Pose to Pose Animation

        Pose to pose is a method of animation where key frames are drawn first, and the in between frames filled in later. The task of drawing out the inbetweens can be left to an animator's assistant once the key frames have been drawn strongly. This method allows careful control over timing, as the movement to be animated can effectively be broken down and the frames mapped out in a diagram such as this: 
       

        As an introduction to pose to pose animation, as well as to have a go at the traditional animation technique of using Acme punched paper and a light table, I used a simple pendulum swing as the subject. At least, it sounds simple.

         Although a pendulum is not really affected by squash and stretch, others of Disney's 12 principles of animation do apply, particularly timing and spacing, while the most important is the slow in and out as the pendulum reaches the peaks of it's swing. To achieve the appropriate sense of weight and gravity it is essential that the pendulum slows as it rises and speeds as it descends, rather than moving in an arc at a constant speed. This is where spacing comes in.

         To make the 25 frame, two second animation a pose to pose rather than straight ahead exercise, I firstly plotted the key points i.e. the highest and lowest points of the pendulum's arc. The it was time to fill in the in between frames. To do this, I found it helpful to draw a diagram that would approximately show the spacing between each frame before starting on the punched paper.