For this 2D workshop, we were going to focus on breakdown frames and how we can use them to enhance our animations.
The breakdown frame in traditional linear animation is used for the transformation from one keyframe to another.
In great animations, however, is a tool used to create a unique shape for the B frame. It is given the name breakdown exactly because of this reason, it breaks up the animation and creates an interesting movement.
We were given a quick demo for some breakdown examples. Seeing the wacky shapes in between the square and triangle reminded me that 2D animation truly has no limits, so of course, weird transformations of virtually any form would be allowed (and considered interesting!)
This relayed the basics of our task for the rest of the lesson: to create a basic shape transformation in animate but experiment with the shape in the breakdown frame, stretching, distortion and anything else that could make it more fun!
I started out with an animation chart, so that I could plan how many frames I wanted, the pace, and which one would be the breakdown. This started out as my guide but eventually, I started to do what I felt looked right and would improve the animation and didn’t update the chart accordingly. I am grateful that it was there at the start though since it made me feel more prepared and even made the canvas less daunting since it was no longer blank. The two shapes that I chose were a circle and a triangle. I decided that I wanted the transformation to be up in the air, as this would be more interesting than a simple slide to the right, and this is how the swirly shape was born. I was really happy with my breakdown, so I continued with it.
After drawing all of the key poses, the breakdown and some in-betweens, I played the rough animation back to see if I was happy with the speed. I noticed that when the swirl goes down and right, it was a little too fast and jagged in the movement, so I went ahead and added more frames in that area, since more frames equals more time taken for the action, thus slowing it down overall.
At this point, it was purely repetition and continuation. I kept adding in more frames until I felt satisfied with the speed, using onion skin along the way to see previous and next frames as reference. It was interesting to see my whole animation with onion skin on, especially when I filled each shape in since you could really see the movement even though the animation wasn’t playing, like a cool, artistic effect. When I did play it though however, I still felt that something more could be added and the animation ‘spruced up’ in general. This is when I decided to draw in little purple drops next to or behind the blob, mainly during the middle when the morph happens, in order to clearly portray the liquidity and enhance the movement.
It was then pointed out to me, that if I made the triangle morph back into a circle, I could create a cool little cycle animation, similar to a loading icon. I really liked this idea, so I used a skill that we learned early on in Animate, which is selecting all of the frames, copying and pasting them directly next to each other, and then reversing all of the new frames, which is a very handy option in the program.
After a quick background change, this was the result!
We had some time left in the lesson, so my next thought was ‘how do I make this even better?’. The answer came quick and obvious – add a face of course! I could make a little blog character just by adding a mouth and some eyes. I started right away, excited to improve this little transformation further. But then I was presented with a new challenge; onion skin didn’t work because I had filled the shapes in, so I was unable to see where I had drawn the previous face. The simple solution would be to create a new layer for the face, but I soon realized that there was no point, since I wasn’t using onion skin much anyway. Each frame was quite unique, and the blob changed shape slightly every time. With so much movement, and such a simple face (two dots and a line), I decided to not use onion skin and just go with the flow, putting the face where it felt naturally right for that frame, and of course, flicking back every now and then to make sure it didn’t move too much.
I deleted the chart, moved the entire animation to the centre of the frame and continued adding the face to each frame. I’ll admit, this part was tedious, but I still enjoyed it because the final result would be worth it! I also thought about how the face could change as the shape transforms, and I slowly changed it as well into different facial expressions, such as the shocked one in the middle. On the way back into a circle, I even stretched the shocked face to exaggerate it further and make it look like a soul or ghost being distorted and changed.
And here it is! I am delighted with how this turned out and I think all of the little touches I added make it so much more fun and interesting. One thing I would change is I would add more frames and make it a bit slower since I think it is a little too fast to fully enjoy the animation. I know that this is because it was originally intended to be just a shape transformation, and without the face, the speed would be alright, but once I started adding it, I think that I should have changed the pace. Despite this, I love how my blob turned out, and I enjoyed this lesson a lot. I have really learned the extent to which you could play around with breakdown frames and how they can escalate the appearance and dynamics of an animation. I also instinctively applied certain animation principles such as exaggeration and arcs, which I think go hand-in-hand with the purpose of breakdown frames.