Animating on 1’s & 2’s 

 

FRAMES: WHAT DOES ANIMATING ON ONES AND TWOS MEAN?

Animating on ones and animating on twos means that you either take one frame of film per movement or two frames of film per movement during an action. On twos DOES NOT MEAN that the entire action is performed over a longer distance – the timing does not change. It simply means that you moved the object 1/2 as many times to perform the action as you would have had you shot the action on ones. On the flip side – if you animate on ones, you would have moved the object twice as many times than if animating on twos.

 

 

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WHICH IS BETTER?

There is a big debate amongst animators as to which shooting style is better. You will find most use a combination of shooting on ones and twos. Those who have more time, are purists, or strive to derive an exceptionally smooth movement tend to shoot on ones when they can. Some feel that shooting on ones slows them down and takes the joy out of animating, so they shoot on twos whenever they can, reserving ones for only very fast movements – like running. Since time is money, production companies shoot mostly on twos.

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In the gif below we can see the difference between ANIMATING on ONE’S (green circle at the top of the spacer graphic) and ANIMATING on TWO’s (orange circle at the bottom of spacer graphic)

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Download Spacer Template to play with Animating on One’s & Two’s in the timeline.

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For a more scientific approach to One’s & Two’s go here

 

Guess what?

You can also animate on 3’s!!! 

 

Or any number for that matter…Anime has been know to animate on 12’s! Why? The less frames to draw = less time drawing = lower budget

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READ

Animators Survival Kit

pg 1-50, 

Pg 78-101, Ones and twos & In Betweens