Guide:Animation: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:11, 17 January 2026

The Twelve Principles of Animation[edit | edit source]

Twelve basic principles of animation is a book written by early Walt Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. It outlines twelve general principles which are regarded as fundamental among animators.

To save you a lengthy, complicated explanation of each of these, here's a useful educational video by Alan Becker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDqjIdI4bF4

Squash and Stretch
Anticipation
Staging
Straight-Ahead and Pose-to-Pose
Follow-Through and overlapping action
Slow-In and Slow-Out
Arcs
Secondary Action
Timing
Exaggeration
Solid Drawing
Appeal

Animating for Weissblatt[edit | edit source]

Doom Sprite animation system[edit | edit source]

Weissblatt's sprite animation system works by appending a frame and an angle to the name of your sprite's lump name. For example, the animation WALK may consist of the frames WALKA0, WALKB0, WALKC0 and WALKD0. The frame is determined by a letter A to Z, while the angle is determined by a number.

Any sprite may be assigned to one or two frame-angle-pairs. When a second frame-angle pair is given, it will be displayed by horizontally flipping the sprite along it's offset. For example a single sprite may be called WALKA3A7 to be used as both a left-facing and a right facing sprite.

The following table explains how the angle numbers are assigned:

Sprite angle system
A4 (Back-Left diagonal)	AC	A5 (Back)	AD	A6 (Back-Right diagonal)
AB	A0 (Billboarding)			AE
A3/AL (Left)				A7/AR (Right)
AA				AF
A2 (Front-Left diagonal)	A9	A1 (Front)	AG	A8 (Front-Right diagonal)

Sprites can be defined in multiple modes, depending on which angle is loaded last missing frames will result in an error:

A0 mode: Only an A0 angle is defined and the sprite is billboarded. This is usually used by decorative objects.
Left-Right mode: Only the angles AL and AR are defined. The sprite will always be facing either left or right, akin to a 2D game.
Eight-Angle mode: Angles A1 to A8 are required. This is the mode used by most characters and enemies.
Sixteen-Angle mode: Angles A1 to AG are required. This is used by the 8 ball.

Tips and Tricks[edit | edit source]

Be sure to animate a good sketch first - it's easier to clean up when stuff goes wrong.
Stage animations to be readable and express character. Viewers won't notice a little cheat to do so.
Players are more likely to look at individual animations than full turnarounds. Focus on making good-looking animations first and then adjust them to look good from all sides.
Most of the time there's no space for inbetweens. Focus on good key poses and breakdowns.
Sometimes, the engine may play animations at different speeds. Consider the amount of frames in an animation as more important than the actual time. (This is contrary to how most film animation works.)

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 == The Twelve Principles of Animation ==
 [[wikipedia:Twelve_basic_principles_of_animation|Twelve basic principles of animation]] is a book written by early Walt Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. It outlines twelve general principles which are regarded as fundamental among animators.
+To save you a lengthy, complicated explanation of each of these, here's a useful educational video by Alan Becker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDqjIdI4bF4
 # '''Squash and Stretch'''
@@ Line 14: / Line 16: @@
 # '''Solid Drawing'''
 # '''Appeal'''
+== Animating for Weissblatt ==
+=== Doom Sprite animation system ===
+Weissblatt's sprite animation system works by appending a ''frame'' and an ''angle'' to the name of your sprite's lump name. For example, the animation <code>WALK</code> may consist of the frames <code>WALKA0</code>, <code>WALKB0</code>, <code>WALKC0</code> and <code>WALKD0</code>. The frame is determined by a letter A to Z, while the angle is determined by a number.
+Any sprite may be assigned to one or two frame-angle-pairs. When a second frame-angle pair is given, it will be displayed by horizontally flipping the sprite along it's offset. For example a single sprite may be called <code>WALKA3A7</code> to be used as both a left-facing and a right facing sprite.
+The following table explains how the angle numbers are assigned:
+{| class="wikitable"
+|+Sprite angle system
+|'''A4'''
+(Back-Left diagonal)
+|AC
+|'''A5'''
+(Back)
+|AD
+|'''A6'''
+(Back-Right diagonal)
+|-
+|AB
+| colspan="3" rowspan="3" |'''A0'''
+(Billboarding)
+|AE
+|-
+|'''A3/AL'''
+(Left)
+|'''A7/AR'''
+(Right)
+|-
+|AA
+|AF
+|-
+|'''A2'''
+(Front-Left diagonal)
+|A9
+|'''A1'''
+(Front)
+|AG
+|'''A8'''
+(Front-Right diagonal)
+|}
+Sprites can be defined in multiple modes, depending on which angle is loaded last missing frames will result in an error:
+# '''A0 mode''': Only an A0 angle is defined and the sprite is billboarded. This is usually used by decorative objects.
+# '''Left-Right mode''': Only the angles AL and AR are defined. The sprite will always be facing either left or right, akin to a 2D game.
+# '''Eight-Angle mode''': Angles A1 to A8 are required. This is the mode used by most characters and enemies.
+# '''Sixteen-Angle mode''': Angles A1 to AG are required. This is used by the 8 ball.
+=== Tips and Tricks ===
+# Be sure to animate a good sketch first - it's easier to clean up when stuff goes wrong.
+# Stage animations to be ''readable'' and ''express character.'' Viewers won't notice a little cheat to do so.
+# Players are more likely to look at individual animations than full turnarounds. Focus on making good-looking animations first and then adjust them to look good from all sides.
+# Most of the time there's no space for inbetweens. Focus on good key poses and breakdowns.
+# Sometimes, the engine may play animations at different speeds. Consider the amount of frames in an animation as more important than the actual time. (This is contrary to how most film animation works.)
 [[Category:Guide]]