Slow In And Slow Out - The Sixth Principle

Slow In And Slow Out – The Sixth Principle | Principles Of Animation

SIXTH PRINCIPLE – In this topic, we will now learn the sixth principle of animation, slow in and slow out.

The 12 principles were introduced by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, both of which are Disney animators who wrote this in their book called The Illusion of Life: Disney.

This principle refers to the progressive increasing and decreasing movement in an animation before or after the action is done.

According to AnimationMentor, it suggests that when we animate something stationery, the space has to progressively increase until it reaches its speed. Likewise, when stopping the movement, it will progressively decrease until it reaches zero.

As I have mentioned, this is in order to achieve an even more realistic movements and emphasizes on the extreme movements of an object inversely. Without this principle, the animation will look abrupt.

The best example is when driving a car, before reaching its speed, it progressively accelerates or basically increase its speed. Likewise, when using a brake, the car slowly decelerates until it stops.

The same goes when moving certain objects or people, without it, it will feel abrupt without applying this principle.

Here is a simplified video of the sixthprinciple, again by Alan Becker, the creator of the famous “Animator vs Animation” series.