12 Principles of Animation (Official Full Series)
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended as a compact starting point for making animations feel more compelling, including for UI and app developers.
What it is
Alan Becker's short series on the 12 principles of animation, covering squash and stretch, anticipation, staging, timing, arcs, appeal and the rest. Each principle gets a brief animated illustration.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2018 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends rayalez · 2018-12 · on “Foundations of Animation”
I recommend watching this awesome video summarizing 12 principles of animation: [this video] (by the author of Animation vs Animator) I second Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams, it's great. And Keith Lango's video course for 3D animation. These two are absolute best for learning intermediate/advanced animation. Also, of course, Animation Mentor and 11secondclub competition.
Recommends ttfkam · 2023-09 · on “Animations From First Principles (in 5 minutes)”
Not to be confused with the 12 principles of animation. [this video] mathspp.com will help with making an animation programmatically. The video I linked will help the animation more compelling for the viewer.
Recommends fewgrehrehre · 2024-11 · on “Ask HN: Things to do on my phone”
If you want something a bit more out of the box than simply playing a game, give animating a spin! Just a simple flipbook-style animation app, there should be plenty out there. No need for pose-to-pose or anything at first, just try abstract, straight-ahead animation. If you find yourself gaining an interest, it's easy enough to pick up knowledge as you need it (if you do want a jumping-off point, I'd recommend Alan Becker's series[1] on the 12 principles of animation). It's incredibly fun bringing even the simplest of things to life, and really rewarding getting to look back and see how your understanding of motion and weight grow over time. [1] [this video]