Many people believe that the Timing and Spacing principle in animation is one of the factors that determine the success or failure of the film because if it’s just a little slow or a little fast, it will bring very different results. So what should be paid attention to in the Timing and Spacing principle? Let’s explore with Animost in the article below!

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?

What is Timing and Spacing principle in animation?

Timing animation describes how long a process takes from start to finish. Timing is used in animation to produce motion that adheres to physics rules and adds interest. Emotion, scaling attributes, and weight can all be used to implement timing.
The intervals between frames that display an object’s location are referred to as spacing animation.

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?

To provide realistic and engaging movement, spacing serves the same purposes that timing does. You can exhibit constant speed, acceleration, deceleration, or a standstill depending on where you set the spaces. Linear spacing, ease out spacing, ease in spacing, and easy ease out spacing are all used to achieve this.

When you know how to set keyframes and open the Graph Editor or Curve Editor in your preferred 3D program, you can implement timing animation and spacing animation no matter which 3D program you use.

>>>Read more: How do the best animation studios use the staging principle in animation?

Timing Animation

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
Timing Animation

Timing is the duration of action. Your animation won’t seem realistic if the timing is too quick, too sluggish, too linear, or too long. You use the 24 frames per second (FPS) that movies are shot at as the foundation for your timing. Therefore, if an object is traveling from point A to point B at 24 frames per second, it needs one second to get there.

The functions of timing are to:

  • Make movement that adheres to physics’ rules.
  • Make your animations more appealing and exciting.

Look for examples from the actual world to help you grasp timing better. How long does it take you to get your hand on the phone? a moment? 0.5 seconds? On your phone, how long does it take to touch an app? one-fourth of a second? You may tell someone who is experienced and knowledgeable about the process if they quickly navigate the screen’s keyboard.

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
Timing Animation

While you can certainly tell someone is unfamiliar with the action if they take a full second to touch a single key on their computer screen. This example demonstrates the significance of timing since every action, no matter how great or tiny is described by speed and reflects a person’s current mental state.

As your understanding of time grows, you’ll start to analyze everyone’s movements and practice timing scenarios in your thoughts. But understanding the timing principle in its fundamentals doesn’t always translate into applying it correctly to an animation.

>>>Read more: How many frames per second in animation

How to Implement Timing Into an Animation

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
How to Implement Timing Into an Animation

Weight

Timing can also determine an object’s weight. By varying timing alone, two similar items can appear to have very different weights. For instance, two distinct events would occur if you used a mallet to strike a croquet ball and a balloon. The croquet ball would need more force to start moving, would travel further, and would require more force to stop.

The balloon, on the other hand, would take much less force to launch into the air, and because of its lightweight and low mass, it wouldn’t travel as far and would need less force to come to a stop.

>>>Read more: How does an Animation Studio use the Anticipation principle?

Scaling Properties

The size and scale of an object or character can also be influenced by timing. A larger character moves more slowly than a smaller one because it has more mass, weight, and inertia. A little character, on the other hand, moves more quickly since it has less mass, weight, and inertia.

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?

Determining Emotion

Timing is crucial in conveying the emotional condition of a character or an object. When a character moves at varying speeds, it is clear whether they are excited, tense, relaxed, or lazy.

Getting the time right is essential because the movement has significance based on the pace of action. You can do this by tossing a balloon or a bowling ball. A bowling ball needs to be thrown with a lot of force since it travels farther and needs a lot of energy to stop moving.

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
Determining Emotion

A balloon, on the other hand, is considerably easier to throw, doesn’t travel very far, and can be stopped with relatively little force. The timing of animation must take these mechanics into consideration.

Spacing Animation

In animation, spacing refers to the location of an object in each frame through frames 2-23. In essence, spacing is the gap between frames. You can create the appearance of steady movement, acceleration, slowdown, and halting by positioning the item differently within each of those 23 frames.

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?

For instance, a ball may need 12 frames (or half a second) to travel from point A to point B. It can appear as though the ball is moving quicker or slower by merely changing the spacing.

Similar to timing, spacing accomplishes the following goals:

  • Generating motion that abides by physics’ rules.
  • Enhancing the attraction and intrigue of your animations.

“What happens between each frame is more significant than what exists in each frame,” remarked Norman McLaren, a pioneer of hand-drawn animation.

How to Implement Spacing Into an Animation

What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
How to Implement Spacing Into an Animation

Since real-world objects rarely move in a straight line, it is necessary to adjust the spacing in animation to make it appear more realistic.

There are four fundamental spacing designs you can use in your animation:

  • Linear Spacing: The frames will be equally spaced in linear spacing. The animation will take place at a consistent speed, to put it simply.
  • Ease In spacing: Ease Any frame that needs to be slowed down, or more specifically, any frame that needs to be halted, can be utilized within spacing. This style places the frames farther apart at the beginning of the animation and closer together at the conclusion.
  • Ease Out Spacing: The antithesis of ease in style is ease out spacing. When frames need to be accelerated, it is employed. Here, frames are positioned closer at the start of the animation and farther apart towards the end.
  • Easy Ease Spacing: Ease In and Ease Out are combined to provide Easy Ease Spacing. The element will therefore be accelerated and decelerated using this method. In this case, the frames are closer together at the beginning and conclusion but farther apart in between animations.
What is the Timing and Spacing principle in animation?
How to Implement Spacing Into an Animation

The first four patterns of spacing are the most fundamental; nevertheless, we have the opportunity to personalize the graph in addition to these four types, which provides countless chances for making unique animations.

Conclusion – Timing and Spacing principle

Animost advises that you spend some time making your own ball bounce so that you can fully understand the ideas of the Timing and Spacing principle in animation. This can help you become more at ease when simulating a ball bounce in real life.

The 12 Principles of Animation should then be reviewed to make sure you have a firm understanding that will help you in your work.