Puff up

Rage that builds: a hard shake in every direction while the whole body swells a little bigger, second by second.

Use it in a cartoonOpen it in the block editorThe pack file (JSON)

What it is for

Puff up is for anger that grows: a character who is being teased and is about to explode, a pet guarding its bowl, a villain whose plan has failed. It works best when something follows it, such as a shout, a stomp off stage or a sudden collapse into Slump, because the swelling sets up a release. On the monster it is the obvious move for a big roar.

The principle it shows: squash and stretch

Here the stretch is not a quick bounce but a slow inflation: the body's width and height both glide from 100% to 107% over two seconds, while a fast wave on the width adds another 4% of throb on top. Growing bigger is a classic cartoon way to show a feeling taking over. The shake keeps the size change from looking calm; the size change keeps the shake from looking like fear.

The program, line by line

when it starts
  sin wave on dx · w 32 · amp 13
  sin wave on dy · w 39 · amp 9
  sin wave on sx · w 28 · amp 0.04 · offset 1.04
  sin wave on sy · w 28 · amp 0.04
  sin wave on rot · w 24 · amp 4
  sin wave on left claw · w 18 · amp 5 · offset 11
  sin wave on right claw · w 18 · amp -5 · offset -11
  glide sx 1.07, sy 1.07 over (max(dur*0.5, 0.1)) s (linear)

• when it starts — begins when the move is put on a character.
• sin wave on dx · w 32 · amp 13 and sin wave on dy · w 39 · amp 9 — the shake: 13 pixels side to side and 9 up and down, each about five or six times a second and never in step.
• sin wave on sx · w 28 · amp 0.04 · offset 1.04 and sin wave on sy · w 28 · amp 0.04 — the throb: the width pulses around 104% of normal and the height around 100%, 4% either way.
• sin wave on rot · w 24 · amp 4 — a fast tilt of 4 degrees.
• sin wave on left claw · w 18 · amp 5 · offset 11 and the mirrored right-claw line — the claws (a person's hands) held 11 degrees tense, trembling 5 degrees.
• glide sx 1.07, sy 1.07 over (max(dur*0.5, 0.1)) s (linear) — the swelling: width and height glide to 107% over half of the time the move is given (2 seconds when it is shown for 4), at a steady speed, then stay there. The throb above multiplies on top of it.

Try this

1. Let it swell to 130% instead of 107%. The character balloons as it shakes, like a cartoon about to explode, which makes a good setup for a pop or a sudden calm.

   In the program: ramp · to {"sx":1.07,"sy":1.07} → {"sx":1.3,"sy":1.3}

2. Set the side-to-side shake to 0. Only the up-and-down shake and the tilt remain, so the growing reads as stiff, swelling fury instead of a rattle.

   In the program: wave · amp 13 → 0

How it differs from Angry shake and Slump

Angry shake rattles at the same strength the whole time and keeps the body squat. Puff up shakes just as hard but grows, so it has a direction. Slump is the same idea upside down: a body that shrinks and sinks when the anger, or the hope, runs out.

Works on

c4c:beh:inflate · version 1.0.0 · CC0 (public domain) · by Jabbertoon