Arc – The Seventh Principle | Principles Of Animation
ARC – In this topic, we will now discuss and learn the seventh principle of the 12 principles of animation, the arc.
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.
The seventh principle, as I mentioned in an overall implies that most natural actions follow an arched trajectory. In other words, objects follow a semi-circular or curved motion in order to make the action more realistic.
By definition, it is a part of the circumference of a circle or other curve.
With this principle, according to AnimationMentor, like any of the principles, it is one of the vital tools to make the animation realistic and graceful. Otherwise, a broken one would make the movement less believable.
The seventh principle usually applies to natural movement, in terms of circular ones. For rigid movements like a robotic arm, linear arcs are usually used.
The seventh principle may be applied to the weight and direction of an object.
For weight, when it is heavy, the movement tends to move inwardly in contrast to light ones, in which they move outwardly.
Here is a simplified video of the seventh principle, again by Alan Becker, the creator of the famous “Animator vs Animation” series.
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