Channel Frederator Blog

Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose are a bit more nebulous now in the world of CG animation. This is the one principle that mostly applies to 2D animation. It refers to away of animating.

Straight ahead animation is when the animator starts at the beginning of the action and animates all the way through the scene, finding poses as he or she goes. This often allows for more spontaneous action. It works great for mad scramble types of actions.

Pose to pose animation is used when you plan out your scene’s timing and poses so as to get a solid action you are after. Key poses are planned out in advance, and the timing of when those poses are hit and held is worked out. You then go back and worry about your breakdowns and inbetweens.

In computer animation, you have to watch what the computer is “helping” you with. Unaltered tangents and strange blending between poses can make even the best timed and planned out animation look floaty or mushy. The computer will do what you want, but you have to tell it what to do. Don’t be afraid to go into the graph editor (or its equal in whatever package you are using) and finesse every frame. After all, animation is a series of pictures, and each picture counts. Make them look like YOU want them to, not the machine.

-Floyd Bishop