Timing in animation: the same nod, fast and slow
Timing is one of the 12 principles of animation: how long an action takes changes what it means. A nod that takes a fifth of a second is a quick yes; the very same nod over a second is someone thinking it over, or not quite agreeing. Animators choose the timing of every move on purpose, because the audience reads the feeling from it before anything is said.
In this lesson you make one nod twice in the Forge's move maker: the same two keys, the head down and back up, once quickly and once three times as slowly. Then Sunny does both in a cartoon, one after the other, so you see the difference timing makes with nothing else changed. It takes about fifteen minutes.
1. Open the editor
Go to jabbertoon.com/editor/. This is the one editor: Cartoon, World, Game and Forge are its tabs along the top.
2. Go to the Forge
Press Forge at the top. The Forge is where things are made: characters, things, lands and moves.
3. A first move
Press New move. A person stands ready, with the parts you can move on the left.
4. See it from the side
Open Seen from and choose Seen from the side. Seen from the side, a head turned forward is a nod.
5. Pick the head
Under Pick a part, press head.
6. A quick nod down
Press Later until the playhead says 0.2 s: two presses.
7. Down
Move the Turn slider to 20. The head nods down.
8. And back up
Press Later until it says 0.4 s: two presses.
9. Up
Move the Turn slider to 0. The head is back up: one nod in less than half a second.
10. Name it
Click the box at the top, The move's name: it says “My move”. Delete those words and type Quick nod.
11. Keep it
Press Use it. Quick nod is kept in 🎒 My moves.
12. The same nod, slower
Press New move again. You make the very same nod now, with the same two keys at later times.
13. From the side again
Open Seen from and choose Seen from the side.
14. The head again
Press head.
15. A slow nod down
Press Later until it says 0.6 s: six presses.
16. Down, slowly
Move the Turn slider to 20, the same angle as before.
17. And slowly back
Press Later until it says 1.2 s: six presses.
18. Up, slowly
Move the Turn slider to 0. The same nod, three times as long.
19. Name the slow one
Click The move's name, delete “My move” and type Slow nod.
20. Keep it too
Press Use it. Both nods are in 🎒 My moves now.
21. To the cartoon
Press Cartoon at the top.
22. Bring in Sunny
Press Add a character. The characters you can bring in are shown.
23. Sunny on the stage
Press Sunny. Sunny stands on the stage.
24. Sunny's moves
In the list, In this world, press Sunny. Sunny's buttons appear over Sunny on the stage.
25. Do
Press Do. The moves Sunny can do are on the right, in kinds.
26. Your moves
Press My moves. Both nods are there.
27. The quick one first
Press Quick nod. Sunny nods, fast.
28. On Sunny's row
Press Put it on Sunny's row. The list stays open for the next one.
29. Then the slow one
Press Slow nod. Sunny nods again, slowly.
30. After it
Press Put it on Sunny's row. The slow nod goes after the quick one.
31. Watch the difference
Press Watch. The quick nod says yes, at once. The slow nod, the very same movement, says something else: I suppose so, or I am thinking about it.
Try it yourself
- Slower still. Make a nod with its keys at 1.0 s and 2.0 s: it reads as tired, or sad.
- Uneven. Down quickly at 0.2 s, back up slowly at 1.0 s: the head drops and lingers, as if remembering something.
- With a line. Give Sunny a line to say before each nod, the same words both times, and watch how the nod changes what the words mean.
Timing is also why the jump lesson puts its top at 0.6 s: move the top later and the jump floats, earlier and it snaps.