How important is timing in game animation?

1 What is timing in game animation?

Timing is the amount of time that an action or movement takes to complete in an animation. It affects the speed, rhythm, and intensity of the animation, and it can convey different emotions, moods, and personalities of the characters and objects. For example, a fast and snappy timing can create a sense of excitement, urgency, or comedy, while a slow and smooth timing can create a sense of calm, grace, or drama.

2 Why is timing important for game animation?

Timing is important for game animation because it can enhance the gameplay experience, the immersion, and the storytelling of your game. Timing can help you create realistic and believable animations that match the physics and logic of your game world, or stylized and exaggerated animations that fit the genre and tone of your game. Timing can also help you communicate the gameplay mechanics, the feedback, and the goals of your game to the player, such as when to jump, dodge, attack, or interact with something. Moreover, timing can help you express the emotions, motivations, and intentions of your characters and objects, and make them more appealing and memorable to the player.

3 How to apply the principles of timing?

To learn and improve timing skills, one of the best approaches is to study and apply the principles of animation. Developed by legendary Disney animators in the 1930s, these guidelines are especially relevant for timing. Ease in and ease out suggest that an animation should start and end slowly, with acceleration and deceleration in between, which can create anticipation and follow-through. Squash and stretch means that an animation should deform and distort the shape of a character or object to emphasize speed and direction, as well as create exaggeration and appeal. Lastly, arcs indicate that an animation should follow a curved path, rather than a straight line, to create a realistic and graceful motion. This helps create continuity and flow for animations, essential for creating clarity and harmony.

4 How to use tools and techniques for timing?

To learn and improve your timing skills, you can use tools and techniques such as keyframes, graph editor, and timing charts. Keyframes define the position, rotation, scale, and other properties of an animation at certain points in time. The graph editor shows the curves and values of keyframes in a graph, allowing you to manipulate them with handles and tangents. Timing charts are diagrams that show the spacing and timing of keyframes in relation to each other, which can help you plan and visualize your animation. All these tools and techniques can help you create and edit your animations more efficiently and effectively.

5 How to practice and improve your timing skills?

Learning and improving your timing skills is essential for game animation, and it can be both challenging and rewarding. To do so, you should study other animations to understand how timing creates different effects and emotions, practice exercises to try different variations of timing, use references and guides to create more realistic timing, test and iterate your animations in your game engine, and share your animations with others to get feedback and critique. By following these steps, you can create amazing animations that make your game more engaging, immersive, and enjoyable.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?