Simple Circle Animation

Skill

learning about simple movement in animation.

Learning Approach

I just drew a simple shape and decided to experiment with the timings, learning by trial and error, testing different techniques out.

Key Tips from the Learning Process

1. In the last animation I tried to make the circle come from different sides. It doesn't work however because in some of the frames the circle is too small and it makes it flicker. I need to make sure the subject is the same size in every frame.
2. Again in the last animation, I have forgotten to remove one of the frames so half a circle flicks onto the screen while it's also moving on the other side of the screen. I should double check I am only showing the frames I want to or it can ruin the whole animation.
3. Changing the timing on each individual frame is tedious and take time. I didn't realise until far into the last animation that you can select all frames and carry out the process only once.

1- The first animation is 16 frames repeated 4 times with a delay of 0.01 sec between each frame. It's too fast:

2- On this second animation the time delay is 0.1 second... I definitely prefer this speed:

3- Here I have managed to ping the circle backwards and forwards.

4- I've tried to make the ball appear from different directions. There is a problem with the size of the ball in a couple of the frames however which is proving impossible to sort out... I think I would have to start again if I was taking this project further.

Overall...

Although trial and error can be a laborious process I found it really good not to have any structure to learning, to be able to experiment. I allowed me to explore without worrying about making mistakes and I discovered loads of small shortcuts etc which would have been really difficult to find in a manual. However, I don't believe that it's they best way to learn all the time, but I think that there should be a balance between textbook learning (studying), and just getting stuck into the process without knowing what you are actually doing.