Tick-Tock-Timing! (BSSD)

Slow in and slow out is paramount to any animation, and in this analysis of Kevin Koch's take on this subject, we'll be discussing this principle of animation and the effects it has on your work. The definitions of this principle vary, but the common meaning is taken as the effect in which when an action takes place the movement needs to gradually increase until it's up to speed, and then slow down upon reaching the climax action. Having no SI+SO in an animation leaves it mechanically unstable, so try adding some support in there!

Koch explains how SI+SO works in correlation to the real world and its properties, revealing that
 "objects accelerate when they start to move and therefore they needed more drawings there."  This became known as "Slow in." The gradual increase in speed up to the top velocity indicates the further along the action you go, the fewer frames you'll need to succeed. The opposite happens when an action is ending. The subject loses energy and slows down. There need to be more frames towards the end; hereby dubbed "slow out." Koch then shows a few timeline examples of frame spacing that can be used to demonstrate this process. The more inbetweens there are, the more gradual the animation will appear.

The concept of Physics is easily applied here, with the 4 main components being "Position: where something is in space Translation: movement from one position to another Velocity: the rate of change of position over time (speed with directional information) and Acceleration: the rate of change of velocity over time" Koch explains why early stop-motion looks so jittery by revealing how they worked with Straight Ahead animation instead of the more reliable Pose-to-Pose. The animators had no way to monitor their actions and spacing throughout the animation, leading to spacial and timing errors. Use these pieces to your advantage to study points to avoid in your work.

The points provided here apply to any part of the body, and applying these principles to your work takes a bit of time in the beginning. You won't begin to notice much of a problem here until far along in your animation, and that's okay. The implementation of this into the real world has its effects and reasons- some of them being to build force, to provide safety for your limbs while swinging them, and to show power in your work. If someone were to punch, without SI+SO, they'd be full force on the dot, sending all gravity laws into wack, possibly breaking their arm and whatever is in its way. Kind of reminds me of Deku from BHNA. These laws are applied in both real life and animation to provide safety and also direction in your work.

My personal opinions on this are as usual; they're imperative to the survival of both your animation and your own being. Imagine a world where any forces can just pop outta nowhere and knock your socks off and then the force instantly stops. It seems like something the Flash can pull off but not without repercussions. Koch's analysis was very informative and I thank him for providing us with this information.