplicably two sizes larger or smaller by the end of our sequence (a common problem). To stay on
model we keep an instance of the ball symbol on stage for our reference—the one on the “reference ball”

Chapter 7
layer. We could’ve easily kept the instance of the ball in the work area offstage, but it’s good to have it
centered and still out of the way while we animate so that the reference is always clearly visible to us.

Unlike previously, we will not have any future keyframes to work toward. Don’t get discouraged if
the result isn’t as smooth and perfect as you want. This first part is just a rough animation to work

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

off. If you’re attempting traditional, frame-by-frame-style animation for the first time, it may be
an awkward experience. But we will clean up the rough animation you create using knowledge of
principles covered so far in this book and the Animate CC tools at our disposal. What you want to
focus on in this straight ahead rough animation is just putting what you have in your head down
on screen as soon as you can. We’ve already set the stage, so here’s a quick list of things to keep in
mind about the other principles we’ve covered as you draw:

• Timing: how long it takes for the ball to complete its current bounce and how that relates to the
other bounce that came before it (or might come after it).

• Slow In/Out: vertical movement will slow in on the way down and out on the way up; here,
varying bouncing angles will change spacing in interesting ways and add texture.

• Squash and Stretch: stretch as the ball approaches, making contact right before the squash,
and slow out a stretch on the rebound.

• Anticipation: some bounces are fast, others are slow; having a fast bounce followed by a long,
high bounce can give the viewer time to anticipate what comes next.

• Arcs: each frame in a span should follow a smooth arc.

(Note: For those of you not drawing the following steps on a graphics tablet and moving around the
“ball” symbol instead, don’t worry about squash and stretch on the approaching frames, only on contact.)

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 PART I
“Straight Ahead Action: Rough Animation”
15. First, make sure you turn on onion
skinning and have it span three frames
behind and three frames in front so that
you’ll be able to see how the images
you’ll be drawing relate to one another.
Image BB7.15
Image BB7.15

16. Pick a spot to drop the ball on the left side

of the stage. To really have fun, try to pick
a spot that when it hits will bounce the
ball hard to the right. We’re going to draw
the ball dropping straight down on this
spot to start.

17. Back on frame 1, begin off frame directly

above the spot you’ve picked to hit and
quickly sketch the ball the same size as the Image BB7.17
ball on our reference layer. Image BB7.17

18. Hit F7 on your keyboard to create a blank

keyframe after the one you’re on and
shift the playhead on the timeline so that
you’re now on the new blank keyframe
Image BB7.18
(which in this case should be on frame 2).
Image BB7.18

19. Sketch the ball again. Considering that it’s

slowing while approaching the ground,
make it lower than the previous one, and
repeat the previous step. Image BB7.19

20. Continue in this way (sketch, F7) until you

have made contact via squash with the
surface of the ground. Remember that
the fall is going to slow in and you should
also gradually draw in a stretch to the
ball as it approaches. (Note: the terrain
you drew may be different than mine so it
may take longer or shorter for your sketch
of the bouncing ball to reach the ground.)
Image BB7.20 Image BB7.19 Image BB7.20

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 21. Now that the first drop is done, the rest
of the animation can continue. Sketch a
stretched out ball in the angle and distance
from the squash that you want in order to
leave the ground and start the next bounce
span. (Pro-tip: the more it angles to the
right, the faster its horizontal velocity and
the less the slope of the arc. Remember the
ball is a projectile, so whatever horizontal
velocity it starts with it must continue until
changed by contact with something else.)
Image BB7.21

22. Using your knowledge of Timing, Slow

In/Out, Squash and Stretch, and Arcs,
continue roughing out the animation
straight ahead until the ball comes to a
natural stop. Each bounce will lose energy, Image BB7.21
so there shouldn’t be much more than a

Chapter 7
few bounces. Visually test your timing after
each sequence is roughed by quick-playing
the timeline within Animate CC (Enter).

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

23. When this is done, check your arcs. A
quick verification can be done with the
onion skin mode covering the entire
animation (or a selection of spans like
in the accompanying image if it looks
too cluttered to make out the arcs as
one full image) and seeing if the arcs
look smooth and well-spaced and have a
convincing overall path. If there are any
large size discrepancies in the ball from
Image BB7.23
frame to frame, adjust where necessary.
Image BB7.23

What most likely happened here after the logical progression of bounces you animated is that the ball
came to a stop in the hole at the bottom of our valley. One of the products of straight ahead animation
is that objects with no mind of their own and whose movements are only dictated by simple laws of
physics (gravity, momentum, etc.) progress toward an end which seems obvious, even if the path
wasn’t. It’s like if you were to actually drop a ball on a terrain like this, the smart bet would be that
it would end up at the bottom of the valley, right? Basic life experience would tell us that. This is the
opposite when dealing with conscious things, because the animator is choosing what will happen
next on a frame-by-frame basis—playing the part of the animated thing’s own mind.

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 Take a dance sequence, for example. While
planning out the choreography pose to pose will
give a more nuanced and specific performance,
straight ahead action can flow and often lead to
places and decisions even the animator didn’t
foresee. Similarly, this applies to certain other
action scenes like a foot chase, fight, or even just
fumbling around to pick up papers on a windy
day. You will come up with new ideas as you
progress through a scene when animating this
way. It’s spontaneous and dynamic and can give
wonderfully fresh results in your movement.
Animating straight ahead is a bit of a fly-by-the-
seat-of-your-pants approach, though. Because
of that unpredictability, one of Straight Ahead
Action’s main weaknesses is the inability to
account for specificity, like perspective, a
changing background element, or the need for
precisely timed character acting. For these cases,
we use the pose to pose method.

In this next section, we’re going to be starting

over and re-animating the ball bouncing around.
However, this time we will choose an end point
for our ball to rest on—one that would be very
improbable if the ball actually was bouncing
around randomly. We are choosing a specific
ending and will be plotting out the way that it
gets there.

Setting Up (Again) Image 7.5  Excerpts from the straight ahead

rough animation of a martial arts fight
We want to be able to explore this other (sequence progresses from top to bottom).
technique without destroying the work we’ve
already done so that later it will be easy to
compare and contrast the two. By now, you know
what to do. Save As another filename; this time
“bouncing ball 7 – pose to pose.” Rename the “ball
rough” layer into “ball rough straight ahead,” and
then guide it and lock it. Finally, create another
layer and call it “ball rough p2p” (p2p obviously
referring to pose to pose).
Image 7.6

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 PART II
“Pose To Pose: Key Placement”
24. We’re going off from the same starting spot, so you can copy/paste in place the first frame
from the “ball rough straight ahead” if you like (which would require unlocking momentarily
in order to copy the image) or simply redraw it on frame 1. After this, make sure the “ball
rough straight ahead” layer is locked and hidden (it should already be a guide layer since you
did that in the setup right before this step).

25. Insert a blank keyframe (F7) at the end of

our timeline on frame 110. Image BB7.25
Image BB7.25
26. Pick a spot for the ball to come to a rest
and sketch a quick image of the ball there.
I chose a nice little ledge on the right I
had randomly drawn. This spot doesn’t
look like an obvious location for the ball
to come to a rest, which will be visually

Chapter 7
interesting to see. Image BB7.26 Image BB7.26

27. Determine where you want the “contact squash” key which starts the last bounce. It’s best to
think of the last two bounces since it has to lose some horizontal velocity by hitting at a slight

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

angle to land on our ledge just right.

28. Use timing and animation math to decide

which frame it should go on (this can be
adjusted later). I drew it at frame 104,
which gives one-quarter of a second for
the final little bounce. Use F7 there and
sketch in an appropriately squashed ball
to the amount of energy needed to get the
ball through the last bounce. Image BB7.28 Image BB7.28

29. On that same frame, plot the arc the ball

should take. It doesn’t need to be perfect,
it’s just a loose plan for now to get the
height of the up position and a visual feel
for the path. You can do this with the
Line (N) or Brush (B) Tool; it’s your choice.
(Pro-tip: the top of the arc has two paths
away from it, these should be “leaving”
the arc at the same angle.) Image BB7.29 Image BB7.29

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 30. Do the same as in steps 27–29 to plot the second-
to-last bounce. I chose nine frames back (to
frame 95). Image BB7.30

31. Back at the beginning and on through, plot your

contact frames with sketched arcs to ultimately
connect the start sequence with the end. Use Image BB7.30
your mind as a simulator to imagine how the
animation will play out as a whole and each
bounce individually. Tapping to the beats of the
bounces helps to get the timing out of your head
for the approaching bounces. We will move
the last couple bounce frames in the next step.
Image BB7.31

32. According to the timing you’ve chosen, at the

moment the bounces should connect. Drag the
last three keyframes back to match that timing.
Image BB7.32

33. Now that all the contact keys Image BB7.31

and arcs are plotted, use
the onion skin mode (as in
step 23) to verify how your
arcs connect and that they Image BB7.32
look good as a whole.

34. Use quick-play (Enter on the timeline) as a sort of digital pencil test to see how the timing you
applied works out with what you had wanted and adjust the keyframes where necessary.

Interlude
Right now, we have a series of mapped-out arcs and contact keys. This moment is when illuminating
a few terms in traditional animation will help make sense of the next steps.

• Extremes: frames where there is a significant change in direction.

• Breakdown: the transition point between extremes.

• Inbetween: the “fill in” frames between the rest.

The contact keys we have are extremes. But we’re missing the “up” extreme. We’re also missing
the breakdowns. While in character animation breakdown frames are not always centered between
extremes on the timeline, projectiles like our bouncing ball often are. In other words, if your starting
contact is on frame 1 and your up frame is on 5, the breakdown will be on frame 3. If there’s no
perfect middle, pick one—this animation is just a planned rough, after all. The actual drawings on
stage would be spaced according to slow in/out. Finally, we’re obviously missing the inbetweens

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 that connect these all together. To be honest, these aren’t
technically needed to clean up what we have right now. If you
have the arc plotted out, it’s just a matter of placing the ball
on that line with a constant horizontal velocity. But (and this
is a big “but”), the entire benefit of the pose to pose method is
that the planning involved increases accuracy in your work
and decreases the likelihood of making a mistake too far down
the line. “Too far” in this case would be the cleanup phase. The
arcs may look good right now, but if you jump to cleanup too
fast it might become obvious only then that the arcs didn’t play
well with each other as a whole or a couple of contact positions
were too far away, etc. Because it’s a relatively simple object, Image 7.7  The orange hatch
not a lot of work would need to be redone to fix those kinds lines on the blue arc show the
of problems in a bouncing ball. But in character animation, ball’s position on that path from
trying to rework an entire sequence of arcs and the timing of frame to frame. The light grid in
them would be disastrous. the background shows constant
horizontal velocity and slow in/out
Let’s move forward with the pose to pose method in full. Keep
vertically via line spacing.
in mind that if the ball lands higher than where it started, the

Chapter 7
up frame will be closer to the second contact on the timeline; the opposite is true for landing lower.
To keep your timing and slow in/out on track, mentally work it out as if the arc started and ended
on the same level. Hatch in some lines throughout the arc to represent the slow in/out of the ball if
needed. Finally, as you work through each step, use onion skinning (adjust the span as necessary)

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

and test and retest the animation to see how it’s looking. There’s no shame in not getting it perfect
the first time—few do.

PART III
“Pose To Pose: Breakdowns and Inbetweens”
35. Working forward from the first bounce
sequence (after the initial fall) and in
a different color (I chose gray), we’re
going to place the “up” extreme between
each “contact” extreme currently on the
timeline. Remember, if the end position is
higher, the “up” keyframe will be closer
to that end contact frame on the timeline
(and vice versa). Image BB7.35
Image BB7.35 (Note: Screengrabs up to BB7.37
36. With all the extremes on the stage, draw are from Flash CS6 to show separate frames
in the breakdowns. For “unconscious with different colors as they are.)

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 movement” like projectiles, they are
centered between the extremes on the
timeline (meaning, they are separated by
the same number of frames). Accounting
for slow in/out in the bouncing ball, the
breakdown will always be drawn closer
to the up position (unless the arc is
essentially flat in which case it’ll be more
centered). Image BB7.36 Image BB7.36

37. Now are the inbetweens. Rough one span

to completion at a time, and use onion
skinning to help account for slow in/out.
Draw an inbetween halfway between
the existing frames; then draw one again
between those frames and so on. Continue
in this fashion until all that is left is to
inbetween the inbetweens. Because there Image BB7.37
can only ever be spans with an odd or
even number of frames; you’ll never need to “straight ahead” more than two inbetweens,
which keeps things relatively manageable. Image BB7.37

38. Animate straight-ahead for the final little bounces. These are just the little vibration-like
jumps as the ball is losing its last bit of kinetic energy.

If you have never done inbetweening before, those steps were probably frustratingly few. There is
a reason for simplifying the steps, though. Going step by step through a program’s features or the
conceptual learning of a principle of movement requires a lot of explanation, while working through
an animation method involves more personal discovery. You should now have an understanding of
what makes these two approaches different, and what the benefits are to each. There is no best method
between the two in general, but there can be on a shot-by-shot basis. Straight ahead is excellent
when you want something wacky, chaotic, or just a feel of being unplanned and spontaneous. Pose
to pose is what is needed for a more subtle and calculated touch.

People will have slightly different reasons for why they choose more of one or the other. Not to
oversimplify, but many people who just want to see their images move will wander into a more
straight ahead approach while those looking for refinement will usually lean more toward a pose-
to-pose-heavy method. Too much adherence to either method will result in the animation looking
repetitive, stiff, or both. To discover what works best for you and in which cases, you’re just going
to have to animate … a lot! There’s not much difference between what you just did and animating on
paper—a couple of efficiency hotkeys and the ability to undo (Cmd/Ctrl+Z), really. What this book is
about, though, is the merging of the principles with Animate CC; so if the methods haven’t changed
much so far, what else is brought to the table? Cleanup.

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 CLOSER LOOK
Cleanup
Cleanup animation is exactly what it sounds like. This process is where we take the rough drawings
and turn them into final frame-by-frame illustrations. Animate CC; helps a great deal not only in making
it easy for us to maintain our character on model, but also by giving us the means by which to adjust
every detail of the frame if need be. If you have drawn a nose, eyes, and mouth as separate objects,
they can be slightly nudged around to achieve subtle facial animation. If those features are symbols,
they could even be tweened and resized to make a difficult move into a precise, seemingly multi-
dimensional head turn. If you’re following along as described in this book’s Introduction and haven’t
worked through the real-world sections yet, you will see an example of this at the end of Chapter 1.

In the case of our bouncing ball example, we have a symbol that we’ll mostly be moving around
stage by hand. The rough animation that we’ve done using both methods will serve as the blueprint
for where we’ll put the ball and how it needs to be transformed. You have already tested the timing
and placement, adjusted for slow in/out and squash and stretch, and verified your arcs using rough
animation. Now it’s a matter of refining this animation even further using symbol tweens, perfect

Chapter 7
line tool arcs for reference, and the transformation panel to make sure we don’t deviate from the
model too far.

We’re going to clean up both roughs. Since we’ll wind up with one file by the time we’re finished,
you will have more layers on one timeline than we’ve had before

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

(in the bouncing ball exercises). It’s about time to start getting
used to working with an increasing number of layers; we’ll be
using layers a lot more down the road. First, we’ll clean up the
straight ahead roughs. Save the current document as “bouncing
ball 7 – straight ahead – cleanup.” Create a new layer, name it
“ball cleanup straight ahead,” and copy/paste the symbol from the
“reference ball” layer to it. This is the first time that the bouncing
ball exercises have shown that multiple instances of a symbol
can be on stage at any given time, which makes everything
from bookshelves to crowd scenes so much more manageable.
Everything except the “ground,” “ball rough straight ahead,” and
“ball cleanup straight ahead” layers should be guided, locked, and
hid. Of the three layers, “ground” should be the only one that is
locked. Now let’s get to work.

“Multiple instances of a symbol can be on stage Image 7.8  Multiple symbol

instances on stage helps create a
at any given time, which makes everything
tiled wall. Grouping tile instances
from bookshelves to crowdscenes so much into a larger symbol, also seen
more manageable.” here, makes it even easier.

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 “Cleanup: Straight Ahead”
1. We’ll start out with a tween—the first drop. Move the
ball you put on the “ball cleanup straight ahead” layer
to the first “up” position you sketched on the “ball rough
straight ahead,” insert a keyframe at the frame with
the “contact stretch” rough you drew, match the ball
and stretch with the “ball” symbol, and then tween that
span. Make sure to have the span slow in (easing value
of –100). Image CL7.1

2. Insert a keyframe after the “contact stretch” and create

the squash needed as indicated by your rough. Keep an
eye on the proportions in the Transformation panel.
Keep in mind that in order to keep the same volume,
the two percentages should add up to 100 (since we
started by shrinking the ball to half its size in step 10 in
“setting the stage”). Image CL7.2

3. Insert another layer and name it “horizontal velocity Image CL7.1

ref.” What we do with this layer in the following steps
will act as our simple reference to keep each bounce
traveling across the stage at a constant horizontal
speed.

4. Insert yet another layer and name it “arc.” We’ll be

making all the refined arcs here.

5. Using the Line Tool (N), draw a horizontal line starting

from the center of the squashed ball but on the layer
“arc”. Image CL7.5

6. Scroll ahead in the timeline until you see the

Image CL7.2
contact stretch frame which ends the first bounce
sequence.

7. Press Cmd/Ctrl to get the Quick Selection Tool so that

you can click and drag the other end of the line created
in step 5 to meet the middle of the contact stretch found Image CL7.5
in step 6. Image CL7.7

8. Scroll back in the timeline to the “up” position in this

sequence.

9. Click and drag (using selection) from anywhere

and pull up and left/right as needed until the top Image CL7.7

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 of the arc is centered in the ball from
step 8. Image CL7.9

10. Use onion skin mode to check your

reference arc with the one you made using
straight ahead. How did you do? Turn off
onion skin when you’re done for the next
step. Image CL7.10

11. Back on the squash frame in this Image CL7.9

sequence, create a blank keyframe (F7)
on the “horizontal velocity ref” layer and
copy/paste in place the squashed ball
from the “ball cleanup straight ahead”
layer to it.

12. Skip ahead to the stretch key referred to

in step 6 and create a keyframe (F6) on the
“horizontal velocity ref” layer. Image CL7.10

13. Drag the ball over to the “contact stretch”

Chapter 7
and line the two centers together.
Image CL7.13

14. Create a tween on “horizontal velocity

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

ref” with no easing so that it is moving
at a constant speed from left to right.
Image CL7.14 Image CL7.13
15. Lock every layer except “ball cleanup
straight ahead” and make sure that the
“Snap to Objects” feature is enabled in the
toolbar.
Image CL7.14
16. Momentarily hide the “horizontal velocity
ref” layer, create a keyframe (F6) after
the squash frame on “ball cleanup
straight ahead,” and apply stretch and
rotation to the ball symbol appropriately.
Unhide the “horizontal velocity ref”
layer before moving on to the next step.
Image CL7.16

17. Click and drag the newly stretched symbol

to the right until it lines up vertically with Image CL7.16

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 the ball’s position on the “horizontal velocity ref” layer and it also is snapped to the arc at the
center. Image CL7.17

18. Hit F6 again (creating another keyframe on the “ball cleanup straight ahead” layer), reduce the
amount of stretch, and repeat step 17. Image CL7.18

Image CL7.17 Image CL7.18

19. Continue in this fashion (steps 5–18) until

the rest of the span is complete. Image
CL7.19

20. Now that you’re at the next squash frame,

insert a blank keyframe (F7) on the “arc”
and “horizontal velocity ref” layers (since
the new bounce will need a new arc and
horizontal movement references), then
insert a keyframe (F6) on the cleanup layer
and match the squash you sketched in the
straight ahead rough. Image CL7.20

Image CL7.19 Image CL7.20

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 21. Repeat steps 5–20 for all the following
bounces until the animation is complete.
Image CL7.21

22. When you get to the final small bounces,

use your knowledge of principles thus
far and use straight ahead action for the
cleanup by dragging the ball around to
jitter to a stop.

23. Guide the “arc” and “horizontal velocity

ref” layers (so they won’t show up upon
export).
Image CL7.21
That’s cleanup, according to the needs and specifications given to us by this scene. You could go
another mile in accuracy and allow Animate CC to do the easing on your squash and stretch as well.
To set it up for Animate CC to do that, you would apply this principle to three keyframes (rebound
stretch, “up,” and contact stretch), include rotation, tween with appropriate easing between them,
then turn the entire tween to keyframes, remove tween on those frames, and complete step 17 as
written for each of those keyframes. There are so many ways to clean up animation within Animate

Chapter 7
CC. It’s all about knowing the tools and their abilities to put them to proper use. But we haven’t yet
done the cleanup for the pose to pose rough. Save As “bouncing ball 7 – pose to pose – cleanup,”
create a new layer and name it “ball cleanup p2p,” and make sure everything except the “ground,”
“ball rough p2p,” and “ball cleanup p2p” layers are guided, locked, and hidden.

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

“Cleanup: Pose To Pose”
24. Follow steps 1–23 in “Cleanup: Straight
Ahead,” and adjust for layer names.
Optionally, use the squash and stretch
reference tween method described in the
preceding paragraph. Image CL7.24

The needs of the scene dictate how we clean up

in Animate CC. What we’re dealing with here
is a ball that bounces according to simple laws
of motion, and for that animation all that was
really needed was the path, distance traveled,
and duration. The rough animation was used as
a way to map these out. But it was also a teaching Image CL7.24
moment to get used to the feeling of rough animation in Animate CC by using its tools and hotkeys.
Character animation is the ultimate goal here, and for that we need to know how to manipulate
symbols, use the timeline, and sketch roughs and paths confidently within the program. All of that
needs to happen while also taking into account a multitude of principles.

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 Drawing out a rough for something that could’ve
just been animated right after plotting a few arcs
around a stage may seem redundant, and for this
particular scenario you would be correct. But let’s
take the common walk-cycle as an example. A lot of
a character’s personality can be infused into their
walk-cycle. Walking is a conscious, deliberate series
of movements and which type of walk a character
employs requires a consideration of its personality
and performance. That being said, much of what
happens within a walk is done with unconscious,
inanimate-like movements. Swinging of the arms,
dragging the feet forward, a loose spike of hair
flopping up and down with every step—these all
can be easily plotted and virtually finished with
symbols without so much as a single rough, using
much the same process as we did in the cleanup
phase in this closer look section. As a matter of Image 7.9  This walk-cycle is cleaned up with
fact, almost every facet of a walk seems like an a combination of frame-by-frame animation
involuntary motion only existing because of it being and symbol tweening (instances are
chained to another. But to separate and remove highlighted in the bottom frame).
these “mindless” movements from each other and
animating them as such would take away the soul
of the overall walk.

Even though a walk can be broken up into its parts, there is an emergent property when addressing
it as a whole: personality. This is where being able to rough out movement as complicated as a walk
in its entirety is so valuable. Believe it or not, having the ability to hand animate a ball bouncing
around on stage when all these tools are at your disposal is the exact ability that will allow you to
infuse personality into your animation. Helping you develop this ability is one of the many reasons
the bouncing ball exercise exists in the first place, and why in this book we started with the tools to
animate. Now you know what is possible with the tools, know how the layered movement can be used
to create a completely different motion, and are beginning to put it together with hand animating.
The question of “why draw everything if Animate can tween?” is being answered now.

Using Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose

With “Compartmentalization”
Character animation shouldn’t be split up into its parts when initially roughing out the scene; that’s
true. The risk of losing the spirit of the movement to the minutia of physics is too great. But that’s
not to discourage you from separating a larger movement into smaller, more manageable chunks,
though, only to highlight when the appropriate time for this distribution is. For instance, usually

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 storyboards are done before animation starts.
These are images that map out the visual story
beats. After that, they get turned into an animatic,
which looks a bit like a motion comic where the
storyboards are displayed and often moved
around on screen in time. The goals of both the
storyboard and animatic are very close, but they
focus on different things: visual representation
of a theme or concept and the display of that
information in time (respectively). The trick is to
start with the most generalized goal and whittle
down through each process in the workflow until
the last step is fine tuning the smallest details in
your animation.

So what would be an appropriate workflow when

actually animating? A quick rundown of the steps
would look like this: thumbnails, rough, tiedown,
and finally cleanup. Thumbnails are tiny sketches

Chapter 7
drawn to help work out what you want to do
in your animation. They are small so that you
don’t get caught up in detail but can address
the overall gesture and silhouette of the form.

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

Because they’re so quickly drawn, there is no
fear on the part of the creator to immediately
throw away any images that aren’t working to
support the scene. You already know the rough,
tiedown, and cleanup terms as they came up
previously in this chapter. The rough basically
takes the thumbnails, draws them bigger with
Image 7.10  Sequential storyboards can be very
a bit more detail in form, and fills in some more
loosely sketched on sticky notes which I call
of the essential frames; the tiedown tightens up
“stickyboarding” (top), detailed drawings on
those drawings; and the cleanup finalizes them.
paper (bottom), or anything in between.
Each step is about improving the look and content
of the previous one. This incremental process is
the compartmentalization of a workflow.

You want to start with acting as a whole within rough animation and then work down to the finer
details. How to do either or both of those steps is where the battle between the Straight Ahead vs.
Pose to Pose crowd comes in. Some feel that it’s better to use straight ahead action in a scene first
to get the instant feel of the acting, while others like to start with pose to pose so that all the beats
which need to be hit are accounted for first. Whichever method you use, when the acting is worked
out, the specifics of the movement can be finetuned. A walk-cycle can technically be addressed by

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 animating the legs first and then roughing the body, arms, and finally the head—but why? How much
acting will you be able to accomplish this way? In pose to pose, if those main poses (keys) are ironed
in first, by the time you get to the breakdowns there is enough visual information there to work
back over the details of the arcs, slow in/out, etc., in order to finish the rough with correctly applied
movement principles. Likewise, straight ahead can lay the groundwork for fantastically uninhibited
acting which can be maintained while fixing some mistakes in the motions that make up the whole
without changing it. You will discover which works best for you, but both are usually utilized in some
form or another in the same scene (i.e. keys/extremes via pose to pose, then straight ahead between
them). The best workflow will address the whole, then refine and return back to verify that the entire
scene maintained its original story and acting goals.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
“Toilet Paper Shoe”

Principles Used
Overlapping Action: This principle could be the
star of the show which is why it’s listed first—it’s
obvious. Our character walks into screen with a
line of toilet paper stuck to his shoe. Every time
he moves his leg, the toilet paper flaps about with
overlapping action.

Secondary Action: As the character tries to

remove the unwanted item from his shoe, he’s not
completely efficient with it; if he were, it wouldn’t
be funny or interesting. As he’s wiggling his foot
to shake the toilet paper off, the secondary action
you choose will communicate to the audience if
he is nervous, annoyed, angry, or whatever else
you might think of.

Solid Drawing: Stiff movements result in mostly

cold feelings. To get a vibrant reaction from the
audience, the movement should look the part.
When our character moves about, keeping him
on model lets the viewer get sucked in to the
world. Image 7.11
Timing: Specifically, we’re talking about comedic timing. During the rough animation phase, doing
quick tests will be essential to nailing the timing of the keys down.

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 Staging: It’s safe to say that any pantomimed action needs to be staged well in order to work. The
poses for the hop-kick will need to be clear because a lot will be going on. The toilet paper shouldn’t
get too bunched up for very long throughout the scene for the same reason.

Pose to Pose/Straight Ahead: The reason this principle is highlighted here is that it’s a perfect example
of the strengths between these two methods. Most of the character’s movements will be pose to
pose, if not all—while the toilet paper will be animated straight ahead. They are connected, and both
aid in the storytelling of the scene but are best animated in different ways because of their features.

Setting Up
Open the project file provided on the companion website titled “ch7-real_world-tp_shoe.fla” and
have a look around. You’ll find a turnaround model sheet provided for you which is actually made
up of the different frames in the character pack. The turnaround model sheet (or just “turnaround”
for short) shows you the various angled views of the character as it makes a 360-degree spin and
the proportionate dimensions of the features. This is in the work area off-stage at all times and will
be used to stay on model during the rough as you animate your character sometimes rotating in
perspective. The character pack which makes up the turnaround is there for you to use as a starting
place for your cleanup frames. Essentially, the work to be done during cleanup will be a combination

Chapter 7
of the “Golf Swing” from Chapter 6 and the “Pitching a Bomb” from Chapter 4. The visual information
of the character is provided, as well as a collection of features in different perspectives.

Another thing you might have already noticed is that there are no numbered steps in this example.
You have all the information needed to complete this scene without a step-by-step walk-through, so

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

what we’ll be doing this time is looking at it in broader terms … not in technical terms. If you have
any difficulty following along, the work has already been done in the different stages and put onto
the companion website for your reference and ease of exploration. First, we’ll take a moment and
explore the character pack.

“The Character Pack”

When you first double-click into the character
pack symbol, you’ll notice that there are eight
frames and that these are the turnaround poses:
front, 3/4 left, profile left, 5/4 left, back, 5/4 right,
profile right and 3/4 right (Image TP7.1). The
features of the character are distributed across
named layers (with a * preceding the name
for each feature which is a symbol that can be
classically tweened). Some frames on various
layers have nothing on them because the features Image TP7.1
change their arrangement of what’s in front and
in back of other features during the turnaround.

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 If you enter any one of those symbols, you’ll notice that it’s set up much the same way as the character
as a whole: one frame for each angle of the turnaround. The head, hand, and foot symbols display
this most obviously. So in the character pack we have these differently angled views of features
nested within symbols the same way as we’ve nested animation thus far which allows us to switch
between angled views of features independently of the angled view of another. Using nesting in
this way means that if you need reference for a pose where the body is facing front and the head is
turned at 3/4, you can essentially “make” it by breaking the front view (frame 1) of the character pack
apart and then changing the frame number of the head instance to frame 2 (which is the 3/4 view).

For complicated movements, character packs like this one are mostly best used as references—
but for simpler movements, especially those which don’t change perspective much, these can be
used to expedite the cleanup process by tweening the features around like we did to the puppet in
Chapter 6’s real-world section (such as will be the case for the initial walk-cycle). TV shows utilize
character packs in their pipelines to keep everyone on the same page. You might be asking, “If I can
use the character pack as a turnaround reference, why does the turnaround model sheet layer even
need to be there?” The turnaround model sheet layer is for your quick reference when sketching
in the rough animation. It is faster when you are drawing everything by hand to have each angled
pose right there at your fingertips without having to change frames or enter any symbols in order
to view them. This process is the way it has been done for decades in traditional animation, and the
technique is just as sound as always. When it comes time to clean up the animation, being able to
basically take the turnaround model sheet information and actually pose it around on stage as I
mentioned in the previous paragraph can speed up the process, since accuracy and precision are
important at the cleanup phase.

“Roughing The Walk”

There is no shortage of information out there on animating a walk-cycle. It is one of the most common
first steps for a character animator, and because it’s a loop it’s easy to make great progress quickly—
that’s appealing to beginners. Because of this flood of information, it can be seen as just a beginner’s
exercise. But the fact is that an amazing amount of information can be communicated through a
walk. It’s not just about getting from point “a” to point “b.” It’s about having a quiet opportunity to
reinforce to your audience what the character is thinking and feeling consciously or subconsciously.
The method for animating a standard walk, off which you can branch any walk, isn’t much different
than the way you animate a bouncing ball using the pose to pose method.

• Contact (key): for the bouncing ball, this key was the “contact stretch.” For a walk, it’s the
moment the lead foot just touches the ground.

• Passing (key): similar to the bouncing ball’s “up,” the passing key is the uppermost position
where one foot is directly under the character and the other is swinging from behind the body
to the front … it’s passing by.

• Cushion: the “squash” for the bouncing ball plays this part. For the body, this “squash” is
shown as overlapping action acting as a cushion for the impact. After the heel makes contact

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 with the ground, the toe is in the air and the knee is still basically straight; the following
frame (or couple) needs to exhibit a cushion where the foot finally lays flat and the knee bends
slightly to absorb the impact.

• Breakdowns: self-explanatory, these are

the halfway points on the timeline and
are demonstrating Slow In/Out, Arcs, and
Overlapping Action in the roughs.

Sketch in the rough animation of the character

walking on stage using pose to pose. Don’t worry
about the toilet paper. We’ll do that later. Most
importantly we want to have a normal walk
where our character is unaware of any stowaway Image TP7.2a
on his shoe until he reaches the middle of the
stage. Start with the contact position just off
screen and repeat that pose ahead a couple
times on new keyframes while connecting the
feet positions like a chain until our character is

Chapter 7
around center stage (Image TP7.2a). Space these
keyframes out evenly with the timing you chose
for the walk. Halfway between the contact keys
goes the passing key (Image TP7.2b). You now

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

have the skeleton of the walk. I would wait until
later to finish the rough for the walking sequence Image TP7.2b
because we want to add some secondary action
to this walk.

“The Double Take”

A classic! The double take is a time-honored method of showing comedic surprise. We’ll be
implementing it as a secondary action during the walk which makes him stop his strut and turn the
primary action of moving across the stage to trying to kick off the toilet paper. First we’re going to
set up the reason for the look down in the first place. Let’s assume he’s walking out of the restroom
and there wasn’t enough paper towels so he’s going to dry off one of his hands by wiping it up and
down his shirt. He will have just finished by the last step so we start by sketching the arm with its
secondary action across all the steps currently shown. On a new layer or using Object Draw (J), rough
in this wiping motion with the character’s left hand over the course of the steps it took to get to
the last contact position. Erase the left arm roughs you had drawn earlier since this new secondary
action we’re adding is replacing them (Image TP7.3a).

Now we’ll address the double take and the final “I see toilet paper on my shoe” pose. Since the
last contact pose the character is back to stride, the contact before that is where he leans over to

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 Image TP7.3a

finish wiping his hand and turns his head to look at the
result. I leaned his head toward the camera at a 3/4 view
for this pose. To complete the look, I have him looking
down from the front view on the last passing position
(after the contact we just edited). The final contact pose is
where he’s returned his head looking in the direction he’s
walking but the right arm is obscured by the body instead
of swung back as it should be because of his left arm’s
position and where we want the final pose to end up. This
final pose is after the last contact key and it depicts him Image TP7.3b
looking directly at the toilet paper he thought he saw last
time (Image TP7.3b). This pose will also serve as an anticipatory beat.

“Hop-Kick”
Now that our character is about halfway across the stage and has noticed the toilet paper on his left
shoe (not yet applied in the rough animation), we want him to turn around and hop-kick himself off
screen while he’s trying to remove it. The weight is on the front foot now, so he’ll be pivoting on
that while kicking the toilet-papered foot away. Ultimately we need to be in a high-kick pose while
hopping off the ground. From here, you just need to create one hop-kick animation ending at the
same high-kick pose in order to create a loop to move backward off-stage.

Remember that solid drawing is very important in these actions to show not only dimension, but also
weight. This hop-kick motion he’s doing backward while moving off screen can be achieved very well
with straight ahead action. If you absolutely know what you want to do and need a certain amount
of control to dictate each movement, you’ll need pose to pose. But to keep the action spontaneous
and “zany,” straight ahead action is the way to go. He should do approximately the same number of
hops as he did steps—so about three or four. The whole scene I ended up with was a little less than
6 seconds which you can see in the FLA on the companion website to this book.

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 Chapter 7
STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE
Image TP7.4a and b  First couple of kicks are weak and provide an opportunity to pivot (top). The
hop-kick loop is more intense and allows us to tween the final looping symbol backward off-stage
(bottom).

“Toilet Paper”
Finally, let’s add the toilet paper. It’s
best to do this part on another layer
in another color. If you did rough
animation in blue, using red for the
overlapping action is a good and clear
choice. There’s not much to say about
Image TP7.5  Rough pass (left) treats the toilet paper like
this rough animation that wouldn’t be
a string to nail down movement. Tiedown pass (right)
repeating. You’ll be roughing the action
adds dimension to the movement.
out straight ahead following arcs and
subjecting the overlapping action and follow through (covered in the next chapter, if you are working
through the real-world examples linearly) to slow in and out. Remember that the toilet paper is
so thin that it’s seemingly 2D. A good way to approach this sequence is to first animate the toilet
paper as though it were a string to get the movement and flow to a place that’s working for you.

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 When you have the general movement roughed in, return to your character rough and complete
it further to give more information to your toilet paper animation sequence. Further completing
the character rough would be adding in the cushion and breakdown poses for the walk we skipped
earlier and inbetweening some of the frames between the hop-kicks. With this done, you can then
add believability to the sequence by applying the principle of Solid Drawing to the toilet paper and
show it twisting from time to time. That solid drawing pass could be considered the toilet paper’s
tiedown pass since you are redrawing it with a focus on nailing down the motion better, with more
detail to the form.

“Cleanup”
As mentioned, this cleanup phase will be a
combination of the work done in the real-world
examples of Chapters 4 and 6. The walk is
cleaned up quite well using the method outlined
in Chapter 6 with the puppet this time using
the character pack, while the “hop-kick” is best
finished the way we did in Chapter 4 in which
“easies” are tweened and “problems” are frame-
by-frame. The character pack can and should be
used whenever possible and appropriate to help
keep you on model throughout the frame-by-
frame work. Clean up the character animation
first and then make another cleanup pass for
the toilet paper. When all is said and done, check
your staging with the silhouette test you did in
Chapter 6. Again, looking at the completed FLA Image TP7.6  Some features are symbols and
on the companion website can help give you an ready to be tweened while others need shape
idea of how to complete your own. tweens or frame-by-frame animation.

On Making Our Lives Easier

There are so many ways a scene like this can be approached from an acting standpoint. You,
as the animator, choose the one that makes sense for the character and help it to act on the
paper. You’re a director, an acting coach, and when necessary a critic to the character. You give
it life, but it’s the one that is acting directly for the audience. At its core, a character animator’s
responsibility is to tell the character what to do, when, and how. Pose to pose allows for specific
acting and subtle connections to be made with the audience, while straight ahead keeps things
unexpected when they need to be. We’re building a world for the characters, not for us. So when
you choose to use one of these methods, it’s not always motivated by making things easy on the
animator but by what the needed result is for the character animation in this moment: specificity
or spontaneity.

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 FINAL WORDS
Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
Any way you slice it, character animation should start with drawings. They don’t have to be beautiful;
they have to be functional. And really, unless you’re working at a studio or as part of a group where
someone will be using your roughs for cleanup, they only have to be functional to you. You might
be surprised how many animators will rough out a movement using glorified stick figures before
anything else. Stripping away the pretense of design just leaves the raw movement to use in acting.
Too much animation seems to be reliant on facial acting—which is to say, “dialog.” Animators often
call this “talking head” animation because there isn’t a lot of acting happening on the part of the
gestures or movement, just a lot of talking. It saves money but doesn’t do much visually. When using
straight ahead and pose to pose within Animate CC, it should be done with sketching.

Up to this point, we have started with an idea of what motion we wanted and went right on to making
that happen with absolutely no rough animation. First of all, we could jump right in because the
animation was that of a simple projectile, the bouncing ball. Through it, you learned the tools and
features of Animate CC, as well as the concept behind the principles of movement. But now that this

Chapter 7
knowledge has been acquired, rough animation utilizing the two methods in this chapter’s principle
should be used. We will start by applying this principle to the workflow of the bouncing ball in the
next chapter on Follow Through and Overlapping Action.

STRAIGHT AHEAD & POSE TO POSE

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 Image 8.0  From left to right, the first couple of images
show the cape with Overlapping
Action while the last exhibits Follow Through.

Book 1.indb 196 22/09/2016 10:16

 Chapter 8
FOLLOW THROUGH
AND OVERLAPPING
ACTION

INTRODUCING
Follow Through and

Chapter 8
Overlapping Action
Slow In and Slow Out, Squash and

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

Stretch, and last chapter’s Straight Ahead Action and Pose to
Pose all have something in common; they are complimentary
opposites. In each case, these dual principles can be considered
bookends to each other. Actually, one-third of all the principles
of animation are actually made up of pairings. But of these,
Follow Through and Overlapping Action are the most confused
with one another. Many animators use them interchangeably
or even mix them up with the subject of the next chapter,
Secondary Action. This confusion is because unlike something
like Squash and Stretch, which are very clearly opposites,
Follow Through and Overlapping Action are more like
variations on a theme.

To clarify their meaning, it’s probably easiest to explain what

overlapping action is first since it informs what a follow
through is. Overlapping Action is when two movements on
the same body happen at different rates, and Follow Through
is where something continues to move after a body has come

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 to a stop. An example of overlapping would be long hair starting to fall a couple of frames after a head
does because they’re paired together but move semi-independently of one another. Follow through
would be a trench coat continuing to flow forward before coming back to a natural position after a
man stops running. The effects are based on Newton’s first law of motion where an object in motion
tends to stay that way (momentum), and likewise for rest (inertia).

“Overlapping Action is when two movements on the same body

happen at different rates, and Follow Through is where something
continues to move after a body has come to a stop.”
In this chapter, we’re going to be applying last chapter’s principle to doing rough animation for
an addition to our bouncing ball. We’re adding a tail. The most common way you will encounter
overlapping in your day-to-day animation will be in hair, clothing, and extremities (arms, legs, what
have you …). The same items to have overlapping action applied to them in one scene will be the ones
to have a follow through applied to them when the whole comes to a rest. This sequence of events
will be exemplified in our tail for the bouncing ball exercise; it will be plotted through rough sketches
first and then cleaned up. Think of this chapter’s principle as being the one that’s mainly applied to
the supporting features of a body’s movement. So while we have a good handle on bouncing a ball
(the main body), we will now apply the same principles plus this one for the tail (supporting feature).

BOUNCING BALL
Follow Through And Overlapping Action

Setting Up

Image 8.1
The overall goal of the exercise in this chapter is to make a tail drag behind our bouncing ball for a
couple of bounces until the ball comes to a sudden stop, whipping the tail around in front of it. We will
be using pose to pose for the normal overlapping rough animation for the tail during the bounces and
straight ahead for when the tail follows through with its momentum after the ball comes to a stop.

The best place to continue from would be our “bouncing ball 5 – arcs” project. Save As “bouncing ball 8 –
overlapping,” since that’s the first part of this principle that we will cover. On the main timeline, create
a new layer called “tail rough,” name the one with the bouncing ball on it “ball” and lock it. Click and
drag the “tail rough” layer so that it’s below the “ball” layer. Remember that for the rough animation,
it’s best if you use the Brush Tool (B) for that natural feel, but you can use the Pencil Tool (Shift+Y).

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 Overlapping action of items that are not attached to the body (coats, skirt, etc.) are often roughed
in red in traditional animation to keep them visually different than the blue usually associated with
character roughs. You will often see this color scheme applied in Animate CC as well, but it’s simply
a carryover from traditional, pencil/paper animation and not a rule that needs to be followed. You
could rough in purple, forest green, fuchsia … it doesn’t much matter as long as it can be seen and isn’t
too overpowering so that when it comes time to clean up you can visually tune out the rough when
need be without having to actually hide the layer. The color change is about speed and efficiency,
not necessity.

PART I
“Overlapping Action—Rough Pose to Pose”
1. Working on the “tail rough” layer, scroll
ahead on the timeline to the first “contact
stretch” you see on the stage, insert a
keyframe (F6), and sketch a tail stretched
out at the angle of approach (diagonal)
to the ground. As the ball was falling, it

Chapter 8
was dragging the tail with it. This is the
moment of highest speed, so it’s the most
stretched out. Image BB8.1

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

2. Create a keyframe (F6) for the next
“contact stretch” and either Shift+arrow
or Shift+drag to reconnect the tail with
the ball’s new position. Image BB8.2 Image BB8.1

3. At the “rebound stretch” frame after the

first contact (frame 14), insert a blank
keyframe (F7) and draw the tail flat on
the ground with the base of the tail very
slightly curved up a bit to meet the ball.
This frame is the first time you clearly see
the overlapping action in this exercise. The
tail was dragged behind the ball in step 2,
and here it is contacting (squashing, if you
like) the ground after the ball is already
leaving … always trailing behind when the
ball is in constant forward motion. (Note: I
made the contact with the “ground” higher Image BB8.2

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Book 1.indb 199 22/09/2016 10:16

 for the tail than the ball to give the illusion
that the tail is farther back into perspective.)
Image BB8.3

4. Repeat step 2 for the sketch drawn in step 3

for the corresponding frame and position.

5. Insert a blank keyframe on the “tail rough”

layer at the “up” position and draw the tail
as though it had just been dragged up to the
top at an angle. Remember, the base of the
tail will be higher because it’s connected to
the ball. The tip of the tail is dragging behind
it, so it will be curved down, pointing at the Image BB8.3
contact point the ball made
with the ground at its “squash”
frame. You can use onion skin
mode to help draw the correct
position. Image BB8.5

6. To get a proper arc for the

next steps, we need to draw
one more defining key for our
overlapping action. Insert a
blank keyframe on the frame
after the ball’s “rebound Image BB8.5 (Note: Image BB8.6
stretch” and sketch the tail Screengrabs up to Bb8.12 are
following the ball on the way using Flash CS6 onion skin
up. The tail should be long mode to show each frame in
enough where even though its own color.)
the ball is off the ground, the tip of the tail isn’t. Since the end tip is being dragged forward due
to the ball’s horizontal velocity, the whole tail will be a bit “S” shaped. Image BB8.6

7. Repeat step 2 for the sketch drawn in step 6 for

the corresponding frame and position.

8. Create another layer and name it “tail arc.”

Scrolling through the roughs, put a dot at the
end tip of the tail on this new layer (without
adding new keyframes). (Note: to make things
easier on you, skip making a dot for the first
“contact stretch.” Start at the frame where the
tail is flat on the ground, since this frame is its
“down” position.) Image BB8.8 Image BB8.8

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Book 1.indb 200 22/09/2016 10:16

 9. The one piece of info you don’t have in these dots is the highest point the tip of the tail will get
to. Go to the “up” frame and draw a little horizontal line at the point where the base of the tail
connects to the ball. Image BB8.9

10. Hide every layer but “tail

arc,” and play connect
the dots by making an arc
from the first lowest dot to
the highest point (line in
step 9) and back down to
the last dot. By making a
smooth arc, it should look
Image BB8.9 Image BB8.10
like half a heart (where it
has been tipped on its right
side). Image BB8.10

11. Unhide every layer and make sure that

“ball” and “tail arc” are locked to work
back on “tail rough.”

12. Create blank keyframes at the two

breakdown positions (halfway between

Chapter 8
the “contact stretch” and “up” keys) and
sketch the tails so that the tip follows
the arc and the base follows the ball.
The first should look like one open quote

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

mark, and the second should look like
an eyebrow (I drew them in blue so that
you can distinguish them in the image).
Image BB8.12 Image BB8.12

13. The final rough needed for our purposes

before cleanup is an inbetween at the
ball’s “squash” key. To get the right path
for the tail tip, copy the arc drawn in
step 10 and move it back so that the start
and end points connect on the “tail arc”
layer. Use the Free Transform Tool (Q)
with Shift to adjust the size of the arc
proportionally until the height reaches
the first “up” frame’s height (the one like
in step 9). Image BB8.13 Image BB8.13

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 14. Back on “tail rough” draw the inbetween at the ball’s
“squash” key. Remember that the base of the tail is already
pulled down to contact the ground but the tip is trailing
behind. It will look like the bottom half of a “C” in that way.
You may want to turn on outline view for the ‘ball’ layer to
better see the surrounding tail frames. Image BB8.14

15. Repeat step 2 for the sketch drawn in step 14 for the
corresponding frame and position. Because the arc is Image BB8.14
slightly different for each bounce, the corresponding tail
positions might not line up with the arc exactly. You can
adjust it slightly with the Free Transform Tool (Q) to line it
up. Image BB8.15

16. The first “up” frames and the breakdown between that and
the first “contact stretch” are missing. Repeat step 2 for
these two corresponding frames.

17. To make things pretty on playback, insert a blank keyframe

(F7) after every keyframe already created. Adding blank Image BB8.15
keyframes will make the tail appear to “flash” on and off
on playback but is important to do so that the tail is never standing still while the ball moves
onward. This flashing is also called “strobing.” And don’t forget to guide the “tail arc” layer.
Image BB8.17

Image BB8.17

Interlude
That part of the exercise was a pose-to-pose rough of a tail trailing a bouncing ball with some
overlapping action through one bounce. We’ll clean this rough up later and in that process will
complete the tail’s movement with the ball through the next bounce as well. For now, we’re not
done with our rough work on the tail. The next step is the rough of the tail’s follow through where
it whips around in front when the ball comes to an abrupt stop. We’ll be using straight ahead this
time because of the spontaneity desired in this particular movement. Before moving ahead, make
sure you Save As “bouncing ball 8 – follow through.” Finally, create a new layer called “tail rough
front” and make sure it’s above everything.

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 PART II
“Follow Through—Rough Straight Ahead”
18. We want to end on the third bounce, so
double-click to enter the “ball-bouncing”
symbol, right-click the last “rebound
stretch” keyframe and Clear Keyframe.
Image BB8.18
Image BB8.18

19. Drag the last keyframe (which should

be the “up” key) back to about three
frames in front of the “squash” key. Image BB8.19
Image BB8.19

20. Reposition the ball so that it is back

on the ground (which can still be seen
because we double-clicked into the
symbol from the stage). There’s probably
already a tween assigned to this last
span unless you cleaned it up earlier. If

Chapter 8
there isn’t one, give it a classic tween
with a slow out. You should now see the
ball come to a flexible stop. Image BB8.20 Image BB8.20

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

21. Returning to the main timeline by
clicking “Scene 1” above the stage,
find the frame with the final “stretch”
(frame 55) and insert keyframe (F6) in
the existing tween on the “ball” layer
at that frame. (Note: because the tween
had no easing (value of 0), inserting a
keyframe here does not affect the ball’s
Image BB8.21
movement.) Image BB8.21

22. Right-click the keyframe created in step

21 and Remove Tween. Image BB8.22

23. Right-click the last keyframe on the Image BB8.22

“ball” layer of the timeline and Clear
Keyframe. Now the ball bounces a couple
times and comes to a squishy-squashy
stop at the end of the third bounce.
Image BB8.23 Image BB8.23

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 24. We need to add one final element before animating our follow through ending for the
tail. On the “contact stretch” keyframe (which should now be one frame before the
last keyframe), place a keyframe on the “tail rough” layer and copy/paste in place the
corresponding sketch from earlier in the timeline, adjusting its position to the right so that
it lines back up with the ball.

25. Insert a blank keyframe (F7)

after the key in step 24 and
then another on the same
frame (after step 24) on
Image BB8.25
the “tail rough front” layer.
Image BB8.25

26. With onion skin mode on, animate

straight ahead the tail falling in front of
the ball as it comes to a stop. Remember
that since the ball’s horizontal velocity
is coming to a sudden stop, the tail
continues forward. Ultimately, the tail
will be pointing ahead of the ball having
wrapped around in front of it. Four
frames (on the “tail rough front” layer)
is enough for the tail to come to a rest.
Image BB8.26 Image BB8.26

For this exercise, you used every principle covered in this book so far. The two that might not
be  readily apparent are Anticipation and Staging. Though we didn’t specifically aim for this,
there’s a subtle anticipatory beat at the top of the arc where the tail seems to hang longer than
the ball. This extra moment is the result of the overlapping action rounding the top of the arc and
the stretch applied as the ball gets to the bottom of its arc. Because of these factors, there’s much
more whipping action happening to the tail. As far as staging, everything can clearly be seen in
the shapes of the ball and its tail such that if you were to turn it completely black, the silhouette
would still show what’s happening on each frame very effectively—there’s no fuzzy misunderstandings
of what you’re looking at (Image 8.2). Our application of Overlapping Action and Follow Through
seems rather self-explanatory on reflection, but it’s a very important principle. Basically, the
animation isn’t different than anything else you’ll do but for the fact whatever motion is overlapping
is usually being dragged, and follow through is simply a continuation of motion through a stopping
point.

If you test the movie now, you’ll see the ball cleaned up while its tail is still in a strobing rough
animation form, flickering between visible and invisible. The movement is still readable even with the
missing frames though. In traditional animation we would call a video showing the rough animation
a “pencil test,” but here it’s more common to just say “test” (Cmd/Ctrl+Enter) or “quick test” (Enter or

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 Play Button on the timeline).
This constant ability to
see the progress of the
movie is fantastic and a
real timesaver in the long
run. It will help solidify
the movement you want to
achieve better and faster
because there exists this
accessible loop between
the idea in your head,
progress through drawing,
and immediate feedback by
way of testing. You could Image 8.2  The tail trailing behind the bouncing ball with
continue ahead and rough overlapping action in profile view exhibits naturally
out the rest of the frames in good staging.
the tail’s animation and then
clean them up frame by frame with the Brush (B) or Pencil (Shift+Y) Tools, but we’ll be progressing
ahead with more precision tools in Animate’s arsenal for our cleanup.

Our Tradigital workflow makes use of traditional principles and concepts in the digital world with its

Chapter 8
tools and features to allow for a cohesive combination of the two. As you’ve already seen, these can
be combined in many ways. Our previous exercises using Animate’s tools and features only represent
the technical aspects; however, something needs to be said for style. Style is a result of the merging
between artistic sense, tools, methods, and the chosen medium. In this case, it’s safe to assume that by

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

reading this book, you’ve already chosen digital vector art (what Animate CC creates) as the medium
and the 12 Principles with Animate CC to make up your tools and methods. But the goals you have
for your animation will change the approach. These goals are the result of the design and movement
choices in your artistic sense. The style in the animation thus far is a result not only of the medium,
tools, and methods, but the choices that I, as the author, make in the movement—which results in
the use of those tools and the creation and implementation of those methods.

The bottom line is that in order to learn, you almost need to copy … style and all. Progression will
mean the slow formation of your own style and methods using the information learned here. Even
though the major choices so far are mine, the goal of this book is to show how we arrived at these
choices and what it took to implement them. Ultimately, you will learn to use Animate CC differently
than others as your understanding of the toolset sharpens. Your continued experience animating in
Animate CC will culminate in a style uniquely your own but built on the knowledge and experience
of others, the way every great artist who came before you has done.

“Style is a result of the merging between artistic

sense, tools, methods, and the chosen medium.”

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 CLOSER LOOK
Cleanup of Follow Through and
Overlapping Action on Tail
In this section, we’ll be cleaning up the rough animation created in this chapter’s bouncing ball
exercise. To do the cleanup, we’ll be using different types of tweens and simple vector art techniques.
It will become apparent why certain choices were made and what their benefits are. There is a lot
to take in here, so it’s been split up into smaller bite-sized pieces of work. I encourage you to reflect
on what was done in each of these subsections and how you might be able to apply any previous
knowledge to it.

Essentially, the workflow breaks down like this: clean up the rough images for the looped animation
(bouncing tail) into a more final form, align all the cleanup images together to be attached at the
same place, copy/paste these into a symbol, put an instance of the resulting symbol on the bouncing
ball, tween that instance up and down with it, and finally trace the rough images for the final self-
contained, follow through animation on the main stage. Already, you might be asking why we need
to put the tail inside a symbol if we already drew it on stage. “Isn’t that redundant?” The action may
seem that way, but here’s what’s happening. The tail is going to be moving around in relation to
itself at a different rate than it goes around the stage. Those different rates mean that while the tail
is still rounding the top of the arc at a steady pace, it will also be straightening out and increasing
its downward velocity as it’s being dragged down by the ball’s weight. You can animate this frame
by frame. But what we’re doing is letting Animate CC inbetween some of the tail extension and
contraction movements using shape tweens at one rate while moving the entire tail at the same rate
up/down and left/right that the ball does (since they’re connected).

Image 8.3  This preview progression shows (left to right) cleanup on stage, aligning
cleanup to a single point in its own symbol, tweening that symbol up/down with the
bouncing ball, and cleanup of the tail’s final follow through on stage.

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 To get the result we’re looking for, we’re using a method that I call, for lack of a better existing term,
“symblifying” (sounds like simplify but with a symbol twist). Symblifying is the layering of nested
animation within symbols multiple times to result in one complicated movement out of many simpler
ones. We actually already did some simple symblification in the Arcs chapter. We put an instance
of a symbol, which had nested animation of the ball bouncing up/down with slow in and out, inside
another symbol so that we could move that symbol left-to-right on stage at a constant rate. That
matryoshka doll setup is what ultimately gave us the wonderfully smooth arcs.

That “arc” bouncing ball animation is the one we’re using in this chapter, but this time we’re adding
a tail. The symblify method is the same but with an added level of depth. For the tail to move with
the arc of the ball, it still needs a constant horizontal velocity and to slow in/out just like the ball. But
this time it will be changing the orientation of its own shape (changing its curves and direction of the
tip, for instance) unlike the ball, which despite squashing and stretching is still the same basic shape.
Since the horizontal velocity is already accomplished by the ball-bounce symbol across the stage,
we’ll put an instance of the tail symbol inside that (which we’ll animate up/down with the ball) and
the shape changes nested inside the tail symbol itself. You’ll want to resave your “bouncing ball
8 – follow through” file as “bouncing ball 8 – cleanup.” And if there was ever a chapter’s exercise
to periodically save with incremental numbers added onto the end of the filename so that you don’t
lose much work if something goes wrong, it’s this one.

“Symblifying is the layering of nested animation within symbols multiple

Chapter 8
times to result in one complicated movement out of many simpler ones.”

“Drawing With The Pencil Tool”

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

1. Create a new layer on the main timeline called “tail cleanup” and lock everything but that
layer. Image CL8.1

2. Choose a good color for the stroke and

fill for the tail as well as stroke size. I
chose dark brown, a lighter brown, and
5 respectively. Image CL8.2

3. We’re going to quickly clean up the series of

frames starting at the first “squash.” Create
a blank keyframe at the first of those frames Image CL8.1
and select the Pencil Tool (Shift+Y), and
make sure that “smooth” is selected in the
options area of the toolbar. The tail can be
thought of as two strokes: the top of the tail
and the bottom. When lines overlap, they
can be easily deleted later, so use the rough
image as a reference to draw one curve for Image CL8.2

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Book 1.indb 207 22/09/2016 10:16

 the top of the tail and another
for the bottom, crisscrossing
at their ends. Image CL8.3

4. Select the two extra lines

sticking out both ends created
in step 3 and Delete them.
Image CL8.4

5. Use the Paint Bucket Tool

(K) to fill in this new shape. Image CL8.3 Image CL8.4
Image CL8.5

6. Repeat steps 3–5 for the next

frame (“rebound stretch”).
Image CL8.6

“Drawing With The

Rectangle Tool”
7. The previous steps were
drawing to clean up. Now we’re Image CL8.5 Image CL8.6
going to use a shape tool. Using
a shape tool limits the amount of vector
points which makes shape tweens easier.
Select the Rectangle Tool (R). Image CL8.7

8. Insert a blank keyframe (F7) for the

frame after “rebound stretch.” This
keyframe is the last rough drawn for a
few frames, and we’re going to make
Image CL8.7
Animate CC inbetween it for us. First
draw a small rectangle over the sketched
image of the tail so that you can clearly
see the image under it. Image CL8.8

9. Using the Selection Tool (V or holding

Cmd/Ctrl), drag two corners of the
rectangle until they meet the ends of the
tail. Image CL8.9

10. Drag the other two corners to points

along the lines of the tail on opposite Image CL8.8 Image CL8.9

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Book 1.indb 208 22/09/2016 10:16

 sides. Where you put these points depends on the curve you’re ultimately trying to emulate.
Try visualizing the “S” curve as two separate “U”-shaped lines and drag the corner points of
the rectangle where they would meet. Choosing where to bring the points to will take a little
practice, but it becomes clearer when you see what effect the placement of these points has
(as you will in the next step). Image CL8.10

11. Click somewhere along the middle on any of the

four lines and drag them up or down like we
did for the guide-line for the sun in Chapter 5
to match the curve of the sketched tail. You can
freely move the two middle points’ positions
from step 10 around to get them in the spot that
allows you to create the correct curves to get
the right shape of the tail as indicated in the
rough sketch. Image CL8.11
Image CL8.10 Image CL8.11
12. Repeat steps 8–11 for the next four rough images. Those should be the first breakdown, “up,”
second breakdown, and “contact stretch” keys.
Image CL8.12

“‘Symblify’ It”

Chapter 8
13. Hide every layer except “tail cleanup.”

14. Using onion skin mode, drag every frame down

so that the point where the tail connects with

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

the ball are all in the same spot. On playback,
you should see the tail flapping about from a
Image CL8.12
stationary point. We align the tails’ connection
point so we can put all of these images in
a symbol and treat it as one object to move
around with the arc of the ball. If the tail looks
like it’s changing sizes; you may fix that using
the Free Transform Tool (Q). Image CL8.14

15. Highlight all of the cleanup frames created on

the timeline and right-click Copy Frames.

16. Guide and hide the “tail cleanup” layer. We don’t

need it anymore, but it’s best not to delete it yet
… just in case.

17. Create a new symbol in the library and call this

“ball-tail.”
Image CL8.14

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 18. Paste Frames in the “ball-tail” symbol’s timeline. Don’t worry that it starts with the “squash”
key’s tail position; we will be moving the ball on the stage later in the exercise.

19. Turn on the Edit Multiple Frames mode. It’s in the same area as onion skin mode. Hold the
cursor over the icons until
you see the correct one. It’s
used in much the same way
except Edit Multiple Frames
lets you select many frames at Image CL8.19
once and move them around.
We want the markers to
cover the entire timeline currently in use so every frame is visible on screen
at once. This is quickly doable by selecting the “Modify Markers” icon under
the timeline, resulting in a drop-down menu where you can select “Marker
Range All.” Image CL8.19

20. Using the Selection Tool on stage, highlight all the tail images and drag them
so that their tail bases line up with the registration point (+). Before moving
on, deselect Edit Multiple Frames mode (very important!). Image CL8.20

“Shape Tweens And Shape Hints” Image CL8.20

21. There are gaps in the animation right now.
Right-click and select Create Shape Tween
for each of those gaps which are bookended
by keyframes. The last one should end on
the “contact stretch” key’s tail (the one that Image CL8.21
is completely stretched out). Image CL8.21

22. Scroll through and see how the tweening

comes along. As long as the tail looks like
it’s flapping around and the base of the tail
never moves, the shape tweens are good.
If they are, skip to step 28. If they are not,
continue to the next step. Image CL8.22

23. For the tween that morphs around like it

doesn’t know what to do, we need to help
Image CL8.22 Image CL8.23
it along. With the tween’s beginning frame
selected, add shape hints either through the menu by Modify > Shape > Add Shape Hint or the
much quicker and preferred way, the hotkey sequence Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+H. Add one for each
anchor point (which are also referred to as “vector points”) just to be safe, which in this case
is four. Image CL8.23

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 24. You’ll see red circles with letters pop up in the
center of the tail shape ending on the letter
“d” (since there are four hints: a, b, c, and d).
With the “Snap to Objects” feature on, drag
the circles to the anchor points starting at the
base and going clockwise until all hints are
attached. Image CL8.24

25. Do the same as step 23 on the next keyframe.

You’ll see the circles turn green if they’re
attached correctly. (Note: make absolutely Image CL8.24
sure that each “letter” hint is attached to the
right corresponding anchor point (i.e. the hint
connected to the base vector point is also
connected to the next keyframe’s base vector
point).) Image CL8.25

26. Scroll through to see if the shape is doing

what it’s supposed to (notice “good tween”
from the image that accompanies step 22).
If it’s not, try rearranging the shape hints

Chapter 8
by rotating them all clockwise to their next
Image CL8.25
anchor point (don’t forget to rearrange the
shape hints for both keyframes).

27. Repeat steps 22–26 as needed for the shapes that don’t tween cleanly.

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

“Adding The Symbol To The Animation”
28. Highlight all frames on
the current timeline
(“ball-tail” symbol),
Copy Frames and Paste
Frames after the end
keyframe (meaning Image CL8.28
do not copy over the
existing end keyframe … they are different), so you
now have the same animation looping twice on
the timeline. Image CL8.28

29. Open the “ball-bouncing” symbol from the library

and create a new layer. Name it “tail” and put it
below the ball layer. Image CL8.29 Image CL8.29

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Book 1.indb 211 22/09/2016 10:16

 30. Make sure you’re on the first “squash”
frame, create a keyframe on the “tail” layer
and drag the “ball-tail” on stage. Line it up
so that the base of the tail connects with
the right place on the ball and the curve
of the tail reaches the lowest point of the
ball. Because the contact point would be
the ground, the tail needs to start touching.
Move the tail’s transformation point (seen
when the Free Transform Tool is used) to Image CL8.30
the base of the tail. Image CL8.30

31. Create a keyframe (F6) on

the next “squash” frame
so that we keep the same
position there as well. Image CL8.31
Image CL8.31

32. Scroll ahead to the final

“squash” frame and insert
a blank keyframe (F7) on
the “tail” layer, since this Image CL8.32
frame is where the follow through animation begins. Image CL8.32

33. Create a keyframe on the first “rebound stretch” frame and move the “ball-tail” symbol up
so that the base is meeting the ball at around the same spot and the tail still rests on the
ground and not
below (use onion
skin mode to verify
with the previous
frame if needed).
We’re setting up for
the tweens that will
take the tail up and
down with the ball.
Image CL8.33

34. Create a keyframe

on the “up” position
and move the tail
up accordingly.
Image CL8.34

Image CL8.33 Image CL8.34

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Book 1.indb 212 22/09/2016 10:16

 35. Repeat the steps of creating keys and moving the tail where necessary in the timeline
(“rebound stretch” and “up”) until you arrive at the last contact key.

36. Create a slow out classic

tween for when the tail
goes up with the ball and
a slow in for when it falls. Image CL8.36
Image CL8.36

“Adjusting Timing And Slow In/Out”

37. Quick test (Enter on the timeline) to see if the timing of the shape tweens inside the symbol
are doing their work. They probably look a little stiff. This stiffness is because they have no
easing themselves. The timing will also be off for the last bounce since it’s shorter. In order to
properly change the timing, we’ll need a timing reference first.

38. Enter the “ball-bouncing” symbol, create a new layer (no need to name it), and insert a
keyframe at each of the points where the keyframes are on the tail layer. Highlight this whole
layer and Copy Frames.
You may Remove Layer
once you’ve done this as
it’s not needed anymore.

Chapter 8
Image CL8.38 Image CL8.38

39. Double-click to enter the “ball-tail” symbol and create a new layer. Paste Frames from
beginning and note how the blank keyframes on this layer match up (or don’t) with the shape

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

tween keys for the tail.
The second iteration of the
tail’s movement is longer
than what the reference
blank keys show in this Image CL8.39
new layer. Image CL8.39

40. Remove Frames from

the two tweens (only on
the tail’s layer) until the
keys (“up” and “contact Image CL8.40
stretch”) match the
reference layer’s blank keyframes. Now the timing matches the ball’s bounce timing, and
Animate CC adjusted the inbetweens for us! Image CL8.40

41. Setting the easing of the shape tweens is exactly the same as for a classic tween: from the
easing of the tweening area of the Properties panel (although unfortunately there’s no Easing
Editor for shape tweens as of the writing of this book). Basically the tween will start with

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 a slow out and end with a slow in, the same way the ball does, but here’s a quick list for
understanding why the tail needs these various easings of the tweens considering their shape
and the fact they’re trailing behind the ball:

• First shape tween (“rebound stretch” to “breakdown”): +100 easing. It will slow out
because it’s being pulled up quickly. The tail is already outstretched while lying on the
ground, so there’s nowhere for this drastic change in speed to dissipate. So it whips the
tail from horizontal to a vertical angle.
• Second shape tween (“breakdown” to “up”): –100 easing. It will slow in because it’s just
coming out of a slow out movement. There’s no major change in shape happening. And
the ball is in mid-air approaching the apex (top) of the arc, so there’s no major change in
direction or speed.
• Third shape tween (“up” to “breakdown”): 0 easing. It will have no easing because while
the ball is starting to fall faster downward, that speed is being dissipated in effect by the
combination of the tail moving down with the ball and the tail being stretched out.
• Fourth shape tween (“breakdown” to “contact stretch”): +100 easing. It will have a slow
out because it’s being whipped around the other side of the apex of the arc by the ball’s
acceleration to the ground.

42. Repeat the previous step for the second iteration of the tail sequence in the “ball-tail”
symbol.

Interlude
Let’s pause for a moment and recognize in hindsight what symblifying lets us do. If you were
to just have shape tweened those tail shapes on the main stage, there would be no way to get a
different easing for the change in shape, up-and-down movement, and horizontal velocity. While
the ball is jumping up in the air at its fastest speed, the tail has just hit the ground. When the ball
is falling to the ground at its fastest speed the tail is just coming out of rounding the top of the arc.
In the first case, the ball had a slow out applied to it because it was bouncing up. The tail had a
slow out because it was changing shape quickly after being whipped upward. In the second case
(falling down), the ball has a slow in applied to it because it is accelerating downward. But this
time, the shape tween of the tail still has a slow out because it’s at the end of its last major shape
change (bent to straight) … though it is accelerating downward as a whole with the ball because
they’re connected.

Adjusting the easing may sound complicated because there’s a lot going on, but managing the timing
and spacing of multiple objects is where it helps to “symblify.” By putting a simple animation inside a
symbol, and then that inside another, and another, and so on until the needs are met, this complicated
motion made up of many different parts can be boiled down to simple subsections. But because of the
initial complication, rough animation is needed to get the essentials (keys) of this movement before
any of the final tweening can happen. Symblification is Tradigital animation.

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 In the following (and last) part, we’re going to clean up the follow through animation of the tail
whipping in front of the ball. This animation was roughed straight ahead, but the cleanup need not
follow the same rules, as you’ll see.

“Follow Through Cleanup”

43. We will use each of the drawing methods in
this closer look to finish cleanup on this follow
through. But first, insert a new layer on the
main timeline, name it “tail cleanup front”
and make sure it’s above every existing layer.
Image CL8.43 Image CL8.43

44. Insert a keyframe on

the “tail cleanup” layer
at the frame of the first
keyframe on “tail rough
front” (that should be Image CL8.44
frame 55). Image CL8.44

45. For speed, use the Pencil Tool

Chapter 8
(Shift+Y) to draw over the
first follow through rough
and the Paint Bucket Tool (K)
to fill the shape as you did

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

earlier. Image CL8.45

46. At the last rough frame,

insert a blank keyframe (F7)
on “tail cleanup” and use the
Rectangle Tool (R) method, for Image CL8.45 Image CL8.46
accuracy and cleanliness, to
draw over and clean up the image. Image CL8.46

47. Insert a blank keyframe a frame after the one on step 44 and
copy/paste in place the tail from step 45, here.

48. Drag the anchor points and the lines between them around
until it mostly fits the rough that was drawn. (Note: the reason
we’re adjusting an existing image is so that the point the tail
contacts the ground and the rounded base of the tail don’t
change much.) Image CL8.48
Image CL8.48

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 49. Repeat the previous two steps for the remaining rough frame
to be cleaned up. Use onion skin mode to make sure that
the lines you’re working with on that frame do not venture
outside a path between the two keyframes sandwiching it.
Image CL8.49

50. To really complete a nice elastic feeling to the final settle of

the tail, we’ll have it contract slightly back into a resting place.
We’ll do this over the next couple of frames. First, insert a Image CL8.49
keyframe a few
frames ahead of the
last to start our final
span. Image CL8.50 Image CL8.50

51. On the second-to-last keyframe, which was the last before we added another in the previous
step, use the Free Transform Tool (Q) to stretch the tail out farther to the right slightly (in
some versions of Flash, CC for instance, you’ll need to put the pivot point at the base of the
image first or hold the Alt key as you drag).

52. Create a shape

tween with an
easing of 100 (slow Image CL8.52
out) to this final span, and by doing that the tail lands a little
farther outstretched and then slides slightly back to a more
“comfortable” position. Image CL8.52

53. To finalize the animation, guide and hide every layer except
for “ball” and “tail cleanup front” and test the animation (Cmd/
Ctrl+Enter) to see what you’ve created. Use the arc double-
check method to make sure things are flowing well and adjust Image CL8.53
where needed. Image CL8.53

54. If you notice that the bounce goes

off screen on the main stage, use the
Edit Multiple Frames option, set the
markers to cover the whole timeline
(by setting “Marker Range All” as we
did before), highlight all, and Shift+left-
arrow until the ending image is placed
back fully into the stage. Image CL8.54

In this chapter, you navigated between

symbols, shape and motion tweens, guiding
and reordering layers, and all through two
different methods of rough and cleanup Image CL8.54

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 animation. Here you were able to see
how this layering of animation can be
combined to get a great result, especially
in parts where heavy overlapping action
and follow through are needed. Even
though the ball’s tail is connected, it’s
moving semi-independently; “semi”
because it’s still dictated by the ball’s
path, only delayed in its execution. This
way, separating the two elements into
separate symbols makes sense.

Think of animation in symbols as a

hierarchy. The “tail” and “ball” symbols
are the deepest layer and are separate
of one another. We nested animation
inside the “tail” symbol but not the
“ball” symbol because it didn’t need it.
Image 8.4  A representation of symblification—the tail
At the second level, the “tail” and “ball”
symbol with nested animation and the ball symbol
symbols are tweened up and down at
tweened up and down together gave us the “ball_
the same rates inside the same symbol:

Chapter 8
bouncing” symbol’s nested animation (top, left to right).
“ball_bouncing.” Nesting makes sure
The “ball_bouncing” symbol with that nested animation
that even though the tail is changing
tweened to the right gave us the ball bouncing across the
shape on its own, the ball and tail
stage with a tail exhibiting overlapping action (bottom,
move up and down as a pair … they’re

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

left to right).
connected after all. And finally at the
base level, the “ball_bouncing” symbol
itself is moved left to right on stage. There’s a level of symbols for the changes in shape, one for the
changes in up/down and one for the left/right. Put these all together, and you have a ball bouncing in
an arc with a tail trailing behind it in a smooth, wavy motion. After roughing out the overall feel of the
piece, you symblified the movement to its individual parts and layered them to create a complicated
animation.

There are a lot of excellent Tradigitally

animated shows, shorts, and movies out
there; their prevalence is probably one
of the reasons you bought this book. But
with each of those, there are variations
in style because of the artistic direction,
use of the program tools to animate, and
application of our 12 Principles. One Image 8.5  The speed of sketching by hand (left) is
thing that is common across the board, preferred over the precision of drawing through shape
however, is the use of rough animation. tools (right) for rough animation.

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 Rough animation preserves the link between our imagination and the image. The path goes something
like this for drawing: thought > hand/pencil > image. The path for computer imaging (meaning without
drawing by hand) has an added step, however: thought > hand/mouse > program construction tools
> image. It’s for this reason that we want to use rough animation in traditional animation before
cleaning up with the more refined tools of the program. Ultimately, cleanup is not about paving over
the personality and implementation of the principles of our rough; it’s about improving those two
aspects by using the precision of the computer without drowning out the creativity of the artist.

USING FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING

ACTION With “Symblification”
Animation is hard. Animation is complicated. Animation is fun. All these statements are true—well
at least two out of the three. The third is a tossup based on how much gratification you get from
your creation and the process it took to get there (see statements one and two). Animate CC has been
instrumental in bringing the ability to create professional grade animation to the personal level. The
ability to quick-test animation on the fly alone probably helps more people achieve real and measurable
progress in frame-by-frame animation than anything else in recent creation. But one step further
than that are the drawing tools, symbols, and tweens. We’ll get more into the drawing tools and
methods in Chapter 10 “Solid Drawing,” but you’ve already seen what tweening and nesting animation
within symbols can do. Those two features help immensely to alleviate the pains of overwhelming
complication in some animation.

As mentioned in the last chapter, breaking animation down into its smaller parts before attacking
the whole risks losing the vitality and personality of your movement. The example of the walk-cycle
being only a series of simple, almost unconscious movements working together to produce a cohesive
walk with feeling and personality is probably even more telling now that you have worked through
this chapter. Rough animation of this bouncing ball with a tail, or a walk-cycle, or most anything
else lets us first stand back and see the forest for the trees. We don’t want to get lost in the detail
of every fine movement too soon. But once that rough animation is put down, it’s time to simplify
things … and in Tradigital animation, that usually means symblifying things.

“Animation is hard. Animation is complicated. Animation is fun. All these

statements are true—well at least two out of the three. The third is a
tossup based on how much gratification you get from your creation and the
process it took to get there (see statements one and two).”
Putting animation inside symbols and then those inside other symbols and so on until you have
layered it such that a complex movement emerges is the essence of symblifying. It usually is as simple
as noticing that the upper portion of an arm swings back and forth like a pendulum, moves up and
down with the body but also has overlapping action. The arm is connected to the body but starts
swinging back after the foot has touched the ground and the body starts to drop. You should have

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 already roughed out the walk, so you know how fast you’d like the arm to be moving and when. But
to make it easier for you to keep things smooth, you could eliminate having to clean up the three
sections of the arm (upper, lower, hand) frame by frame by symblifying the part that connects it to
the body. Even just to tween a layered series of nested symbols as reference for the movement and
position would be enough to help clean up if you’ve decided to draw over it.

All symblifying does is let you focus on one particular part of the animation and then break that part up
into the motions that make up the whole. A gymnast does a back layout full twist (a flip while moving
backward and rotating 360 degrees in the air). Moving backward can easily be accomplished with a
tween. The flip is composed of a jump and a rotation, so a rotating symbol inside another symbol which
is tweened up and down is needed. Then all
that needs to be done is an animation of the
person turning around one time, in place
(which would probably need to be animated
by hand). The hierarchy would look like this
(where the last item is the one ultimately on
the stage and each previous item is nested in
the symbol before it): spin > rotation > jump
> horizontal motion. You would still start with
rough animation of the whole and then clean
it up with symblification and tweens, like we

Chapter 8
did with the tail.

Breaking down an animation into smaller

parts isn’t really a new way of thinking about

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

animation, since animators have always taken
a closer look at what makes up the parts of
a motion when roughing. Many times they
would put a few Timing Charts on one paper
representing the different spacing assigned
to the various moving features needed to get
the refined movements. As we discussed in
Chapter 2 “Slow In and Slow Out,” the easing
graph for tweens is basically just a digital
Timing Chart. Symblification is just splitting
up a larger complicated motion into smaller,
more manageable subsections, all of which
are usually tweened and adjusted using those
easing graphs. No matter if you’re writing out
multiple Timing Charts for multiple features as Image 8.6  The various motions which make up
in classic animation or using multiple easing the whole are separated into their own symbols.
graphs for multiple symblified features as in Example taken from “ch8-examples-gymnast.fla” on
Tradigital animation, the concept is the same. the companion website.

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 Every workflow that differs from another will have a different result on the final product, no matter
how slight. But the way of thinking about the animation remains largely the same. Now that you’ve
seen it, look for it in every FLA you can find (including the ones included with this book, obviously).
Symblification is the way of Tradigital animation.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
“Whip”

Principles Used
Arcs: The end of a whip acts like a
projectile that is periodically redirected
by an outside force that’s pulling it
around, so it will travel in arcs as such.
The arm and its parts all move in smooth,
organic motions perpetuating the type of
arc in the connected features.

Anticipation: There is a lot of windup that

happens in a whipping motion. First the
whip needs to be raised up and swung back
before throwing it forward. That motion
(with overlapping action) anticipates the
following action by moving back before
going front, and shows the audience the
relationship between the movement of
the arm and that of the whip it’s holding.

Slow In/Out: The further down the line of

connected joints, the larger the spacing
Image 8.7
of the slow in and outs will be but not
necessarily the intensity. For instance, at the moment at the end of the arm’s swinging arc to the
bottom everything snaps to an end. The sudden stop at the shoulder rotation isn’t as intense as the
massive snap at the end of the whip because of the difference in distance traveled but they both
have similar slow in/out.

Squash and Stretch: As we will see with forward kinematics, when you focus just on a feature of the
body and not the whole (or at least without the face), the chances of the movement resulting in a
robotic motion is greater. Squashing on the anticipation and stretching at the extension of the whip
will do a lot to avoid this pitfall of the cropped view.

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 Pose to Pose/Straight Ahead: The motion of the arm is known and well-planned for using pose to
pose. The whip animation can be planned as well but is usually best worked out through straight
ahead because it is a reactionary movement to the arm.

Overlapping Action: A whip might be the quintessential example of Overlapping Action and Follow
Through. Think of it like a really, really long tail. The effects of this principle will be big. It will take
longer for the motion to cascade down the whip to the end and will require more time to come to a
stop even though it’s very light, because it’s so far away from the base of its movement (the handle).

Setting Up
Open “ch8-real_world-whip.fla” file provided on the companion website. The setup this time is
different. There is a “thumbnails” layer which has the major informative poses worked out for
you (mostly just to get things going). This was done by visually studying slow-motion footage of
whip-cracks, getting a feel for the mechanics of it and then marking the most important points.
As far as what you will be using for
cleanup, there is one “arm” symbol
which is made up of “bicep” (upper
arm) and lower arm symbols, and
the lower arm symbol is then made
up of the forearm and hand symbols

Chapter 8
inside it. There is also a line that has
been drawn in a neutral position on
another layer of the main timeline
to represent the whip. What we’re

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

going to look at this time is another
area of symblification, which will
act as a form of forward kinematics.
Forward kinematics describes the
connectivity of objects through joints
which are manipulated individually.
For instance, to move an arm setup
for forward kinematics you will
rotate the shoulder first (which
moves the lower arm and hand with
it, stiffly), then move the lower arm
(which moves the hand with it, but
doesn’t change the shoulder position)
and finally the hand which is linked
at the wrist (Image 8.8). Imagine how Image 8.8  The setup of the arm is for forward kinematics.
you would pose an action figure, From left to right, the arm symbol is made up of a bicep and
and you’ll have an idea of how to lower arm and the lower arm is made of a forearm and hand.

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 approach posing for forward kinematics. We used a bit of this in Chapter 6’s real-world exercise
with the arms in the golf swing but it wasn’t as focused as what we’re doing here.

“Forward kinematics describes the connectivity of

objects through joints which are manipulated individually.”
In Animate CC, using symblification, we have an added level to this setup wherein we can tween
each feature to rotate about the joint using the pivot point of the symbol, and all the tweens can
happen at the same time. This series of parental relationships is how robotics works. The parent
joint moves (shoulder) at a certain rate at the same time the joints down the chain (elbow and wrist)
move at different rates and/or times which culminate in one master movement. It’s also how your
arm works. Move it around right now, and you’ll see. We know this type of chained movement
already through life experience mostly, but this academic familiarity will help in the application
of that knowledge to animating the arm. We’re going back to steps for part of this example since
forward kinematics is a rather new method of using symblification as presented in this book. But
first, we need to rough it out!

“Rough Arm Poses”

Image 8.9

There isn’t much to be said about this process that

hasn’t been said already. You want to sketch the main
keys of the arm motion in first. You can see here I’ve
drawn out some thumbnails of the general poses that
we’re going for (Image 8.9). They are actually playing
on the timeline, making these thumbnail poses into an
animatic or simple rough animation of sorts. You don’t
have to copy them directly. Actually you’re encouraged
to work off your own experience and intuition for this
movement, but they’re good for reference if you get
stuck. Those key poses are the arm at rest, up ready Image 8.10

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 to throw forward, and then back to rest (these are extremes—the changes in direction). Then we’ll
put in the breakdown pose of swinging down toward the resting position (Image 8.10). These rough
frames are all we need to work the forward kinematics on the arm animation. We will address the
resulting overlapping action of the whip after cleaning up the arm movement.

“Forward Kinematics Arm”

1. The shoulder will have the most general movement. It’s the least complicated motion because
of it being at the base—it’s dictating the overall path of the animation: up, down, and back to
rest. Place keyframes
at each of the roughs
you drew (keys and
breakdown). For me that
was frames 7, 11, and 13
and I will be referring to
this timing throughout. Image W8.1
Image W8.1

2. On each of the keyframes created in the previous

step and using the Free Transform Tool (Q),

Chapter 8
rotate the whole arm around the shoulder so that
the upper arm lines up with that of the rough.
(Note: do NOT squash/stretch this symbol, because
it represents the whole. We want to apply the

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

squash/stretch to the symbols which are only the
individual features, which will be done in the next
section.) Image W8.2

3. Now apply classic motion tweens to those spans.

Give appropriate easing to each tween to reflect
the slow in/out that’s needed. I put an “S” curve
for the first tween span and then –100 and 100 to
the last two, respectively. Image W8.3
Image W8.2

Image W8.3

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 4. There is going to be some overlapping
action with the lower arm’s movement
compared to the upper. Enter the
“arm” symbol from the stage at
the up keyframe (frame 7), insert a
keyframe (F6) a couple frames after
that (making it frame 9) to account
for overlapping action, and position
the lower arm (which also contains
the hand), to the corresponding pose.
Image W8.4

5. The final keyframe for the arm (frame

13) is the down position and we want
a bit of a snapping effect to the arm
which will be mirrored in the whip. So
enter the “arm” symbol here, insert
a keyframe for the lower arm, and Image W8.4
position it to be perfectly in line with
the bicep (not the resting position,
we’re extending a little beyond that).
Image W8.5

6. Since the stretched arm from frame

13 is not the resting position we
started with, copy the lower arm’s
resting position from the first key and
paste it a few frames ahead so we can
cushion back to it (I chose frame 18 in
my timing). (Note: we’re using nested
animation with our symblification here
so make sure that the looping area of
the Properties panel says the “lower_
arm” instance is playing from the frame
it’s on—18.)

7. When all of the new lower arm

positions have been keyframed within Image W8.5
the “arm” symbol, tween between the
spans with desired easing. Mine were 100,
–100 and an “S” curve (for the cushion),
respectively. Image W8.7

Image W8.7

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 8. We want to repeat step 4 for the hand symbol
instance inside “lower_arm.” Instead of a two
frame overlap, I chose one. This made the position
with the arm bent back at keyframe 10. (Note:
because you can only double-click to enter a
symbol instance on a keyframe and the lower arm
keyframe doesn’t match the breakdown frame in
the rough, those images won’t align when you’re
working through this step on frame 10 inside
“lower_arm.” Do your best to approximate the
angle the hand shows in relation to the forearm.)
Image W8.8

9. The hand’s cushion is a little different because

while the elbow can’t hyperextend, the hand can
in this arrangement. First we’ll set it up by getting Image W8.8
the hand’s resting position set in. Go back to the
stage at frame 1 and double-click the lower arm twice to return to the “lower_arm” symbol.
Insert a keyframe up at frame 13 (which you’ll remember as the end key in our rough) and
paste in the resting hand position from the first keyframe. Then insert another keyframe at
the frame where we ended the lower arm’s cushion back to rest (frame 18). Image W8.9

Chapter 8
10. Insert a keyframe at frame 15 and rotate the hand to be a little more extended downward than
the resting position. This will allow the hand to exhibit some follow through after the arm has
snapped into its downward position. Image W8.10

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

Image W8.9 Image W8.10

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 11. To complete the hand’s
movement, we’re going
to tween the spans. But
right now that would
mean that the first Image W8.11
span where the hand is
bending backward would begin with both the upper and lower arm’s movements. The hand
should display overlapping action on the lift so insert a keyframe a few frames after the first
(I chose frame 6 in my timing) and tween between every keyframe except the first and second.
This gives us four new tween spans and lets the hand demonstrate overlapping action (for
starting the motion late in the beginning) and follow through (for continuing an extension
after the arm completes its own). Image W8.11

You should now have an arm that moves in smooth arcs with a whipping motion and some cushioning.
Without the cushioning, the swinging motion could’ve come out with a very robotic feeling. The
human arm and a robot one with the same joint system will move in similar ways, but the vitality will
more likely be missing from the robotic one because it’s just plain better at being precise. Humans
are generally awful at natural precision no matter how hard we try, and that needs to be reflected
in our movement. So even though we didn’t work out the rough animation to that level, knowing
that we want the arm to overextend just a little past its comfort zone and cushion back to a resting
position we can make that happen on the fly.

That isn’t to say that working out the cushioning movement via rough animation first wouldn’t
have been helpful, but that there are many ways to do the same thing in a Tradigital workflow. We
applied the same working knowledge of arm-swinging mechanics to the forward kinematics of the
arm as we would’ve done in the rough animation. However, computers are precise. While the arm’s
movements have more vitality in them because of the cushioning we applied, the overall execution
still looks formulaic. The arm’s features never change shape and that is robotic. The arm doesn’t
feel fleshy because squash and stretch hasn’t been applied yet.

“Squash And Stretch”

12. Enter the “arm” symbol and insert keyframes (F6) to the “bicep” layer to exactly match the
ones on the “lower arm” layer (frames 9, 13, and 18). Though this chapter is on overlapping
action, these keyframes need to match because as we apply squash and stretch to the bicep
it will move the position of the joint where the lower arm is supposed to look attached. So
we’re going to need to
reposition the lower
arm to move with
the squashing and
stretching of the upper.
Image W8.12 Image W8.12

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 13. Apply squash and stretch where appropriate for the bicep only. Squash at frame 9 to simulate
a flex and stretch at frame 13 to simulate the overextension. (Note: the accompanying image
shows these neutral (left),
squashed (middle), and stretched
(right) shapes with their frame
numbers above them. Notice
how the elbow position changes.)
Image W8.13

14. Move the lower arm instance

at those keyframes (9 and 13)
to reconnect with the elbow’s
position. Image W8.14
Image W8.13 Image W8.14
15. Give the empty spans classic
motion tweens with the same easing that was
applied to the lower arm’s tweens.

16. Enter the lower arm symbol and repeat steps

12–15 for the “forearm” layer and symbol
instance, this time matching with the hand’s
keyframes (6, 10, 13, and 15). Squash and

Chapter 8
stretch similarly as the bicep before—this time
squash at 10 and stretch at 13. (Note: since
there’s only one squash and one stretch moment,
we don’t need a keyframe at frame 18 because

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

that’s only for the hand’s cushion.) Image W8.16
Image W8.16

“The Whip”
We’ve largely ignored the whip itself, so far. This is because it’s a resultant action of the arm’s
movement. Essentially you were just slowly figuring out how you wanted to swing your own arm
in the previous steps, and now you’re going to “see” how the whip reacts through straight ahead
action. We’re going to work through this by section since it’s almost all done with frame-by-frame
animation and numbered steps would be redundant.

“Rough Out The Movement Straight Ahead”

For this type of work, I like to turn every frame of a new layer into a keyframe by highlighting them
all and hitting F6 or F7 (since the layer is blank anyway, functionally these keys do the same thing).
Then I turn on onion skin mode and set the span to see back about three frames. From here, you
just sketch in the frame that you’re on and hit the “>” key to move on to the next frame and repeat
until you’re at the end. It’s good to keep in mind the length of the whip (though it can be exaggerated

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 at points for effect) and also the type of motion
a whip makes, which was shown to you in the
thumbnails. (Note: in the accompanying image,
the “thumbnails” layer is in outline view and there
are two layers named “rough” (the highlighted one
is for the whip and the “rough” layer below that
is the key poses for the arm we did before the
numbered steps began.) Image W8.17

“Analyze The Straight Ahead

Work”
Now that the straight ahead rough animation of
the whip is done, look back at what you did to see
if it could be improved or if there are any areas
that could be shape tweened easily (for me, the
only real place for an effective shape tween was
the very end when it settles back to rest on the
ground). Insert another layer and draw in any
frames that need to be fixed, replace with the old
Image W8.17
roughs (after Save As, of course), and re-analyze.
Keep an eye out for what the whip’s keyframes would be if
you had done this pose to pose. The accompanying image
shows one of these keys which also needed to be fixed
(in red). Image W8.18

“Tiedown And Cleanup Using Onion

Skin Mode”
To make sure that the whip isn’t jittering around when
you clean up the final (remember humans are imprecise)
draw what would be the key frames you determined from Image W8.18
the previous section’s analyzing on a separate layer and
relate them to the handle of the whip. Next, tie down the whip’s movement by working through
the sequence the same way you would’ve in pose to pose (keys, extremes, breakdowns, cushions,
and so on), but staying as close as you can to the positioning you liked in the straight ahead rough
(Image W8.19a). They’re not going to line up exactly. Onion skin mode helps you avoid the jittering
when doing inbetweening in the tiedown because you can see the points where the whip crosses itself
from one frame to the next. If many frames cross over a similar point in space, this is a transition
point (or point of reference) for our cascading movement. Take a look at the accompanying image of
the first three frames (Image W8.19b). While the whip is being picked up, the lines all cross at the

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 Image W8.19a

same point on stage. If the first and third frames intersected there but the
second didn’t, the whip would look jittery. The other condition that can
make it look jittery is more obvious, and that’s if the change in position
of the line doesn’t look consistent. You’ll see these as anomalies in the
pattern you see with onion skin mode on. If you’re not well versed in it
yet, you will be with practice. Finally, when the tiedown is done, clean up
the whip motion by positioning the line where and when it’s needed and
tween where you can (Image W8.19c).

Manipulating a line as opposed to drawing in each frame gives more options

for tweening where appropriate. It also allows for fine adjustments in the

Chapter 8
case that a curve doesn’t look quite right. The other benefit to cleanup
with the line in this case is that because it’s so thin, problem areas in the
motion will be much more obvious as you work through in onion skin mode
(Image W8.20). If you don’t like the style of the line as the whip, you could

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

Image W8.19b
always design a more detailed
version to be animated frame
by frame back over it now
that the legwork has been
done on the motion.

This scene was done in

Image W8.19c
a similar fashion as the
previous chapter in that both straight ahead and pose to pose methods were used in one overall
movement. There is an organic movement of a human, and an inorganic movement of an object which
is connected to it (toilet paper in Chapter 7 and a whip here). They both also employ a significant
use of Follow Through and Overlapping Action. The major difference this time was the forward
kinematic setup of the arm. This method isn’t suggested for too many situations, however, because
it has a limited range in its execution. It would be great for robotic arms like on an assembly line or
one of those claw machine games. A tree swaying in the wind, for example, could also use this setup
if you need to see branches moving within it as well. Forward kinematics is a more specific use of
symblification. Zoomed in or cropped scenes like this one are helped with forward kinematics mostly
because the audience’s eye is completely trained on the movement and a level of precision is needed

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 but, as mentioned, rough animation is essential to making sure that precision doesn’t run away with
the vitality in your animation.

Image W8.20

FINAL WORDS
Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Truth be told, there is not much difference between “normal” animation and that with overlapping
action or follow through. This principle is all about shining a light on the fact that not everything
moves at the same time or rate even if (and possibly especially because) it’s on the same body or
object. A dog with floppy ears will have them dragging behind just about everything he does. If he
changes directions quickly, those ears will continue on their previous trajectory until they’re stretched
out and can’t move that way anymore and then whip back toward the dog like our tail did to the ball.
That’s the overlapping action. Follow through is when our dog comes to a sudden stop and the ears
keep moving a bit until finally coming to rest (Image 8.11). The principles that control the movement
of the simple bouncing ball or the dog’s wild running are the same as those which dictate the ear’s
movement with the added caveat of being influenced by the dog’s movements such that they trail a
frame or two behind.

Overlapping action can also be conscious movement too, though. Boxing comes up a lot in this book,
and it does for good reason: it shows a lot of the physics of body mechanics at work. To throw a
simple straight punch, the legs push, hips twist, and the shoulders follow while the arm is extending
and the hand is rotating. This chain of overlapping events in motion sums up to equal “punch.” In
real life, if they were to all happen at the same time, that punch wouldn’t be as powerful; they need
to be chained together. In animation, this overlapping action also works to enhance the anticipation
of the impact when exaggerated (which we’ll get into more in Chapter 11 “Exaggeration”).

The subject of the next chapter is Secondary Action, and you’ll see a lot of crossover in the concepts of
how to approach Overlapping Action and Follow Through there. For now, it’s important to remember
that while some parts of a whole might be moving at different rates, they are not necessarily

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 independent of each other. They are connected and impact each other by weight or movement. This
connection is why it’s best to address a shot as one whole piece with rough animation first. Mistakes
will most likely be made, but that’s why we refine with either a second pass after double-checking
arcs and timing or through the cleanup itself. Symblify your Tradigital workflow sounds like nonsense
… until you do it.

Image 8.11

Chapter 8
FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTION

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 Image 9.0  Three’s Horrible: Part I
by Stephen Brooks
(RubberOnion.com).

Book 1.indb 232 22/09/2016 10:16

 Chapter 9
SECONDARY ACTION

INTRODUCING
Secondary Action
Let’s say you have a chef talking to a
subordinate. The chef is very upset but is trying to contain his
anger and not yell at the scared, little guy. If you imagine this
happening straight, as in our angry chef is talking directly
at the employee with a forced grin, it plays out simply, and
the audience has to interpret a lot from the way the voice
actor delivers the lines and from the expression on our chef’s
face. Now imagine that while he’s subtly chastising his poor
assistant, the chef is also chopping up onions with a butcher’s

Chapter 9
knife (if there are any chefs-in-training out there, the fact that
it’s not the correct knife for the task is part of the joke). “I’m
not angry,” he says as he slams the knife on the cutting board
and forces a smile. “I’m just a little disappointed.” Slam goes the

SECONDARY ACTION
knife again. This extra level of action is helping to communicate
our chef’s true feelings better and adds more depth to the
acting of the scene. The act of chopping up the onions is the
secondary action, as it supports the story point of the primary
action: scolding the subordinate with controlled rage.

“Secondary actions are those that could

stand alone as their own set of movements
but are used to support the story point of the
primary action.”
You will notice that Secondary Action differs greatly from
the subject of our previous chapter, Overlapping Action and

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 Follow Through. To reiterate what was mentioned there, examples of overlapping action and follow
through would be a scarf dragging behind a boy running in winter, a tail trailing behind a weasel
jumping around a field, or the ears of a giant elephant flopping around as it marches. The thing
is many people mix these up with the principle in this chapter. The confusion begins because
overlapping action and follow through are secondary motions. They are motions that are directly
impacted and whose paths are defined by the primary one. Secondary actions are those that could
stand alone as their own set of movements but are used to support the story point of the primary
action. Our chef could chop up an onion with a butcher’s knife any number of ways, as a standalone
action: happily, sadly in a depressed state, or angrily like in our example. In a different scene, the
chopping might be the primary action where the story point is that he’s making onion soup for
the first time, so the secondary action might be a stream of tears he’s crying. A girl talking to her
crush twirls her hair. A scientist doing calculations chews on an eraser. A dog trying to walk faster
bites the leash and gives a tug. These are all examples of Secondary Action. It’s very important to
know the distinction.

You can already start to see how much flavor and texture secondary motion gives to a scene, and
how many ways you could do it. The bouncing ball exercise
for this principle is going to build on what we did in the last
chapter, which will also illuminate the differences between
the two principles. The tail was added for overlapping action
in Chapter 8. This time, we need to choose a story point for
our secondary action to support. Since the ball is already
bouncing from left to right, we’ll make the story point such
that “the ball is fearfully running away from something that
is chasing it.” In order to sell this concept to the audience,
we’re going to be creating a face for the ball and having it
looking over its “shoulder” terrified while it’s fleeing. It’s not
the existence of the face that’s the secondary action; the look
over the shoulder and the way it’s done is. To do this, we’ll
be exploring more uses of symblification and introducing
another feather: masks. Image 9.1

BOUNCING BALL Secondary Action

Setting Up
Open the “bouncing ball 8 – cleanup” project file and Save As “bouncing ball 9 – secondary action.”
Right away, enter the symbols at play and make sure that there are no layers with rough animation
on them; if there are, delete them. Deleting the unnecessary layers is just to keep things clean for

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 yourself and is a good practice to get into as your
project files become increasingly complicated with the
more sophisticated animations that you’ll be doing.
If you need them for whatever reason in the future,
you can simply copy/paste the frames from a previous
project file, so nothing is actually lost or deleted in this
way. It’s only tidied up.

You are now far enough along that the only idea which
really should be reinforced at this point is that we will Image 9.2  Flash CS6 (left) and Flash CC
be approaching the facial expressions and positions (right) have different icons for the same
by way of pose to pose rough animation. Adding facial pressure sensitivity feature.
expressions after having completed the primary action
is really the most beneficial in this case since a certain beat needs to be hit at a specific time, and
coordinating the expressions with the action is where the pose to pose method shines. The Brush
Tool (B) is always suggested for these roughs. We will go over this feature more in the next chapter
(“Solid Drawing”), but if you would like to try using pressure sensitivity (if your graphics tablet allows
for that feature), you’ll need to find the icon with the Brush Tool selected first. In Flash CC it looks like
ripples emanating from the tip of a pen, while in Flash CS6 and before it’s a thick-to-thin “swoosh”
icon. Regardless of the version of Animate CC you have, with the classic layout the pressure sensitivity
icon will be at the bottom of the toolbar and say “Use Pressure” when hovered over. Toggling the
pressure sensitivity feature on just allows for the line thickness to be varied based on how hard you
press the pen on the tablet.

Chapter 9
PART I
“Facial Animation—Expression Keys”

SECONDARY ACTION
1. There will be three main keys for our face animation: scared looking ahead, very scared
looking back, and forcefully closing eyes afraid to look and move. Note the timing of the
bounces and where best to put the last two keys (obviously we’re starting with the first).

2. Double-click to enter
the “ball-bouncing”
symbol and again
to enter the “ball”
symbol. Image BB9.3
3. Extend the timeline out to the end frame of the main timeline (frame 63). Image BB9.3

4. Insert a new layer above all and name it “face rough.”

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 5. Using the Brush Tool (B), sketch a simple
face looking to the right of the screen
(profile view) scared with a partially
open mouth. To keep things easy in this
example, use an eye with a pupil and
a simple shape for the mouth. Adding
shapes for the eye, pupil, and mouth
to the ball and tail will give us only
five shapes to work with ultimately. Image BB9.5
Image BB9.5

6. Using the timing noted in step 1, choose

a frame where the ball will look over its
shoulder, insert a blank keyframe (F7),
and sketch that image. It should be
looking behind (to the left of the screen)
with an open, scared mouth position.
Image BB9.6 Image BB9.6

7. Repeat step 6 for the final key where the

ball has come to a stop and its face is
looking ahead again (profile view, for us),
is squinting its eyes shut and is gritting its
teeth. Image BB9.7

8. Insert a blank keyframe (F7) two frames

before the final key and draw a breakdown Image BB9.7
frame with eyes partially closed and the mouth starting to grit its teeth. Image BB9.8

9. Insert a blank keyframe and draw the inbetween on the frame sandwiched by the ones in steps
7 and 8. The eyes should be fully squinted (since they will shut first) and the mouth half closed
between the two existing roughs. Image BB9.9

Image BB9.8 Image BB9.9

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 10. Step back one level to the “ball-bouncing” symbol (click its name next to “Scene 1” above
the stage) and make sure that the “ball” symbol is playing the correct corresponding frames
throughout the bounce, including
the last keyframe. If it’s not,
highlight all ball tweens and
check “sync” in the Properties
panel. Don’t forget to set the
correct frame for the last
Image BB9.10
keyframe as well (frame 58).
Image BB9.10

11. Re-enter the “ball” symbol through double-click and test the animation with Cmd/Ctrl+Enter to
see if the timing is working how you imagined it. If not, adjust the keyframe positions until it
works the way you’d like.

Interlude
With these three rough expression keys (the other sketches were inbetweens), you have added
quite a bit more feeling to the scene. What we want to do next is clean these up, but it must
be done in such a way that will allow us to animate the expression changes. You could rough
out all the inbetweens yourself frame by frame,
but we are going to be continuing a more
Tradigital approach by delegating some of this
inbetween work to Animate CC by way of shape
tweens. Consideration must be made into how
we will accomplish our final animation before

Chapter 9
determining how the cleanup of the image itself
will be done. What we want is for the face to be
looking ahead and then turn smoothly but quickly
to look behind. When the face is looking ahead,

SECONDARY ACTION
half of the mouth and the ball’s entire left eye are
hidden from view because in a three-dimensional
with 3D world they’re on the other side of the
ball out of view of the audience. When a feature
is partially obscured like the mouth is, it makes
doing a shape tween for the reveal difficult since
the shape is not actually changing as much as
being revealed. This same issue also poses an
obvious problem for the previously invisible eye,
hidden from the view on the “other side” of the Image 9.3  As two independent layers, the green
face until the turn. In order to accomplish this box obscures the pink circle below it (left). When
revealing of obscured or hidden features, we’ll masked, the green box layer instead serves as a
be using masks. window (right).

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 The simple explanation of a mask in Animate CC is that it’s a shape which acts like a window through
which we can see whatever is behind it. In the program’s case, “behind” refers to anything that is
linked to the layer (like we did for guide layers). So to get the effect of a face turning from partially
obstructed view to straight into the “camera,” we’ll draw a full face and simply create a window (mask)
the exact shape of the ball. As the face symbol is moved around, whatever is outside that window
(on the other side of the ball) isn’t shown. We won’t be applying the mask in this part of the exercise,
but we need to know what we’re going to do in order to symblify the facial animation correctly as
mentioned in the previous sentence. We must clean up the image of the face in full view, put it in a
symbol, extend the timeline so that this new symbol’s internal timeline matches the length of the
main (as it we want it to play in sync), put it back in the “ball” symbol,” and move it into position so
that the inbetweening can begin.

PART II
“Facial Animation—Cleanup And Symblification”
12. Guide the “face rough” layer and lock all
layers.

13. Insert a new layer in the “ball” symbol

and name it “face.” Clean up the second
keyframe of the rough (the face looking
back but facing the camera). We’re starting
with this one because it’s the only full view
of the face we have and will be used to set
up for the mask animation. Turn on Object
Draw (J) mode, use the Oval Tool (O) for the Image BB9.13
eyes and use the Rectangle Tool (R) using
vector point manipulation that we learned
in the previous chapter for the mouth.
Image BB9.13

14. Note which frame number the rough’s

middle keyframe is on (the one you
just cleaned up without creating a new
keyframe on the “face” timeline). Highlight
the entire image (eyes and mouth)
created in the previous step and turn it
into a Graphic Symbol (F8) named “face”
with a registration point in the middle.
Image BB9.14
Image BB9.14

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 15. Enter the newly created “face” symbol
and with all the object highlighted,
right-click and select Distribute to
Layers (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+D). You should
see five layers created: two eyes, two
pupils, and a mouth. However there is
one blank layer that’s a leftover from
the distribute command. Delete that.
Image BB9.15

16. Name the corresponding layers with the

names of their parts. For the eyes, as Image BB9.15
with all features on a character, name it
with the position relative to the character.
For instance, “eye right” is the character’s
right eye, not the one that is rightmost on
the screen. Image BB9.16

17. Extend the timeline out to the length of the

main (frame 63). Image BB9.17
Image BB9.16
18. Click and drag downward on the
frame noted from step 14 and
click F6. Having multiple frames
selected like this while inserting
a keyframe (with the hotkey F6)
Image BB9.17

Chapter 9
creates a keyframe on each of those
layers in the highlighted area.
Image BB9.18

19. Return to the “ball” symbol and

SECONDARY ACTION
create keyframes on the “face” layer
Image BB9.18
for the first, second, and last keys
on the “face rough” layer. Image
BB9.19

20. The keyframes for the various Image BB9.19

features will not line up perfectly
because the mouth shape is different,
but for the first and last keyframes move
the “face” symbol to the right until it is
in position with the rough on the layer
below. Image BB9.20

Image BB9.20

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 Interlude
Now that we have everything split up into layers and appropriate symbols, we will apply a mask
to see how the effect is coming together, use shape tweens within the “face” symbol to animate
the expression changes, and finally add classic motion tweens to it within the “ball” symbol so that
the face position itself changes. Everything we did is possible without the rough, but since we have
it the guidelines for acting have been set. There isn’t much difference at this point between the
way we’re animating the rest of the face and how we would do it if every frame was drawn as in
traditional animation. Even then, there is a mental separation between the features as you animate:
“What does the eye do here? How fast does it go? Where does it go in the next frame?” This battery
of questions usually happens within the head of an animator drawing each frame so this process
is turned into the aforementioned “symblification” and is actually separated within the program.
The more complicated the movement, the more this process helps in creation and alteration (if
needed).

PART III
“Facial Animation—Masking
And Tweens”
21. In the “ball” symbol, insert a new layer and name it “mask.”
Image BB9.21

22. Since we want only the part of the face inside the ball’s
Image BB9.21
space to show up, the mask needs to be
the exact size of the ball itself. Unlock
the layer with the ball on it, copy the ball
and then relock.

23. Paste in place the ball on the “mask”

layer. Image BB9.23

24. Make sure that the “mask” layer is

directly above the “face” layer in the
order, then right-click the “mask” layer
and select Mask. You will notice that the
mask layer automatically becomes the
parent to the layer below it (meaning
the layer below, “face,” is now indented
under “mask”), and they both get locked.
In order to see the mask’s effect, both
Image BB9.23

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 the mask and layer that it’s masking need to be locked.
Image BB9.24

25. You can see the effect of the mask already on the first and
last keyframes. We need to adjust the expressions to fit
the roughs. Unlock the “face” layer and turn the Outline
view on the “mask” layer so that we can see through it. BB 9.24
Image BB9.25

26. On the first frame, double-click the symbol on the “face” layer to enter so that we may edit its
shape.

27. To work on one feature at a time, hide every layer except for the one you’d like to work on
(such as “mouth”). The plan is to adjust the mouth as a whole so that the two halves (one
shown and other not) basically match up with one another which makes the shape tween
easier for Animate CC to do. Use the vector and line adjustment method to refine this shape
tween. Image BB9.27

Chapter 9
SECONDARY ACTION

Image BB9.27

Image BB9.25

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 28. Change the position of the pupils
relative to the surrounding eye so
that it’s looking to the right as well.
Image BB9.28

29. Back in the “ball” symbol, insert a

keyframe (F6) a few frames before the
“looking back” keyframe in the middle
and create a classic motion tween.
Use the Easing Editor to give it a nice,
smooth slow in and out (remember the
“S” curve). Image BB9.29

30. Repeat step 29 for the last keyframe

to return the symbol back to position.
Image BB9.30

31. Because we will need to clean up the

final roughs frame by frame, we’ll need
to turn the tween in step 30 into all
keyframes so that we may address each
Image BB9.28
frame individually. Highlight the tween
from step 30 and press F6. Image BB9.31

32. Double-click the “face” symbol on the

keyframe at the start of the span created
in step 29.
Image BB9.29
33. Create keyframes at this frame for all
layers and with them still highlighted,
apply a shape tween. Image BB9.33

34. There is no Custom Easing Editor for

Image BB9.30
shape tweens, so to get the same slow
in/out as we did in step 29, we need
to apply the easing amount manually.
Create keyframes for all layers halfway
between the two keyframes in this
Image BB9.31
current shape tween span so that you
now have it split into two tweens. Then
apply a –100 easing (slow in) to the
first and a +100 easing (slow out) to the
second tween in the span. Double-check
your tweens to make sure it’s tweening Image BB9.33

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 well. If not, use shape tweens to fix.
Image BB9.34

35. Return to the “ball” symbol and scroll

ahead to the breakdown rough created Image BB9.34
in step 8.

36. Double-click to enter the “face” symbol,

insert blank keyframes (F7) for all
layers at this frame, and clean up the
rough using your current knowledge of
drawing in Animate CC. Image BB9.36

37. Repeat steps 35 and 36 for the next two

rough frames. Image BB9.37

Interlude
You should now be seeing the ball bouncing
left to right, then looking behind it, and finally Image BB 9.36
squinting its eyes and gritting its teeth as it
comes to a stop, worried about what’s coming
but too scared to continue moving forward. The
other thing you’ll notice is that while the tail is
dragging behind with great overlapping action
and comes to a stop with follow through, the face
is sitting mostly stationary in its place. When

Chapter 9
the ball is bouncing upward the face should trail
behind a bit, looking down for a couple frames
before following the upward motion. This same
overlapping action is basically what your head

SECONDARY ACTION
does in little movements when you run. Every
Image BB 9.37
time a step is made, the force of that impact stops
the body/spine. But the head can still rotate a little, so it’s up/down motion overlaps a little with the
body.

The way that we can fix and improve this shot is to take everything we did in the cleanup, put it
inside another symbol, assign the pivot point to the center of the ball, and rotate the face up/down
a couple frames after the squash and up keys of the main bouncing ball. If we were to draw all the
roughs before animating this scene, the overlapping action of the face would be included in them.
But since we’re adding the feature in order to learn the application of a principle, our roughs were
finetuned to just the face and limited to just the expressions—leaving the overlapping action to be
applied separately.

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 PART IV
“Facial Animation—Overlapping Action”
38. In the “ball” symbol, click the “face” layer
to highlight all its frames on the timeline.
Right-click these and Copy Frames.

39. Create a new Graphic Symbol (Cmd/

Ctrl+F8), name it “face overlap,” and
right-click Paste Frames on its timeline.

40. Return to the “ball” symbol, click the

“face” layer and insert a new layer above
it (so that it’s also attached to the “mask”
layer), and name it “face overlap.”

41. Drag the “face overlap” symbol from the

library onto frame 1 so that it lines up
with the same image on the layer below
(“face”). Image BB9.41
Image BB9.41
42. Delete the “face” layer.

43. Click the “face overlap” symbol and, with

the Free Transform Tool (Q) selected,
drag the pivot point (white dot) to the
ball’s center (not the face’s center).
Image BB9.43

44. Return to the main timeline (click

“Scene 1” above the stage) and create a
new layer.

45. Scrolling along the timeline, insert a

blank keyframe (F7) at every “up” and Image BB9.43
“squash” key. (Pro-tip: you can actually add labels on keyframes like these by typing in a label in
the “Label” section of the properties Panel when the desired keyframe is selected.) Image BB9.45

Image BB9.45

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 46. Click the timeline created
in step 44, Copy Frames
and Delete Layer.

47. Enter the “ball” symbol,

create new layer and Image BB9.48
Paste Frames (on
frame 1). This layer is your reference layer, so you can
see the frames that all the relevant keys are on.

48. Create a keyframe (F6) on the “face overlap” layer four

frames after the final blank keyframe on the reference
layer. This frame is the final resting position. Image
BB9.48

49. On frame 1, with the Free Transform Tool, rotate the

face counter-clockwise so that the face is looking up
slightly. Image BB9.49

50. Insert keyframes (F6) on the “face overlap” layer two

frames after every other blank keyframe shown in the
reference layer. These are your “up” key positions,
remember, since we start on an “up.” Image BB9.50

51. Insert keyframes on the “face overlap” layer two Image BB9.49
frames after all the remaining blank reference
keyframes and rotate the

Chapter 9
face clockwise so that it’s
looking down slightly. Image BB9.50
Image BB9.51

SECONDARY ACTION

Image BB9.51

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 52. Highlight all the spaces
between the existing
keyframes on the “face Image BB9.52
overlap” layer and create a
motion tween. Use the Easing
Editor to give it a nice slow in and out
graph (the “S” curve). Image BB9.52

53. If you test now, you’ll notice that one

tween seems off. When the ball is
looking back, its head is cocked to the
side. Select this keyframe and rotate
it back to normal (with no rotation) to
remove this strange effect. To still get
the “head tipping back” effect, move the
Image BB9.53
face up on the ball a bit. Image BB9.53

54. Enter the “ball-bouncing” symbol and

scroll ahead to where the face looks
behind the ball.

55. Click the tail (unlock the “tail” layer if it’s

currently locked) and move it to the right
so that it looks like it is further behind
the ball. Adjusting the tail position in
this way will better sell the look of
the ball turning around mid-bounce.
Image BB9.55
Image BB9.55

You should now have a ball bouncing away from something, looking behind it, and then falling to
a stop while closing its eyes fearfully—all while a tail and face demonstrate the dragging motion
of overlapping action and complete with a follow through. The designs are rudimentary, the scene
simple, but the principles have all been applied and a plethora of tools are now known as well as
their hotkeys. As mentioned before, when approaching a scene like this in an animated short, or
under any real-world scenario, you would rarely want to create it the way we did in these exercises
(adding onto an animation bit by bit from the start). If the story point of the scene is a ball runs away
from something and is scared, you would sketch a rough animation first and then figure out how to
approach the cleanup using your knowledge of the tools at hand.

Doing it the way we did in these bouncing ball exercises, however, building step by step and chapter by
chapter, aids in the understanding of the principles and tools at our disposal so that this focused work
can be merged together to function as one on any future standalone animated shot—which will be
covered more in the last of the principles: Appeal. That’s not to say that you won’t ever add something
to a previously “finished” animation … it happens all the time; but usually it’s altering something

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 that already exists in the scene, like an expression
change, clothing feature, or anything else in the
overlapping/secondary action categories. They
spice up a scene and are built off of a base, so
these are the target of alterations when a scene is
done. If the main, primary action of a shot needs to
be altered, you’re essentially scrapping it. That’s
why it’s so important to know the story point and
nail down the basic movements first.

Let’s think for a second that instead of a bouncing

ball with a tail, we’re animating a man in a trench
coat. With our story point the same as in this
exercise, it would be easier to just animate a loop
of a character running from left to right. But by
adding secondary action of our running man
turning to look over his shoulder as he’s running
away like we did to the bouncing ball, the texture is
so much richer. The animation is more interesting
to look at. You don’t need to stop there, though,
you could add a little trip as he turns around to
look. Not enough to fall, just enough to show he’s
running at his limit and at any moment could come
Image 9.4
crashing down, allowing whatever he’s running
from to catch up to him.

Chapter 9
 “Exploration is the great secret of creation. Very rarely do you know, from
the start, exactly what to do or how to do it—it’s something that you
constantly discover every time out.”

SECONDARY ACTION
Working out your concept is where thumbnailing helps, as well. Drawing those small, sketchy images
quickly will let you explore these acting choices to see which works well. Then you can rough the
scene out and make sure it works in movement the way you imagined in your thumbnails. Pablo
Picasso is supposed to have said (translated from Spanish), “if you know exactly what you’re going
to do, then what’s the point in doing it?” In a world of misattributed quotes, this could very well
be one—but the sentiment remains. Exploration is the great secret of creation. Very rarely do you
know, from the start, exactly what to do or how to do it—it’s something that you constantly discover
every time out. Secondary action goes hand in hand with this concept because while there are many
ways to approach the primary acting of a scene, things get more complicated for the animator to
predict and perform when adding in another layer to that performance. This added texture to the
acting is worth the added time it takes to simply sketch out a few more drawings and explore the
best options.

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 CLOSER LOOK 
Altering The Secondary Action, Changing
The Scene
Much like the breakdown frame (which is in between two keyframes, showing the transitional
position/expression), secondary action can make or break a scene. Secondary action is always in
support of the main animation and story point. Examples could be acting out a similar sentiment as
the primary action (as in our bouncing ball exercise where it’s running away scared and looking back
scared) or an opposite attitude (as in the angry chef example where he’s trying not to look angry in
the primary action but the chopping of the onion is giving his true emotions away in the secondary
action). Sometimes, you can change the tone of an entire scene just by altering the secondary action,
which is what we’re going to be looking at in this section.

Right now, the ball glances back with a scared look on its face. We’re going to simply add a happy/
excited expression after that, making the scared face essentially a breakdown frame on its way to
being happy. So now the feeling is not so much scared for its life as scared it’s going to get caught
in a game of tag which is fun. Juxtaposing scared and happy makes a kind of gray area in what
the story point could be called now, because in this case the ball is bouncing away happy-scared.
Fundamentally, the ball (playing a game of tag) is scared; it’s simply a different kind of scared.
However, if you were to see images of kids playing a game of tag out of context, it might look like
they’re legitimately terrified and maybe in danger. A scene like that without sufficient context would
be ambiguous to the viewer, with them not being able to easily determine the emotional state of
the character.

“A chain is anything which links together a series of

expressions or movements to demonstrate
depth in acting.”
This problem falls under a failure of staging. Even though the point is that our bouncing ball is scared
it’s going to get caught in tag and is running away because of that, the acting is not succeeding in
communicating the deeper meaning behind the story point—that overall it’s happily thrilled that
it’s experiencing this fear of getting caught in a game. So by having the secondary action be a look
behind which starts with a scared look and “morphs” into a happy expression, the scene turns from
almost a horror movie clip into something more innocent. Linking these expressions together to tell
the complicated emotional story of our esteemed bouncing ball is appropriately called an “expression
chain.” A chain is anything which links together a series of expressions or movements to demonstrate
depth in acting. Let’s do that! Don’t forget to Save As with the suffix “closer look” so that we don’t
lose work.

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 “Expression Chain”
1. Enter the “ball-bouncing” symbol.

2. Scrub through the timeline until you see

the closest keyframe to the expression
change (which should be an “up” key at
frame 45) and enter the “ball” symbol.
Image CL9.2

3. Scrub ahead until you get to the next

keyframe on the “face overlap” layer and Image CL9.2
enter the “face overlap” symbol from
there. Image CL9.3

4. From the current frame, enter the “face”

symbol. Above the stage you should see
“Scene 1 > ball-bouncing > ball > face
overlap > face.” This hierarchy is a perfect
visual representation of symblification:
multiple symbols with nested animations
layered within each other. Image CL9.4

5. Insert a keyframe (F6) on the “mouth”

layer at the current frame. Image CL9.3
6. Using what you’ve
learned about shape

Chapter 9
manipulation, turn
the mouth shape into Image CL9.4
a very wide, happy
one. (Pro-tip: you might need to add a

SECONDARY ACTION
vector point by holding Cmd/Ctrl when
click-dragging with the Selection Tool in the
middle of the line on the bottom to get the
curve right. To aid in the shape tweening,
you can ostensibly “remove” the point by
making the curves on either side become a
singular curve and with “snap to objects”
enabled dragging the point up or down
until it snaps.) Image CL9.6 Image CL9.6

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 7. Create a shape tween in the
space before the keyframe
created in step 5. If needed,
use shape hints (Cmd/
Ctrl+Shift+H) to get the
tween working correctly.
Image CL9.7

8. Insert keyframe (F6) at the

halfway point in the shape
tween, reattach the shape
hints created in step 7, and
check the second tween to
see if it’s working smoothly.
If not, use shape hints to fix.
Image CL9.8

9. Give a –100 easing (slow in) Image CL9.7 Image CL9.8

for the first tween and 100
(slow out) for the second in
the set created in step 8.

10. Right-click the keyframe

created in step 8 and
Copy Frames.

11. Paste Frames one frame

before the final straight
ahead span where the mouth
ends up closed and gritting
teeth. Image CL9.11

12. Insert a keyframe two

frames before the key Image CL9.11
created in step 11 and give
it a shape tween with a slow
in (easing –100). Don’t forget
the shape hints if they’re
needed. Image CL9.12 Image CL9.12

You’ve now basically hijacked the symbol with the facial animation, altered the expression, and kept
all the other movements the same. Quick editing like this is something you’ve seen quite a few times
in this book. Animate CC, and using it for Tradigital animation in particular, is outstanding with pin-
point alterations. There’s no need to draw in and replace a bunch of frames every time a change is
made. Notice how the entire mood of the scene has been updated to reflect a completely different

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 emotional state. You could do this all day long. If you alter the easing of the bounce to give a hard
slow in/out, increase the squash and stretches, and bump up the amount of overlap shown in the
face, you could make the action more “cartoony.” Then if you were to take that same cartoony-style
bouncing and shorten the timing within the symbols, it would make that cartoony effect more intense.
Of course, changing the timing across each symbol individually would take some extra time, but not
much extra effort. You could edit it even further by reverting the expression to one without a smile,
which would turn it from a cartoony tone to a more desperate and intense one.

What if there’s no fear whatsoever? Let’s say our bouncing ball is just traveling along minding
its own business without a care in the world. What might be a good way to show that? Whistling,
blowing bubble gum, having a stupid-happy smile on its face all work. Let’s go with blowing a bubble
from gum. We’ll accomplish this change by simply wiping clear the facial animation we created and
replacing it with this new secondary action. Don’t forget to Save As with another suffix (for instance
“bouncing ball 9 – secondary action – closer look II”) so as not to lose work.

“Bubble Gum”
13. On frame 1 from the main
stage, double-click the face on
the bouncing ball until you get
to the “face-overlap” symbol,
highlight every frame except for
the first, and right-click Clear Image CL9.13
Keyframe (we won’t be needing
this movement since the ball isn’t

Chapter 9
turning around). Image CL9.13

14. Enter the “face” symbol and guide

(and hide) every layer except for
the ones which contain the right

SECONDARY ACTION
eye’s features (eye and pupil).

15. Highlight every keyframe except

those on frame 1, right-click and
Clear Keyframe. Image CL9.15 Image CL9.15

16. Let’s give the eye a nonchalant,

half-closed lid look. To create an eyelid quickly,
draw a line (to be the bottom of the top lid) across
the eye using the Pencil Tool (Shift+Y) and then
use the Paint Bucket Tool (K) to fill in the now
enclosed top portion of the eye with a similar color
as the body of the ball. Don’t forget to remove the
overlapping lines. Image CL9.16 Image CL9.16

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 17. Insert a new layer and name it “bubble gum.”

18. Select good stroke and fill colors that will represent bubble gum well and use the Oval Tool (O)
to draw a circle on the stage to represent a fully blown-up bubble and move it to the bouncing
ball so that it looks
like it has just been
blown up from the lips
(that can’t be seen).
Image CL9.18

19. Highlight the image

created in step 6, and
convert it to a Graphic
Symbol (F8) with Image CL9.18 Image CL9.19
the name “bubble.”
Image CL9.19

20. Using the Free

Transform Tool (Q),
move the pivot point
(white dot) to the left
of the ball where the
“lips” would connect
and Insert Keyframe Image CL9.20a
(F6) toward the end of
the timeline (I chose
frame 51). Image
CL9.20a and CL9.20b

21. Back on frame 1,

shrink the size of the Image CL9.20b
bubble down to an
appropriate start size
(small). Image CL9.21

22. Create a motion

tween between the
two bubble keys with
a slight slow in into
a harder slow out
(which will look like
an “S” with a shorter
beginning curve).
Image CL9.22
Image CL9.21 Image CL9.22

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 23. Using F7 to insert blank frames,
the Pencil Tool (Shift+Y) to use the
bubble’s stroke color, and onion skin
mode, straight ahead about four
frames at the end of the timeline
showing the bubble popping. (Note:
special effect animation is an entire
sub-branch of animation and is a
specialty skill. Don’t feel bad if it
doesn’t come out looking great. Effects
animation will require a lot of practice
and study. The good news is that
Animate CC makes it easy to explore Image CL9.23
these techniques and refine through practice.) Image CL9.23

24. Remember that with the current mask applied, anything outside of the bouncing ball’s shape
won’t be shown. But in the bubble gum’s case we actually want the opposite effect: to see
everything except that which is overlapped by the shape of the ball. To move the bubble
gum so that it’s not affected by the mask, we need to put the bubble gum animation on a
layer below the ball layer. To do this we’re going to need to nest the bubble gum’s animation
sequence in its own symbol. Start by
selecting the “bubble gum” layer so
that all the frames are highlighted
and right-click Copy Frames.
Image CL9.24 Image CL9.24

Chapter 9
25. Guide the “bubble gum” layer so that
it won’t show up in the animation and
we don’t have to delete it. It’s good
practice to use this feature while

SECONDARY ACTION
working in case you need the layer in
question later for some reason.
Image CL9.25

26. Create a new Graphic Symbol (Cmd/

Ctrl+Shift+F8), name it “bubble-blow”
and right-click Paste Frames so that
the animation is now nested in this Image CL9.25
new symbol. (Note: if the layer has
pasted in as a guide layer, then you
may have completed step 13 before
step 12. Toggle the Guide option back
off to fix it.) Image CL9.26 Image CL9.26

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 27. Re-enter the “ball” symbol, insert another layer
under everything, and name it “bubble-blow.”

28. Drag the “bubble-blow” symbol onto the stage

in the position you would like and with the Free
Transform Tool (Q) selected move the pivot point
(white dot) to the center of the ball. (Pro-tip: look
for the registration point, +, since that should be
at the exact center of the ball. Snap to Objects will
lock the pivot point to this area.) Image CL9.28
Image CL9.28
29. Test the movie (Cmd/Ctrl+Enter). Notice that while
the eye (representing the face, solely, now) is
showing overlapping action, the bubble is not.
Every time there’s a joint,
the overlapping action
is kind of “reset” such
that it will drag later
than what’s before it.
The connection between Image CL9.30
the bubble and the face
represents a joint, so the bubble will
overlap after the face’s movement.

30. Still working with the “ball” symbol,

insert keyframe (F6) on the “bubble-
blow” layer two frames after the
keyframes on the “face” layer except for
the first. We’ll do that later. Image CL9.30

31. Rotate each keyframe (including the first)

clockwise or counter, corresponding to
the face’s movement. Make sure to have
the counter-clockwise rotation be more Image CL9.31
than the clockwise since the ground will
limit the bubble’s movement downward
on and just after contact, but there’s nothing
preventing the bubble from stretching up more
as it falls. (Note: the final keyframe doesn’t need
a rotation.) Image CL9.31

32. Insert a keyframe two frames after the first

(now that the rotation has been applied).
Image CL9.32 Image CL9.32

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 33. Highlight every span between
the second and last keyframes
and apply a motion tween
to all, simultaneously with a
slow in/out easing (“S” curve).
Image CL9.33

Look at how enormously different the

Image CL9.33
three scenes created in this chapter
are. Granted, we’ve changed the story point for this last “bubble gum” exercise, but that was to help
you see across all three scenarios how changes, fixes, and even complete reworkings of scenes can
be done rather simply (or at least a bit simpler than in fully traditional animation) with the assistance
of Animate’s tools. Let’s be clear on something: you don’t usually create high art when learning. This
last sequence is a bouncing ball with an eye, a tail, and some bubble gum. Who even knows what that
is? Whereas in animation you need to keep the story point in mind as you work and everything must
support that concept, learning animation itself has a point: learning. Each chapter in this book has
a point: the program working for the principle. Making pretty things is not yet on the roster—nor
should it be.

There’s nothing beautiful about this last sequence other than the
representation of your increasing knowledge. Because of that,
there’s nothing that says you can’t Save As another file name
and just start messing with it—playing around with it. You’re
not worried about ruining a great piece of art. You can use this
detachment to continue your learning, for instance, by going back
to the other chapters’ bouncing ball exercise files and seeing if

Chapter 9
you can add more principles in the shots. Or you could try to add
some anticipation to this scene. Use squash and stretch to its full
acting potential and try to make the ball shimmy across the stage
instead of bouncing. Learn and explore. This is creation.

SECONDARY ACTION
Another quote high on the misattribution scale (like the Picasso
one, earlier) is the writers’ expression, “kill your darlings.”
Widely credited to William Faulkner, it actually seems to come
from Arthur Quiller-Couch who said “whenever you feel an
impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing …
delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your
darlings.” Step aside the unsettling discussion of killing and
murdering for a second and replace “writing” with “animation,”
and you’ll start to see why this is being brought up. The idea is Image 9.5  Artist rendition,
that if this exceptionally fine work of art you’ve just created— looking for the point.
however brilliant in isolation—doesn’t serve the greater story or concept, it should be removed.
Earlier in that same quote he says “style … is not … extraneous ornament,” which in itself is pretty

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 ornamental language. But it means that just because something is decorated, fancy, or even well
put together technically, it doesn’t necessarily indicate “style.” For creatives, they relate (rather
morbidly and hyperbolically) this destruction of well-done work to the killing of someone they love
… killing their darlings. It just serves to remind artists to critically look at their creations as they’re
finished to determine if they work within the overall piece. For instance, if you’ve animated the
most amazing dance sequence but the rest of your animation is limited and bare, it will look out of
place and in turn will drag your audience out of the film with it. If that’s the point (for irony or self-
reflection), then leave it in; if not, it should be removed. Editing yourself is a difficult lesson to learn,
even for experienced artists. That’s why the bouncing ball is such a great exercise. There’s no risk
of it becoming a “darling.” You’re free to explore and, if necessary, to kill.

Using Secondary Action With “Multitasking”

Secondary Action is essentially multitasking; not just for the character, but also for the animator.
When you’re animating a character, simply completing one action is difficult enough, so it can often
feel daunting to add another action to the goals of a shot. Because of the complexity of animating
multiple actions, a lot of animators might end up convincing themselves into thinking that these
secondary actions aren’t necessary. Let’s cut this idea off at the head. They’re not necessary. As a
matter of fact, nothing in art is really necessary. Food, water, air, shelter … these are all requisites for
life. In engineering as long as a building stands, it has fulfilled its purpose. But it’s in the architectural
design that the style emerges. This example is representative of art as a whole: the unnecessary
spice of life. With art, we can entertain, challenge, inform, confuse, distract, please, support, alienate
(and loads of other descriptor words both positive and negative). Secondary Action is a true “acting”
principle. It’s what adds to the scene in order to color the character’s actions and motivations in a
certain way. This added visual information is what will heighten the quality of your animation and
open up so many avenues for comedy, drama, and everything in between. So no, it’s not technically
necessary—but it can be.

“Secondary Action is essentially multitasking;

not just for the character, but also for the animator.”
Let’s take as an example, a classic bad guy scene. Our hero is cornered in a room on all sides; there
is no way out. The villain is calmly sitting in a chair “monologuing” about what an understanding
businessman he is, but if you cross him … he’ll have to be less understanding. This setup is another
version of the angry chef scene we described earlier. He’s saying one thing but thinking another. If it’s
just the villain talking to the hero, it’s all down to the expressions and voice acting to sell this idea that
he’s a dangerous guy, but the point is that he’s trying to intimidate through a quiet conversation. Now
imagine that the villain is eating an apple with a knife and cutting off piece after piece. The cutting is the
secondary action. The presence of the knife in his hands carving up an object to devour, even though
it’s just an apple, adds so much depth and presence to the scene. It becomes much more viscerally
threatening because now you have a physical representation of what he’s really thinking (Image 9.6).
It’s these touches which reel the audience in and make them invested in what’s happening while never

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 being taken out of the moment long enough
to notice that these are just drawings.
Secondary Action is a powerful ally.

One of my favorite examples of Secondary

Action in use (actually, this movie has a lot
of them) is the alien brain movie scene from
The Iron Giant (Image 9.7). In it, Hogarth
is watching a late-night, sci-fi creature
feature on TV. He’s not supposed to be up
late watching scary movies so naturally he
goes all out with a blanket fort, toy ray-
gun, and Twinkie with whipped cream and Image 9.6
popcorn for snacks. Hogarth barely takes
his eyes off the screen, and when he does
it’s only to dip his head with an exasperated
groan at the hint of a romantic storyline—
he wants to see monster attacks! He
starts the scene by filling a Twinkie with
whipped cream, eating it, and licking the
excess whipped cream off his thumb. He
also holds the ray-gun in his hand with the
other helping him eat a bowl of popcorn.
All of those actions are secondary to him Image 9.7  The Iron Giant (1999) Warner Bros./Kobal/
watching the movie. The point of the scene Art Resource.

Chapter 9
wouldn’t change if you removed them, but
it is supported heavily by them. We’re completely drawn into the moment because Hogarth is and we
relate to him. There’s hardly a better example which demonstrates what exactly Secondary Action
is, at a fundamental level.

SECONDARY ACTION
You could get the point across with just the shot of Hogarth watching TV; the secondary action isn’t
needed in that sense. But after watching that sequence in The Iron Giant, it’s hard to imagine it without
the “extra” actions. After seeing a scene with proper secondary action applied, the audience should
barely be aware of it but unable to see it any other way. They should be thinking, without hesitation,
“it needed to be that way.” Would Heath Ledger’s heralded performance as the Joker in The Dark
Knight be as charismatically maniacal if he wasn’t constantly licking his stretched and painted lips as
he spoke? This one constant quirk (secondary action) combined with the shaggy hair and constantly
lowered head reminds us, visually, of a wolf—wild, untamed, dangerous—ready to attack without
notice. It adds to the character and provides depth. Try to think of the “they will never take our
freedom” speech from Braveheart. William Wallace (at least in the cinematic version) is riding back
and forth on a horse as he passionately gives a pre-battle speech to his wary soldiers. Throughout
the speech, the horse is getting more and more rambunctious while the scene crescendos to a final
war cry of “freedom” and the horse runs across the front line so that William Wallace can see, and be

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 seen by, all his riled-up warriors. What if he were, you know … just standing there? Not as interesting,
right? It wouldn’t be nearly as emotional.

“Secondary action is … the co-star of the

main action—there to support and not distract.”
It’s true that secondary action is just that: secondary. It’s the co-star of the main action—there to
support and not distract. Just because it’s secondary, there is a tendency, as mentioned, to think of
it as unnecessary. But also, it’s just as often simply looked at as altogether unimportant. Secondary
Action is an animation principle for a reason. It can add enormous value and depth to a scene. That’s
not to say that it can’t be overdone; anything can, but consideration should always be given to this
principle and whether it can bring anything to a sequence to make it clearer and more interesting.
It can be small and confined like the cracking of knuckles or a full body expression like shifting in a
chair—whatever helps to better communicate the point of the scene. Try roughing out a scene with
only the primary action in mind, then think about some secondary action and re-rough. You can
build up to your own multitasking, but it should look mostly spontaneous for the character you’re
animating. It’s all part of giving it the illusion of life.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
“Roll-Tapping Fingers”

Principles Used
Overlapping Action: The action of “roll-tapping” your fingers
(a term I just made up) is inherently made up of overlapping
action. With your wrist on the table and fingers bent up in the
air, first you tap the pinky, then the ring finger, followed by
the middle and index fingers. Each finger is doing the same
action (tapping the table) but is doing it with offset starting
times and rates.

Slow In/Out: The individual finger taps will slow in on the way
down and have a slow in and out on the way up.

Timing: The effect that timing has on a secondary action like

the tapping fingers in this example is huge. It’s like in a pas de
deux (dance duet) when one dancer is being highlighted by the
Image 9.8
choreography, the other is supporting these actions (primary)
with their own (secondary). When an action is done it’s very important to a scene because it can
mean the difference between a graceful dance of acting and a harsh fight for attention.

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 Solid Drawing: The makeup of the human hand is something everyone can notice if it’s drawn wrong,
but very few could say why, other than “it looks weird.” Talk to any traditional animator, and I bet
you could get them to talk a lot about their problems in effectively drawing hands. The fact that the
hand is pointing toward the camera, but angled slightly away, with the fingers bent in, means that
it’s incredibly important to maintain a sense of volume and solid form in order to make sure the
audience is being sucked into the scene because of the secondary action and not taken out of it by
thinking that this hand “looks weird.”

Secondary Action: The finger tapping isn’t the primary action in the scene; the annoyed dialog is. The
story point, however, is that the character is annoyed so to support the primary action, the finger
tapping is employed as a secondary action at the right time.

Setting Up
For the final standalone real-world example (the following chapters inform and enhance the ones
already listed), open the file titled “ch9-real_world-finger_tapping.fla” from the companion website.
In this one, you’ll notice that there is actually already a completed scene. “What is there left to do,
then?” Right now, there’s nothing but the expression on our character’s face and the words he’s
saying to truly convey the feeling of annoyance that we want to get across to the audience in this
scene. It needs something more to support this story point. We need to add secondary action (which
is serendipitous, being that this is the topic of the chapter).

In this case, the goal is to add to our scene like you had finished it, decided that you wanted a more
well-rounded performance from the character, and are now going back to fix it. This scenario of
adding to a scene will happen a lot in any type of animation you do (well, stop-motion to a lesser
extent because of the nature of the medium). What we’ll be doing is creating rough animation (of

Chapter 9
course) over the scene for a singular feature (the hand). Then we’ll clean that up inside of a symbol
which can be set to play once any time we want the action to repeat like we did with the blinking
animation in Chapter 1’s real-world exercise. There won’t be a numbered step-by-step guide for this
example, but there’s nothing in here that you haven’t seen already. Let’s get to it.

SECONDARY ACTION
“Rough Fix”
Insert a new layer named “rough” and sketch out some rough animation
of an annoyed finger “roll-tap” (Image RT9.1a). Make sure that the layer
is turned into a guide layer so that it won’t show up on the final. I did this
rough animation “on twos” (one drawing every two frames) to match the
lip-sync which is also on twos. Because it’s a self-contained action, you can
highlight the sequence of frames and drag them forward or backward on
the timeline to fit in best with the acting of the scene. The scene could use a
couple more of these, so you can copy/paste the exact sequence where you
want or draw in a new timing or configuration of the tap (obviously, if you
draw something different, you’ll need to clean this up as well, as opposed to Image RT9.1a

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 playing the same sequence again). Finally, you can end the scene with a subtle hand gesture to really
put a period at the end of the action (Image RT9.1b). The ending is at your discretion since you’re the
director and acting coach for the character. Let him know what you want from him.

Image RT9.1b

“Cleanup”

Image RT9.2a

Copy the entire timeline of the rough, double-click into the hand symbol, and paste those rough
frames on a new layer. They won’t be in the same position but you can fix this like you’ve done
before with the bouncing ball’s tail from Chapter 8 by using Edit Multiple Frames. With the rough
animation aligned, you’re free to tackle the cleanup (Image RT9.2a). You could essentially trace
the rough frame by frame (or every other frame in my case since I animated on twos), treating
the whole hand as one image or addressing one finger at a time. But since we’re learning about
the program and the various ways you can use it for Tradigital animation, you could also clean up
only the up-and-down movements of each finger individually and put them in their own separate
symbols, like I did.

In the completed example on the companion website, each of the finger symbols I made has five
keyframes: down, breakdown, up, breakdown, and down. To create the roll-tap then, I set only

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 the pinky at frame 1 to Play Once while the rest
are single frame and each time a finger moves
the next one in the line gets set to Play Once
(Image RT9.2b). Making each finger its own self-
contained symbol also lets you whip up new
movements like a quick double-tap with only
the index finger by just playing the index finger
nested animation twice without the other fingers
moving (which you can also see in the example
I did). This compartmentalized symbol makeup
for the hand takes a bit longer at first, but once
you get used to seeing a feature’s construction
in terms of a symbol pack the process won’t be
much different than simply cleaning up directly
on one timeline.

When the roll-tapping sequence has been

animated, you can either copy/paste that sequence
further down the hand symbol’s own timeline
where the rough animation has dictated (call
Image RT9.2b
that option “A”) or delete the timeline in the hand
symbol down to show only a single roll-tapping
sequence (again, see timeline at the top of Image RT9.2b) and use the “Play Once” looping feature of
the symbol on the main timeline to play it whenever it’s needed (option “B”). If you choose option
“A,” you simply clean up the rough animation within the same hand symbol you’ve been working in.

Chapter 9
If you choose option “B,” to clean up the final hand gesture animation you can insert a keyframe (F6)
on the main timeline at the start of the final hand gesture sequence, right-click the hand symbol and
select Duplicate Symbol, copy/paste the last sequence’s rough animation into the new symbol, and
just clean up as before. The obvious benefit to option “A” is that it’s easy to keep things organized—

SECONDARY ACTION
all the hand animation is in the “hand” symbol … simple. The benefit to option “B,” though, is that
because each sequence is nested in its own symbol, these can be repeated and moved around at
will throughout the scene or reused easily in other scenes (Image RT9.2c). I chose option “B” in the
example on the companion website to demonstrate this quality. You’ll notice I ended up with three
symbols: one for the roll-tap, one for an index finger double-tap (which reused the index finger), and
one for the final hand gesture.

Image RT9.2c  The first two keyframes on the “hand” layer are Play Once symbols of the roll-tap. The
second two, in order, are an index finger double-tap which replaces the roll-tap in the rough and the
final gesture animation.

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 “Continuing With Secondary Action”
There are so many ways you can add to a scene with secondary action.
What else might we add to this one? How about an eye roll? What if our
character kind of shuffles slightly in his seat like he’s uncomfortable
and getting resituated? And after you do these rough animations comes
the big question: how might you go about applying these to the final
animation? The eye roll, for instance, would need to be added to the
existing symblified facial animation (Image RT9.3). But the character
shifting a bit in his seat could be done with subtle tweens to the whole
body (and maybe some overlapping tweens to the head and hand for
good measure).

There are two places where the internal actor of the animator lives:
the breakdown frames and the secondary action. The breakdowns
Image RT9.3
determine how you will get from one important frame to the other.
For instance when moving from a smile to a frightened expression, will the breakdown be anxiety
or dumbfounded surprise? That decision will determine a lot about the content of that sequence. The
feeling and flavor rests on how you approach that breakdown frame. There are some major acting
choices to make there. Likewise, secondary action can confirm or contradict the primary (while still
supporting the story point). If a character is smiling at the camera, what the audience interprets
from that expression can change greatly if the secondary action is petting a kitten or breaking a
pencil in half with a thumb. One confirms the happy expression, and the other contradicts it—but
that’s because the story points are different for both scenes. It’s the acting choices that have been
made in the secondary (and primary, obviously) action that lead to a rich expression of character in
the scene. This type of depth in acting is what you want to achieve, and Animate CC can make these
types of additions easy to implement when elements and actions are split up into symbols and can
be focused on individually.

FINAL WORDS
Secondary Action
Jiminy Cricket swinging his umbrella around while he’s talking is a clear example of secondary
action. Bugs Bunny chewing on a carrot is absolutely secondary action. The site gag of Bugs and the
carrot came from a scene in It Happened One Night in which Clark Gable was eating a carrot, which
is also secondary action (Image 9.9). Those actions are never the point of the scene, but they’ve
become inseparable parts of their character’s persona. Having a character always chewing on a
toothpick is also a secondary action (as long as it’s not the point of the scene). These are all visual
representations of a demeanor or outlook on life and are constant traits, like the Joker licking his
lips. Earlier in this chapter we’ve had examples of momentary displays (a chef chopping onions while

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 angry, a dog biting at its leash, etc.), and we explored in
the bouncing ball exercises how expression chains can
add proper context within the secondary action itself (in
that case, looking behind itself). There are endless ways
to tackle a particular scene, and this principle reminds
you that when you’re done with the primary points to
see if you can add a bit more depth and clarity to the
animation. It might just be the most “acting”-heavy
principle—constantly asking you to be aware of the actual
character of your … character.

These principles can be pretty heady, and their application

is not always entirely straightforward. Nested animation
and using it with symblification are two of the clearer
ways to apply Secondary Action. Remember that all the
methods you apply to your main animation need to also
be used with this principle, since the idea is that they
could be their own standalone actions but are instead
being used to prop up the story point of the primary one Image 9.9  Clark Gable eating a carrot
in the scene. In other words, while the smaller versions of from It Happened One Night (1934)
certain secondary actions (chewing a toothpick or licking inspired this same habit given to Bugs
lips constantly) can almost be quarantined in their own Bunny. Columbia/Kobal/Art Resource.
symbols, larger actions which affect the whole body (like
William Wallace pacing with a horse during his speech in Braveheart) need to be approached together
with the primary action as a single entity. This combination is the multitasking at work.

Chapter 9
“The Tradigital process of roughing everything out until all the motions
look like they work well in concert and then cleaning up the animation with
symblification rides a beautiful line between traditional planning, creative

SECONDARY ACTION
spontaneity, and digital accuracy.”
All actions can be thought of in terms of a hierarchy. And in the case of Tradigital animation, they
should absolutely be thought of in this way. The face is on the head. The head is on the neck,
which is on the body, which balances on the feet. This entire person moves around in a 3D space.
Symblifying the person keeps things organized enough to focus on specific parts when necessary as
well as larger groups of features. You will absolutely be multitasking motions in your animation; it’s
almost impossible to avoid. The Tradigital process of roughing everything out until all the motions
look like they work well in concert and then cleaning up the animation with symblification rides a
beautiful line between traditional planning, creative spontaneity, and digital accuracy. But we still
have not illustrated anything other than a few simple shapes. That all changes in the next chapter,
“Solid Drawing.” That chapter is where you will see your application of knowledge take a massive
increase, and you will reap the benefits of the slow and steady building of these principles and tactics.

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 Image 10.0  Dragon character pack and the gestures,
poses, and expressions achieved with it.
Example from Wingaroo online game created by Alexandru Craciun.
Character design by Jennifer Adkins Smith (flash-fox.com).
Animation by Stephen Brooks (RubberOnion.com).

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 Chapter 10
SOLID DRAWING
INTRODUCING
Solid Drawing
The order of the principles in Frank
Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s book The Illusion of Life is often
debated: was it purposeful or not? I tend to think that it wasn’t
in order of importance, but rather in an order which made
it easier for them to explain in series. The reason that order
is being brought up now is that Solid Drawing is second to
last on their list. Illustrators, character designers, and simply
those with a talent or penchant for solid draftsmanship take
umbrage at the idea that their priorities aren’t reflected with
the same importance they put on them. Make no mistake, Solid
Drawing is a principle of utmost importance in animation. It’s
really the basis for a lot of the work that we do; so why is it,
again, at the end on the list of the 12 Principles of Animation?

Chapter 10
“Solid Drawing in animation refers to
the well-defined formwork in traditional
illustration that through efficiency in design

SOLID DRAWING
only suggests the more complicated details,
which otherwise would make frame-by-frame
animation nearly impossible.”
You might have a little déjà vu with the statement that the
principle of Solid Drawing is the basis of much of our work,
since a similar thing was said in our first chapter on Timing.
Both sentiments are true. It was mentioned in Chapter 6,
“Staging,” that we live in a 3D world. To be more accurate, in
our perceivable world, we live in four dimensions; the fourth is

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 time. We simply started this book with all of the principles which emphasize that particular dimension
of movement (except Staging, where we talked about setting). Now we’re looking at the way our objects
and characters inhabit the other three dimensions: length, width, and height. Even that description is
a bit of an oversimplification, but trying to explain all of the facets that go into Solid Drawing is what
makes this principle so difficult to really discuss. We started with the “movement” principles because
it was important to see what could be done with the simplest of creations and how to work within the
program. Now we need to see what it looks like to bring illustration into the mix and what the subtle
differences are between a static image and design for movement.

“What Is Solid Drawing?”

“Does your drawing have weight, depth, and balance?” Frank and Ollie recollect this infamous sign
in the trainee area of the Disney studios with the follow-up statement, “Men had devoted their whole
lives to the mastery of these elusive principles, and here was this sign about as pretentious as one
that said, ‘Buy Savings Bonds,’ or pointed to the nearest exit.” It’s an important perspective on the
fact that animation has an added dimension to the work of static artistry—it’s an extension of this
already loaded field of art. That’s not to diminish static art in any way; vaudevillian standards of acting
were artistry in their own right before film with sound came into the picture (pun intended). Even
stage acting is a different type of mastery than
acting in film. What seem like subtle distinctions
in creative fields are still differences, and with
them come new complications and a reordering
of the priorities of one’s skills. Sculpture is to
Image 10.1  Timeline showing animation “on
stop-motion animation as illustration is to hand-
ones” (top) and “on twos” (bottom).
drawn animation—all four fields have their
various relations to one another but are completely unique in the way mastery is developed and
perceived.

The meaning behind Solid Drawing comes from more traditional, static, illustrative arts where the
principles of form were developed, but it’s focused with animation in mind. Traditional character
animation was usually animated at 24 or 12fps (12fps means they were animating “on twos,” which is
holding a drawing for two frames to save on work without sacrificing the look of normal movement).
Animating at that rate means that they needed to illustrate that character 12 to 24 times for every
single second of animation (Image 10.1). A balance needed to be made in order to simplify the sheer
amount of representations of solid drawing to keep track of during their animation. For example, look
at MGM’s “Tom and Jerry” cartoons before 1942 (they started in 1940). That was a time before Tex
Avery made the jump over to the studio from its rival, Warner Bros. Tom Cat looked more complicated
than I bet you remember, with spikes representing his hair all over his body. All of these many
individual hair points were incredibly difficult to keep track of for the animator. When Tex came in,
though not working directly on the shorts, he helped the artists simplify the design to suggest the
hair rather than actually specifically show it (Image 10.2). This simplification resulted in not only a
smoother-looking character in design, but also propagated to smoother animation since the animators
now had far less to keep track of frame to frame and could devote more focus to the movement

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 itself. This finely tuned way of looking at design
is what we’re going to talk about. Solid Drawing
in animation refers to the well-defined formwork
in traditional illustration that through efficiency
in design only suggests the more complicated
details, which otherwise would make frame-by-
frame animation nearly impossible.

Solid does not mean rigid in this case. It refers

Image 10.2  Before Tex Avery’s soft redesign of
to strength of form, meaning that you believe
Tom and Jerry (left, Puss Gets the Boot, 1940)
if it existed in the real world, it could stand and
and after (right, The Lonesome Mouse, 1943).
move the way it does. It should show that it has
volume, weight, and the ability to retain its own shape—you don’t want it looking too “gooey.” Disney
animators referred to this balance between stability and also being flexible enough to show cartoon
exaggeration like squash and stretch as being “plastic.” It’s not talking about the material, but rather
the adjective of a substance that is easily shaped or molded—pliable. The fact is there are just too
many facets of solid drawing to cover in one chapter. This is a long-term pursuit of all animators.
There are, however, a few things to keep in mind as we go forward into the exercises.

“Essence Of Solid Drawing Crash Course”

Composition: Drawing for animation means that
construction is a necessity to keep consistent. A body is
made up of simple shapes: rectangles, ovals, and triangles.
These simple shapes combine together to make 3D shapes.
For instance, six squares make a box (a rectangle); two
circles make a cylinder; four triangles and a rectangle
make a pyramid; and a triangle and an oval make a cone.
There are many other shapes that are created this way.

Chapter 10
These 3D shapes can be distorted to make interesting
shapes. Imagine how a box can distort to look like an
overfilled grocery bag or a cone warping to look like a
horn. These interesting shapes combine together to make

SOLID DRAWING
virtually anything. Image CC10.1

Don’t Twin: Twinning is where one side of a body mirrors

Image CC10.1
the pose or action of the other. It has a flattening effect
on a drawing and can really take the audience out of
the moment by reminding them that these are just drawings after all. Think of a cardboard cut-
out of a person. If they are standing straight up with their hands on their hips in exactly the same
way, you won’t be fooled for a second; that’s obviously a cut-out. But if that same person were to
be standing at an angle, even in the same pose, it wouldn’t look as flat and might actually trick
your brain for a second as you walk by it in the store. The pose is the same, but by making the

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 simple adjustment of turning the body in perspective
the silhouette of the form isn’t perfectly mirrored
(or “twinned”) on both sides. Twinning makes an
image flat, rigid, boring, and other similarly themed
descriptor words—so even though this tip is called
“don’t twin,” if you want to make your audience
feel those things about a character at a particular
moment that’s when  you  break this general no-
twinning rule. Image CC10.2

Keep Proportions: In animation, we play a lot

with form by exaggerating poses and squashing/
stretching throughout movement. But through
these poses, proportions of features still need to
be accounted for. The size and position of the eyes
relative to the nose, for instance, shouldn’t ever
change on a person at rest. This change would affect
the entire design. Even when you apply squashing
and stretching, consideration of the proportions is
necessary to know how and when something gets
the distortion treatment. Knowing the rules is key
to breaking the rules because if something goes
wrong and doesn’t look right and you don’t know Image CC10.2
the rule you’re breaking, you’ll have no idea how
to fix it. Construction is key to maintaining proper
proportions as you animate.

Turnaround: Part of character design is creating model sheets. One type of these model sheets is the
turnaround wherein a character with the same pose and expression is spun around from front to back
at 45 degree intervals (front, 3/4, profile, 5/4 and back views). They are all drawn next to each other
with horizontal lines extending through them all (which is why the “turnaround” is also called the
“line sheet,” along with other less frequently used terms) representing the various features so that
it is assured they all are in the same spots relative to the previous image. We don’t want the nose to
suddenly jump up a couple of inches on the face when a character turns to look at something. The
most difficult of these is the profile (side) view. Sometimes it can be hard to imagine how features that
look great from the front would look from the side in a 3D world. It’s important to work this view out
ahead of time, because even though we’re working in 2D drawings, the illusion of depth and volume
must be maintained (see Image TP7.1 from Chapter 7’s real-world exercise section).

Line of Action: The line of action is an imaginary line (sometimes drawn by the animator during a
thumbnail or gesture drawing such as the red one in the accompanying image) through the character
to show the general flow of the pose. The uses and their effect on the poses are mostly obvious:
angles are sharp, curves are fluid, and straight lines are strong. The difference between a character

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 with a strong thrust in fencing and a thief reaching
to pick up something delicate surrounded by alarms
would be a curve. The line is pointing in the same
direction (let’s say, bottom left to top right), but the
fencer is straight (strong, deliberate) and the thief
is curved (gentle, careful not to set off an alarm).
Knowing the line of action also helps to formulate
a pleasing string of poses in your animation so
that they’re not too similar. A lot of interest and
dynamism is achieved through opposites. So if you Image CC10.5
know a character is leaning forward in one shot,
the line of action in the anticipation key would be
the opposite of that. Purposeful drawing is a part of
Solid Drawing. Image CC10.5

Straights and Curves: This idea of opposites being

more interesting comes up a lot in every aspect of
creation (story, music, color). The same can be said in
forms. A straight line opposite a curved one creates
an imbalance, and that imbalance insinuates a flow.
An arm flexing its bicep is made up of two straight
lines on one side and two curves meeting at a spot,
pointing at the angle made by the straight lines. This
simple series of lines makes you immediately see
which side is flexible, which is hard, and the squeeze
and constriction of the situation. When viewed from
the side, the upper leg is curved in the front while
straight in the back and the opposite for the lower
leg (shin is straight, calf is curved). This combination

Chapter 10
creates an “S” curve which feels dynamic even when
the leg is standing still. When used in conjunction
with the “line of action,” your keys will burst at the
seams with interesting forms. We’ll get into these Image CC10.6

SOLID DRAWING
results in our last chapter, “Appeal,” but this interest
is important for charming the audience into wanting
to see more. In short, it’s not boring. Image CC10.6

Balance: The center of mass is the point where all the forces acting on a body are canceled out. For
someone standing up straight and balanced, it’s around their belly button; the weight of their upper
body is supported by the force of their legs standing up. If they were to lean forward, the center of
mass would actually leave their body to exist in front of their belly button, and if they don’t put their
foot out for support they will fall over. A straight stick has basically uniform mass over the entire
length, so if you throw it, it’ll just spin in the air as you would imagine—rotating around its center.

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 A hammer has one heavy end and one light end, so the center of mass is actually up by the head. If
you were to throw it, the hammer would rotate around that point. This same point on both examples
is where you could balance it on your finger. Human anatomy is more complicated than that, however,
so careful consideration of weight and balance must be kept. Knowing or approximating where the
center of mass would be in a pose can help greatly.

All of these techniques help with the parts of Solid Drawing that are most applicable to the movement
aspects of animation specifically. If a character is unbalanced in an illustration, it’ll look strange and
someone might catch it; but that same character animated off balance will look very wrong, and anyone
will see it. Straights and curves make the images much more pleasing to look at in a single image
but add to the flow of motion when animated. Compositions help us keep proportions, turnarounds
help those proportions be realized in 3D so that the character can move well in space, and fostering
good lines of action while avoiding twinning keeps the gestures more interesting.

“Solid Drawing is as much about ‘good’ drawing as

it is about consistency and believability.”
You should always be drawing. Study anatomy, dynamic forms, different styles like realism and
minimalism, caricatures … even architectural drawing can help with not only background design
but also the use of character composition. There are so many aspects of great and pleasing drawing
that can be explored and used. Repeating shapes, for instance, is a good way to infuse instant appeal
into your character. Illustration is a deeper field than you can probably imagine right now. Solid
Drawing is as much about “good” drawing as it is about consistency and believability. So having
great illustrative and drafting prowess isn’t as entirely necessary as doing what you can do well and
steadily. You set up the rules of your own character models and movement and stick to them. The
principles help you to lay the groundwork of those rules, but ultimately you’re the creator of this
world you’re drawing. Whatever style and approach you choose, Solid Drawing can be applied by
keeping the above tips in mind.

EXERCISES Solid Drawing

You can already see that Solid Drawing is a very heavy principle, but for the purposes of how Animate
CC can best be used with this principle we’re going to be focusing on the cleanup. As was discussed
in Chapter 7, “Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose,” just about everything starts (or should start)
with a sketch. In animation, however, you usually have to also know your character design before
you even start sketching. Creating a character design is the other part of what we’re focusing on
in this chapter’s exercises. When designing a character, you ultimately want to work up to a model
sheet which shows the proper proportions, colors, and style (see “turnaround” in the crash course
in the previous section). To make a model sheet, before you ever even get to the cleanup phase, the
process looks like this:

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 “General Design Process”
1. Sketch … a lot. Draw and explore what you would like your character to look like.

2. Analyze. When you’ve gotten a few sketches that you like, look at what about them appeals to
you.

3. Refine. Take what you liked and put those aspects together into a final, complete form that
you’re pleased with.

4. Breakdown the form into simple shapes. Look at the 3D shapes (box) and determine what
simple shapes (square) can easily represent it. Simplifying the form into primitives is what
you use to “build” the character from the ground up, with consistency and within proper
proportions without relying on just drawing skill (see again Image CC10.1 from earlier in this
chapter).

5. Model sheets will force you to take the form and show it turning around in 3D space to explore
the full makeup of your character’s features. After making that turnaround, you could duplicate
any pose in any angle (hypothetically … skill does play a part in the more difficult poses, of
course).

6. Understand the needs of the model you’ve created to give the movement you desire. The range
of motion it has will determine how you ultimately want to approach the animation of the
character. A robot with limited range could easily be tweened symbols split up into each part,
while a character in the “rubber hose” animation style (see Image 12.6 in Chapter 12) might
have larger groupings of features to be animated by hand.

7. Cleanup. No matter what sketch of the character you create now, because of the construction
knowledge you have from the model sheets and the desired movement knowledge you have
from understanding the needs of the model, the cleanup process will be expedited.

What we’re going to be doing in these exercises is following along in cleaning up character sketches

Chapter 10
using various methods within Animate CC. The closer look section will show how their parts are split
up to make the best use of their forms in animation with symblification. Learning the tools and overall
methods of digital draftsmanship will give you the insight you need to make your own wonderful

SOLID DRAWING

Image 10.3  General design work flow described above from left to right.

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 works of art as you gain more knowledge in the impossibly deep field of illustration. And the more
you practice animating in Animate CC, the more obvious the choices will be on how to use your design
best. For this chapter, when we get into splitting the character’s features into subsections to prepare
it for animating, you’ll see how the decisions of what gets simplified (and what doesn’t need to be) are
made. Just like Tex Avery did with Tom Cat, design choices must reflect the needs of the animation
and the animator; this exercise isn’t a perfect blueprint of how to create every character just as the
rest of this book’s exercises aren’t to be copied exactly every time their respective principles need
to be applied. As always, it’s important to pay attention to why something is being done as much as
how, so you can apply these best to your own character designs.

“The Tools”
There are a few drawing tools in Animate CC which you’ve already seen. There is a good way to look
at them, however, which might help you decide which ones to use. They are placed in three categories
relating to how they work: drawing, cutting, and building.

Drawing—uses the Pencil (Shift+Y), Paint Brush (Y), and Brush (B) which you’ve already
been introduced to.

Cutting—refers to the stop-motion style of cut-out animation where figures were made up of
cutup paper and animated by moving around on a surface one frame at a time. The closest in feel to
cutting out shapes using a utility knife is the freedom of the Lasso (L) and precision of the Pen (P) Tools.

Building—much like playing with Play-Doh, this category is about taking simple shapes,
pushing and pulling them to morph into something different, and then combining those into more
complicated and sophisticated forms. We use the Rectangle (R) and Oval (O) Tools mainly for building,
but also the Line (N) Tool (leftmost in the accompanying image) for closing off sub-shapes.

We will be using each of these methods for cleaning up different features of the head/face design.
Everyone has a preferred method for creation in the cleanup phase. Sometimes an artist draws so
much and their style is more iconic that they prefer to build the characters up from simpler shapes
when cleaning up—which almost feels to them like they’re working in a completely different medium
like clay when it’s still 2D animation. Other times precision is what they’re after, so they prefer to
use the Pen Tool and cut out perfectly-formed shapes to “glue” together … a very arts-and-crafts
approach. I prefer to draw. To each their own. Regardless of the illustration style, the medium is
ultimately the same: 2D digital vector graphics.

“2D animation is on a sliding scale between ‘cut-out’ and ‘full’ animation,

and ‘Tradigital’ falls somewhere between the two of them.”
2D animation is on a sliding scale between “cut-out” and “full” animation, and “Tradigital” falls
somewhere between the two of them. Where exactly it sits within this spectrum depends on the
design and what the scene is asking for. With this example, we’re going to be riding a line right
dead in the center. The head and protruding features (like ears) will be made of shapes, the features
on the face will be drawn in, the hair will be formed using the “cutting” style of the Pen Tool and

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 finally it will all be colored and textured (in various
places). Because we’re splitting up the design this
way instead of drawing everything directly on top
of each other (which would mean we’d have to
do it again on each new frame), when animating
from this design we get the chance to move the
features around in subtle or even major ways to
accomplish some smooth movements in a quick
fashion. This type of preparation pays dividends in
the end due to the amount of time it saves and the
quality of animation we can achieve when utilizing
it with the 12 Principles.

We’re starting with a sketch already completed

(Image 10.4). The image could have easily been
drawn directly into Animate CC, but I opted to
sketch this out on paper so that I could do it at
the park … any chance to get outside. The “ch10-
solid_drawing-head_sketch.jpg” file is on the
Image 10.4  Character head design sketched on
companion website. It wasn’t even scanned; just
paper which we will import and cleanup within
a picture taken with a cell phone of a sketch on
Animate CC.
paper. It’s important to point that out because
there are many people who just don’t sketch on paper because they “don’t have a scanner.” Thanks
to camera phones, it’s not as big an issue as it once was. Open a new Animate CC file and name it
“ch10-solid_drawing-1.” We’re including the “1” because you’ll want to Save As with incrementally
increasing numbers so that you don’t lose any work now that things are getting a bit more exploratory.
You can bring in the JPG by either dragging and dropping it onto the stage from the folder (which
might not put it on the stage, depending on your version of Animate CC, but will always show up in
the library) or going to File > Import > Import to Stage or by way of the hotkey sequence Cmd/Ctrl+R.

Chapter 10
When you have the sketch on the stage, name the layer “sketch,” lock it, and insert another layer
above it (we’ll name it later). Now let’s get started!

SOLID DRAWING
PART I
“Head and Protruding Features—
Shape Tools”
1. We start by choosing a skin tone for the head (which can be
changed later). We won’t be having outlines for anything that
is not a same color overlapping itself (such as the nose) like Image T10.1

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 you see in Mickey Mouse’s form or on the
show Samurai Jack (for an extreme example of
this, look at the silhouetted figure in Image 9.5
toward the end of Chapter 9’s closer look
section). So after choosing a fill color make sure
there is no stroke color. Image T10.1

2. Select the Oval Tool (O), turn on Object Draw

mode (J), and drag an oval the approximate size
of the head. Drag the ends of the shape around
until it fills the head. Image T10.2

3. Toggle on the outline view on the layer and

repeat step 2 to create the chin and the ears.
The shapes will overlap, and that’s fine since
they’re the same color. It will end up looking
like one shape but one in which the head,
chin, and ears can be moved independently
of one another. Toggle off the outline view Image T10.2
momentarily to double-check the shape of the
head as a whole still works well. Image T10.3

4. If things are getting too cluttered to look at, Insert Frame (F5) on frame 2 only on the layer
we’re working on and turn on onion skin mode. You should now be able to still see the image
we imported to the “sketch” layer, but faded and tinted blue. Image T10.4

Image T10.3 Image T10.4

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 5. Change the fill color to a hair color and
using the Rectangle Tool (R) create the base
hairline for our character. The tufts of hair
will be done later. Image T10.5

Interlude
The general shape has been created and the
groundwork laid for the other features. This
process is reminiscent of painting wherein the
base tones are placed in first and are added to
bit by bit. Keeping each shape in its own object
makes it very easy to adjust its position and shape
if necessary. The fun thing about Object Draw
mode is also that you can change the color of
each shape as well, individually. Simply selecting
the object and choosing a color will change it live
on stage. You can select multiple objects by either
dragging across them with the Selection Tool (V)
Image T10.5
or individually selecting many by holding Shift
while clicking them. For all intents and purposes,
they are uniquely separate shapes even though they look cohesive. Again, bringing up the example of
Samurai Jack, this type of style relies on and fosters a better appreciation for good staging. Incidentally,
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends also uses the
no-outline style often. Next, we’re going to draw
in the topical features like the nose, eyes, and
tufts of hair.

“Next Up …”

Chapter 10
Not much needs to be said about the Brush
Tool, since we’ve worked with this quite a bit
already and it’s the most intuitive of the tools.

SOLID DRAWING
The main points are that when it is selected in
the toolbar, the sub-options located at the bottom
display things like brush shape, size, and “use
pressure,” which with certain tablets allows for
a thicker line to be drawn the harder the pen is
pushed on the surface. There is another feature
which allows you to paint as normal, inside fills
and with other options. These are really best
explored by the user (Image 10.5). They’re rather
Image 10.5

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 self-explanatory and have such specific-use features that
some will find them endlessly useful while others will
never find a need for them. Most importantly, though,
is what’s hidden in the Properties panel when the Brush
Tool is selected. Look for the “smoothing” area. The
higher the number, the more Animate CC will smooth and
flatten the nuances of the lines you draw. Predictably, the
lower numbers have less interference, which will almost
always lead to a jagged line (Image 10.6). Many Tradigital
animators use a setting between 20 and 50 in Animate CC.
It’s really the Pen Tool that needs to be explained, though.

In the field of stop-motion animation, there existed one

style called “cut-out.” If you have ever seen Terry Gilliam’s
animation in Monty Python or the ever popular South Park
by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, you will have seen cut-out-
style animation. JibJab, the company founded by Evan and
Gregg Spiridellis which produces its own original content
for the web is another great example of this technique.
Each example uses different tools but employs the same
basic method. My intention here isn’t to discuss the
method of animation as much as the procedure it takes
to create the assets. When done using physical paper cut
into the shape of whatever they need (torso, hat, etc.), a
utility knife is usually used (scissors are less common) to
cut around the paper as if tracing a shape. This process
is essentially the same mentality when drawing with the
Pen Tool. You create a point at each place on the shape
you’re drawing that needs a change in curve, and once a
vector point is created you are given handle bars like in
the Easing Editor that allow you to change the severity of
the curve leading in and out of the point. It’s very precise
but is a tool designed for a certain mindset if it is to be
used a lot. We will use its precise nature to create the
hair tufts which, because we can control the number of
vector points created, will make shape tweening easier
for Animate CC to do.

Image 10.6  Color-coded representation of a slowly

drawn line and quick swirl with various brush
smoothing settings.

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 PART II
“Topical Features—Brush and Pen Tool”
6. Insert a layer above the rest and name it
“face.” Go back to the unnamed layer, call it
“head,” lock it, and hide it. You could have
named this layer in the first place, but it’s
rare that a plan is perfect from the outset.
As the form takes shape, the method for
splitting it up will become more apparent.
Having this type of flexibility is why Object
Draw (J) is so important to have on; it keeps Image T10.6
the future of your creation versatile and
ready to be taken in any direction. Image T10.6

7. We hid the “head” layer (instead of turning

on outline view) so that we could draw in
the features of the face without having
to clutter up the stage with outlines that
aren’t being used. Choose the Brush Tool
(B) and black for the fill color.

8. Draw a scribble. Hold Cmd/Ctrl to get the

Quick Selection Tool and double-click to
enter the scribble object you just created.
Still holding Cmd/Ctrl, highlight the scribble,
release the Cmd/Ctrl key, and press Delete

Chapter 10
(or Backspace). Now press the J key on your
keyboard to turn Object Draw off. What
you’ve just done is create an object with
nothing in it so that you can draw freely
within it without having to do it all in one

SOLID DRAWING
stroke. This whole step is also a pro-tip
as this is the method I use to draw almost
everything in Animate CC. Image T10.8

9. Draw the nose. If you have pressure

sensitivity enabled and it works with your
tablet, you can get some great thick-to-thin
lines, called “weighted” lines (most of the Image 10.8  Scribble with Object Draw on (top)
illustrations in this book have them). If you then double-click to enter (bottom), delete
do not have a pressure-sensitive tablet, scribble, and turn Object Draw mode off.

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 draw a stroke as normal and then use the Quick
Selection Tool method to drag the stroke into
a good painterly “weighted” one. When done,
return to the main timeline by clicking “Scene
1” above the stage. Image T10.9

10. Use the same Object Drawing method outlined

in the previous two steps to draw the mouth
and then the eyelids (one at a time, each in
their own object). With the eyelids, however,
use the Line Tool (N) without Object Draw mode
to close off the shape and mimic the full eyelid
volume, fill in the enclosed area with the flesh
color, and delete the lines. Image T10.10

11. Double-click to enter one of the eyelids. With

Object Draw off but Snap to Objects on, use the
Line Tool (N) to close the shape by connecting
the two ends; then use the Paint Bucket Tool (K)
to fill in the head’s flesh color. Finally, select
the line (by double-clicking) and Delete it—it’s
not needed anymore now that the fill has been
made. Exit the object and repeat this same step Image T10.9
for the other eyelid. Image T10.11

12. With Object Draw mode (J) back on, finish off the eyes by using the Oval Tool (O) to create
the pupils and then the whites of the eyes; if you do it the other way around, you won’t

Image T10.11

Image T10.10

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 be able to see the pupil size from the
sketch through the white oval you created.
This way, however, you won’t be able to
see the pupils after the white eyeballs are
drawn … we’ll fix that in the next step.
Image T10.12

13. Multi-select the two white ovals

representing the eyeballs (not the pupils) Image T10.12
using Shift while clicking on each with the
Selection Tool (if using quick select, you’ll
simply hold down Cmd/Ctrl+Shift while
clicking) and then step them back behind
the pupils by pressing Cmd/Ctrl+down-
arrow until the whites are behind both the
pupils and eyelids. Image T10.13

14. Repeat step 10 to draw the eyebrows with Image T10.13

a black fill color. (Note: you can, indeed, use
the Rectangle Tool (R) or Line Tool (N) for this
cleanup as we did for the bouncing ball’s tail
in Chapter 8, although I used the Brush Tool
(B). In truth, there are many ways to make
the same illustrations; it all comes down to
choice.) Image T10.14

15. When we create the hair tufts, we want to

clearly see the sketch and know where we
made our hairline. Insert a new layer, name
it “hair,” hide the “face” layer and then

Chapter 10
unhide the “head” layer.

16. First we need the colors of the hair. Use the

Eyedropper Tool (I) and click the hair color

SOLID DRAWING
to import it as the fill color (which until now
was black).

17. To select a similar outline color to the fill,

click the stroke color in the toolbar which
activates the eyedropper as well, and then Image T10.14
click the color currently selected for the
fill for quick access (sometimes the popup can obscure the fill box, in which case you can
also sample the color of the hair on stage since they’re the same). Open the Color panel (Cmd/
Ctrl+Shift+F9) and click the pencil icon which indicates you want to edit the stroke color. On

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 the right, there is a vertical sliding bar which increases/
decreases the brightness of the color selected. Drag the
marker down a little to get a slightly darker color than
we previously had—this new shade is our hair outline.
Image T10.17

18. Select outline view for the “head” layer, select the “hair”
layer to draw on, and choose the Pen Tool (P) to create the
hair tufts. Treat each tuft as its own shape. Click and hold
wherever a point is needed to change the curve and drag
the handles around as necessary to line the curve up with
the sketch. To close the shape, click on the point you started
with and then fill it in with the Paint Bucket Tool (K). Using
the Pen Tool takes some practice to get used to, but it can
create excellent curves with minimal vector (anchor) points, Image T10.17
ideal for shape tweening. (Note: in order to get a sharp
end point, you’ll need to create an anchor point before that
so for this shape we enter a single point for the base, curved
point halfway down the tuft length, single point for the end,
curved point halfway back up the other side, and then two
final points for the base and to close the shape.) Image T10.18

Interlude Image T10.18

The hair tufts probably look a little messy right now with their overlapping lines, but we’re going to
hide the tops under the hat. The fact that these need to be hidden is something that was known going
into the cleanup of the sketch and honestly probably even during the sketch, because I am intimately
aware of the drawing tools Animate CC has to offer and what their benefits are. Obviously in the
beginning, efficiency is probably not going to come naturally; it’s an attribute that’s learned over time.
Remember that what this book aims to accomplish is combining the 12 Principles of Animation with
the program Adobe Animate. The exact way that the program will be used by you is different from the
way others will use it. The same could be said for your animation. Just as you won’t learn trigonometry
after following along with one homework assignment, you’ll need to practice and explore much more
with Animate CC until creating within a workflow you’re comfortable with becomes virtually second
nature. A key to Tradigital animation is simply knowing what options you have in front of you and
choosing the path of least resistance as long as the result employs the principles needed.

“Next Up ...”
We’ve taken a look at gradients in the closer look section of Chapter 5 on “Arcs” with the wrecking
ball (which was a radial gradient) and Chapter 6 on “Staging” with the receding stage (which was
a linear gradient). Here, we’ll use both of these to give a little extra touch to the nose and hair
tufts, respectively. The only truly new part here will be importing an image to use as a texture for

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 the bandage and hat, which have yet to be created
(Image  10.7). It should be noted that these can be
considered flourishes of style, not actually needed to
reinforce the principle of Solid Drawing, but the same
can be said for a lot of things in illustration. We aim
to remind the audience through subtle ways that the
character inhabits a 3D world which has textures that
are soft and rough, objects which are pliable and stiff, Image 10.7
and any other visceral feeling that can be conveyed.
The use of gradient on the nose will add a slight feeling of depth, but will also suggest the type and
“quality” of the skin since what we’re doing is making it slightly more red on the end of the nose.
Maybe he’s cold or sick. Maybe it’s allergy season or he’s had a glass or two of wine. Or he could just
simply have a chronically reddish nose. Whatever the case, it adds to the “story” of the character.
The gradient in the hair adds a slight sense of realism without much work, since many people have
hair that is lighter at the ends than the roots. The texture in the hat and bandage will set them apart
on the face as being uniquely non-organic materials to what surrounds them.

The “Animate” Difference: TAGGED COLOR

SWATCHES
create tagged swatches in the Color Panel that
update globally whenever they’re changed.
For instance, if you create a tagged swatch
for a character’s tie color to red you can do it
easily by changing the tagged color swatch
itself to red. Think of the tagged color swatch
as a symbol and wherever that swatch is

Chapter 10
used  is like a symbol instance. If you change
the source color by editing the tagged color
swatch, it will instantly update everywhere
that it’s referenced. To create a tagged swatch,

SOLID DRAWING
select a color from the Color Swatches panel
(Cmd/Ctrl+F9) and click the “Convert to Tagged
Swatch” button at the bottom . All tagged
swatches can be easily distinguished by a
white triangle on the bottom right corner of the
Image AD5
swatch. You can name the tagged swatches,
For larger productions, there is an attractive organize them into palettes and folders, and
feature in Adobe Animate where you can edit via double-click.

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 PART III
“Making The Accessories”
19. We’re going to create the hat and bandage. Start
by inserting a new layer above all, name it “acc”
(short for accessories) and make sure that this
and the “sketch” layer are the only two visible.
Image T10.19

20. You may use whichever method you prefer best

so far to create the two images, but I’m going to
show you two more methods for your repertoire:
changing the rectangle corner radius (step 21) and
the Free Transform Tool’s Envelope option (step
23). First image we’ll create is the bandage so
choose a good tan color for it and make sure there
T10.19
is no stroke selected.

21. With the Rectangle Tool (R) selected, locate the

“Rectangle Options” area of the Properties panel.
There are four areas where numbers are shown
(right now they probably all say 0). These are
the rectangle corner radius values. There is also
a slider bar which changes the value of the four
corners on your rectangle. The higher the number,
the more curved the corners are. For our bandage
I used values of 15. Drag the size of the bandage
on the stage horizontally (it won’t line up, so just
approximate the size you need). Image T10.21

22. Double-click to enter the object and select it with the

Free Transform Tool (Q). Drag it up to the position of
the bandage in the sketch and rotate it to the correct
angle. Do NOT deselect the shape or the next step
will not work (while rotating a shape rotates the
transform box with it, reselecting the shape would
orient the transform box back to be aligned with the
stage and not the object). Image T10.22
Image T10.21
23. In the toolbar at the bottom, select the “Envelope”
option. A bunch of points show up around the shape. Drag the middle point of the longest
lines in the bandage shape to show it curving around the head. Use the handles on the

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 Image T10.23a Image T10.23b

Image T10.22

corners to make the edges curve to match the

new arch in the bandage. Image T10.23a and
T10.23b

24. Repeat the previous four steps to create the

fold of the hat, except this time you’ll also
want to have a black outline (which will
get tinted later, so don’t worry if it looks a
little odd right now). (Note: the fill color will
Image T10.24

Chapter 10
ultimately be replaced with the texture, but it’s
good to choose one now to help determine what
hue you will ultimately change the texture to
and also to select a good stroke color to go with
it.) Image T10.24

SOLID DRAWING
25. Finish the top of the hat by using the
Rectangle Tool (R) back at a curve setting of
0 in the Rectangle Options in the Properties
panel or use the Oval Tool (O). When finished,
place this object behind the fold of the hat
using the method you learned earlier in this
series of exercises (Cmd/Ctrl+down-arrow).
Image T10.25 Image T10.25

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 “Color And Texture—Gradients and
Bitmap Fill”
26. We’re starting with using a bitmap fill to create
texture. Insert a new layer, name it “ref” (short
for reference. You should get in the habit of
having your own shorthand for names; you’d be
surprised how much time it ultimately saves).
Import the texture image “ch10-solid_drawing-
texture.jpg” the way you did at the start of
Image T10.26
this entire exercise. With it selected, break it
apart with the hotkey sequence Cmd/Ctrl+B.
Image T10.26

27. Use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to select the texture.

You’ll notice it being placed into the fill color
window of the toolbar. Hide the “ref” layer.

28. With the Paint Bucket Tool (K), fill in the folded up
bottom part of the hat. Notice how even though
it’s contained within an object, you can fill it with
a color (and make other alterations). You can’t do
this with symbols and groups. You’ll notice that Image T10.28
the colors don’t match anymore, and that’s OK.
We will get to that. Image T10.28

29. Use the Gradient Transform Tool (F) to

rotate and stretch the texture to match
the angle the hat is in until it looks good
to you. Image T10.29

30. Select the object with the texture and

make it a Graphic Symbol (F8) named
“character-head-hat_fold” (it’s part of
your character on the head and is a hat,
but it’s only the fold of it).

31. With the hat’s fold symbol selected on

the stage, locate the “Color Effect” in
the Properties panel. In the Style drop- Image T10.29
down menu, select “Tint.” There is a
box with a color in it. Click that swatch
(which engages the eyedropper) and select the fill color in the top of the hat. The slider bar
labeled (appropriately) “Tint” goes by percentage. Drag it around until it looks to best match

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 the color we selected for the bandage
before. I chose 80%. Image T10.31

32. Repeat the previous steps for the

top of the hat. I chose 90% for the
Tint percentage here to distinguish
between the outer hat’s color and that
of the underside (which is what you
see with the hat flipped up like that).
Image T10.31
33. As for the bandage, there’s one thing
we didn’t do when drawing it in the
first place—there is no center gauze as
there is in the sketch. You’ll see why we saved that step for
later soon, but first turn the existing bandage object into a
Graphic Symbol named “character-head-bandage.”

34. Double-click the newly created symbol and insert a new

layer above the existing one. Highlight the bandage object
then copy (Cmd/Ctrl+C) and paste-in-place (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+V)
onto this new layer above.

35. Now that they’re on separate layers, you may Break Apart
(Cmd/Ctrl+B) the two identical objects. Using the Line Tool (N)
without Object Draw mode on, draw two parallel lines on the
top layer which are perpendicular to the bandage like you’re
sectioning off the gauze. Now delete the outer parts of the
Image T10.35
bandage shape and the two lines. (Note: if you momentarily
hide the bottom layer you’ll see that
what you did on the top layer just now

Chapter 10
left a small rectangle to represent the
gauze.) Image T10.35

36. Rename the top layer “gauze” and hide

it. We want to fill the bandage base

SOLID DRAWING
with our bitmap texture so from the
Color panel (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+F9) choose
“Bitmap fill” from the drop-down
menu and our texture should be there
in a little swatch. Click that swatch
to select it, and with the Paint Bucket
Tool (K) fill in the bandage object.
Adjust as necessary the way you did
before. (Note: you might see more than Image T10.36

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 one bitmap swatch. For instance, in the accompanying image there are two—one of them is the
sketch which was imported.) Image T10.36

37. Next, we want to save the color of our bandage to use it for our tint color back on the main
stage. Unhide the “gauze” layer and select its color with the Eyedropper Tool (I). Now open an
as-of-yet unexplored panel called the Swatches panel (Cmd/Ctrl+F9). The icons at the bottom
of the panel look similar to the
library’s and work in the same
way: the folder icon creates a new
custom folder where you can save
your own color swatches and the
paper icon creates a new color
swatch. Click the paper icon to
create a new swatch from the color
you picked with the Eyedropper
Image T10.37
Tool earlier. Image T10.37

38. Return to the main stage, highlight the

bandage symbol instance, and choose Tint
from the Color Effect area of the Properties
panel. This time you should be able to pick
the bandage color from the bottom row of
swatches. I chose 75% for the Tint value
percentage. (Note: because there wasn’t
another color selected between these steps
you can just as easily choose the one shown
in the fill color box in the toolbar, but now
you have a method of saving color swatches
so you can return to them on the fly without Image T10.38
having to reselect from a source every time.)
Image T10.38

39. With the bitmap textures done, we want to

give a gradient to the nose. First, though, we’re
going to give it a fill color to alter. Hide every
layer except for “head” (which should be locked)
and “face” (unlocked). Use the Eyedropper Tool
(I) to select the color of the head, enter the nose
object, and use the same method we used for
the eyelids to close off the nose space with a
line and fill it with the color we selected. Don’t
forget to delete the line afterward. (Note: you
may choose to start collecting swatches for this Image T10.39

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 character in a new swatch folder or add them
to the default folder.) Image T10.39

40. In the Color Window (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+F9)

click the paint bucket which selects the fill
color we’re going to edit and choose “Radial
Gradient” from the drop-down menu. The
left marker on the spectrum is the center of
the fill, and the right one is the outer edge it
radiates to. For instance, if the left is black
and right is white then within a circle this
fill would be black in the center and white on
the outside of the circle.

41. Double-click the left marker and choose the

nose/head color. Do the same for the right
marker. Single-click on the left marker to
select for editing and drag the “hue” slider
(the rainbow-colored vertical bar) to get
Image T10.41
a little closer to red than where it is now.
Image T10.41

42. With the Paint Bucket Tool (K), wherever you click is
where the center will default to. Click the tip of the
nose. (Note: in some versions of Animate CC, a click-and-
drag will allow you to ­live-preview where the center of
the gradient will go.)

43. Use the Gradient Transform Tool (F) to adjust the

gradient so that the end of it (the head’s flesh color)

Chapter 10
stops at or before where the fill does, so the transition
between the nose’s gradient and the head’s solid color
is seamless. The handles work much the same way
as they did way back in Chapters 5 and 6, but there Image T10.43
are new points. You know the outer box stretches

SOLID DRAWING
the gradient and the outer circle rotates it. For radial
gradients, the inner circle moves the origin point, and the outer circle with the arrow-out
increases the overall size of the gradient, evenly. Image T10.43

44. Now that the more complicated gradient is out of the way, apply a subtle linear gradient to the
hair tufts where the ends have a slightly lighter tint than the base color. This process should
be a piece of cake now relative to what you did earlier in this exercise! Image T10.44

The texture and quality of material in animation is important to consider. If you look at Simba from
The Lion King, you know what he would feel like to pet. Of course, he’s a lion and those exist, but even

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 if you’ve never petted a lion you still probably know what it
would feel like. There are experiences your brain brings to the
equation when imagining tactile qualities like that. The way
the mane flows when he’s moving quickly but stays in relative
position when at rest gives you an idea of the consistency.
The fur on the rest of the body is clearly short—short enough
to barely be drawn, only colored in so that it probably feels
like the body of a horse or Labrador. There is no comparison
possible with Stitch from Lilo and Stitch (because it’s an alien),
but you probably also have an idea of what he would feel like;
the same goes for Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc. and
Mushu the Dragon from Mulan. The feel and relative solidity of
an object or feature can be shown through the type of patterns
used to show it, the gradient or series of colors that fill it or Image T10.44
a more realistic texture applied over the top of it—and that’s
all before the actual movement is applied.

Another great example of implied texture in design is the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. There are
at least three distinct types of hair on his body all displayed with different levels of sharp or curved
ends. This type of textural layering in the design makes you feel the character, though it is still only
a 2D drawing. The addition of a cape evokes the feeling of a Phantom-of-the-Opera-type character
living in the shadows while simultaneously providing a great opportunity for overlapping action in
his movement. Consequently, Batman evokes the same type of feeling as the Phantom. In his case,
however, the sharp “ears” and rock-solid look of the body design makes for an interesting duality:
moves like a ghost but hits like a sledgehammer. As long as we’re talking about Batman, notice that
his silhouette is made up of two rectangles (body/cape and head) and two triangles (bat ears on the
costume). It’s a simple design—iconic—which speaks volumes about the character before you ever
hear him talk. This ability to represent concepts and character traits in an easily understood form
is what we strive for in solid drawing. So long as the audience feels like this character lives in a
3D world, moves convincingly according to that design, and
can easily imagine what they might feel like, you will have
succeeded. As far as the movement goes, we have yet to tackle
it. That’s what’s coming up in the closer look section; we will
split this character up into parts ready to animate and start
to examine how that might work.

CLOSER LOOK
Preparing For Animation Image 10.8  Simple shapes make up
the general design (left) while slight
Now that the face has been cleaned up using a variety of alterations give it a more organic
techniques, we need to separate the features and put them form (right).

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 into subsections, ready to animate. Before you start, you need to understand what the demands of
the scene are and what particular qualities are presented in the design you’ve created. In our case,
we wanted our face to be able to make simple turns through tweening and it is also set up for quick
lip-sync for dialog. Nothing in what we’re going to do in this setup locks you into working this way. If
you want to animate a head turn frame by frame because you need special control over a particular
breakdown, you can absolutely do that. Again, it must be reiterated that Animate CC is a tool and this
particular Tradigital workflow is one of many that can be employed. It’s all about knowing what you
want to do, being familiar with the tools and what they do, and using these together with principles
of animation to make a workflow that best represents you as an artist. We’re going to split up the
various parts of our design into various symbols, all packed within one master symbol. Don’t forget
to Save As with a “closer look” suffix in the title.

“Symbolizing The Design”

1. We have four layers which together contain the entire design for the character’s head: “head,”
“face,” “hair,” and “acc.” In order to split these up in the quickest way, we first need to group
the features on each layer that will be within their own symbols. (Note: you may still have a
“ref” layer with the texture image on it left over from the previous section which is no longer
needed—you may delete this layer.)

2. Hide every layer except for “head” (it may

still be locked from the previous section
and if so, unlock it). Just look at what’s
here. There’s a basic head shape, hairline
shape, a chin, and ears. If we were to try
to animate the head as it were turning in
three dimensions, the chin and ears would
move side to side but not need to morph
their shapes much other than in size. These

Chapter 10
are best moved as symbols. The head and
hairline, however, will change shapes as
they turn, so it’s best to use shape tweens
when moving the head (and the hairline we

SOLID DRAWING
want the audience to think is “attached”)
around as though it were in 3D space.
Currently everything is split up in proper
sections, ready to animate … mostly. First we Image CL10.3
need to turn the chin and ear objects into
symbols.

3. Highlight the chin object and turn it into

a Graphic Symbol (F8) with the name “character-head-chin” (the chin is part of the head
which helps make up the design of “character”—this is a fairly common naming convention

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 in projects with large teams because it’s
easily readable and hierarchical). Image
CL10.3

4. With one of the ears selected, turn it into a

Graphic Symbol with the name “character-
head-ear.” Even though they’re two ears,
they are identical—so we only need one
symbol for them. After the symbol is
created, copy, paste in place, and then
Modify > Transform > Flip Horizontal. Then
simply Shift click-and-drag it to the other
side of the head and delete the ear that was
there. (Remember you can put the symbol
behind the other ear object by hitting Cmd/
Ctrl+down-arrow on the keyboard as many
times as it takes.) Image CL10.4
Image 10.4  Both highlighted figures are
5. Hide every layer except “face.” Nothing here instances of the same ear symbol, only flipped.
can be shape tweened consistently, so they
all need to be put into symbols (symbolized). The nose
should be “character-head-nose,” the mouth should be
“character-head-mouth,” and the same process in the
previous step should be used for the eyebrows with a
similar naming structure. That leaves the eyes for the
next step. Image CL10.5

6. Eyes are an interesting and complicated feature.

Knowing how they work and how they will be
animated determines how they will be split up.
Analyze the design. In the design we’ve created, there
are essentially two independently moving parts: the
pupils and the eyelids (the white “eyeball” stays the
same shape and would only distort in proportion Image CL10.5
to the rest of the eye). The eyelids are mirror
images of themselves, and while they don’t have to
move together, they often do. We can always frame-by-frame eyelids if they need to move
independently, but for the times they’re doing the same thing (blinking, for instance) it’s helpful
to have whatever animation is created on one eyelid to be mirrored on the other. Therefore, we
need to symbolize one pupil and one eyelid. This step was about analyzing the structure. We
will symbolize those features in the next step.

7. The eye should work as one unit. If anything gets misaligned during animation, we need it to
go back to a perfect lineup. This is why it’s important that the registration of every symbol

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 needs to be in the same spot. To make sure of this,
highlight the character’s entire right eye and group it
(Cmd/Ctrl+G). Then copy and paste in place twice. Now
there are three identical eye groupings on top of one
another. Click the top one and turn it into a Graphic
Symbol (F8) with a registration point in the center
and name it “character-head-eye-pupil.” Double-click
inside the newly created symbol, highlight the group,
break it apart (Cmd/Ctrl+B), and delete the eyelid
and white of the eye so that only the pupil is left.
Image CL10.7 Image CL10.7

8. Return to the main timeline and repeat the

previous step to create “character-head-
eye-eyelid” (this time deleting everything
in the new symbol except for the eyelid).
(Note: do not click on the pupil shape to
create this new symbol since the pupil shape
on top is the symbol we created in the
previous step.)

9. Return to the main timeline again and Image CL10.9

highlight the entire eye (that includes the
remaining group in the back and the two
new symbols, “… eyelid” and “… pupil”),
and turn it into a Graphic Symbol named
“character-head-eye_r” (the “r” is for right).
Enter that symbol. Image CL10.9

10. Highlight everything within the symbol,

Chapter 10
right-click, and select Distribute to Layers.
Image CL10.10 Image CL10.10

11. Hide the top two layers (the eyelid and

SOLID DRAWING
pupil), break apart the group that’s left, and delete the eyelid and pupil objects, leaving only
the eyeball object (white oval). To verify that the white oval shape is actually there you can
turn on outline view for the layer like I did in the accompanying image. (Note: there is a blank
layer created when the layer distribution action happens (shown in the accompanying image)
which you may delete now.) Image CL10.11

12. Unhide the pupil layer, highlight both the eyeball object and pupil symbol instance, and hit
F8 to create yet another symbol named “character-head-eye-eyeball.” Enter this symbol,
Distribute to Layers and return to the main timeline. If you don’t know why we created this
symbol yet, it will make sense after we’ve finished setting up the left eye. Image CL10.12

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 Image CL10.12

Image CL10.11

13. On the main timeline, copy the newly created eye symbol, paste in place and move it over
to the left eye’s position and delete the existing eye of all its objects. There should now only
be two symbols representing the eyes. But one is flipped the wrong way. We’ll fix that and
finalize the eye setup.

14. With the copied symbol created in the previous step, right-click, select Duplicate Symbol and
name it “character-head-eye_l.” Enter the symbol. Image CL10.14

Image CL10.14

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 15. The eyelid layer is probably still
hidden as a result of the previous
steps so you’ll need to unhide that
layer. Click the eyelid instance
in the newly created “character-
head-eye_l” symbol and flip it
using Modify > Transform > Flip
Horizontal. Realign if necessary.
Return to the main timeline and step
them back behind the eyebrows Image CL10.15
using the Shift+down-arrow method.
You’ve just set up the eyes, one of
the more complicated features, for digital animation that’s both easy and versatile. You will
nest animation in the eyelid symbol to blink, and that animation will simultaneously play
and be mirrored to the other side (though when you do this, make sure the looping option
for the eyelid instances are set to Single Frame and use Play Once when you want the blink).
The pupil being paired with the white of the eye is for a similar reason. Anytime you move
the pupil in one eye it will move the pupil in the other eye to the same direction since the
instances aren’t mirrored like the eyelid. Because of the layer order, the pupil will always
remain under the eyelid. And because the pupil is a symbol it’s easily moved through classic
tweens with the added benefit of using the Easing Editor for a more sophisticated movement.
(Note: you can add a further layer of finesse to the setup by creating a mask layer above the
pupil and copy/paste in place the eyeball shape there, so the pupil will self-crop if its shape
goes outside the eyeball zone. See the setup I did for this in the FLA provided on the companion
website.) Image CL10.15

16. Hide every layer except “acc.” Analyze the features on this layer to determine if any more
work needs to be done on them. The hat is made of simple shapes inside symbols. The top
part can be classically tweened as is, but the folded-up section at the bottom of the hat will

Chapter 10
need to have some nested animation in the form of shape tweens to turn the head. This just
means that when it comes time to animate, you’ll want to duplicate the instance of the lower
part of the hat and extend the timeline to sync with the main and just animate as normal. The
bandage can move as one and distort where necessary for most movements so it’s great as

SOLID DRAWING
the symbol it already is. (Note: the hair tufts on the “hair” layer are going to be shape tweened
and are already in self-contained objects so there was no need to alter them or the layer.)

17. Unhide everything except the sketch layer so that you can see the entire design now.
Highlight everything you see on stage and turn it into a Graphic Symbol (F8) named
“character-head” and then double-click to enter it.

18. Right off the bat, highlight everything and drag it up until the registration point (+) sits around
where the neck would meet the head (not the very bottom, but a little bit up in the head shape
where a neck might meet the base of this head). Image CL10.18

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 19. With everything still highlighted, right-click
and select Distribute to Layers. This distributing
action is why we separated everything the
way we did. Now every feature that will end
up being individually animated is on its own
layer. Go through the layers and clean up the
names so that they’re simpler (for instance turn
“character-head-eye_l” to just “eye left”) or just
straight name the layers that only have objects
on them (such as “head” and “hat fold” and hat
top”). Image CL10.19

Interlude
Now everything is split up according to the design
and ready to be animated with simple movements.
Anything more than 45-degree turns will require
more frame-by-frame animation because, let’s face
it, Animate CC can only do so much interpreting. But
honestly you wouldn’t want to do more than that. For
bigger movement, the control you have from creating
your own individual frames is unmatched. It’s the
Image CL10.18
accuracy of the tools and the ease of alterations that
make Animate CC such a friend to animation. Duplicate
Symbol is a feature you’re going to want to get very
familiar with. If you are animating a scene which
is 50 frames long, each symbol which can have
animation in it (for instance, the eye symbols)
should also have their timelines 50 frames long.
Animation that is nested within the symbols will
be tailored for that scene. For another scene
which is 40 frames long, you will want another
set of animation with each symbol being that
long, 40 frames. The easiest way to replicate
the same design with different internal nested
animation possibilities without editing what’s
already been created would be to simply take the
master symbol from the previous scene, duplicate Image CL10.19
it, and then duplicate all the symbols inside it. A
good practice when duplicating symbols is that for
each scene, a suffix should be added to any symbol with animation in it with something representing
the scene number (like “character-head-eye-eyelid-sc1” … or you could go the other way, depending

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 on your preferences, and add a prefix as “sc1-character-head-eye-eyelid”). This method means that
you’re able to work off of a previously created set of symbols, making it easy to stay on model.

“Animating a character talking is appropriately called “lip-sync” since you’re

essentially synchronizing the lip (or mouth) movements of your character
with prerecorded audio.”
“OK, we have a character’s face, but how do I make him talk?” Animating a character
talking is appropriately called “lip-sync” since you’re essentially synchronizing the
lip (or mouth) movements of your character with prerecorded audio. This term comes
from live musical performances where a singer must move their lips to the lyrics of
a song which they are not actually singing (like at the Super Bowl, usually). That’s
why many people mistakenly confuse this term for “lip-singing,” which isn’t a thing.
So when you’re animating a character talking, it’s a lot like what you do when you’re
pretending to be Cyndi Lauper or Michael Jackson (or more current performers) mock-
singing in the mirror into a hairbrush.

To create the lip-sync, there is a method that has become very popular for its ease of
use, called “mouth comp.” A comp, in design, is short for “comprehensive.” Mouth comp
is a method using a comprehensive collection of mouth shapes that are nested within
a symbol which can then be used to display and swap out whichever shape is desired
at any given time. For instance, a popular collection of mouth shapes looks like this: M,
O, U, A, E, I, T, F, L (Image 10.9). That might look like nonsense, but it becomes clearer
when you know that M is the mouth shape for saying the sound that the letter “m”
makes. It also doubles for the letter “P” and a normal closed mouth position (which is
why it’s first). O (which is really the “oo” sound in this list), U (“uh”), A (“ah”), E (“eh”),
I (“ee”) basically sound out the word “why” since that word is made up of all the vowel Image 10.9
sounds. T doubles as D, J, N, S, Z, and diphthongs like “ch” and “sh.” You can imagine
that there are other mouth shapes which can represent many different sounds. People sometimes

Chapter 10
will put in more mouth shapes or use less (look at older Anime TV series), and even make collections
of the same shapes as if they were happy, sad, and other emotional states.

“Mouth comp is a method using a comprehensive collection of mouth

shapes that are nested within a symbol which can then be used to display
and swap out whichever shape is desired at any given time.” SOLID DRAWING
We will be making these shapes, but the 12 Principles demand something a bit more of us in the
quality of our lip-sync, which we will discuss after the setup is done. For now, keep in mind one
thing: comprehensive is an unfortunate word to have been used to describe this system. Part of the
interesting visual texture classic animation can bring to the table are interesting mouth shapes, unique
to the acting of the scene. Just like 2D animation as a whole, lip-synching is on a sliding scale between
simple replacement of shapes to full-blown frame-by-frame animation. We aim for something in the
middle for most of our Tradigital work to make the best use of time-saving techniques while not losing

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 the quality to simple efficiency. The fact that this system has even been shortened to “mouth comp”
is a testament to the amount of corners animators sometimes cut in the pursuit of getting something
done. The constant threat of using increasingly efficient tools is that the allure to use them to make
things easier on us is so great, when sometimes the easier way out actually sacrifices the caliber
of animation we could create by inconveniencing ourselves just a little bit. That is essentially the
crossroads we live on—the tightrope we walk—in Tradigital animation. With this duplicity in mind,
let’s see how to first make things easy on ourselves.

“Lip-sync”
20. From the stage, double-click the master “character-head” symbol and then the mouth to get
into “character-head-mouth.”

21. You already have the closed mouth position (or “M” or “P”… however you’d like to look at
it). We need to create the other mouth shapes. To start, we should do rough sketches just as
with everything else. To set ourselves up for rough animation here, insert a new layer below
the current and name it “rough.” Name the other layer with the mouth on it appropriately
“mouth.”

22. Insert a blank keyframe (F7) on frame 2 of

the “rough” layer and turn on onion skin
mode. Image CL10.22

23. With a good rough color selected like blue,

sketch an “O” mouth shape. Remember
that for our purposes “O” makes an “oo” Image CL10.22
sound. Image CL10.23

24. Repeat the previous two steps with increasing frame numbers for the rest of the mouth
shapes: U, A, E, I, T, F, L. Refer to the previous section for pronunciation explanations. Keep in
mind that the upper teeth are connected to the skull and do not move up and down. You could

Image CL10.23 Image CL10.24

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 decide not to follow a design point like this but to break
a rule you first have to know it … so let’s follow the
human-teeth-are-not-retractable one for now during the
learning process. Image CL10.24

25. Lock the “rough” layer and turn off onion skin mode.
On the “mouth” layer, insert a blank keyframe on
the second frame and clean up the mouth shape you
sketched in the rough. Image CL10.25

26. Insert blank keyframes and cleanup each of the next

frames’ roughs until you’ve reached the end. (Pro-tip: to
keep the upper teeth in the right position, you can keep
them in their own object and copy/paste in place for each Image CL10.25
cleanup frame that shows the upper teeth. If they extend
beyond the lips you’ve drawn, you can use the Eraser Tool
to crop it or simply draw the lips in their own object in the
first place and fill around them with the flesh color the
way we did for the nose by closing off the shape with the
Line Tool. I prefer this second method.) Image CL10.26

27. Guide the “rough” layer so that it won’t show up

when on the stage and step back one symbol level to Image CL10.26
“character-head.”

28. Click the “character-head-mouth” symbol and

in the Properties panel set its looping setting
to Single Frame. (It should be set on frame 1 by
default.) Image CL10.28

29. To see how this looping works, change the

Chapter 10
number in the looping settings to anything
between 1 and 9 (the number of frames in your
mouth symbol) and watch the mouth shape
change. In order to lip-sync, just put down a

SOLID DRAWING
keyframe and change the number where needed.
(Pro-tip: there are plenty of independently created
extensions for Animate CC that make this mouth
comping system easier by either giving you a
slider which updates the symbol frame in real
time or by showing each frame as a thumbnail you Image CL10.28
can click.) Image CL10.29

You are now set up to lip-sync. Animate CC uses the WAV and MP3 sound files well. Import the audio
file you wish to use to the library (File > Import > Import to Library), create a unique layer, name

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 it “audio” (or whatever you’d like … “dialog” maybe)
and then just drag that audio file from the library onto
the stage. You won’t see anything on stage, but you
will see the previously blank frame on your “audio”
layer show an audio spectrum visualization starting
from there and playing the length of the timeline or
until the next keyframe (Image 10.10). With that frame
selected, make sure the Properties panel has it set to
“stream” (which locks the audio file to the timeline,
synched to each frame). Now it’s easy to insert a new
layer called “lip-sync ref” and drag the mouth comp
instance from the library to the stage and change the
frame displayed to whichever mouth is needed for
each frame (it’s best to do every other frame because Image CL10.29
a mouth change on every frame is usually too quick
for the eye to see well at 24fps). After that’s done, you just copy all those frames with the mouth on
the “lip-sync ref” layer, paste them in the head symbol, and using Edit Multiple Frames mode, move
the mouths into proper position. Alternatively, you could have originally copied the mouth frame
(the keyframe, not the symbol) from within the head symbol first and pasted that to the timeline
on the “lip-sync ref” layer—which makes sure that after the lip-sync animation is done and you
copy all those frames to put back into the head symbol, they will paste immediately into the proper
position. That’s the essence of lip-sync animation using the mouth comp system. But we should go
a step beyond that.

Image 10.10  View of the timeline after dragging audio file on to Animate CC stage from the library.

It’s good to have done the above steps because you have lip-sync mouth shapes at least listed out.
Before Animate CC this process would need to have been done using an x-sheet (short for “exposure
sheet” because animators love their shorthands). An x-sheet would basically list out the sounds (with
letters) that would be made on any given frame, show how long it would be held and usually have
notes on what type of easing it would most likely require. With the mouth comp method, we skip
the listing of the sounds and their frame numbers and replace that with pre-made mouth shapes
(which represent the written lists of the sounds) actually placed on their corresponding frames.
These can be tested and retested until the lip-sync looks right, in essence. One could stop there, but
if we use this mouth comp animation as reference, it makes animating frame by frame so much more
attainable … and quick! Let’s say we have a character saying “I don’t think it should make a difference.
But maybe …” where the “think” is a beat where his face is squashed up, teeth are gritting, eyes are
closed, and the “maybe” finishes with a serious, dead-pan look. You’ll want to control the way the
lip-sync works around “think” leading up to and falling out of it, so you can change the mouth shapes
on the keyframes which make up “think” by drawing new ones in objects and then deleting the (now

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 unused) symbols. The mouth comp animation would be kept for the ending, though, because a non-
emoting face is what you’re going for as the character finishes speaking. That speedy flexibility is
Tradigital animation at its best.

USING SOLID DRAWING With “Object Drawing”

Drawing within Animate CC is versatile, which can sometimes mean “difficult to choose which of the
dozens of known ways to do something.” As outlined, it helps to think of the tools and the methods
they inspire in terms of drawing, cutting, or building. If you can determine which of these feels the
most “right” to you, it will help greatly in knowing which way you want to take a design. It’s like
a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book in that way. One thing that remains between the methods,
however, is the Object Draw mode. This wonderful little feature allows us to create uniquely separated
items in order to layer onto one another without cluttering up the timeline or library and still be
able to edit directly from the stage (something that, which has been said a few times before, cannot
be done with groups or symbols). My favorite process involves the “scribble, double-click, delete,
J” maneuver to create and enter a blank object and then turn off Object Draw so that I can sketch in
this special container at whim. That little sequence takes about 2 seconds. Think about animating an
arm movement frame by frame. You could draw the whole thing as one. But if you draw the hand in
its own object, you have the option of tweaking the position ever so slightly if the arc doesn’t look
right without doing much to change the overall look of the frame. And you save a ton of time.

“The simple versatility of Object Draw is just the kind of ‘help or get out of
the way’ feature that we look for in Tradigital animation.”
Another great feature is the ability to draw multiple things (such as features on a face, or plates on
a Triceratops) and then Distribute to Layers to get each of these items on their own layer after the
drawing is done. When trying to draw
something across multiple layers the
first time out, the chances that you

Chapter 10
could accidentally click something
on a layer other than the one you’re
working on and suddenly start
drawing on that layer is pretty high.

SOLID DRAWING
Drawing between multiple layers can
get confusing very quickly. That’s why
using Object Draw on one layer and
Distribute to Layers after the design is
finished is so helpful; it’s a great way
to sidestep a lot of those problems.
Finally, objects (as well as groups and
symbols) can be arranged on a single Image 10.11  Object Draw mode keeps images separate
layer to be either above or below one on the same layer while still being directly editable.

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 another using the Cmd/Ctrl+up-arrow or +down-arrow. That is a small feature you will find yourself
using more and more on increasingly complicated designs. Overall, the simple versatility of Object
Draw is just the kind of “help or get out of the way” feature that we look for in Tradigital animation.

We didn’t even mention the fact that, because objects are independently editable, they can be
reshaped and resized directly from the stage using everything from pulling points with the Selection
Tool to even the Envelope feature in the Free Transform Tool (Image 10.11). Object Draw mode is
an excellent middle ground between sketching and the final symblification of the cleanup. A great
workflow is to do rough animation with the Brush Tool using either the pose to pose or straight
ahead methods, then clean up the drawings using Objects, and finally separate or group objects
into proper symbols that get nested within one another (symblification) to be ready for animation.
Object Draw also helps for drawing different mouth shapes in a series. For instance, in anatomy the
upper teeth don’t move because they’re attached to the skull. The bottom teeth move with the jaw.
The lips move over the top of both of them. This positioning is pretty clear, but sometimes when
drawing individual images straight ahead, you may lose track of the exact position of the upper row
of teeth. They may be close, but when jumping around between frames as you will using the mouth
comp lip-synching method, any small difference in the upper teeth will look like they’re jittering
around (usually). Having both sets of teeth in their own objects as you draw makes the creation of
the standard mouth shapes very quick. You can, of course, have them on their own layers if you’re
working within a symbol too. There are many ways to accomplish the same or similar things,
and it helps to familiarize yourself with as many as you can. But Object Draw, specifically, is often
overlooked and should be given special attention.

A Word to The Beginners …

If you were an absolute beginner with Animate CC and were following along exclusively with the bouncing
ball exercise but skipping the real-world sections, now would be a great time to go back and revisit the
chapters for that added level of practice. The tools needed to be understood and shown in order to get
to solid drawing. The way solid drawing is represented most distinctly within Animate CC is through
the creation of character packs by using objects and symbols to keep your character on-model as well
as making it easier to alter any pose precisely (and reversibly). Up to this chapter, you have bounced a
ball with easing, arcs, and squash and stretch; understood the methods used in the rough animation to
plot that out; had a working knowledge of staging; and discovered what the added spice of overlapping
action, follow through, and secondary action bring to the table. It was the perfect time to explore the
drawing methods and real-world development of Tradigital character packs. Going back at this point and
working through the real-world examples starting at Chapter 1 will absolutely nail in the concepts and
how to use them in the program. It may feel like a step back, but this is 100 percent a huge step forward.

“The way solid drawing is represented most distinctly within Animate CC

is through the creation of character packs by using objects and symbols to
keep your character on-model as well as making it easier to alter any pose
precisely (and reversibly).”

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 The next two chapters are “Exaggeration” and “Appeal,” respectively. Obviously, we’ll get into it deeper
in those chapters, but basically the principle of Exaggeration is about pushing the character models
you can create thanks to this chapter for effect as well as situationally using Staging or Anticipation.
It’s about pulling in all the knowledge from the previous chapters and pushing them beyond their own
confines for effect. Similarly, the principle of Appeal is basically using all of the other principles to
their best effect to make what is happening on screen something that the audience wants to see more
of. That is to say, the last two principles in this book are the most far-reaching and all-encompassing
of the 12. There are no more bouncing ball exercises. It’s all “real-world” work from here on out.
If you haven’t worked through the real-world sections of the previous chapters because you have
been following the path I set out for you in the Introduction of this book, now’s the time to go back
and work through them. Slow and steady practice is the best way to learn animation in any of its
capacities, and that’s how the book is set up.

FINAL WORDS
Solid Drawing
This principle reminds us to keep improving. Even if you’re a fantastic illustrator already, there’s
always something else to learn. Drawing is the basis to classic animation, and because of that there
are many people who start out animating today without much of an appreciation for this ability and
what it can do for their animation. If you break any of the “rules” within these principles, it should be
a conscious choice not an inability to follow through. While this book aims to bring the principles into
the program and make it accessible for beginners as well, the subsections implied in certain principles
are not something that can be explored deeply without creating the world’s largest published work.
For Solid Drawing, you should be improving your draftsmanship (drawing skills). The “crash course”
I gave earlier in this chapter is about the specific attributes that are most applicable to movement:
staying consistent, having interesting and telling poses, etc. To truly apply this principle into your

Chapter 10
work, however, you need to draw … a lot. It’s right there in the name.

Milt Kahl, one of Disney’s Nine Old Men, is known as one of the finest draftsmen to ever have been
in the animation profession. Shere Khan (The Jungle Book), Merlin (The Sword in the Stone), and

SOLID DRAWING
Pinocchio are all completely different designs with drastically differing movement requirements.
They also all hide very complicated solid drawing problems to solve, and were all animated either
fully or in part by Milt Kahl. Shere Khan demonstrates wonderful anatomy and a perfect blend of
menacing and charismatic facial features; however, the camouflage stripes are a challenge to keep
track of while animating. Merlin is an old man almost entirely hidden behind the biggest beard and
cloak imaginable, which makes posing him a challenge because you always have to be aware of what
is happening under all that covering. He also needs to morph into other creatures and objects and
still retain his “Merlin-ness,” but despite these challenges he has a brilliant silhouette. Pinocchio is
a walking, talking marionette, so you need to believe he’s made of wooden parts, not flesh and bone,

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 Image 10.12

but still be able to relate to him as a living creature. All of these design requirements are a part of
solid drawing, but so are the animation difficulties. In Chapter 12 “Appeal,” we will look at the “I’ve
Got No Strings” dance sequence in Pinocchio shot by shot. But if you own the movie and can play it
right now, I encourage you to watch that scene for not only a singular demonstration of the difficulties
present in the design and movement requirements of the character, but also the masterful execution
in fulfilling them through solid drawing. (Also, while you’re at it, see how many other principles you
can find at work—and keep an eye out for the “twinning” as well, and ask yourself “so why does that
work here?” Hint: remember that he’s made of wood.)

Milt Kahl also animated another tiger (Tigger) in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Except this
time, notice how different the design and movements are. The features are the same, but the specifics
of the anatomy are different. The stripes are still there and still difficult to keep track of, but the way
they’re laid out on the body makes it easier for the animator to track than if they were more real
(just as with Shere Khan). If you step frame by frame through the scene where Tigger wakes Pooh,
you’ll see just how solid the solid drawing is. You can believe that he (and Pooh for that matter) exist

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 in a 3D world. The angular drawing style that Milt employed, inspired (among others) by Picasso, is
still present in all of these designs, but each design is specific to the needs of the character and story.
Ludwig Von Drake (Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color), who was animated by Milt but also by
Ward Kimball, is probably my favorite example of a similar design style being tailored to a specific
character. Ludwig looks to be very similar to Donald Duck (he’s supposedly Donald’s uncle), but with
the hair of Larry Fine (The Three Stooges), a voice emulating Albert Einstein, and the coat and glasses
reminding us of classic educational lecture videos, he’s clearly a different character. But honestly,
if it wasn’t for solid drawing, all the clothes, hairpieces, and voices in the world wouldn’t make us
think he wasn’t just Donald in disguise. His head to body proportions, neck and arm thickness, and
distinguishing wrinkles on his face are all uniquely different to Donald’s. If these aren’t maintained
on every frame, the illusion would be lost to our association with the more well-known and similar
design of Donald Duck. The fact that you know it’s Ludwig without question is the subtle genius of
solid drawing at work.

Don’t be distraught in thinking that this is going to be difficult to do because you’re right. It comes
easier for some. It’s one of the perks of talent, but almost no one is excellent at something out of
the box. Animation is about progression: step by step, frame by frame, all on the way to creating
something that wasn’t there before. The 12 Principles of Animation are a way for us to get close
to a standard curriculum for learning this incredibly deep field. To say “draw better” might be an
oversimplification, but it’s hard to deny that it’s a part of being better in a field heavy in drawing.
What Animate CC does, however, is make it easier to keep a wonderful drawing as close to how
you drew it as possible while making subtle movements as well as always having an easy reference
for proportions on any new drawings. If a wolf’s eyes need to grow huge and burst out of his head
in excitement (via Exaggeration, next chapter’s principle) à la Red Hot Riding Hood by Tex Avery
(a master in exaggeration), you only need to draw and change the eyes and their immediate parts
affected like the surrounding eyebrow area; everything else can remain in the same proportion
or stretched slightly. Animate CC makes changes like this very easy and easier to go back to the
“normal” state when needed. This ability will be no more apparent than when applying momentary
exaggeration, which is the topic of the next chapter.

Chapter 10
SOLID DRAWING

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 Image 11.0 Frames from Pencilmation #34: A Hole New World
by Ross Bollinger (pencilmation.com).

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 Chapter 11
EXAGGERATION

INTRODUCING
Exaggeration
The meaning of “exaggeration” is well
known. What this means in animation however, as with many
of the 12 Principles, is a bit more abstract and general. Many
people immediately think that this just means to exaggerate an
expression or movement, but it can and should be extended to
concepts, situations, settings, and just about every other area.
You shouldn’t exaggerate everything all the time, but rather
everything can be exaggerated for effect. Let’s try to understand
this concept a bit more without using the word exaggerate.
“Pushing” something is a common way for directors to ask
for this principle to be applied, and appropriately so. Where
a simple smile might work, pushing for more of a smile could
work better. The perspective on an environment might convey
depth well, but pushing that effect further would make the
depth more obvious. Sometimes it’s like your scene is teetering

Chapter 11
on the edge of a bungee-jump but too scared to really get into
it—it’s just standing on the edge of something interesting and
exciting. In that case, your scene might just need a little … push.

Another way to think of exaggeration, especially in terms of its EXAGGERATION

more abstract interpretations, is “hyperbole.” An old common
cartoon trope when a male character saw a hot woman was
for his head to turn into a fire alarm horn “aoogah!” … because
she’s hot like a fire, get it? Turning the colloquial concept
“hot” into a literal demonstration of something that indicates
its presence might be the most high-brow and unfunny way
to explain a joke, ever, but that’s what’s going on behind the

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 scenes of wild Tex Avery-esque moments like that. It may be instinctual for the artist, but there is a
decision being made nonetheless: how many times can we go this crazy before overwhelming our
audience? The amount you utilize exaggeration and in what ways will depend on whether you’re
going for a more realistic or caricatured style. It would seem out of place for Cinderella, herself, to
be making wacky expressions and visual puns, but Gus the mouse (or “Gus-Gus” or Octavius for the
trivia fanatics) is perfect to take on this roll. He and Jaq don’t overpower the film with their antics,
not just because they’re mice and small, but because they allow a balance for the audience. The
premise of Cinderella is a bit unbelievable in the first place, and Jaq and Gus, the mice sidekicks, are
a conduit for the audience to get their fill of fun and exaggerated premises so that the main story can
feel more grounded and Cinderella less like a fantasy and more like a person in a fantastical situation.

“The amount you utilize exaggeration and in what ways will depend on
whether you’re going for a more realistic or caricatured style.”
Early Daffy Duck is a wonderful representation of exaggeration by premise at work. Take the short To
Duck or Not to Duck (1943) as an example. Directed by Chuck Jones, it’s no secret now that there will
be some heavy exaggeration going on. Every single moment in this short is oozing with exaggerated
expressions, poses, situations, premises, puns, actions, and so on. After listing off all the weapons and
assets that Elmer Fudd has to kill him, simultaneously swiping them all away including his clothes,
Daffy says, “What protection have I got? A bulletproof vest I suppose!” He opens his feathery plumage
to show that he’s actually wearing a bulletproof vest, and then shyly closes his mock feather/clothing,
“How did that get there?” This reaction is all after an excellent sequence of maniacal laughing at the
idea of Elmer the hunter being a “sportsman,” which also featured exaggerated poses and opposing
action lines. These sequences lead directly into the completely ridiculous premise of Daffy dragging
Elmer into a fair fight (since he’s such a “sportsman,” says Daffy) in a boxing ring surrounded by ducks.
The joke is that the hunter has all the advantages,
so what might that look like the other way around
in a common sport? As unfunny as it is to explain
a joke, seeing the difference in the makeup of the
two scenarios and how they handle exaggeration in
their own way (one realistic fantasy, Cinderella, and
the other a pure caricature, To Duck or Not to Duck)
shows that Exaggeration is not just a “make funny
drawings” principle, but one which has many uses
Image 11.1
through a wide array of situations.

In this chapter, we’re going to be pushing the work that was explored in our real-world examples.
Exaggeration is a flourish, some extra frou-frou on a scene but, like with Secondary Action, when
it’s done right it will be hard for the viewer to imagine it any other way. If something hits, make it
hit harder. If it has overlapping action, overlap more. When showing a character under pressure,
you can go ahead and just turn him or her into a pressure cooker whistle-screaming. Exploring
options and seeing how much you can push a shot is really the only way to know for sure how far
is too far—or how far is Goldilocks-perfect. Walt Disney wanted realistic animation, but it was the

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 interpretation of that movement as filtered through a person’s mind or experiences which made it
that way. Exaggeration is very much a part of that same pursuit of realistic movement. Sometimes
you have to push something past reality to make it feel more real and identifiable, while other times
you want to go beyond that wall of interpreted realism into the realm of pure, zany caricatures.

EXERCISES Exaggeration
In this chapter, we’re going to be examining a couple of the real-world exercises from chapters past
and seeing how we can push the principles’ use further and utilize Exaggeration better. Notice the
use of the word “better.” Unless you’re tracing frames of footage from real life (called “rotoscoping”),
you’re almost always exaggerating the motion in some way. As mentioned, though Walt Disney
wanted the animation his company made to have the sense of being real, he also was pushing for
a more heightened version of it when needed. Behold, exhibit A to Z (because nothing else needs to
be said): Mickey’s Trailer. Every inch of that short is exaggerated, from the premises to the actions.
And it gets progressively pushed further and further as the short continues through its run-time of
8 tight minutes. And that was in 1938, the very, very beginning of Disney’s “golden age.”

The two previous real-world exercises we’ll be working with are the “chewing” scene from Chapter 3
“Squash and Stretch,” and “Pitching a Bomb” from Chapter 4 “Anticipation.” First we’ll look at
“chewing” and how we can improve it.

Exercise 1 “Exaggerating ‘Chewing’”

Chapter 11
EXAGGERATION

Image EC11.0 The visual beats will still be the same between the original (top) and exaggerated
(bottom) versions of this real-world exercise.

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 In this real-world exercise, we made a character take a bite, chew, and swallow some food. This
animation was done by using a couple of different methods of showing squash and stretch and making
use of the “loop” feature of a Graphic Symbol for the chew cycle. The shot we ended up with was a
good example of one which already had some exaggeration in it without really trying. The goal this
time is to make it obvious that this is clearly a caricatured version of the action. To take the bite, his
mouth will grow in size and open further than humanly possible (like a snake dislocating its jaw to
swallow its prey whole) to show the audience what the meaning of this scene really is—the gluttonous
way our character is devouring his enormous meal, happy as can be with the challenge. During the
final swallow, his neck will outstretch more like an ostrich with his head squashing, seemingly to
squeeze the mouthful down his neck, and come stretching back to position like a rubber band. Before
starting, open the file “ch3-real_world-chew.fla,” or whatever the corresponding largest version
number you saved is, and save it as “ch11-real_world-exaggerated_chew.”

1. First we need to re-rough some

of the shots to push them further.
First, delete the “rough animation”
folder left over from the work we
did in Chapter 3, then create a new Image EC11.1
layer above the cleanup folder, turn
it into a guide, and name it “rough-
exaggeration.” This should be the only
unlocked layer. Image EC11.1

2. On the keys with the fully open mouth, the

bite, both up-and-down chew points in the
cycle, and the final up-and-down swallowing
keys, insert blank keyframes (F7) and sketch
out a more exaggerated version of these
poses and expressions. You can use my
sketches for reference, but feel free to play
with your own style. Image EC11.2

3. Look at the animation you completed in

Chapter 3 and remember how we split up
the head animation into three symbols
(“head” is the first bite while “head-
chew_loop” and “head-swallow” are self-
explanatory) and when on the timeline those
instances were swapped for another. You
can highlight an instance on stage and look
at the Properties panel for “Instance of:” to
determine which keyframe on the “head”
layer is which instance. Image EC11.2

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 4. Now that you’ve determined which symbols contain each part
of the animation, for each individual section you’ll need to
highlight the new rough key sketches, Copy Frames, and then
Paste Frames inside the head symbol (whichever version needs
those keys) on a new, separate layer. Let’s start by copying
in the first head symbol’s animation key sketches. Take the
time when pasting in the frames to line up the sketches to the
existing cleanup so you can get right to the alterations in the
next steps. Image EC11.4

5. Since there are three head symbols with animation nested

inside you’ll need to clean up within each symbol. To reiterate,
in these steps we’re starting on the first head symbol with
the bite. Within the “head” symbol and seeing the rough
keys you pasted in on the previous step, adjust the size and/
or makeup of the shapes and symbol instances to match the
new rough. Notice in the accompanying image that the mouth
and cheek line layers are hidden and locked since the mouth
is animated frame by frame and the cheek lines are tweened
to that movement (if possible, Image EC11.4
otherwise they too would
need to be animated frame by
frame). Image EC11.5

6. Reapply or add any shape hints

which may be necessary at
this point (such as for the jaw
shape tween which is what the
accompanying image shows).
Image EC11.6

7. Now that the tweens are

Chapter 11
finished, go ahead and finish
the sequence by cleaning
up the frame-by-frame
animation of the mouth. Do
this the same way you did
EXAGGERATION

in the real-world exercise in

Chapter 3 by sketching rough
inbetweens on a new layer and
then cleaning them up on the
feature’s layer. Image EC11.7
Image EC11.5 Image EC11.6

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 8. Once all the rough keys and the
animation between them are
cleaned up in the head symbol
we were working in (with the
first bite), highlight all the
keyframes which make up the
last post (the closed mouth bite
on frame 26) and Copy Frames.
This is because we need this
exact pose to start the chew
cycle, which is the next symbol
we’re cleaning up. Image EC11.8

The following methods works

for any version of Flash but
Adobe introduced a feature
called “Paste and Overwrite Image EC11.7
Frames” in Animate which Image EC11.8
replaces steps 9–13! Check out “The Animate Difference” section
for this feature which is just before Exercise 2.

9. Enter the “head-chew_loop” symbol, create a

new layer above all the rest, right-click the first
blank keyframe there and Paste Frames. The
image which accompanies this step shows what
you’ll see after those actions. The blank layer you
inserted became the top layer which was pasted
(“nose”) and is the only one which is extended
the length of the internal timeline. The rest of the
pasted frames and layers are below it and only
have the first keyframe. Image EC11.9

10. To make sure that the timeline doesn’t get too

complicated, before moving forward we’re going
to tidy it up a bit. Remember that the chew loop is
made up of two poses (an up-and-down version of
the mouth closed and chewing). The starting pose
is the down version of the chew and so is the end,
which leaves the middle keyframe (at frame 7)
to be the up version of the chew pose. The other
Image EC11.9
two sets of keyframes (on frames 4 and 10) are
breakdowns which were used to give a slow in and out for the tweens. We only want the
keys on frames 1, 7, and 12 so highlight both sets of breakdown keyframes including part of

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 the tween spans before and after them
(as shown in the accompanying image).
Then right-click Clear Keyframe and
again to select Remove Tween. Image
EC11.10

11. Looking back up at the frames and layers

you pasted in on step 9, you’ll notice that
they’re in the exact same order as what
was already in this symbol before that
step except the pupil layers are missing.
Highlight all the keyframes under the
blank pupil layers down to the last
pasted-in layer (which was “ear left”)
and then drag these keyframes down
to corresponding layers below in order
to replace the old keyframes with these Image EC11.10 Image EC11.11
new ones. Image EC11.11

12. Repeat the previous step for the last of the layers above the blank pupil layers (the nose and
eyebrow layer keyframes) and then delete all of the pasted in layers from step 9.

13. You have now replaced the existing starting pose for the chew cycle with the new
exaggerated one. Since the final keyframe in this sequence is the same pose, highlight one
frame from every layer between the first and second keyframes and drag that forward on the
timeline to replace the final keyframe
with these. Image EC11.13

14. Repeat steps 4–13 (paste in the rough

keys and align, adjust the features that
are being tweened, frame-by-frame
the rest) to complete the rest of the
chew cycle animation and again for the

Chapter 11
swallow symbol. Don’t forget to paste in
the cleanup keyframes from the poses
needed into the swallow symbol—it
starts with the first cleanup pose of EXAGGERATION
the chew cycle and ends with the first
cleanup pose in the main “head” symbol
from the beginning.

15. The exaggerated expressions and the

animation to and from them is finished
within the head symbols themselves, Image EC11.13 Image EC11.15

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 but now we should add some more
extreme movement of the symbol
instances on the main timeline. This
is where you adjust things like if the
head lifts up high, push it higher. If the
head squashes down, drop it lower and
add more squash to the instance itself.
Image EC11.15
Image EC11.16
16. Add in any extra exaggeration which
assists the expression and head
movement changes such as increasing the size of the hand and
sandwich symbol while shrinking the size of the head to make
it look like the character is leaning far back while holding the
sandwich outstretched. Image EC11.16

17. The last thing we’ll do is exaggerate the final settle into position
by extending the timeline out a few frames (such as to frame 86
like I did), inserting a keyframe there on the head layer, lowering
the head and stretching it at the previous keyframe (frame 81),
and finishing it up with a classic tween between these last two
keyframes with an “S” curve. Image EC11.17 Image EC11.17

The “Animate” Difference: PASTE AND

OVERWRITE FRAMES
accomplish the same feat (there are actually
two methods shown there so you learned both
– those are the copy/paste and drag-and-drop
methods). Now you can accomplish this much
quicker. Image AD6 shows how you can now
use Paste and Overwrite Frames to do the same
thing we did in steps 9–13 in Exercise 1 of this
Image AD6 chapter but in a much more expedient way. The
One of the most subtly helpful features given feature in the right-click drop-down menu from
to Animate CC which didn’t exist in Flash was the timeline and will push the existing frames
the ability to paste frames from multiple layers froward (notice frame number 2 in the image).
on the timeline while replacing what was there Simple use Clear Frames (from right-click) on
instead of creating all new layers. The method those which were pushed froward and re-apply
shown in steps 9-13 in Exercise 1 of this chapter the appropriate tweens to the frames you pasted
was the quickest and most secure way to earlier.

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 Exercise 2 “Exaggerating ‘Pitching a Bomb’”
With the principle of Anticipation, it’s all about
building to some payoff. In the case of our pitcher,
the baseball had been replaced with a bomb and
the wick was slowly getting shorter and shorter.
The feeling of anticipation was, knowing that the
bomb could go off at any second, “would he throw
it away in time?” The answer was … no. Because
in a cartoon, that’s funny. This time, we’re going
to exaggerate the length of the wick but still have
it burn off slowly—this way there is still plenty
of wick left when he winds-up for the pitch. The
audience should be wondering what the payoff
will be if there’s still plenty of time before the
bomb goes off. But instead of having it explode
in his hand, we’re going to adjust the existing
payoff gag to have him get hit by a random
lightning strike. It’s a bait-and-switch type payoff.
This happened to Wile E. Coyote all the time in
his cartoons with his foil, the Road Runner, by
Chuck Jones at Warner Bros.—not to mention just Image EB 11.0  Original (top) and the
about every scheme Donald Duck cooked up over exaggerated version (bottom) differ also in
at Disney. timing.

To accentuate the comically long bomb wick, we’re

going to add a little secondary action. There’s already some in the form of a head shake/nod (added for
extra effect in step 45), but we’re adding tossing the bomb casually which will show the extra-long wick
spinning around. The principles of Slow In/Out, Arcs, and Overlapping Action and Follow Through are
also in the forefront and when roughing out the actions we’re using both Pose To Pose and Straight
Ahead Action. As always, you can look at the provided FLA for reference, inspiration, or something to
copy. Copying and deconstructing is a completely valid learning tool. Study stuff you respect and admire.

Chapter 11
Sometimes drawing it over yourself is the only real way you can fully understand and appreciate
how a technique was accomplished. It’s all part of learning. Monkey see, monkey do. Open the “ch4-
real_world-pitcher.fla” (or latest version number) and Save As “ch11-real_world-exaggerated_pitcher.”

1. Just as in the previous exercise (exaggerating chewing), we want to rough out the new
EXAGGERATION

parameters of the scene. We should still have the rough layers that were provided for you
to create the scene in the first place so hide everything except for the folder with the rough
layers. (Note: if you don’t still have a rough animation folder in your latest file because you
deleted it to clean up the timeline, open one of the earlier versions of the base file (“ch4-real_
world-pitcher”), and copy/paste the layers to our new file for this chapter (“ch11-real_world-
exaggerated_pitcher”).)

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 2. The first thing to address is the wick length. Redraw a comically long
wick on the layer with the existing wick rough and delete the old one.
Image EB11.2

3. Scroll ahead to the point where the pitcher starts his windup
sequence (should be frame 161) and create a wick length there
to represent how much had been burned away. This will help you
keep the wick burning consistent when we get to the secondary
action of the toss. You should now highlight the preceding three
keyframes on the “wick burning” layer and Clear Keyframe since
Image EB11.2
those were indicating the timing of the old wick-burning rough.
Image EB11.3

4. Now we need to adjust the timing to account for the secondary action
we’re going to add in. Scroll back to the beginning, hit Enter on your
keyboard to start playing the rough animation, and after the baseball
is replaced with the bomb, look away. Visualize how much time is
needed to casually toss and catch the bomb behind his back and
wait for the wick to burn down a bit before you want the windup to
happen—then hit Enter again and note where you stopped it. I stopped
mine at frame 253 which leaves about 7 seconds for the bomb toss
and watching the wick burn. Adjust your timing for the rough Image EB11.3
animation layers only by inserting frames (F5) during that
waiting period span.

5. Repeat the previous step to determine where you want

the secondary action to start. Then insert keyframes and
sketch in the rough animation on the pitcher and wick-
burning layers to achieve this secondary action. The bomb
should rotate in the air to better remind the audience
how long the wick is by having it stretch, then coil around
the spin and finally fall back down after the catch. I
chose frame 156, which is around the halfway point in
the anticipation beat we extended in the previous step.
Image EB11.5

6. Scroll ahead to the part where the windup sequence is just

beginning in the rough and using the straight ahead action
method sketch in the wick for the frames that match the
pitcher’s rough animation timing. The wick will display
Overlapping Action. This particular sequence should be
familiar to you because of doing similar work in the real-
world exercises in Chapters 7 and 8. (Note: we want the
wick to ultimately be hidden behind the pitcher so the Image EB11.5

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 audience momentarily forgets about that setup when the
lightning strikes.)

7. Now let’s address the new payoff: the lightning strike. Because
this is an unexpected payoff we want this comedic beat to hit
before the original bomb-exploding one. I chose to have the
lightning strike about 0.5 seconds after the windup sequence
ends so drag the keyframe with the existing bomb explosion
image back to this new timing and delete the existing image.
Sketch in the lightning strike image. We’re going for standard
cartoon electrocution-style visuals. The lightning bolt will
appear instantly and our character will be a silhouette and
you’ll see his skeleton underneath. For the actual effect, we’ll
add a flicker during cleanup but for the rough, one image is
enough. Image EB11.7

8. Drag the keyframe with the charred image of the pitcher

back to a point after the lightning strike. I use the same hit- Image EB11.7
Enter-visualize-then-hit-Enter-again method to determine
quick timing for shots like this.

9. To start the cleanup/fixes/alterations, move the existing cleanup frames forward during the
anticipation sequence the way you did in the rough. The only symbol with nested animation
is the hand, so make sure you change the Play Once frame number to match the new frames
(this goes for each keyframe of the hand symbol—remember there’s one layer in front of the
body and one behind).

10. The final anticipation cushioning tween as well as the pitcher-go-boom image keyframe (with
the smoke layer if you added that from step 45 in Chapter 4’s real-world exercise) need to be
brought back to match the new, quicker timing of the lightning strike payoff. The explosion
cleanup layer isn’t needed anymore and can be deleted.

11. What we need to address now is the wick. The main place to start would be the

Chapter 11
starting wick length so scroll to the first time we see it in the rough animation but
after the mystery arm leaves (so we don’t get confused about which symbol is which)
and double-click to enter the pitcher’s hand symbol and then the bomb symbol within
that. You should remember the setup from when we worked on it in Chapter 4. Clear
every keyframe except for the ones on the first frame for “bomb,” “spark,” and “wick.”
EXAGGERATION

Image EB11.11

Image EB11.11

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 12. Hide every layer except for “bomb” and “wick,” delete the existing
wick image, and create a new one with the Line Tool (N) to match
the rough. Image EB11.12

13. Unhide the “spark” layer and drag the instance to the bottom
tip of the wick, remembering to have it actually positioned on
the wick line (you’ll most likely need Snap to Objects toggled
on for this).

14. Extend the timeline for the “bomb” symbol out, at least to cover
the length of the timing we worked out back in step 4 (remember
that mine was about 7 seconds so I extended the timeline out to
frame 200).

15. The next thing we want to do is add in the wick-burning

animation so scroll ahead to the start of the windup animation
where we had drawn how much wick would be burned away
in the rough animation. Provided that you adjusted the Play Image EB11.12
Once frame number of the hand symbol at this keyframe
mentioned in step 9, double-click to enter to the “bomb”
symbol like in step 11 and insert a keyframe (F6) at that frame
on the “spark” layer.

16. Drag the spark instance up to the point

the wick ends in the rough animation
and snap it to the wick line like in step
13. Image EB11.16

17. Copy the only keyframe on the “wick”

layer, paste it on the guide layer, and
then create a classic tween between the
two keyframes on the “spark” layer. The
spark should now be traveling along the
wick. Image EB11.17

18. The mask animation we need to use this

time will be a bit different. Since the
wick is longer and has more of a curvy
path, a straight shape tween on the
mask won’t work like last time. Unlock Image EB11.16 Image EB11.17
and unhide the “mask” layer and
then start by setting up the mask shape the same way as we did in Chapter 4: create a
rectangle which covers the entire length of the wick on frame 1 with its rightmost edge
just ending at the wick. (Note: remember that using a fill color with an alpha less than
100% will allow you to see through the mask shape to what is below it, which is what will

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 ultimately be shown to the audience.)
Image EB11.18

19. In the wick that I drew, the spark first

needs to travel a downward path to the
bottommost curve of the wick. Insert a
keyframe at this extreme and adjust the
mask shape to have its rightmost edge
end at the spark. Image EB11.19

20. Now the spark is starting to travel upward

but is still traveling left at a faster rate
than we need to allow for the mask shape
to adjust in-kind with the curve. So at the
frame where the spark reaches a point Image EB11.18 Image EB11.19
relatively opposite the initial end of the
wick and where it’s starting to travel upward more than left,
insert a keyframe on the mask layer and adjust the shape so
that the bottom-right corner is matching the spark’s position.
Holding Option/Alt when dragging with the Free Transform
Tool (Q) works beautifully for this step. Image EB11.20

21. Now that the spark is basically moving directly upward, simply
move ahead to the frame with the ending keyframe in the spark
animation span, insert a keyframe on the mask layer, and drag
the bottom of the mask rectangle up to meet the spark position.
Create a shape tween between all the keyframes created in
the last three steps. Now when you lock both the “mask” and
“wick” layers you should see the spark traveling along the wick
line while the wick is disappearing as it’s being burned away …
just like we did in Chapter 4’s real-world exercise. Image EB11.20
22. If you go back to the main stage now you’ll see that when

Chapter 11
the mystery arm comes out, the wick is moving around
very stiffly before the hand-off. What we’re going to need
to do here is not anything you haven’t seen thus far so
this will be done quickly. First enter the “mystery_arm- EXAGGERATION
hand” symbol and scroll forward to the first place you
see the bomb appear in the hand, right-click the bomb,
Duplicate Symbol, and name it “bomb-no_wick.” Then
enter this new symbol and delete everything except for the
bomb layer (note that this part of the step isn’t shown in
the accompanying image because when you’re done you
shouldn’t see the wick or spark anymore). Image EB11.22 Image EB11.22

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 23. Return to the main timeline, insert a new layer, and
frame-by-frame and/or shape tween the wick entering
the screen convincingly with the mystery arm (obviously
the wick image on the main timeline is only for a few
frames, being replaced by the wick within the pitcher’s
hand symbol). Add the “bomb-spark” symbol as needed.
Image EB11.23

24. We’ll come back to the secondary action bomb toss at

the end. For now go to the beginning of the windup and
repeat the process in the previous two steps to make sure
the wick is not stiffly rotating with the bomb during the
windup and instead matches the rough animation you
did earlier. (Note: this time you don’t need to duplicate
the bomb symbol to get one with no wick since it’s already Image EB11.23
been created. You can swap symbols. Also don’t forget
to insert a keyframe at the beginning of the windup sequence in the hand symbol to replace
the bomb.)

25. Next, scroll ahead to the lightning

strike. We’ll do a little FX work
here. The lightning bolt will
come in fully formed as a yellow
bolt the frame before the rough
that you drew. On the following
frame, the background turns black
and all you see is the lightning
bolt and the skeleton. Then it’s
just a matter of flipping the
black and white colors for a few
Image EB11.25a Image EB11.25b
more frames and ending on the
final burnt keyframe with the
smoke coming off him (if you added this effect at the end of the real-world exercise in
Chapter 4, that is). You could’ve created a Graphic Symbol with just those two inverse
color frames and looped it on-stage for the flashing effect as well, but it wasn’t necessary
for a shot as short as this. (Pro-tip: when drawing the lightning bolt, to get jagged edges
you can use one of the other brush shapes such as the square which I used.) Image EB11.25a
and EB11.25b

26. With the easier changes out of the way, we need to address the secondary action of the
behind the back ball toss. First we’ll address the hand animation since it’s going to dictate the
bomb’s tween timing. To clean up the hand animation, go to each key in the rough animation
on the main timeline and enter the hand symbol from there to complete that image. Finish the

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 hand animation cleanup by inbetweening the
spans between those keyframes. Image EB11.26

27. You’ll remember that the nested bomb

animation we made initially in Chapter 4 (and
edited here) doesn’t have its internal frames
in sync with the main timeline, so to keep the
bomb’s wick burning synchronized before and
after the toss insert a keyframe (F6) at the end
of the span when the bomb is back at rest.

28. Replace the symbol instance of the bomb with

the wick to one without a wick at the beginning
of this secondary action toss sequence. To clean
up this motion, insert keyframes and manually
position the ball frame by frame for the initial
movement until it leaves the hand and then
classic tween the bomb up and down the Image EB11.26
way we have for many chapters with the
bouncing ball. Finalize the ball animation
by animating it back to rest in the same
frame-by-frame way as the way you
started this sequence. Image EB11.28

29. Now that you’ve done the process

animating the wick on the stage, this part
doesn’t need to be explained as much.
Just try to match the length of the wick
to the starting and ending lengths. You’ll
most likely be able to shape tween the
beginning and ending of this sequence
when the wick shape isn’t changing as

Chapter 11
rapidly due to overlapping action, but the
rest will need to be animated frame by
frame using straight ahead action and the
Pencil Tool (Shift+Y). You can manually
move the spark instance around for those
EXAGGERATION

frame-by-frame parts of the sequence

but will need to tween it on its own layer
during those parts where you’ve decided Image EB11.28 Image EB11.29
to shape tween the wick. Image EB11.29

Notice how much more the anticipation of the moment reads with the alteration of the timing,
changing the punchline to being less straightforward and expected, and the extra secondary action.

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 The secondary action, specifically, not only fills in some of the visual stagnation of the longer
anticipation moment, but also directs focus to the bomb, which is an example of the use of staging.
Not only can everything clearly be seen, but the story point of the moment is never forgotten or
overshadowed. The audience can be drawn into the moment because it’s waiting for what’s going
to happen next (anticipation), but to facilitate that the secondary action and the payoff needed to be
there. In this example, you’ve used every single principle covered thus far in one scene.

Precise Tools, Exaggerated Use

Giotto, an Italian painter in the late Middle Ages, was asked by the
Pope (well, a messenger he sent anyway) around the year 1300 AD
to draw something to prove his skill, to which Giotto responded by
painting a single perfect circle. If you’ve ever tried to do that, it is
almost incomparably difficult. As a matter of fact, many artists (myself
included) warm up in the morning by drawing dozens, if not hundreds,
of circles over and over on paper as a way to kind of calibrate the
senses before starting work. The extreme freehanded precision that
Giotto showed in making that perfect circle spoke volumes at the
time as to the level of skill and mastery the painter had. Today, you
can hold Shift and drag out a perfect circle using the Oval Tool (O) in Image 11.2  Art.
Animate CC (Image 11.2). Of course, while the drafting compass was
officially invented in the mid-1500s, you could replicate what a compass does by holding a brush to
a string which freely rotates around a rod in the center, but the story is too good to nitpick. And it
illuminates a point really well, which is that with all the precise tools at her fingertips, an artist is
often tempted to stay within the boundaries of exact proportions it allows one to create. Just as an
animator can be dragged into some wild directions by drawing freehand without tools or construction
sketches, using more tools can also lead to working in solely impressive but boring accuracy.

“The introduction of new technology doesn’t have to mean the rejection of

traditionally established principles and techniques.”
Often, as an artist grows in skill and knowledge they will become more stagnant for fear of losing
whatever technical ability they have. “Don’t rock the boat” is a phrase that comes to mind. Fear of
experimentation is a dangerous place for any artist because exploration is key to creative endeavors,
and when that stops playing a part, things get … boring. This fear can manifest itself, many times
strangely enough, in established artists not being entirely receptive to new technology. Though
it’s new and needs to be “explored,” the addition of more precise (and numerous) tools can be seen
as a threat to the creative process because it seems like the soul of creation is being taken away.
This criticism isn’t wrong. But what really happens is that in the early days of a new tech’s inclusion
into a medium, trailblazing artists are finding the right balance of its use into their existing workflow.
What incorporating new technology or techniques has to do with the principle of Exaggeration is
that the same tools that are used to keep your character on model (symbols, objects, shape tools, etc.)

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 can hold you back from exploring the more playful side of animation because “hey, the character’s
already drawn—why draw it again?” In truth, this could be said for every one of the principles and
is the core reason this book exists—to counter that reasoning. The introduction of new technology
doesn’t have to mean the rejection of traditionally established principles and techniques.

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES
Exaggeration

Example 1: Rabbit Punch

In Chuck Jones’ Rabbit Punch (1948), Bugs Bunny fights
Battling McGook. The latter’s introduction has him flexing,
during which the brute’s muscles, as dictated by normal
human anatomy, enlarge. But just to show that this guy is no
ordinary foe, many more muscles just start showing up until
he literally shows biceps atop biceps. This use of exaggeration
isn’t just making something bigger; it’s adding more features
to his actual design. If asked to make a character “flex so
much that he looked impossibly strong” (which would be
the story point of the shot), many people when starting to Image 11.3  Rabbit Punch
use Animate CC would probably make each muscle group (1948). Licensed by Warner Bros.
a symbol and just grow them in size—or possibly even use Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.
shape tweens to morph the muscles. This approach would be
evidence of linear thinking. When given a set of tools, there is a sense that they must be utilized at
all times to achieve an end goal. In the case of the flexing uberman, you could have the same effect as
the final in Rabbit Punch by drawing in different muscle groups and tweening those in to appear in
series. The problem is that you might not have even come up with the idea had you not stepped away
from thinking of the scene in terms of only the tools you have. Of the many wonderful things about
animation, the ability to show anything you want might be the most valuable—and the scariest to lose.

Chapter 11
Example 2: Donald’s Snow Fight
About 1 minute into Disney’s animated short Donald’s Snow Fight (1942), Donald goes to get his
overcoat because it’s cold outside. What he comes back with is an absolutely huge fur coat that
EXAGGERATION
makes him look like a walking church bell. The animators even call out to that fact by having him
finish his rendition of “Jingle Bells” by swinging from a tree acting like a musical bell. The concept
is exaggerated. In movement, the coat actually makes him waddle more than he usually does—and
he’s a duck. Exaggeration. They actually draw attention to this absurdity with Huey, Dewey, and Louie
making fun of their uncle Donald and his ridiculously sized coat by building a similarly sized snowman
around a rock—which ultimately takes the coat out of the equation. The joke has run its course and

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 the use of exaggeration was just right so there’s no reason to
continue it. It’s time to move on to the next bits. We see snow
and icicles fall on Donald to make him look like a rhino in a
cage. He bowls a snowball into Huey, Dewey, and Louie when
they look like bowling pins from the snow packed around them.
There are ice mortars, snow bombs with mouse traps in them,
and flaming arrows that melt everything around them. The
situation progresses steadily until ultimately getting to a point
of such exaggerated premise that it’s hard to believe anyone
would have survived if that happened in the real world.

Like Mickey’s Trailer, it’s the slow increase in the use of

exaggeration that brings the audience in and along for the ride. Image 11.4  Donald’s Snow Fight
To use an example from live-action film as a relative sample (1942).
of this technique in a different genre, Steven Spielberg’s
Jaws (1975) starts with a very scientific and realistic premise:
a large shark is swimming in waters where it is unexpected
and is killing swimmers. Rogue shark attacks have happened,
though rarely, so it’s not a crazy idea. But the movie steadily
ratchets up the unbelievability factor until the final scene is
just simply … impossible. The reason it works is because the
audience has been sucked into the story and slowly introduced
to increasingly unlikely events with expert direction of acting,
cinematography, and editing so that by the time they get to the
end, the impossible is completely believable and even relatable.
This example just illuminates the versatility of exaggeration as
a concept and is a helpful way to think about its use in broader Image 11.5
terms. In both of the examples, Rabbit Punch and Donald’s Snow
Fight, the use of exaggeration is different. Events and premises are often exaggerated for effect; that,
they have in common. But the varied use of exaggeration in movement and design shows what a
difference its application makes in the end style of a project. In Donald’s Snow Fight, it’s clear how
Animate CC can be used to apply this type of exaggeration since it’s more or less represented in the
events unfolding on screen, which would be the more conceptual use of this principle and less about
the tools. You would mostly just animate the way you always would. But on closer inspection, you can
see the exaggerated use of squash and stretch and character form in the breakdown frames which
would call out the use of the Free Transform Tool, shape tweens, and other Animate CC features.

“Disney’s History of Technological Innovation”

Thumbnailing, sketching, roughing … these are all important connections to the traditional way of
animating where these principles originally came from. Disney Studios pioneered not only ideas and
methods like the 12 Principles and storyboarding, but also animation technology. The multiplane

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 camera, optical camera (to merge live action
with animation), xerography, C.A.P.S. (Computer
Animation Production System), and Deep Canvas
are just a few of the many innovations that
were used. And it’s not like these were created
in vacuums of one another; C.A.P.S. actually
eliminated the need for the multiplane camera
and xerography by digitally doing the same jobs.
Technology, tools, and methods all march forward
together. No matter the tools, the principles of
movement remain mostly the same. The new
technology means that existing methods will
merge with new ways of animating and form
new workflows; that leaves us on the Tradigital
doorstep. You’ve seen how the tools can aid in the
application of the other principles, and even when
we got into methods and some concepts (like pose
to pose, follow through, secondary action, etc.),
it was still clear that the tools could easily help
facilitate them. Exaggeration is a bit of a different
principle than the rest because it’s almost more Image 11.6  Walt Disney standing in front of
about breaking the rules/principles a little bit for the multiplane camera.
effect (or “pushing” to the breaking point), and
that can be at odds with the newly learned ways
of precisely executing the principles. The bottom line: if something can be done easily, it might be
the tools hypnotizing you into complacency. Use the principle of Exaggeration to push yourself and
your animation out of any possible pit of contentment, and keep exploring the world around you.

CLOSER LOOK
Using Exaggeration or “Knowing When Not To Use

Chapter 11
Exaggeration”
In our chewing example, we had two very exaggerated moments where the form was pushed into EXAGGERATION
“wacky” territory: the bite and the swallow. These moments were accents of absurdity which helped
the viewer to digest the story point of the scene better and with more vibrancy. Had we gone farther
than that, the scene would’ve become more about the absurdities and less about what’s being done.
We tempered our use of exaggeration in that example. But this is a rule made to be broken. Tex
Avery, and the aforementioned Chuck Jones, made a habit of shattering it at every turn. It became a
style for Tex to have the wild expressions, pushed poses, and heightened timing. It can be overused
if the exaggeration is without purpose, and truth be told, that’s very easy to do. All of Goofy’s actions

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 are exaggerated more than other characters. For
one, his name is “Goofy”—he’s going to be goofy.
But more than that, his character even moves the
way you would expect a lanky person to move …
just enhanced. Exaggeration plays a key part in
his personality.

In Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, we know that

Gaston has to battle the Beast in the end. They set
us up to expect that payoff very early on in the
film. His obsession with Belle can only mean that
he’s on a collision course with her soon-to-be
protector. But if you’ve seen the Beast, you know
he’s monstrous—he’s huge! How exactly are you Image 11.7  Northwest Hounded Police (1946),
to believe that a human male could go toe to toe directed by Tex Avery, shows two expression
with a magically mutated monster of destruction? extremes of exaggeration.
Exaggeration comes into play here through his
famous song “Gaston.” The whole scene is basically a series of hyperbolic lyrics and displays of
strength to show him as an intimidating specimen “roughly the size of a barge.” They even go as
far as pointing out that he bites in fights to subversively make you relate to him closer to a “beast”
and simultaneously show him fighting dirty. This song and dance sequence isn’t a throwaway scene
just for fun; it’s setting you up so that when the ending comes it will make the most sense. It may
seem silly—it’s exaggerated—but if that number wasn’t in the movie, the final fight might not make
much sense, especially not the way it happens. Exaggeration isn’t just situational in his animation,
it’s also used in his design. Gaston is drawn as a caricatured “strong man” in his proportions. Also,
his expressions are mostly pushed just beyond “normal” in the movie, the way someone’s face
seems to give away their lies as they try to overcompensate. Happy becomes ecstatic, sad becomes
dreadfully morose, angry becomes enraged, and so on. He’s basically overacting. The trick for
the supervising animator, Andreas Deja, was to let you know that Gaston is not as courageous as
everyone says he is—and he may not even believe it himself—but also keep him a real and credible
threat. He’s a villain after all. That balance is an incredibly fine line to walk, and exaggeration was
used just enough to walk it.

“Knowing when or when not to use a principle is just as important, if not

more so, as how to use it. Exaggeration is the best example of that notion.”
Knowing when to use a principle is just as important, if not more so, as how to use it. Exaggeration
is the best example of that notion. The Simpsons parodied exaggeration in cartoons with its cartoon
within the cartoon: The Itchy and Scratchy Show. While it satirized the casual use of violence in
cartoons and people’s general apathy toward it, it also (knowingly or unknowingly) parodied the use
of exaggeration to display that violence. Itchy and Scratchy are visually modeled after Tom and Jerry
and Herman and Catnip, but could be stand-ins for any number of cartoon duos like the oft-mentioned
Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. The Simpsons itself is full of exaggerated comedy. It’s fun seeing

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 what an incredibly exaggerated cartoon within an already exaggerated animated sitcom would look
like. What happens when exaggeration goes too far: The Itchy and Scratchy Show.

FINAL WORDS
Exaggeration
As straightforward as it sounds, Exaggeration is a heady concept, and it’s very easy to do poorly. It’s
not enough to simply make something bigger, sillier, or more pronounced; it has to be done the right
way to get an effect that won’t overshadow the rest of what’s being done. On top of that, proper use
is more about knowing what effect it will have on the presentation of whatever idea you’re going
for and what type of exaggeration is needed: premise, movement, design, etc. Mostly everyone
exaggerates naturally. Exaggeration is a pretty intuitive concept but its inclusion in the 12 Principles
was important to make sure the animator always kept it in mind throughout their work. It really is
in a place apart from the rest, however, because it’s simultaneously trying to push you past where
you normally might go and trying to remind you not to go too far but without necessarily telling
you what either of those two things mean. You just have to discover them for yourself with careful
consideration of what exactly it is you’re doing. Keep the concept in mind and push your work until
it goes too far. It’s really the only way you can know if you’ve gone far enough.

“Keep the concept in mind and push your work until it goes too far. It’s
really the only way you can know if you’ve gone far enough.”
Watch animated films, shorts, and series that you
love and respect. Analyze them and work them over
in your mind. Step through frame by frame and see
what your idols have created and how. Explore your
own concepts of what is funny, dramatic, thrilling, or
whatever sense you want to go for and keep pushing
them into new areas. Having a style, after all, doesn’t
mean that your work needs to remain stagnant. The

Chapter 11
next, and last, principle is Appeal. Where Exaggeration
was about pushing things forward, Appeal is kind of
about making sure they stay together when you do.
We will be looking at more examples of it at work Image 11.8  Norm & Cory by Andrew Kaiko
and discussing its meaning and how we can bring it (youtube.com/andrewkful).
EXAGGERATION

into our work. The step-by-step work is done in this

book—the attention now needs to shift to what these conceptual principles mean for our work within
Animate CC Even if you’re familiar with the principles, it’s important to relax on the technical side
of things and refresh the meaning and use of the principles so that you can revisit them with fresh
eyes along with your new knowledge of work within the program. Now, let’s see how to really make
our animation appealing!

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 Image 12.0  Orbis Park by Andrew Kaiko (youtube.com/andrewkful).

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 Chapter 12 
APPEAL
INTRODUCING
Appeal
If you’re working in a visual medium,
you want your audience to want to see what you’ve made.
This is a generally accepted starting point. So where does that
leave you when you need to create, say, an evil character in
animation? They need to command attention from the viewers
just like your other main characters. It’s good to start off with
this example for appeal to separate the soft definition many
people have of “likeable” to how we’re going to use it. Appeal
in animation is related closest to an actor’s charisma; despite
what they’re doing, you always want to see more.

As Frank and Ollie pointed out, if something’s “ugly and

repulsive [it might have] shock value, but no story strength.”
This quote gets more to the core of how Appeal relates to solid
drawing than it does to standards of beauty. For instance, in
Disney’s first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs (1937), one of the most iconic characters is the Witch
who gives Snow White the apple. Those who haven’t seen
the movie in a while (or at all) might not entirely remember
that the witch is a disguised form of the actual antagonist of Chapter 12
the film, The Evil Queen. The queen’s goal is to be the “fairest
of them all,” and when she finds out that Snow White is the
more fair (pretty), the Evil Queen sets out to remove her from
the competition. This character is the perfect embodiment of
APPEAL

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 the principle of Appeal since she’s charismatic in
both forms but in different ways (Image 12.1). As
the second prettiest in all the land, the Evil Queen
has more standards of beauty than the Witch
does, and they even move differently. They’re
ostensibly two different characters (though voiced
by the same actress). However, in both forms,
one “pretty” and one “ugly,” you still want to see
more of her and what she’s going to do. Appeal,
regardless of the representations of standards
of beauty, is what makes this character such a Image 12.1  The Witch (left) and the Queen
presence to watch. (right) both demonstrate appeal in different
ways, though being the same person.
Madam Mim (The Sword and the Stone), Madame
Medusa (The Rescuers), Ursula (The Little
Mermaid), and Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians) might not win any beauty contests, but they are
some of the most captivating characters on screen. Appeal goes beyond what they look like; it
encapsulates how they act and sound as well as how their form is presented. It would be easy
to make any of these characters completely unappealing simply by failing at solid drawing or
presentation of forms—but also by having them overstep boundaries of charm. If you don’t want
to see what they’re going to do or say next, they would be dead weight. The reason the focus
is on villains is because they’re the most complex. A hero is usually the “everyman,” someone
that the audience can use as a proxy to place themselves into that position in the fantasy of the
movie. It’s a delicate balance, to be sure, because the exaggeration at use usually needs to be
really subdued—which is difficult to do and keep the characters appealing. But the villain is
someone the audience should actively hate, if not at least simply disagree with, but still want
to watch. Ultimately, we want to see the villain fail, but at some level you want to see how they
were winning until that point—for that, they need appeal.

“Appeal in animation is related closest to an actor’s charisma; despite what

they’re doing, you always want to see more.”
Essentially, Appeal is all about taking every one of the principles—indeed everything you know about
art and animation—and putting it all together in harmony to create something that people will want
to watch. It’s as simple as that to say, not so much to do. How does this relate directly to Animate CC?
It doesn’t, necessarily. Animate CC is a tool, and in a principle that at its core is asking you to take
everything you know and make it all work together, the way to use that tool is every single way you
know how. What we’re going to be doing in this chapter is similar to what was done in the previous
chapter on Exaggeration. We’ll look at examples of good use of appeal, break down the principles
at use, see how that impacts the overall character’s presentation, and determine what this means
for your work within Animate CC (i.e. how to replicate it). Then you will be given exercises to work
through completely on your own aside from some guidelines in step-by-step form. This part of the
book is where the plane has picked up enough speed on the runway to where the wheels start to lift

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 off the tarmac and take flight. You know the tools, you know the methods, and now it’s time to put
it all to use for a purpose. Let’s get into it!

“Appeal is all about taking every one of the principles—indeed everything

you know about art and animation—and putting it all together in harmony
to create something that people will want to watch.”

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES
Appeal
Few things are as important as a character’s introduction to the audience. In film, novels, comic
books, and TV, memorable introductions stand out almost more than any other facet of storytelling.
The first time you see Darth Vader he’s walking, leading a boarding party, choking a rebel, with an
immediately intimidating design (the helmet, the breathing sound, the deep voice, the all-black attire
with cape against his simply armored and contrasting white colored soldiers). The way he walks in
is so purposeful and determined; at first sight you know this guy is not going to stop until he gets
what he’s after. You know what he’s all about from his first lines, and that’s all you need to know to
want to see more. What is he going to do?

Conversely, Willy Wonka’s entrance is much different. The clothes he’s wearing, the audience’s
collective apnea at his sight convinces us that this is a momentous occasion, and finally the reveal that
he has just played with that mysterious perception to pull a prank on the very people who’ve come
to see him all say that this guy is quirky and you’re never quite going to know where he’s coming
from. There’s so much depth in his character from the outset, so many places the storytellers could
go from there, and that makes you want to see more of him.

You can continue to analyze other great live-action introductions even when they’re not technically
the first time a character is seen. Throughout the opening escapade, Indiana Jones (from Raiders of
the Lost Ark) is set up as a smart and physically capable adventurer with a goal of preserving artifacts
in museums for academic (and monetary) purposes, and it gives us two of the most recognizable
moments in film: measuring the sand and fleeing the boulder.

Technically the second time he’s seen in the film, Bela Lugosi’s turn as Dracula (1931) is full of mysterious
and charming flare as he regally walks down a dark, imperial staircase holding a single candle saying,
“I am Dracula … I bid you welcome.” Then he shows his strange love for the wolves’ howling, calling Chapter 12
them “children of the night” and walking back up the stairs for our hapless guest to only then realize
that Dracula has walked through a wall of spider webs and left them untouched. Creepy.

These are all examples of great introductions and masterful use of Appeal in setting, action, and
APPEAL

character design (costumes, makeup, posture, etc.) but all in live-action film. Observation is paramount
in any art, and this skill is especially applicable to animation. Because we’re creating illustrated
characters who act as though they’re in a 3D world, analyzing how the charismatic and magnetic
depictions of characters in live-action are achieved and the actors and directors who made them

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 possible directly helps us know how to control our own animated worlds to best effect. For our first
example, we’re going to look at one of the greatest character introductions in animated film history.

Example 1: “Scar’s Introduction from Disney’s The

Lion King”
The Lion King, in general, has outstanding introductions. Almost every character has a memorable
one, and even the introduction to the movie itself is amazing and iconic. The villain, Scar, however is
unique, even among the long history of antagonists in animated film. He’s not physically imposing, or
really even outright threatening to the main characters. His introduction balances a tightrope between
showing you how relatively pitiful he is and where his power will ultimately show up. He’s a schemer, a
plotter, and he knows which fights he can win and which he can’t. He chooses his path selfishly
but wisely. The movie has been out for a while, but I’m against ruining an ending to a great film for
anyone for any reason. So all I will say is that even the factor that leads to his eventual downfall is
shown in the introduction. All of these decisions are made at the script and storyboard phase. How
can we give the audience what they need to know to understand this character? What we’re mostly
going to look at is all of the representations of Appeal that show up in Scar’s design and movement

Image 12.2

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 throughout the scene to see how this idea brings together all of the other 11 remaining principles.
They’re broken down into moments and numbered/named accordingly.

1. The mouse—an unanthropomorphized mouse emerges from a cave and starts scurrying
around. The timing of the mouse’s quick movements and long breaks for cleaning or sniffing
are used to create anticipation until …

2. The capture—Scar’s paw slams down on top of the mouse (squash and stretch). There’s a pause
of a little over 1 second (anticipation) before it picks the little creature up slowly. There’s a very
gentle slow-in to this move and overlapping action in the paw having to straighten out before
following the rest of the leg (or “arm” in this semi-anthropomorphized example).

3. The first words—these are very telling. “Life’s not fair, is it?” He’s toying with his meal,
seemingly empathizing, but the contradiction between Scar’s comparably enormous size
compared to the mouse just feels like he’s picking on the little guy. The arm is even raised up
high so that he doesn’t have to lower his head in order to talk to it (staging) and there’s a good
sense of volume in the “fingers” of his paw and dimension in his face as his head turns (solid
drawing and secondary action). The facial expression is priceless as his eyes are barely open
at first but it then turns to a kind of fake concern. The mouse this whole time and throughout
the rest of the scene is swinging back and forth (arcs, timing, and slow in/out) and struggling
to get away, which is another example of secondary action.

4. “I will never be king”—he says “I” twice, and with two different expressions. In the first, he’s
still messing with the little mouse. But the second expression is like he’s annoyed at the
thought, like he’s heard these words said to him a hundred times. It’s his “yea, I know … I get
it, thanks” expression, looking away from his poor meal for a second. So when Scar turns back
to the mouse to finish with “will never be king,” he pulls off a mocking, head-rocking motion
which pays tribute to a similar move made famous by Milt Kahl. It’s a kind of “nanny nanny
boo boo” or “blah blah blah” maneuver. With this little sequence, he’s demonstrating that it’s
pretty common knowledge that he’ll never be king, he wants it, and that frustration is going to
be released on the mouse. This whole part is oozing with secondary action on Scar himself—
wonderful acting.

5. “And you …”—Scar lets the mouse out of his grip for a moment, and it starts trying to escape
by running across his paw. As he extends his fingers and rotates his paw; Scar is just showing
contempt and complete domination over his prey (more secondary action). The entire shot is
now in a close-up of this event, so you’re not even seeing Scar. You’re focusing on the mouse. Chapter 12
You, as the audience, are realizing that you sympathize more with the mouse in this moment
and the whole thing is staged well to show that the mouse, no matter how hard it tries, isn’t
getting out of this situation, which increases the anticipation.
APPEAL

6. Last words—“… shall never see the light of another day.” Scar says this line with glee, almost
giddy at the notion of what he’s going to do. There’s no respect, the fake empathy is now
openly admitted, and he really seems terrible. His head rotates with a very smooth slow in/
out to look back at the mouse, now back in his clutches and struggling to get away. Scar laughs

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 with another head wobble—he giggles really. He’s quite pleased with himself. There’s a lot
of anticipation here and plenty more secondary action, which is all revealing more of his
character. Really, the whole scene is one big buildup to …

7. “Adieu”—this word is said simply and softly with a slight head tilt. His mind is made up. He’s
done with this game, and now it’s time to eat. He opens his mouth, and the tongue rolls out
with great overlapping action. The dimension in his face and volume retained throughout,
including now seeing the cavernous, gaping jaws, demonstrate-excellent solid drawing and
subtle exaggeration (pushing the pose just a little further to accentuate the big, menacing jaws
that the mouse, who the audience has now imprinted themselves on, sees).

This entire scene happens in 30 seconds! The only principle that wasn’t called out was Straight
Ahead Action and Pose to Pose. The pose to pose method was almost certainly used for the acting
performance of Scar. It’s not just the best way to get that result, but it may be the only reliable way to
achieve acting that nuanced in an animated character. The animation for the mouse was most likely
done with straight ahead action, but the fact is that there’s no surefire way to know unless one were
to ask the animator, Andreas Deja. All tallied up, every principle is here. There are many more uses
of each principle in the sections, but they were just too numerous to list. For instance, squash and
stretch are applied to Scar’s face when he’s speaking. These slight contortions of his face beyond his
normal anatomy allow for more acting range and add to appeal. The length and thinness of his face
make it easier to form a triangular configuration, which is a subtle cue in design that this is the bad
guy. He even has a goatee to enhance this look. Compare him with his brother Mufasa, whose chin
is more square (design for power) and mane is fuller (symbol of health), and there’s no mistaking
who they want you to think is the villain.

“Analyzing others’ works is a gateway to understanding

how to evaluate and improve your own.”
All of the principles are working with each other to form a complete picture of who Scar is, what
he’s about, what he wants, and how you should feel about him. Ultimately, this harmonic use of the
principles builds the appeal of the character, giving him a magnetic charm. Just as solid drawing
is something that artists of all types continue to work on throughout their career appeal is hard to
quantify and teach, but it can be achieved through constant work and honest critiquing. Analyzing
others’ works is a gateway to understanding how to evaluate and improve your own. We’ve looked at
an antagonist (villain), so now it’s time to look at a protagonist: a puppet who just wants to be a real boy.

Example 2: “Pinocchio’s Song ‘I’ve Got No

Strings’”
In 1940, Disney released Pinocchio, a story about a living puppet who dreams of becoming a real
boy and is aided by his conscience Jiminy, a cricket in a top hat. In the original story, Pinocchio was
a pretty hateful character, so he had to be updated for Walt Disney’s vision. When test animations
were being done by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Pinocchio looked more like a real wooden

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 doll, complete with a pointed nose and wooden
hands. It was agreed that the character needed
more appeal so that the audience could relate to
him more, so Fred Moore came in and redesigned
the character to this end but kept the wooden doll
aspect as a starting point—that is, after all, what
Pinocchio is. It wasn’t until Milt Kahl suggested
that they abandon the wooden doll design aesthetic
completely and just design an innocent, little boy Image 12.3  The design progression of Pinocchio,
that Pinocchio, as we know him today, was born from left to right.
(Image 12.3). Milt redesigned the character as a
human child (which garners immediate appeal to the audience because of familiar relation), and then
he added mechanical joints and a wooden button nose after the fact onto the existing human figure
to sell the idea of his being a puppet. When Walt signed off on this new design, he directed the story
team to refit the script to represent Pinocchio’s updated naïve personality.

But due to this adjustment, Pinocchio was too easily fooled, so they repurposed a minor character
(a cricket), who originally is smashed under a hammer by Pinocchio himself and comes back as a
ghost, to be the deuteragonist (second most important character) and act as Pinocchio’s conscience.
Following in the way Milt approached the design of Pinocchio, Ward Kimball created this new cricket
character, now named Jiminy, in a similar way – more human/anthropomorphic features first and
flourishes second. However, even the serrated legs and antennae were left off the design because,
according to Ward, it looked disgusting and detracted from his appeal. Ward Kimball is quoted as
saying, “The only thing that makes him a cricket is because we call him one.” He was given gloves,
a cane, and a top hat to go with his mature role as guide in the film, and another iconic character
was born.

This team effort shows how the early Disney crew was still working out how they would achieve
appeal in its full theatrical form, and almost acts as an external representation of what you must
go through to develop your own character’s design and personality. We know, though, that there’s
another factor, movement aesthetic, which plays into the character’s appeal which will become more
apparent after we break down the scene. Pinocchio in the “I’ve Got No Strings” number was animated
by Frank Thomas, and the sequence director was Wilfred Jackson.

1. Standing in strings—we start with a long shot of Pinocchio alone on the stage after Stromboli’s
introduction, with a spotlight on him atop a large staircase (staging). This shot is the iconic Chapter 12
image of Pinocchio. His pose is a fantastic representation of his personality, completely
summing up his innocent attitude. He almost looks proud to be up there with his chest pointed
up slightly but also nervous with his chin tucked in (solid drawing). He looks around slowly at
the audience (timing and slow in/out) and starts to smile from the applause (secondary action).
APPEAL

“This is going to be great!” he’s thinking.

2. Pinocchio sings—with his new-found confidence, Pinocchio starts marching in place to the
beat of the music (timing) with a slow in and out applied to each up-and-down movement,

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 Image 12.4

like he’s bobbing. Notice the fantastic overlapping action of his hair tuft in the front and his
bowtie. Now supremely excited, he stretches back far while putting his hand on his chest and
belting out “I.” Notice the great staging of his pose to clearly see where the other arm is in his
silhouette.

3. “Got No Strings”—he marches down the stairs, ready to take on this musical number with
every fiber (wooden pun intended) of his being. The strings he leaves behind swing in arcs like
pendulums that have been disturbed. The march Pinocchio does down the stairs, including the
initial step, utilizes every single principle. Can you pick them all out?

4. “... to hold me dow-”—this part gets me every time. I can’t help but laugh. When he falls, there
is absolutely no anticipation. The absence of anticipation is still a use of the principle because
it’s only in the decision to remove any hint that it’s coming that makes Pinocchio’s trip so
funny to the audience. Not only do we not know it’s coming, neither does he! The expression

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 on his face as he tumbles is clearly readable (staging) and the comedic timing is spot on
throughout.

5. The fall—the final moment that he launches up and falls nose-first into the hole has clear
use of arcs and slow in/out as well as anticipation in the fact that there is a small beat as
Pinocchio squashes at the bottom of the stairs before stretching up into the final motion. After
the impact, his feet nail down the humor of the scene with wonderful follow through. You
might miss the overlapping action, follow through, and squash and stretch of the hat on first
viewings, but it adds a lot to the scene whether you notice or not. If you look frame by frame,
you can also see that while his feet are still in the air, they bend (squash) and then extend
(stretch), which adds to the feeling of sudden impact.

6. Pinocchio’s stuck—right after the impact, there’s a subtle beat where he does nothing, which
adds to the anticipation. “Is he OK? Am I a terrible person for laughing?” you may be thinking.
He slowly brings his hands close to his chest in “push up” position. With some great attention
to varying slow in/out, it’s clearly shown that it’s harder for him to push up the farther
his head is lifted. The final pose is a great example of solid drawing and staging. You can
clearly see everything, you know where his body parts are in relation to each other and the
environment, and there is a real sense of depth. The actual expression is priceless. “Did I just
mess everything up? What do I do now?” he seems to be thinking.

7. The reaction—from here, after a quick comment by Jiminy from the peanut gallery, it’s
Stromboli’s show (animated by the excellent Bill Tytla). This villain is so boisterous and
emotional with large, expressive gestures that you might miss one of the finer moments in
Pinocchio’s acting. As Stromboli is freaking out, Pinocchio can be seen trying to push up a
couple times and get his nose unstuck. Stromboli then slams his hand down on the piece
of wood, popping Pinocchio’s nose out of the hole. There is a short beat where Pinocchio
recognizes that he’s not stuck anymore and smiles so innocently with his eyes still fixed
downward to the board. Stromboli actually has to pick him up and shake the living puppet
to communicate just how angry he is. That short moment where Pinocchio smiles and looks
genuinely happy that this little problem has been solved, not recognizing how much trouble
he could be in, is such an amazing moment. Stromboli’s anger is the primary point of the shot,
so Pinocchio’s acting could be considered the secondary action in the frame. The acting is so
real and strong that Pinocchio still has his moment of honesty and innocence around all of
Stromboli’s fury.

This entire scene happens in 25 seconds (including Jiminy’s shot). You could go shot by shot through Chapter 12
the entire musical number and see just how diverse the acting is to give appeal to the character; but
there are a couple things of note in particular that need to be pointed out to really drive the idea home.
When Pinocchio actually goes back to singing the number, he’s now already taken a tumble and been
APPEAL

chastised by Stromboli in front of the entire audience. Because he’s so naïve and innocent, however,
he’s able to go right back into performing, if a bit timidly. Frank Thomas wanted to animate the gestures
Pinocchio does to be a bit out of sync with the music so that it seems amateurish. The idea was that
he had never really practiced the song and dance number; he’s just been thrown into it and so is

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 figuring it out on the fly. So when the spotlight turns back on, it startles
him. When he starts to sing “I’ve got no strings,” he almost misses the
moment, jumping (using a stretch preceded by an anticipation squash)
into the first word. “To hold me down” should be accented by a point
to the ground, but the gesture comes in late. He’s trying to remember
the steps he never practiced and perform at the same time. Apparently,
when Frank Thomas told Milt Kahl of his plan to have the movements
be off-beat as an insight into Pinocchio’s mood and character, Frank
says that Milt told him, “That’s the lousiest idea I’ve heard anywhere!”

Milt Kahl’s vision is what improved Pinocchio’s design from the one
that Frank Thomas (and Ollie Johnston) were working on to what we
see today. But it was Frank’s vision of the “I’ve Got No Strings” song and
dance sequence which differed from Milt’s that ended up endearing the
character with that wonderful appeal we saw in the finished product.
Different animators approach acting and design in unique ways, and
ultimately it’s the vision of the director to merge all of these sequences
together into one. Wilfred Jackson might have been the sequence
director on this example, but Walt Disney was an extremely hands-on
feature director for the entirety of Pinocchio. That vision is what comes
through with the input of the animators charged with acting the scenes
and story points out on screen. Appeal is so much more than something
that looks nice. It’s the difference between a film you have on in the
background while you clean the living room and one that captures your
attention through each minute of the runtime.

There’s one more thing about this scene which should be pointed out.
As Pinocchio continues the song, he’s figuring out the dance steps as
he goes. There’s a fun leg-kicking motion that he uses to hop across
the stage. The first to stage right (the left of the screen, also known as
“house left”) has a lot of bounce to it with overlapping action and squash
and stretch. The second sequence of this leg-kick step to stage left has
almost no up-and-down motion on the part of his head—it looks like a
refined movement. He’s figured it out on the first sequence, and now
he’s got it down pat. This success can be seen in his expression. But
the most notable part is after that sequence, where his confidence is
growing and he experiments with more dance moves, Pinocchio swings
his lower leg (shin and foot) around in circles rotating around the joint at
his “knee.” If you look closely at the type of joint, this move is technically
impossible! If he were to try that in real life, his shin would knock up
against his upper leg and not be able to pass through. The only way
that the leg could make this spin is if it were offset—if the shin were Image 12.5  The
connected on the outer part of the upper leg. That isn’t how the leg “impossible” leg-swing
progression.

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 joint is shown (Image 12.5). The fact is, you don’t notice it, not just because it happens so quickly
but because the move fits the character. This move feels like a natural progression of his dance in
relation to his personality and offers more insight into his character, which we gladly accept as the
audience. It shouldn’t really be able to happen, but it’s very appealing. You have to know what the
rules are before you can break them correctly.

CLOSER LOOK
Using Appeal Where “Every Principle Plays its Part”
Appeal is a dance among the other principles. They need to work together for a common cause. A hero
should be appealing, but so should the sidekick. Villains should be appealing. Environments, tertiary
characters, and even objects should demonstrate appeal. What happens if in Disney’s Sword in the
Stone (1963) you don’t like looking at the area where the actual sword sits in the stone? The entire
moment when Arthur grabs the sword and does what none before him could do becomes just a scene
where something happens, but you can’t … quite … remember what it was. Something with a knife,
maybe? The staging is important to set the scene, but solid drawing applies to environmental elements
as well, especially those which impact the story.
Those two together help the actor (the animated
Arthur) to build the requisite anticipation in the
scene by way of the other principles of design
and motion, all of which leads to an appealing
character in an appealing scene. It may seem like a
lot to keep in mind, but really it’s just about being
aware of what you want the audience to feel and
how to go about doing that. The 12 Principles of
Animation came from that motivation.
Image 12.6  Music video in a 1920s rubber-hose
There is no single, magic tool within Animate CC
animation style, My Flea Has Dogs by Mukpuddy
to help facilitate the application of this principle.
Animation (mukpuddy.com).
Analyzing animation videos frame by frame can
go a long way in helping you learn to create by way of deconstruction, but ultimately the buck stops
with you—the animator. After a while, the principles and their deeper meanings will become second
nature to you as well as how to apply them, but for now, as a quick reference guide, here are things
to keep in mind through each shot you animate: Chapter 12

• Timing—determines the pace and rhythm of the action.

• Slow In/Out—provides the presence and intensity of a cushion to the movement in the timing.
APPEAL

• Squash and Stretch—emphasizes impacts, quick movements, and uncomfortable poses.

• Anticipation—is made up of beats where action is withheld or is an action that insinuates

another.

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 • Arcs—are organic and help the eye track a movement as natural.

• Staging—directs the eye to what you want the audience to pay attention to.

• Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose—two methods for animating which are spontaneous
and structured, respectively.

• Overlapping Action and Follow Through—add dimension through movement. When motions
on (or related to) a body happen at different rates, they overlap. Follow through is when a body
stops moving and other parts keep going.

• Secondary Action—is an independent action which helps to support the story point of the main
action.

• Solid Drawing—facilitates the illusion that the character, though simplified, exists in a 3D
world with volume and weight.

• Exaggeration—pushes any of the previously mentioned principles beyond “normal” physics or

anatomy to accentuate the moment or character.

• Appeal—pulls all the other principles together in harmony to captivate the audience.

Think of your character as a living breathing creature; one with dreams, fears, desires, quirks, opinions,
and everything that fills out a personality. This will help you to block out the actions in a sequence
better and be more true to your character. Push the sketches a little further to see if that helps add
more feeling to the poses, and if it doesn’t that’s OK. You can always pull it right back. Make sure that
you’ve considered the staging of the poses and gestures to best demonstrate the action and use the
straight ahead and pose to pose methods to rough out what you have decided; during these decisions
is also when you’re nailing down the timing of the acting. Consider if anticipation might be needed
in broad strokes and try to reflect that idea in the timing, and if not, disregard. Keeping the other
movement principles in mind (Slow In/Out, Squash and Stretch, Arcs, and Overlapping Action and Follow
Through), continue roughing out the scene. If you
haven’t worked it into your sketches already and
before you go too much further, try to see if some
secondary action might improve the audience’s
ability to read the emotions or intentions on screen
better. Finish roughing out the animation and then
double check your arcs. Now look at what you’ve
done and determine which of Animate’s features
would best accomplish the scene you have in
front of you: which features can be symbols, and
which of those should be nested within another?
Clean up the images using solid drawing and then
symblify the character for animation. Finally,
using Animate’s set of tools, animate what you Image 12.7  Saving Christmas by Stephen Brooks
can through nested animation and tweens (limited (RubberOnion.com).

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 dimension movement) or animate frame by frame when appropriate (large changes in perspective or
distortions of the model). This process is animating in Animate CC, the Tradigital way.

You should always ask yourself, “Is this really something the character would do?” Another question
that would be good to add to some of your decisions is, “Am I taking this approach just because it’s
easier?” and follow that up with, “Could my approach be improved?” The reason these questions are
important is because when you have hundreds and thousands of images to sketch or at least account
for, it can become easy to fall into a workman’s groove, where it becomes more about getting it done
than getting it done right. Maintaining focus on the story point of whatever scene you’re working on
and the personality of the character you’re animating are steps 1 to 1000. After that are the technical
aspects of making the motion come out looking the best so that your character is acting and not just
committing a series of movements. It’s getting repeated again: Animate CC is a tool. It exists to aid
in your creation. And as with all tools, you have to know what you want to do first before you use
it. The principles are there to focus your attention on the most significant points in order to make
those important decisions. Appeal is the one principle whose consideration is a part of every step of
the process—which is why it’s both last in this list and, I believe, in Frank and Ollie’s original listing.

“When you have hundreds and thousands of images to sketch or at least

account for, it can become easy to fall into a workman’s groove, where it
becomes more about getting it done than getting it done right.”

FINAL WORDS
Appeal
Animation, the way we’re doing it, is the
communication of simple and complicated
emotions, ideas, and actions by way of lines and
shapes. To accomplish this goal, it’s usually the
most direct attitudes that make the most readable
drawings. Delicate and nuanced images often
come across as ambiguous. These simplified
drawings make great conduits for pantomimed
Chapter 12
action and dialog, but as Dave Hand said sometime
in 1938, features like “the face begins to flatten
out when you get too close on it.” For Pinocchio,
avoiding that flattening meant that a lot of work
APPEAL

needed to be done on the Blue Fairy for her

close-ups to get more dimension out of her face
(Image 12.8). Image 12.8  The Blue Fairy from Pinocchio
(1940).

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 With the help of Adobe Animate, gradients have gotten easier to apply consistently, the application of
a texture has been reduced from a large hassle, lines scale with their size on stage without having to
redraw, and even having shapes with no outlines is so easy it seems surprising to newer artists that
animating without outlines was once a difficult issue to overcome. Despite the list of limitations of the
past being shortened, our knowledge of the fundamentals of movement, design, and character acting
shouldn’t change. And unfortunately, that’s exactly what seems to happen. They say that “necessity is
the mother of invention,” but nobody follows up the saying with, “And after that invention, completely
abandon everything you know.” Appeal is usually the first principle to vanish whenever attention
drifts away from the 12 Principles of Animation as a whole, and it’s arguably the most important.
Think of what the original masters of animation had to do in order to create a feature-length or short
film with as much heart and character as they did. They were artists in every sense of the word.
Does anyone really think that they wouldn’t have used every tool at their disposal to further the
expression of their art form? It can be assured, however, that no matter what new tool or feature
they would use, the art would come first.

I would like to leave off with this parting

thought, since it’s the very last thing
mentioned in the 12 Principles of Animation
section of Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston’s
The Illusion of Life.

“In the mid-thirties, we wished for shading,

for textures, for areas with no outlines,
but they were not practical. We had to find
other ways of putting over the points in the
scenes, and in so doing developed character
animation into a communicative art that
astounded the world. But at the time there
was neither glory nor pride in our efforts,
only the nagging limitations. As we passed
each other in the hall, we shook our heads and
shared the thought, ‘It’s a crude medium.’”

Those limitations are largely gone, but the

principles developed while creating the
“communicative art that astounded the
world” due to those limitations remain.
This point underlines the entire purpose of
this book. For the beginner in any facet, it’s
important to remember how these principles
were developed and why, so as to see the
true benefits that are at your fingertips right Image 12.9  Frank Thomas (left) and Ollie Johnston
now. By bringing all of the principles into your (right) at Stanford University in 1932.

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 work within Animate CC—merging the traditional with the digital—you are an extension of the great
animation history we all know. All art grows and adapts to what’s new around it, and clearly animation
isn’t (and shouldn’t be) any different. It’s a remarkably flexible and diverse field of expression and
storytelling, rivaling that of any other medium. This inherent flexibility in the face of new technology
has led to the rise of Tradigital animation of which you are a part. The bottom line: appeal is animation.
And animation in any form can be appealing. It’s up to you to make it so.

Chapter 12
APPEAL

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 Index
Page numbers in italics refer to figures.

acceleration, effect of gravity on 23, 26, 28, checking 114; for a golf swing 157; interlude
117, 157, 214 109–10; pendulous 124; and pitching a bomb
acting: and rough animation 187–188; and 88; and plotting and checking 121–2; purpose
timing 13, 19, 46, 59, 176 105; real world examples 122–6; setting up
action, overlapping 331, 332 106–7; for a swing set 123; and the whip 220;
adjusting timing principle 213–14 and Wile E. Coyote 122
Adobe Animate 340 arms 222–7
Adobe Flash 94 Avery, Tex, 272
advance easing editor 81–2
Animate CC 272–3; and the burning wick 101; ball: drawing 3–4; making it move 5–6
real world examples 12–19; setting up 2–3; basketball bounce 29–32
symblification in 163; working with frames Battling McGook (fictional character) 321
in 312 Beauty and the Beast 54
animation 211–13; and the animator 194; bite 62–5
and appeal 327–9; blink 14; cleaning up bite and chew action: principles used for 60;
181–6; nested/nesting 107–9, 120; reality setting up 61; and squash and stretch 69–70
and 54; rough 168, 185; and staging 137–8; blink animation 14–16
technological innovation and 322–3; Blue Fairy 339
traditional 168–9; techniques 169; value of bouncing ball: and anticipation 74–5; and arcs
control and 122 106–7, 207; cleaning up of 206–7; complete
animation math 11–12 246–7; controlling the bounce 110–11;
anticipation, purpose of 86–8, 102 discussion about 204–5; finishing 145–9;
anticipation principle 173; and acting 59; and improving the movement 76–7; as a learning
bite and chew action 60; and the bouncing exercise 255–6; and motion guides 117; and
ball 74; and the burning wick 100; creation of overlapping action 198–9; overlapping action
331; explanation 73–4; for a golf swing 157; on tail 206–7; and perspective 149–51; and
and the interlude 76, 78; and pitching a bomb pose to pose 176–9; and rough straight ahead
88–9, 89; purpose of 80–1; and readability 203–4; and secondary action 234–5; setting
101–2; and suspension of disbelief 54; and up 170, 234–5; skewing the stretch 111–12;
the whip 220 and the slowing in process 24; and the
appeal: and the 12 Principles of Animation 340; slowing out process 24; squash and stretch
and animation 327–9; real world examples 51–2; and staging 138–9; the story point of
329–37; use 329, 336–41; use of in Pinocchio 157; straight ahead action 170–2; time 2
332–7; use of in The Lion King 330–2 bounding box, enhanced 139
arcs 173; and the bouncing ball 106–7; Braveheart, and secondary action 257

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 breakdowns 179–80, 191 digital timing charts 34–5
Brush Tool 94, 170, 235 Disney 327, 332
bubble gum 251–5 Disney, Walt 306, 322–3, 332
Bugs Bunny (fictional character): and Donald’s Snow Fight, use of exaggeration in
secondary action 262; use of exaggeration in 321–2
321 double take 191–2
Dracula 329
Captain Hook (fictional character) 86 drafting compass 320
changing frames 56 dragon character pack 264
character animation 126–7, 186, 195 drawing tools 208–9; Animate CC 272–3
character pack 189–90 Dread Pirate Roberts (fictional character) 86
checking and plotting activities, and arcs To Duck or Not to Duck 306
121–2 Duplicate Symbol 65
chewing exercise 61
Cinderella (fictional character), use of easing editor, advanced 81–2
exaggeration 306 easing panel 81
circle 113–14, 320 easing process 23, 30–3
cleaning up: and the follow through principle effects (FX) animation 98
206–7; and pose to pose 185–6; and roll Elmer Fudd (fictional character) 306
tapping fingers 260–1; and straight ahead Evil Queen (fictional character) 327–8
action 182–5; and the toilet paper shoe 194; exaggeration 332; bomb pitch exercise 313–19;
using onion skin mode 228–30 chewing exercise 307–12; exercises for
cleanup, symblified 129–34 307–19; how to use 325–6; meaning 305; real
cleanup animation 181–6 world examples 321–2; and secondary action
compartmentalization186–8 306, 319–20; use of in The Simpsons 324–5;
contact keys 178, 190 and the use of precise tools 320–1; utilization
copy frames 53 of 305–6; when to use 323–5
copying motion 56 expression chains 249–50, 263
Cruella de Vil (fictional character) 328 expression keys 235–6
cushion 190–1 eye dart 16–18
cushioning process, 23 eye movements 13–18
Custom Ease graph 34–5
custom easing, steps in doing 30–3 faces, handling 339
facial animation 235–7; altering the expression
Daffy Duck (fictional character) 54; use of 250; masking and tweens 240–3; and
exaggeration 306 overlapping action 244–6; symblified 262
The Dark Knight, and secondary action 257 Faulkner, William 255
darlings, killing 255–6 Flash CS3 7
Darth Vader (fictional character) 329 follow through principle 230–1; cleaning up
Deja, Andreas 332 206–7, 215–18
deuteragonist 333 Ford, Harrison 81
diagonal vanishing point 139 forward kinematics arm 223–6

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 Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends 275 The Itchy and Scratchy Show, use of

Index
frame rate 5 exaggeration in 324
frame-by-frame animation techniques 169 “I’ve Got No Strings” 336
frames: changing 56; pasting of 312
Free Transform Tool 18, 139 Jackson, Wilfred 333
Jaq (fictional character), use of exaggeration
Gable, Clark 262 306
Gaston (fictional character) 54 jaw layer 63
Gertie the Dinosaur 46 Jaws, use of exaggeration in 322
Giotto 320 Jean-Luc Picard (fictional character) 1
girl swinging symbols 129 Jiminy Cricket (fictional character) 332, 333;
golf swing: creating 159–62; interlude 162; and secondary action 262
principles used for 157–8; setting up 158–9 Johnston, Ollie 85, 332, 336; The Illusion of Life
graphic, as a symbol 7 54, 265, 340
Graphic Symbol 7, 111 Jones, Chuck 306; Rabbit Punch 321; and Wile
graphics tablet 170 E. Coyote (fictional character) 122
gravity and acceleration 23 The Jungle Book, use of staging in 156
Gus (fictional character), use of exaggeration
for 306 Kahl, Milt 333, 336
keyframe adjustment/keyframes 33–4
Hand, Dave 339 keys 190, 235–6
head and protruding features, shape tools for Kimball, Ward 333
273–5
head symbol 63 Ledger, Heath 257
heavy lifting action 35–6 LeFou (fictional character) 54
Hogarth (fictional character) 257 The Lion King, use of appeal in 330–2
hop-kick 192–3, 194 The Little Mermaid 328
horizon line 139, 151 The Lonesome Mouse 267
loop, creating the 65–7
illusion, preserving 152 Lugosi, Bela 329
The Illusion of Life (Thomas &Johnston) 54, 265,
340 Madam Mim (fictional character) 328
inbetweens 34 Madame Medusa (fictional character) 328
Indiana Jones (fictional character) 81, 329 mask, explanation of 238
Inigo Montoya (fictional character) 86 max height, decreasing 78–80
instance 7 McCay, Winsor 46
interlude 4; and anticipation 76, 78; and arcs Mickey’s Trailer, use of exaggeration in 322
109–10; the bite and 63–5; and the bouncing momentary displays 262–3
ball 76; and perspective 144 Moore, Fred 333
The Iron Giant, and secondary action 257; use of motion: copying 56; swinging 223
arcs and 122 motion guides 115–17
It Happened One Night 262, 263 movement and timing 19–21

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 movement straight ahead, rough out 227–8 179–80; and cleaning up 185–6; for a golf
movie clip, as a symbol 7 swing 158; in heavy lifting 36; and pitching
movies, use of arcs in 122 a bomb 88; rough 199–202; for toilet paper
Mowgli (fictional character), and staging 156–7 shoe 189; use of in The Lion King 332; whip
Mufasa (fictional character) 332 221
multitasking motions 263 postioning keys, and the bouncing ball exercise
multitasking value, and secondary action 256–8 74–5
precise tools, use of for exaggeration 320–1
nested animation 120 The Princess Bride 86
nesting technique 107–9 protruding features, shape tools for 273–5
Newton’s Third Law of Motion 52 pushing 305

object draw 139 Quiller-Couch, Arthur 255

101 Dalmatians 328 quiver 82–5
one-point perspective (1pp) grid 139–44
onion skin mode 25–6, 228–30 Rabbit Punch 321, 322
overlapping action 230–1, 331, 332; for bite Raiders of the Lost Ark 81, 329
and chew action 60; and the bouncing readability: in animation 134–5; and
ball 198–9; explanation 197–8; and facial anticipation 101–2; value of 105
animation 244–6; for a golf swing 157–8; and Rectangle Tool 144, 208–9
roll tapping fingers 258; and rough pose to The Rescuers 328
pose 199–202; and symblification 218–20; for rig, cleaning up 37–42
a swing set 123; for toilet paper shoe 188; Robots, use of arcs in 122
whip 221 Rodney Copperbottom (fictional character), use
of arcs and 122
Paint Brush Tool 94 roll tapping fingers 258–61
passing keys 190 rough animation 168, 185, 198, 218; and action
patch and the head symbol 63 187 –188; refining of 126–8; and roll tapping
payoff and pitching a bomb 99–100 fingers 260; and straight ahead action 173,
pencil tests 57–8 174–5; for the walk-cycle 191
Pencil Tool 207–8 rough arm poses 222–3
pendulous arcs 124 rough fix 259–60
pendulum, and pivot points 117–22 rough pose to pose 199–202
perspective 139; and the bouncing ball 149–51; rough straight ahead 203–4
one-point 139; guide 151; layer 152
Peter Pan 86 Scar (fictional character) 330–2
Pinocchio 333–7 scene, changing 248
pitching a bomb 88–100 secondary action 233–4, 258, 262–4, 331–2,
pivot point 117–22 333; altering 248; in animated movies
plotting and checking activities and arcs 121–2 262–3; and the bouncing ball 234–5; and
pose to pose method 167–8; and the bouncing exaggeration 306, 319–20; and multitasking
ball 176–9; and breakdowns and inbetweens 256–8; and roll tapping fingers 259; for a

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 swing set 123; for toilet paper shoe 188; as for a golf swing 158; in heavy lifting 35; in

Index
true acting 256 Pinocchio 333; and pitching a bomb 88; and
sequence, definition 121 story point 156–7; for toilet paper shoe 189
set ups 13–14 story point: and the bouncing ball 157; and
setting up: in heavy lifting 36–7; how to 2–3; staging 156–7
and the slowing in/slowing out process 24 straight ahead action 126, 167–8, 332; and the
shadow, how to create 152–6 bouncing ball 170–2; and cleaning up 182–5;
Shanti (fictional character), and staging 156 for a golf swing 158; in heavy lifting 36; and
shape and movement tools 2 movement 175–6; rough 203–4; and rough
shape hints 210–11 animation 174–5; setting the stage for 171–2;
shape tools 273–5; see also shape and setting up for 170; for toilet paper shoe 189
movement tools straight ahead rough animation 173
Shape Tweens 210–11 straight ahead work 228
silhouette test 162–3 stretch 53; copy frames 53; skewing 111–12;
The Simpsons, use of exaggeration in 324–5 steps in 53
Skynet 102 Stromboli (fictional character) 333
slow in/slow out principle 13, 23–4, 173, sun, motion of 115–17
213–14, 331; and bite and chew action 60; surprise, showing 191–2
discussion about 45–6; for a golf swing 157; suspension of disbelief, and squash and stretch
in heavy lifting 36; and motion 45–6; real 54
world examples of 35–44; and roll tapping swallowing action 67–9
fingers 258; for a swing set 122; and weight swing set: movement of 122–6; and
45–6; and the whip 220 overlapping action 123; roughing the whole
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 327 124–6; secondary action 123; setting up
solid drawing/draw 13, 18, 332; and bite and 123–4; and slow in/slow out 123
chew action 60; crash course in 267–70; switch, and pitching a bomb 90–2
design process for 271–2; exercises in 270–6; The Sword and the Stone 328
explanation of 266–7; in heavy lifting 36; symblification 62, 240, 263; in Animate CC
importance of 265; and pitching a bomb 88; 163; and overlapping action 218–20; uses of
and roll tapping fingers 259; for toilet paper 214–15
shoe 188 symblified cleanup 129–34
span, definition 121 symblified facial animation 262
Spielberg, Steven 322 symblifying method 207, 209–10
squash and stretch principle 49–51, 173; acting symbol, editing inside 8–9
55–6; animating a bouncing ball 51–2; in symbol types 4
animation 71; for arms 226–7; and bite and symbols 7
chew action 60, 69–70; in heavy lifting 36;
interlude 52; real world examples 59–60; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 134
setting up 51–2; uses of 59–60; and the whip Thomas, Frank 332, 333, 335–6; The Illusion of
220 Life 54, 265, 340
stage, improving the 152–6 tiedown 168; character animation 126–7; using
staging principle 163–4; in animation 137–8; onion skin mode 228–30

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 timeframe, and keyframe position 10 12 Principles of Animation 340; and Adobe
timing charts, digital 34–5 Animate 12–13
timing principle 7, 13, 173; and acting 19;
adjusting 58–9, 213–14; animation math and Ursula (fictional character) 328
11–12; bouncing ball 2, 4–5; changing 9;
and eye movement 18; in heavy lifting 36; vanishing point 139, 151; diagonal 139
importance of 1; and movement 19–21; and villains 81, 256, 324, 328, 330, 332, 335, 337
pitching a bomb 88; and roll tapping fingers
258; and slow in/slow out 35; for toilet paper walk-cycle: animating 190–1; rough animation
shoe 188; use of in appeal 331; use of in for 191; symblification of 218; steps in
Pinocchio 333 190–1
toilet paper shoe 184–94 Wallace, William 257–8
Tom Cat (fictional character) 272 Wall-E, use of arcs and 122
Tradigital animation, aim of 113–14 weight 36–7, 43–4
Tradigital workflow 101, 113, 134, 162, 169, whip 220–7
205, 226, 231, 289; see also workflows wick burning action 92–3, 101
traditional animation 168–9 Wile E. Coyote (fictional character) 99; use of
Transformers movies, use of arcs and 122 arcs and, 122
tweening action 6, 19, 120 Willy Wonka (fictional character) 329
tween/tweens 34; and cleaning up 56–7; shape workflows 10, 44, 85, 89, 122, 169, 187–8, 195,
tools for 210–11; single 121 206, 220, 320; see also Tradigital workflow

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