Slump
All the air goes out of the character: it sinks, gets shorter and narrower, and trembles, then stays down.
Use it in a cartoonOpen it in the block editorThe pack file (JSON)
What it is for
Slump is the beat when bad news lands: the party is cancelled, the score goes up on the board and it is not your team, the cake was for someone else. Put it on a character for one shot and let the reaction carry the scene. Because it ends low and stays low, it also works as a bridge into a sadder mood: follow it with Sad and the character stays down for the rest of the scene.
The principle it shows: squash and stretch
Squash is usually fast: a hop's landing lasts a fraction of a second. Slump is a slow squash. Over 1.6 seconds the body gets 10% shorter and 6% narrower while it sinks, and the shape change itself tells the audience that something has gone out of the character. It is the same tool as the bounce of a ball, used for a feeling instead of an impact.
The program, line by line
when it starts
sin wave on dx · w 9 · amp 2
sin wave on rot · w 9 · amp 2
glide dy 26, sx 0.94, sy 0.9 over (max(dur*0.4, 0.1)) s (linear)when it starts— begins when the move is put on a character.sin wave on dx · w 9 · amp 2andsin wave on rot · w 9 · amp 2— a small fast tremble, 2 pixels side to side and 2 degrees of tilt, about 1.4 times a second.glide dy 26, sx 0.94, sy 0.9 over (max(dur*0.4, 0.1)) s (linear)— the slump itself. It glides three values at once: down 26 pixels (dy), to 94% of the width (sx) and 90% of the height (sy). The formula sets the length:duris how long the move is given, so the glide takes 40% of it, never less than 0.1 seconds. When the move is shown for 4 seconds, as here, the slump takes 1.6 seconds and then holds.linearmeans it sinks at one steady speed.
Because the body sinks while the feet stay on the same drawing, a slumped character's feet dip a little below the ground line. In a cartoon that reads as the character sagging into the floor.
Try this
Shrink the height to 75% instead of 90%. The character squashes down hard, a cartoon deflation that suits a big comic disappointment.
In the program:
ramp · to.sy0.9→0.75Change the glide's ease from linear to out. The slump now starts fast and slows as it reaches the bottom, like a body that drops and then settles, instead of sinking at one even speed.
In the program:
ramp · ease"linear"→"out"
How it differs from Sad and Puff up
Sad sinks only 4 pixels at a time and comes back up with every sigh: a mood that lasts. Slump goes down once and stays down: an event. Puff up is its opposite, a body that grows bigger with anger.
Works on
| Body | Moves? | What moves |
|---|---|---|
| 2 legs (a person) | yes | whole body |
| 4 legs (a dog) | yes | whole body |
| no legs (the monster with no legs) | yes | whole body |