1/ Timing, Spacing and Rhythm
Timing means the number of frames between A and B; between keyframes. Spacing refers to how those frames are placed. Closer together and the speed is slower, farther apart the the speed is faster. Rhythm is how the animation corresponds to the beats of an accompany audio track.
2/ Eases
Animation, like motion in the real world, needs acceleration and deceleration to have personality. Nothing moves at constant velocities. Linear animation may have a place depending on a specific concept, but as a rule you should always use and manipulate eases to create better animation.
3/ Mass and Weight
Through the manipulation of eases we can describe, via motion, how heavy or light an object on screen is.
4/ Anticipation
Anticipation is something that helps animations feel more purposeful. It tells the viewer something is about to happen and draws attention to an action.
5/ Arcs
Almost every animation follows a path of arcs. Arcs are how most objects move naturally.
6/ Squash, Stretch and Smears
Squash, Stretch and Smears are useful tools in animation to not only replicate how an object reacts to speed and impact, this principle helps to convey the idea of flexibility and for an animation to feel more natural. When an object squashes it should always retain its mass, mathematically.
The principle of stretching and squashing can be taken further to create smears. In film really fast objects are read in one frame with motion blur. But because you couldn’t do that in animation, early animators created smears.
Animation Smears Tumblr
Ping-Pong Animation example
7/ Follow-Through and Overlapping Action
Follow through is the idea that certain elements will continue to move even
after the main action is completed. Overlapping action is similar in that some parts of the animation are playing “catch-up” to the main animation.
8/ Exaggeration
Just as the word suggests, exaggeration means to push the movements further
than what would be natural. It can emphasize the weight of an object or just give it more personality.
9/ Secondary or Layered Animation
Secondary animation refers to the principle that there can be more than one moving element to a character or shape as
in the previous examples. Another way to think about this is as layered animation — adding additional movement on top of
an existing one.
10/ Appeal
Appeal is the life of your animation. It’s a combination of some or all of the preceding principles that will give an animation that feeling of “Wow that feels good!” And one of the main things of appeal it relationship between animation and design.