Pose to pose

When animating pose to pose, the animator defines the most important poses first (e.g. key posesKey poses are the most important poses of an animation. Every single one is needed to understand and advance the story. ... More), then the second most important poses (e.g. extremesAn extreme keyframe is the moment where a change in direction occurs. Anticipation and Overshoots are Extremes, because ... More and breakdowns) and so on. This is a very systematic approach where more keyframes are continuously added between poses.

The big advantage of pose to pose animation is that a rough preview of the entire animation can be given very early on. The timing can be tested and tweaked before any effort is spent on inbetweens.

The opposite of pose to pose animation is a straight aheadWhen animating straight ahead, the animator draws one frame of the animation after another in order. Because the motion ... More workflow.

Many animators use a combination of the two approaches: They start outlining the entire animation defining key posesKey poses are the most important poses of an animation. Every single one is needed to understand and advance the story. ... More, extremesAn extreme keyframe is the moment where a change in direction occurs. Anticipation and Overshoots are Extremes, because ... More and breakdowns. Then they would focus on single body parts and animate them straight aheadWhen animating straight ahead, the animator draws one frame of the animation after another in order. Because the motion ... More hitting the poses they’ve previously outlined.