Flipbooks - Animation - Part1

My Flip Book animation of bouncing ball

Flipbooks first appeared in 1868 under the name 'kineograph'  
and was the first form of animation that wasn't based on a circler el motion - like the Phenakistoscope. Flipbooks consist of a series of images, each slightly different from the previous and when flicked though quickly; they give the illusion of movement to the viewer.

I've never worked on flipbooks before, but I understood the basic concept of the technique. We were told to first experiment with 'bouncing a ball' across the page, which is a lot harder then it looks. Basing our animation on the principles by Richard William as documented in 'The Animator's Survival Kit'. 

Richard William's reference

I started off at the back of the flipbook to draw out this animation, so once the next blank page was placed over the image I could see the last image faintly - and could make adjustments to the next.

'Squash and Stretch' (rule 1 of Disney's Animation rules) is very important in this animation technique. For the ball to give the illusion of movement, it must spread out slightly across the mass it bounces against when the ball makes contact. It must also 'stretch' to give the illusion of acceleration once it has hit the mass. It's also important to remember the first bounce must be higher  then the second and even the last. To really give the impression the ball has weight.

 My animation of a bouncing ball is slightly off, because.. 

1. The high the ball drops is far too high.
2. The first bounce shouldn't give that much of an impact or an angle.
3. The arc of the over all animation doesn't seem very natural.

Knowing all this and learning from my first experiment with Flipbooks; I'll know where to improve my work with this media for the future.


 so, yeah.