WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.110 You’re watching Scribble Kibble, a weekly show about animation. 00:00:03.110 --> 00:00:07.249 This episode is all about the best thing ever: smear frames. 00:00:07.249 --> 00:00:08.750 What is an animation smear frame? 00:00:08.750 --> 00:00:13.090 I’ll let Johnny Bravo explain. 00:00:13.090 --> 00:00:16.980 No, this is not an error. 00:00:16.980 --> 00:00:20.160 Somebody drew it this way on purpose. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:25.140 Smear frames are animator’s magic, a trick to fool people’s brains. 00:00:25.140 --> 00:00:29.020 You only see this picture for 1/12 of a second at most, so your brain isn’t going to process 00:00:29.020 --> 00:00:30.790 that this is what the drawing looks like. 00:00:30.790 --> 00:00:35.219 Instead, your mind fits that image into the pattern of movement. 00:00:35.219 --> 00:00:39.219 What you see is a very fast, cohesive action. 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:43.870 Smear frames exist because in the real world, there is this phenomenon called motion blur. 00:00:43.870 --> 00:00:46.070 Wave something in front of your face really fast. 00:00:46.070 --> 00:00:47.640 It’s blurry. 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.400 Smear frames exist to simulate that real world effect. 00:00:50.400 --> 00:00:53.069 The artist is drawing in the blur. 00:00:53.069 --> 00:00:55.579 And hey, if you wave something in front of your face fast enough, it really will look 00:00:55.579 --> 00:00:58.260 either like multiples of the same thing, or a very long blur. 00:00:58.260 --> 00:00:59.559 That’s your smear frame. 00:00:59.559 --> 00:01:04.270 I really love smear frames because there are no rules about how to make them. 00:01:04.270 --> 00:01:08.990 You can endlessly experiment with distorting the drawings in between two key poses. 00:01:08.990 --> 00:01:10.660 Make tons of body parts. 00:01:10.660 --> 00:01:12.160 Stretch things way out. 00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:14.440 Disintegrate the character into splats of color. 00:01:14.440 --> 00:01:18.550 Nobody’s going to tell you, yeah, to make a smear frame, you make the character twice 00:01:18.550 --> 00:01:22.920 as wide, and give it two sets of eyes, and- no. 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:23.920 No. 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:25.550 There’s no law here. 00:01:25.550 --> 00:01:31.800 Most animation smears serve one of two purposes: to connect two different poses or to create 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:34.890 the illusion of a very fast motion, like spinning. 00:01:34.890 --> 00:01:38.080 Even though you can draw the smear however you want, if you’re starting out making 00:01:38.080 --> 00:01:41.450 these things for the first time, it’s a good idea to follow a principle of using the 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:43.920 distortion to connect two drawings. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.780 You want it to be the bridge between them. 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:51.120 If my character is going straight from A to B, then an eye smear will be along that straight 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:52.120 path. 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:55.510 This or this or this, it doesn’t matter, it’s on the path. 00:01:55.510 --> 00:02:00.140 Look at the motion path of the body parts and draw your smear along those lines. 00:02:00.140 --> 00:02:04.110 If my character is going to dip and weave on the way to B, then the motion path isn’t 00:02:04.110 --> 00:02:05.710 a straight line, it’s this. 00:02:05.710 --> 00:02:07.850 Now her eyes follow this path. 00:02:07.850 --> 00:02:10.140 As does the rest of the body. 00:02:10.140 --> 00:02:13.689 So if anything, the most important part of a smear frame is the motion path. 00:02:13.689 --> 00:02:17.730 Unless your character is literally exploding into pieces all over the place between poses, 00:02:17.730 --> 00:02:21.870 the smear frame distortions will follow the character’s movement, no matter how stretched 00:02:21.870 --> 00:02:25.560 out or multiplied or weird it is. 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:29.379 You can even be sloppy with your drawings, and as long as they’re on the motion path, 00:02:29.379 --> 00:02:31.920 it’ll look good played back in real time. 00:02:31.920 --> 00:02:37.599 Most of the time you’ll need a frame or two to get from the smear back to reality. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:41.819 The ease in can be as simple as some trailing smudges on a regular frame, or it can be a 00:02:41.819 --> 00:02:44.609 decrease in the amount of distortion. 00:02:44.609 --> 00:02:49.129 Smear cycles are a bit different than pose connecting smears because they loop. 00:02:49.129 --> 00:02:53.489 Here’s a classic example of a smear spin from Spongebob Squarepants. 00:02:53.489 --> 00:02:58.299 This one is three drawings with body parts multiplied along the motion arc and some tornado 00:02:58.299 --> 00:02:59.299 lines. 00:02:59.299 --> 00:03:03.269 Just like with pose connecting smears, there are endless ways to make a smear cycle. 00:03:03.269 --> 00:03:06.950 You can draw motion lines, you can multiply parts of the body, you can stretch parts so 00:03:06.950 --> 00:03:09.599 they follow the motion arc. 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:13.389 Smear cycle animations are usually only three or four drawings looped. 00:03:13.389 --> 00:03:16.129 That’s all on smears for now. 00:03:16.129 --> 00:03:21.389 See if you can spot any in the animations you’ve been watching! 00:03:21.389 --> 00:03:30.220 Let’s see what is in the art folder. 00:03:30.220 --> 00:03:31.329 Hm. 00:03:31.329 --> 00:03:36.849 Where is my food dish? 00:03:36.849 --> 00:03:40.459 Oh, here it is. 00:03:40.459 --> 00:03:42.860 NOM NOM NOM NOM. 00:03:42.860 --> 00:03:44.840 Aw, that was delicious! 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:46.489 Now it’s time to dance. 00:03:46.489 --> 00:03:47.489 Dance! 00:03:47.489 --> 00:03:49.209 Thanks for watching. 00:03:49.209 --> 00:03:50.209 See you next time. 00:03:50.209 --> 00:03:50.210 Pbthbhbhbht.