Welcome to the lesson for the anticipation or antic principle. So we are going to create an a stop motion animation with scissors that incorporates all three of the principles we've learned so far. So we're building on each one and we're adding and creating a bit more complicated of an animation each time. So I like stop motion for these tests because we're not having to worry about being good at drawing and that being the limiting factor of us testing out these principles. So that's why I'm favoring stop motion for this one as well. And I am using scissors for this.
So, uh, we also need a stack of books for a tripod. If you don't have a tripod, I'm continuing to try to show you that you don't need fancy equipment to be able to do this stuff. I'm using a stack of books to be able to shoot the camera down where we will be animating the scissors and I'm gonna use the paper, uh, the potato chip clip to help attach the phone to the book so I can extend the phone out over the book a little ways without it tipping over. So once we have that set up, we can look through the camera down here, but we need to plan out what we're animating, especially with stop motion animation. You need to plan it out because there's no undo button with stop motion animation. You are moving physical objects in the real world and there's no undo.
So we need to know what we're doing first. And my idea for this lesson is to animate the scissors, like they are a fish in water and it is swimming away. So we want to anticipate the motion of it swimming away by going backwards first. And we're gonna incorporate the other two principles by easing in or slowing into the anticipation and then slowing out a little bit faster than we slowed in. And also slowing in on the anticipation of the scissors opening. We want to make sure we're slowing into that motion.
And then as we swim away, we want to go faster on the slow out to the acceleration of its swimming. So we're going to anticipate the scissors back as they open as well, and which is basically a squash position now. So we're incorporating the first principle and then we're going to slow out, but much quicker. So that means fewer frames, fewer pictures, and stop motion. As this closes, it's going to accelerate forward. So we're going to ease outta that as well.
But it's going to be fairly quick. There's not gonna be a ton of frames there. So let's get started. So now that we have the Stop Motion Studio app open, I'm going to press new movie and I'm touching very lightly, uh, even though this is set up decently, I don't wanna knock anything over in the middle of animating something. So, so I still wanna be very gentle here. And the other thing to keep in mind is I, I don't wanna be in the shadow.
You can see right here my hand, um, is, is creating a bit of a shadow even when it's off frame of the phone camera. So when I take a picture, I wanna make sure I'm consistent in where I am when I take the picture so that there's not a lot of flickering and shadows going on there. So I wanna be able to stage this up first. So I want to have enough room here that I can go backwards before I go forwards. So I, I don't want it right in the dead center, but I want it a little bit back so we can see where we're headed here and that we have some room to go backwards first. So I'm gonna position myself so that I can get in a good position to start taking photos.
I'm gonna click the camera button here and then I'm not gonna use the timer this time. Andm gonna make sure that onion skin is about halfway there. And so now we can take our first photograph. So we want the first position, the stationary position, and I'm gonna take a couple photos here because it takes a few frames for your eyes to register something happening, especially at the beginning or end of a cut. So now that we have a couple of images, let's start with the anticipation, but we want to ease into it. So I'm going to just move the scissors back, just the least amount that I possibly can move them and take another photo.
Then I'm gonna move them about twice that much again. And I'm, I'm looking at, we're basically matching the blue on the black of, of the inside of the handles there. So I kind of can take a mental note of how far I moved that one. So I want to go further than that and I wanna start opening up the, uh, scissors. So let's open the scissors a little bit as we move this back. So I'm gonna go a little bit further and then we can start easing into this as the scissors open as well.
So the other thing we can start incorporating is rotation. So I'm intentionally choosing this object because it's very slowly incorporating more things to move. When you're animating a character, you're animating at least 12 things at once. All these different joints that make up a character. So with this, we have position where it is, we have rotation of the whole thing, and it can open and close. So part of the antic could be a bit of rotation.
So it's ramping up like this, like a kind of a J shape or like a Nike swoop. So we could also start to rotate it here in this motion a little bit. So I'm gonna just barely do that. And you also have to start thinking, okay, how much am I easing in on the translation? How much am I easing in on the rotations? Because those are two different things and you gotta, you have to keep track of those.
So we've opened it a little bit. We have a further position and we've, we've started to rotate it. So I'm gonna rotate it a little bit more, but I'm gonna start easing into the, the translation, the rotation is, is just kind of getting started. So it's gonna finish after the translation stops on, on the ease in. And I need to open the scissors a a lot more, Not a lot more but more 'cause we're really getting into the middle of this antic now. Okay, now I'm going to start to slow down the rotation and start to really bring out the scissors here.
Wanna make sure I'm tracking the right scissor, I have the wrong blade. I was looking at the wrong blade here. Another good thing to keep in mind is the, uh, blue dot. So we can actually go back here and see where, where we're at right now so I can hit play. So it's a good start. That rotation is maybe a little bit much and it's going down, but that's okay.
It's just something to keep in mind. And this doesn't have to be perfect. It's a learning process, you know. Um, don't get too precious with your animation as you're animating otherwise, um, you will stunt your progress because you'll be too worried to do anything. Um, you know, it's not the end of the world. We're not doing brain surgery here.
Um, no one's gonna get hurt. Hopefully these are scissors. Be careful. But, um, you know, ke keep it in perspective what we're doing here so that you don't get too precious, um, with what you're doing and too nervous to try something. 'cause then what's the point? So I'm rotate this a little more.
So I'm easing in on the rotation. I've almost stopped the translation backward and I'm really favoring opening the scissors more. And it's just a lot of back and forth looking at the onion skin. For me. I'm gonna start to move this just very, very little now, once we get on the slow in and slow out, it's just the smallest changes is gonna make the biggest difference. Okay, so I'm, I'm really doing next to nothing here 'cause I want to have a bit of a hold at the back of the antic so that we can really appreciate, okay, this fish is really, um, building up some energy for this push off here.
So I'm actually gonna take two frames there, and then I'm going to start the slow out of the, the fins or the scissors coming down. So I wanna make sure the center's blue part is kind of staying where it's supposed to be. Do a bit of an ease in here. I'm probably, I'm probably on only going to do two frames here and start the acceleration right here and really push it off there. So now I'm, I'm really watching the blue.here to see the remembering the distance I I did on the last one and also rotating it in a more straight trajectory now. So now I'm going the distance of the handles.
So I know I need to at least do that one more time, probably before it starts to slow down and it needs to swim again. But the original idea was to get it off screen so I can maybe have another frame or two of acceleration before I start decelerating it or slow out, or excuse me, slow in. So now I'm gonna start to slow the scissors down as it goes off frame, because as we know, swing under water, you can only, uh, one stroke only goes so far. Cool. So now we're totally off. I'm gonna do a couple more frames there so that it has a nice ending.
And then let's play this back. Let's go back to the main frame here. So now we have an antic. We know something's about to happen. We, and we opened up for a squash kind of position. We eased into it, and then we did a, a bit of a quicker ease out or slow out so that, you know, the antic is kind of the buildup of the energy and the main motion is going to be the release of that energy.
So it should be a bit quicker. So I could probably get away with maybe even deleting one picture or two pictures here on the acceleration away. So let's take a look at maybe what I could get rid of. I almost think I could get rid of this one. I'm going to cut it and see how that plays back so that that has a much better feel to it. To me it's a bit snappier and it creates more contrast between the anticipation and the main motion.
So we just created a much more complicated stop motion animation, rotating the object, moving the object, and also doing a squash and stretch pose by opening and closing the scissors. So this has been a super fun, um, lesson for me because honestly, I start these and I don't know what you're gonna get, you know, um, it's not like I'm marking anything here to know exactly where to put this thing. I I'm doing this with you and I hope you will as well. And I hope you share what you're creating with me. If you choose to do something else besides a scissors, like a, a, some kind of a tool out, out of a tool belt or a chest or a hammer or who, who knows what, you could use anything. Um, I'd love to see what you make and share with me in the course, uh, discussion or the questions and answer area.
So thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next lesson.