Cinematography | Looping < Animetion Techniques

Posing | Talking

Looping is when a few frames of animation are seemlessly grouped together to form a cycle and that cycle is repeated over and over and can be used anywhere from mouth movements or clothing billowing in the wind, to the extreme example of recycled animation like transformation sequences and magical attacks (a la Sailor Moon).

In the clip above there are several loops occurring. Like when my hand is raised and I am talking, the way my jacket billows in the wind is an example of a 3 frame loop cycling while I talk.

If you look very carefully when you compare these three frames of looping animetion, you will notice subtle differences from frame to frame that act as a cycle so that the very first frame could follow from the very last frame. If you are incredibly observant, you will also notice that the mouth movements are also a looping cycle only that the looping cycle of the mouth animation is slightly out of synch with the looping jacket animation that way making the looping look more sophisticated and less obvious.

Also, notice the way my clenched fist shakes in the last part of this scene. This demonstrates another loop, but one based not on 3 frames but on only 2 frames. Again, it is out of sych with the rest of the mouth movements and appears less obvious.

Animators may also use out of synch looping backgrounds to make the looping even less obvious.