MODULE 5: Physics of Animation

Taxonomy of physics-based animation methods, frames, frames per Second, size and scale, motion and
timing in Animations, constant force and acceleration, the odd rule, motion graphs, numerical calculations
based on odd rule, examples of character animation: jumping, walking, statistical physics for computing:
descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, Poisson distribution and normal distributions (Bell Curves),
Monte Carlo method.
Numerical Problems.

Self-Study Component: Frames, Frames per Second

Animation basics

• Animation is the process of displaying still images in a rapid sequence to create the illusion of
movement. These images can be hand drawn, computer generated, or pictures of 3D objects.
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• Our eyes can only retain an image for approximately of a second, when multiple images
16𝑡ℎ

appear in fast succession, the brain blends them into a single moving image.

The Taxonomy of Physics-Based Animation Methods

Physics-based animation has emerged as a core area of computer graphics finding widespread
application in the film and video game industries as well as in areas such as virtual surgery,
virtual reality, and training simulations. The field of physics-based animation and simulation can
be divided into two large groups:

1. Kinematics is the study of motion without consideration of mass or forces.

2. Dynamics is the study of motion taking mass and forces into consideration.

kinematics and dynamics come in two flavors or subgroups:

1. Inverse is the study of motion knowing the starting and ending points.

2. Forward is the study of motion solely given the starting point.

Frames

A frame is a single image in a sequence of pictures. A frame contains the image to be displayed
at a unique time in the animation. In general, one second of a video is comprised of 24 or 30
frames per second abbreviated as FPS. The frame rate is the speed at which the images are shown
in the animation.

The following are the most common types of frames used in animation:
• Keyframe: Keyframes signify the start and end points for actions in animation.
• Placeholder frames: Placeholder frames give where the events are taking place at any given
time.
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 • Regular frames: Regular frames decide how long that change will last.
• Twined frames: Twined frames contain two keyframes and any number of frames in
between.

Frames per Second (FPS)

• Frames per second (FPS) is a unit that measures display device performance in video captures,
playback, and video games. FPS is typically the frequency at which consecutive images are
captured or displayed.

• Different video formats have different FPS rates. Slower FPS rates produce smaller computer
files.

• There are two standard television images: 30 frames per second (National Television Standards
Committee) NTSC for the United States and 25 frames per second (Phase Alternate Line) PAL
for Europe.

Size and Scale

We cannot animate large objects like warehouses, railway stations, etc., in their actual size. When
animating such objects, it is required to resize a digital image several times.

Size is the ratio of the object’s animation to the actual size of the object. The scale is set as a ratio
of pixels of the animation to the physical units of length.

Size

Size is simply how small or big an element is in relation to other objects within a design.
Generally, we use size to make a particular element stand out or to give it importance. However,
size becomes a much more powerful design tool when it is considered alongside the scale.

Scaling Properties: Larger or heavier objects move slower while lighter or smaller objects move
faster. When designing characters, you can run into different situations having to do with size and
scale, such as:

1. Human or animal-based characters that are much larger than we see in our everyday
experience. Superheroes, Greek gods, and monsters.
2. Human or animal-based characters that are much smaller than we are accustomed to, such
as fairies and elves.

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 3. Characters that need to be noticeably larger, smaller, older, heavier, lighter, or more
energetic than other characters.
4. Characters that are child versions of older characters

Proportion and Scale

Creating a larger or smaller character is not just a matter of scaling everything about the
character uniformly.

Example:

Volume: When you scale a cube, its volume changes much more dramatically than its surface
area. Let us say each edge of the cube is 1 unit in length. The area of one side of the cube is 1
square unit, and the volume of the cube is 1 cubed unit. If you double the size of the cube along
each dimension, its height increases by 2 times, the surface area increases by 4 times and its
volume increases by 8 times.

Weight: Two objects can appear to be different weights by manipulating their timing.

For example, if you were to hit a croquet ball and a balloon with a mallet, the result would be
two different actions. The croquet ball would require more force to place it into motion, would
go farther, and need more force to stop it. On the other hand, the balloon would require far less
force to send it flying, and because of its low mass and weight, it wouldn't travel as far, and would
require less force to stop it.

Strength

Strength is the maximum force a muscle or group of muscles can apply against a
resistance in a push, pull or lift motion. Body weight is proportional to volume. The abilities of
your muscles and bones, however, increase by area because their abilities depend more on the
cross-sectional area than volume. To increase a muscle or bone’s strength, you need to increase
its cross-sectional area.

Motion and Timing animation

Motion is an essential component in games and animations. The motion is governed by
newton’s laws and kinematic equations. When animating a scene, there are several types of
motion to consider. These are the mostcommon types of motion:
1. Linear

2. Parabolic

3. Circular

4. Wave
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Timing Animation

Timing refers to how long an action takes. If the timing is too fast, too slow, too linear, or too long,
your animation won’t look realistic. Since the film is run at 24 frames per second (FPS), you use
this as the building block for your timing. So, if you have an object moving from point A to point B
in 24FPS, it takes the object one second to get there.
The functions of timing are to:
1. Create a movement that obeys the laws of physics.
2. Add interest and appeal to your animation

Motion Lines and Paths

Line of Action

Path of Action

Motion has a path of action, which indicates the path along which the object or character moves.
The path of action refers to the object’s motion in space.

Linear Motion Timing

The linear motion refers to motion in a straight line, always in the same direction. An object
moving with linear motion might speed up or slow down as it follows a linear path. A heavy ball
rolling on a table or incline is an example of linearmotion.

Uniform Motion Timing

Uniform motion is the easiest to animate because the distance the object travels between frames
is always the same. Uniform motion is a type of linear motion with constant speed and no
acceleration or deceleration. The object moves the same distance between consecutive frames.
Longer the distance between frames, the higher the speed.

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Slow in and Slow out

The terms "slow in" and "slow out" are used to describe motion that is accelerating or
decelerating. This type of motion is sometimes called ease in or ease out.
1. Slow in/ ease in—The object is slowing down, frequently in anticipation of stopping.

2. Slow out/ ease out—The object is speeding up, often from a static position.

For example, a ball rolling down an incline or dropping straight down is slowing out, as it goes
from a still position orslow speed to a fast speed. A ball rolling up an incline is slowing in.

Constant Forces

A constant force is a force that doesn’t vary over time.

Examples of constant forces include:

1. Gravity pulling an object to the ground.

2. Friction bringing an object to a stop.

Constant force and Acceleration

Constant forces result in constant acceleration. Because the acceleration is constant,

we can figure out thetiming for such sequences using a few principles of physics.
The resulting acceleration depends on the direction of the force and motion if there is any motion
at all, to begin with.

1. When the constant net force is applied to an unmoving object, the result is acceleration.

2. When the constant net force is applied to a moving object in the same direction as the
motion, the result is acceleration.

3. When hen constant net force is applied in the direction opposite the existing motion, the
result is deceleration (acceleration in the opposite direction).

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Forces Exerted by Characters
Forces exerted by people’s bodies are rarely constant throughout an entire motion. For
the purposes of animation, however, one can break the character motion into short time segments
and consider each of these segments to be responding to constant net force. This will make it
easier for one to calculate the timing for each individual segment.
A character walking and pushing a rock is not exerting a constant force throughout the entire
sequence, but during each short part of the walking cycle, the net force could be a different
constant value.

The Odd Rule

When acceleration is constant, one can use the Odd Rule to time the frames. With this
method, one calculates the distance the object moves between frames using a simple pattern of
odd numbers. Between consecutive frames, the distance the object moves are a multiple of an
odd number. For acceleration, the distance between frames increases by multiples of 1, 3, 5, 7,
etc.

The Odd Rule is a multiplying system based on the smallest distance traveled between
two frames in the sequence. For a slow-out, this is the distance between the first two frames:
for a slow-in, it’s the distance between the last two frames.

For deceleration, the multiples start at a higher odd number and decrease, for example, 7, 5, 3, 1.

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Odd Rule Multipliers

The Odd Rule in its simplest form, as described above, is just one way to use it. For
example, one can instead calculate the distance from the first frame to the current frame and
use these distances to place the object on specific frame.

𝑂𝑑𝑑 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠

= ((𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 – 𝟏) × 𝟐) – 𝟏
𝑀𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒
= (𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 – 𝟏)𝟐
Odd Rule Scenarios
1. Base Distance Known Speeding up

If the object is speeding up, the first frame distance is the base distance. If base distance is
known, just multiply the base distance by 3, 5, 7, etc. to get the distances between consecutive
frames.
2. Base Distance Known Slowing Down

Suppose one wants an object to slow down, if the object were speeding up in the opposite
direction. Solution is working backward, multiply the base distance by 3, 5, 7, etc. to get the
distances between each previous frame in the sequence.

3. Total Distance and Number of Frames Known, Speeding Up

If one wants to know the total distance and the total number of frames, one can find the base
distance with this formula:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 =
(𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 – 1)2

Suppose there is a jump push (takeoff) with constant acceleration over 5 frames, and the total
distance traveled is 0.4m. Using the formula above, we find the base distance.

𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 = 0.4𝑚/(5 – 1) 2 = 0.4𝑚/16 = 0.025

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First Key Distance Known as Slowing Down

Suppose one has a moving object that one wants to slow down, and one must set the first frame
of the slow-in to give an idea of the pacing for the sequence.

One feature of the Odd Rule is that the base distance is always half the difference between any
two adjacent distances.

To find the base distance, one can simply calculate:

(0.5𝑚 – 0.35𝑚)/2 = 0.07𝑚
To figure out how many frames are in the slow-in, divide the first distance by the base distance
to find out which oddnumber it corresponds to
0.5/0.07 = 7
This means the first distance corresponds to 7 in the 7, 5, 3, 1 sequence, making the sequence four
frames long.

Motion Graphs

A motion graph plots an object’s position against time. On a motion graph, the time goes from
left to right across the bottom of the graph, while the object’s position is plotted vertically
against the time. Each axis in 3-D space (X, Y, Z) has its own line showing the object’s position
along that axis.

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 Examples of character animation
Jumping

A jump is an action where the character’s entire body is in the air, and both the character’s
feet leave the ground atthe same time. A jump action includes a takeoff, free movement through
the air, and a landing.
Parts of Jump

A jump can be divided into several distinct parts:

• Crouch: A squatting pose is taken as preparation for jumping.

• Takeoff: The character pushes up fast and straightens their legs with their feet still on
the ground.
• In the air: The amount of time the character is in the air from takeoff to the apex is called
the jump time.
• Landing: The distance from the character’s CG when her feet hit the ground to the point
where the character stops crouching is called the stop height.

Calculating Jump Actions

When working out the timing for a jump, one will need to first decide on:

1. Jump height or jump time

2. Push height

3. Stop height

4. Horizontal distance the character will travel during Jump

Jump Magnification (JM) and Acceleration

Jump Magnification is in fact an exact ratio that tells one how much the character must
accelerate against gravity to get into the air.
𝐽𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐽𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐽𝑀 = = =
𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐽𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
The magnitude of jump acceleration is always equal to gravitational acceleration, with
deceleration as the characterrises and acceleration as it falls.
𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐽𝐻 = =
𝐽𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
Stop Time

𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝐻𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡/𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒/𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒

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Walking
Walks feature all the basics of mechanics while including personality. The ability to animate walk
cycles is one of the most important skills a character animator needs to master.

Strides and Steps

• A step is one step with one foot.

• A stride is two steps, one with each foot.

• Stride length is the distance the character travels in a stride, measured from the same part
of the foot.

• Gait is the timing of the motion for each foot, including how long each foot is on the ground
or in the air. During a walk, the number of feet the character has on the ground changes from
one foot (single support) to two feet (double support) and then back to one foot. You can
plot the time each foot is on the ground to see the single and double support times over time.
A normal walking gait ranges from 1/ 3 to 2/3 of a second per step, with 1/2 second being
average.

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Statistical Physics for Computing
Poisson Distribution

If the probability p is so small that the function has significant value only for very small k,
then the distribution of events can be approximated by the Poisson Distribution.
Probability mass function

A discrete Radom variable X is said to have a Poisson distribution, with parameter, if it

has a probability, Mass Function is given by,
𝜆𝐾 𝑒 −𝜆
𝑓(𝑘, 𝜆) = 𝑃(𝑋 = 𝐾) =
𝐾!
Here k is the number of occurrences, e is Euler’s Number, K! is the factorial function. The
positive real number λ is equalto the expected value of X and also to its Variance.

Example of probability for Poisson distributions

On a particular river, overflow floods occur once every 100 years on average. Calculate the
probability of k = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 overflow floods in a 100-year interval, assuming the Poisson
model is appropriate.
Because the average event rate is one overflow flood per 100 years, λ = 1
𝜆𝐾 𝑒 −𝜆
𝑓(𝐾, 𝜆) = 𝑃(𝑋 = 𝐾) =
𝐾!
𝜆𝐾 𝑒 −𝜆 1𝐾 𝑒 −1
P (K overflow floods in 100 years) = =
𝐾! 𝐾!

𝜆𝐾 𝑒 −𝜆 10 𝑒 −1 𝑒 −1
P (K=0 overflow floods in 100 years) = = = = 0.368
𝐾! 0! 1

𝜆𝐾 𝑒 −𝜆 11 𝑒 −1 𝑒 −1
P (K=1 overflow floods in 100 years) = = = = 0.368
𝐾! 1! 1

𝜆𝐾 𝑒 −𝜆 12 𝑒 −1 𝑒 −1
P (K=2 overflow floods in 100 years) = = = = 0.184
𝐾! 2! 2

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Normal Distribution and Bell Curves

• A bell curve is a common type of distribution for a variable, also known as the normal
distribution. The term "bell curve" originates from the fact that the graph used to depict
a Normal Distribution consists of a symmetrical bell-shaped curve.

• The highest point on the curve, or the top of the bell, represents the most probable event
in a series of data (its Mean, Mode and Median in this case), while all other possible
occurrences are symmetrically distributed around the mean, creating a downward-
sloping curve on each side of the peak. The width of the bell curve is described by its
Standard Deviation.

• The term "bell curve" is used to describe a graphical depiction of a normal probability
distribution, whose underlying standard deviations from the mean create the curved
bell shape.

• Standard deviation is a measurement used to quantify the variability of data dispersion,

in a set of given values around the mean. The mean, in turn, refers to the average of all
data points in the data set or sequence and will be found at the highest point on the bell
curve.

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Monte-Carlo Method

Monte-Carlo simulation is a process based on random distributions and iterative realization of

probabilities. Monte Carlo methods vary, but tend to follow a particular pattern:

1. Define a domain of possible inputs.

2. Generate inputs randomly from a probability distribution over the domain.
3. Perform a deterministic computation on the inputs.
4. Aggregate the results.

Monte-Carlo method applied to approximating the value of 𝜋. For example, consider a quadrant
inscribed in a unit square. Given that The ratio of their areas is 𝜋/4, the value of 𝜋 can be
approximated using Monte-Carlo method.
1. Draw a square, then inscribe a quadrant within it.
2. Uniformly scatter a given number of points over the square
3. Count the number of points inside the quadrant, i.e., having a distance from the origin of < 1.
4. The ratio of the inside-count and the total-sample-count is an estimate of the ratio of the
two areas, 𝜋/4. Multiply the results by 4 to estimate 𝜋.

In this procedure the domain of inputs is the square that circumscribes the quadrant. We
generate random inputs by scattering grains over the square then perform a computation on
each input (test whether it falls within the quadrant). Aggregating the results yields our result,
the approximation of π.

There are two important considerations:

1. If the points are not uniformly distributed, then the approximation will be poor.
2. There are many points. The approximation is generally poor if only a few points are
randomly placed in the whole square. On average, the approximation improves as
more points are placed.
Uses of Monte Carlo methods require large amounts of random numbers, and their use benefited
greatly from Pseudo random number generators, which were far quicker to use than the tables of
random numbers that had been previously used for statistical sampling.

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