TONY WHITE’s free tutorials designed to guide the
animation beginner...
Keys and Inbetweens 1: Traditional 2D animation is
made up of two essential elements... "keys" and
"inbetweens". Other terms are used to define the
breaking down of animated action for other forms of
animation too... such as in 3D, Web, etc. which we’ll
deal with later. Nevertheless, all animation... from the
finest of computerized digital masterworks down to
the most basic paper and pencil scribblings... are
ultimately a manipulation of these two single
elements, through established, time-honored
principles.
The greater, "master" character animators from the
past, as well as some that are still amongst us have
simply developed or acquired a greater collection of
such "manipulations" (i.e. animation principles) to
quite literally draw upon. Therefore, even a most basic
application of the principles between these two
elements, keys and inbetweens, will result in the
creation of competent movement and an acceptable
level of animation.
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Keys & Inbetweens 2: Occasionally, there are
animated sequences that will break the "keys" and
"inbetween" two element rule. For example, "straight
ahead" animation is where there are no keys but the
animator creates a "drawing one" then moves on to
drawing "two", drawing "three", drawing "four", etc...
successively adding a slight change of movement each
time until an entire moving sequence is built up.
Alternatively, a sequence of movement might involve
additional indirect elements such as "extreme"
drawings, which essentially define the extent of a
moment within two key positions but are not
necessarily linked to either.
A perfect example of "straight ahead" animation is where
the fingers of a hand tap impatiently on a desk. It is virtually
impossible to "key" and 'inbetween" such an action,
therefore it needing to be animated frame-by-frame (i.e.
using a "straight ahead" technique).
However, for the purposes of this brief course, and
purely in the interests of simplicity, I am choosing to
narrow our vision down to the essential elements of
"keys" and "inbetweens" for the time being. That
point established, a comprehensive appreciation and
thorough understanding of these two basic elements...
in addition to a knowledge of the additional principles
that are possible within the interaction of such keys
and inbetweens... will more than equip the aspiring
young animator with the potential of "mastership"
(that is, given time, practice and a dedicated
application).
(Note: 3D animation of course is not approached in
quite the same way as traditional 2D animation.
However, a thorough understanding of the principles
of the one will certainly go a long way to an
enhancement of the performance and
accomplishment of the other.)
Keys & Inbetweens 3: Simply stated, a "key" is a
drawing that defines the beginning or the end of an
action. An "inbetween" is a drawing that is created
between two other drawings... whether these
drawings are keys or other inbetweens. Consider for
example, a ball rolling from A to C. The two key
drawings in this case are "A" and "C”.
Therefore an accurate inbetween (set precisely in the
middle) of "A" to "C" is "B".
In terms of actual animation, this action would be
impossibly and unrealistically fast (actually "one-
eighth of a second" only... if viewed at 24fps) with
each drawing being shot for one frame of film each
(This is known as animation on "1s"). Therefore, to
slow this action down, the animator will need to add
extra inbetweens... say for example, two more... as
well as maybe shooting each drawing for two frames
of film each (Known as animating on "2s"). Therefore,
in the case of our rolling ball, the typical key drawings
would be "1" and "9" and the required inbetween
drawings would be "3", "5" and 7".
Note: When animating on 2's the animation
numbering will always reflect the accurate frame
numbers wherever possible... i.e. “1", "3", "5", “7",
"9", etc., rather than "1", "2", "3", "4", "5" etc. when
animating on l's.
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Keys & Inbetweens 4: In a large professional studio, it
is the assistant who almost exclusively produces most
of the inbetweening (unless the animator chooses to
draw their own inbetweens for reasons best known to
themselves, or else a production budget cannot
handle an extra salary). It is therefore essential that
the professional assistant animator be extremely fast
and accurate in creating what the animator has
requested (yes, even under pressure... which is more
norm than not).
Bad inbetweening can destroy the animator’s work
and turn a potentially excellent piece of smooth
animation into a jerky, staccato movement, irritating
to the eye. Sloppy inbetweening will invariably have to
be redone in most circumstances.., which, of course,
will both cost the animator and assistant further time
and effort in correcting things and also the studio that
employs them additional money.
Most commercial companies cannot absorb such
avoidable "overages". Therefore, in this competitive
day and age, the sloppy assistant will rarely be
tolerated for long and the studio will consequently
move on to hire someone who can professionally cut
it. Even with independent and student based work,
the fundamental requirement of inbetweening must
be ACCURACY. Without it the movement and timing
will not be as intended and therefore to the detriment
of the overall project.
Charts and Breakdown Drawings: To make sure that
the animator's wishes are adhered to accurately by
the assistant there has to be a clear system of rapport
and communication between them both. It is clearly
not desirable, nor even possible in many situations, for
the animator to verbally communicate his wishes to
the assistant on a key-by-key basis. Therefore, to help
the assistant understanding the intention, an animator
will draw a "chart" on the first of two key drawings to
illustrate where the inbetween placements are to be.
This chart will usually be drawn on the first key
drawing of two keys. Therefore, in the earlier example
of the rolling ball, the chart below will be drafted onto
key "1". This chart indicates that the animator first
wants an inbetween "(5)" to be placed between keys
"1" and "9" and then two further inbetweens be
added... "3" between "1" and "(5)" and “7" between
"(5)" and "9". This will give three evenly spaced
inbetween drawings between the two keys.
Note that drawing "(5)"is indicated in parentheses. This is
because it indicates the first inbetween the animator
requires the assistant to do "I" and "9 ' Because of its special
significance, this inbetween drawing is actually referred to
as the "breakdown" drawing. Key drawings are always
charted as circled.
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Studying the chart further, we can deduce that when
the breakdown "(5)" drawing is completed, the
assistant must then put in the two other inbetween
drawings "3" in the middle of "1" and "(5)", then “7" in
the middle of "(5)" and “9”. There can of course be
more (or less) inbetweens between two key drawings
but it is the animators chart on the lead key drawing
that defines just what the animator requires the
assistant to do. In principle, the animator will rarely
leave more than one or two inbetweens for the
assistant to do between drawings, except on very slow
actions requiring a large number of very close
inbetweens. Additionally, the animator will invariably
do the breakdown drawing themselves, for the very
reason that it is often a "distorted" inbetween. i.e. not
directly in the middle but biased to one side of the
other... or else with a subtle change of direction within
some part of the normal movement, to create an
specific action or timing effect. If the same ball rolling
action was animated on ones, on say an arc for
example, then the chart and work appropriation might
look like this.
When all the inbetween drawings are finished, the
assistant shoots the completed scene... either by
recording digitally or else by using a traditional
videotape pencil test camera... whereupon the
animator will view it to check out the inbetweening
and action.
Slowing In and Slowing Out: It is very rare that an If, on the other hand, the animator places most of the
animator will want to have evenly placed inbetween inbetweens at the beginning of the movement,
drawings between two keys. Nothing in life, except emphasizing a speeding up of the action as it moves,
maybe machines, moves at a consistent, even speed then this is known as "slow out".
and animation that moves well will have to reflect this
fact. Most action involves a movement either slowing Note too that on this chart the breakdown drawing
down or speeding up. Check it out... observe people has changed to number “(7)”.
moving and doing things and you will see this is true.
Therefore, to achieve this naturalness of movement,
an animator will draw a chart differently from key to
key. Ever aware of the enduring principle that the
more drawings there are between two keys the slower
it will be... and the less drawings there are the faster is
it. An animator will devise a chart that arranges
inbetweens in a way that the action will either slow
down, or speed up. Therefore, if the animator wants
an action to slow down at the end, their chart will
indicate that there are more inbetweens towards the Occasionally, with longer and larger movements, the
end of the action than at the beginning. animator may require that the action speed up, and
then slow down, between the two keys. This is known
as a "slowing-out/slowing-in" movement. In such a
case and depending on the nature of what the action
is, the animator would probably draw the breakdown
drawing, in addition to the two key drawings, simply
to remove the heavy inbetweening burden from the
assistant, if the action is complex.

This setup is known as a "slow-in", because there are

more drawings and the end of the action, causing it to
slow into the final key position. Note that the
breakdown drawing is number “(3)” in this chart, due
to the parenthesis around it.

Remember that the key drawings are always circled,

and the breakdown drawing is always indicated in
parentheses.

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Key Points: Assistant animators invariably encounter
inbetweening problems that are far more difficult than
our previous example of a rolling ball! To
accommodate this there are several means by which
dissimilar shapes can be inbetweened quite
accurately, removing much of the guesswork. The use
of "key points" is one such means. For example, let us
consider one shape "T" turning into another "T" using
even inbetweens.

Having accurately indicated the key points for the

breakdown drawing, the assistant then will join those
key points with a smooth, natural line, matching the
line quality of the key drawings. Once the breakdown
drawing "(5)" is completed, the other two inbetweens
are created using an identical approach... where
inbetween "3" is created between "1" and "(5)" and
inbetween "7" is created between "(5)" and “9”. Shot
as separate drawings on 2s (two frames for one
drawing), the first shape of T will instantly and
The chart will read as such....
accurately animate into the second "T” shape.

Following the requirements of this charting, the

assistant will first visualize, then mark, a series of key In 3D animation terms, this action of one shape
points that link the most identifiable, common aspects turning into another is known as a "morph".
of the two shapes. In this example, they would lightly
mark the midpoints of the corner positions clearly
visible in each key, lightly with a blue pencil.

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Superimposition (or unpegging): Now, taking the
"morphing" concept one stage further... if the same
shape is changing and moving across the screen at the
same time, it raises further problems for the assistant.
For example, the letter "A" animates to the letter "Z"
in even inbetweens...
With this example the corner key points will obviously
not be located as accurately as before, therefore
another trick of the trade has to be learned. This will
require an even greater degree of visual judgment by
the assistant but it will make life all the much easier
once it is appreciated. With this example, we must
imagine the first key drawing "1" and the second key
drawing "9" are on separate sheets of paper, directly
on top of each other on the registration peg bar. A
third sheet of blank paper is placed above them both...
this will be our breakdown drawing "(5)". First, the
accurate center points of the shapes on the two key
drawings are marked lightly.
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Then, turning the lightbox on to allow us to see
through the three sheets of paper at once, the center
key point of the breakdown drawing "(5)" is marked at
a precise midway position between the two on the top
sheet of paper. (Note: The line linking the center
points between two keys, upon which the center point
of the breakdown drawing is located, is called a "path
of action".)
Having established the four key points on the
breakdown level, the animator then removes the
drawings from the pegbar. These three sheets are
then "superimposed" over one another on the
lightbox until the center markings are accurately lined
up, one above the other. These three sheets of paper
are then fastened down with bulldog clips, outside of
the drawing area... the assistant taking care that they
remain aligned until the fastening is complete. (Note:
Whilst doing this, the assistant must also make sure
that all three sheets remain perfectly square to one
another as, if one sheet slips or rotates in any one
direction, a slide or "twitch" will appear in the final
action, making the inbetweens unusable.)
 More often than not however, it is not possible to use
an identifiable center mark as our point of reference
when creating in a breakdown point between two key
drawings. In this case, the assistant must use even
more enhanced visual judgment to assess where this
point, and shape, might be. For example, if a balloon
animates into an irregular shape, such as a hand, the
assistant will have to use their best judgment in
estimating the approximate breakdown position
between the two key shapes. It may be possible to
estimate a center position at the same time but,
usually, it is only really possible to rough estimate an
approximate shape and position between the two
keys and lightly sketch it in with a blue pencil...

Once all three drawings have been accurately secured

as above, the breakdown drawing can be completed
as in the previous "key points" exercise. When the
breakdown "(5)" drawing is completed, all three
sheets is placed back onto the registration pegs where
a quick visual "flip" check can be made for any
possible error. However, if the assistant has done his
job well, the breakdown drawing should be perfectly
inbetweened and the remaining two inbetweens may
be created similarly. However, having made this initial assessment (and
hopefully central to the two key positions) the
assistant again superimposes the two key drawings
under the third sheet in a way where they are
accurately over one another as possible. These
positioned sheets can then be fastened down as
before and the more accurate breakdown drawing be
completed. Once the assistant has returned the
drawings back onto the pegbar for a flip test and
confirmed that the breakdown drawing is accurate,
the remaining inbetweens can be similarly completed.

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Flipping: One of the finest skills an animator or
assistant can learn is "flipping”. Flipping is a method of
getting the feel of how a moving sequence is going by
simple flipping a number of drawings in sequence, one
after the other... just in the same way the flip books
we all owned, or created, as kids created magical
movement. However, unless somehow we fix a huge
pile of large animation drawings together, the
maximum numbers of drawings that can be flipped on
a peg bar at once are five. (That being the number of
digits we have to work with on a human hand.) There
are three kinds of flipping possible.... "bottom pegs"
flipping, "top pegs" flipping and "whole scene"
flipping.
Bottom pegs flipping is probably the easiest of all the
three. An animator or assistant will place five
consecutive animation drawings on the peg bar... then
interleave their fingers between the top four sheets. It
is then just a process of coordinating the finger
movements to enable the drawings to fleetingly and
consecutively pass the field of vision, top to bottom
and back again. The free hand will probably be
required to hold the drawings securely on the pegs as
the sheets are flipped.
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Although I personally prefer to animate using the top
pegs approach, this way of animating does definitely
make flipping harder. It takes more patience and
finger/eye coordination to flip a collection of five top
peg drawings at once... but the effort is well and truly
worth it, once it is mastered. With the drawings being
on top pegs, it is impossible to use one hand alone to
interleave between the drawings. Therefore two
hands have to be used. This is done by having the
index finger and thumb of the left hand to hold the
second from the top animation drawing, and the next
two fingers of the same hand to hold the top sheet.
The right hand performs similarly, gripping the fourth
and third animation drawing respectively. The hard
part is learning to coordinate the relevant finger
movements to create a sequential flipping motion
with the drawings. It is hard, and will take trial an
error. But it can be done and patience will be
rewarded ultimately.
Incidentally, as there is no free hand to hold the
animation drawings securely on the peg bar with this
method, there is a danger of them flying off the pegs
as the flipping is attempted. To remedy this, a large
rubber band can be stretched over the peg bar, on top
of the drawings, to create the required stability.
The final system of flipping is whole scene flipping. As
its title implies, whole scene flipping can only be
attempted when the complete scene of animation is
done or at least a significant amount of it is. The
drawings are shuffled together in numerical order, the
lowest number on the bottom and the highest number
on top. The animator or assistant hold the drawings up
to about eye level with one hand and proceeds to flip
the drawings, one by one, with the thumb of the
other. The gravity effect causes each individual
drawing to fall, one after the other, as long as the pile
of drawings are held slightly above a parallel to the
ground. Again, a little practice will be required to
affect this system smoothly but, once mastered, it is
possible to assess the flow and action of the animated
scene before the more time consuming process of
shooting a pencil test is attempted.
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I believe that it is not possible for a true animator to
hold their head up high without first acquiring the
facility of flipping. Flipping is such an "organic" process
to the art of movement that it should be worked at
and mastered if its benefits are to be fully realized.
Often, in a professional setting, it is quite common for
animators to be seen wandering around the studio,
flipping their latest scenes at one another. In all
seriousness, there is no better way of assessing the
general feel of your animation flow than by flipping,
However, not being mechanically consistent in terms
of flipping speed, it can only be when a scene is
formally shot and the playback seen at regulation
speed that the precise timing of an action can be fully
assessed.
Head Turns: It cannot be emphasized enough…
everything that moves in life, moves in arcs, never in
straight lines. The animator must always be conscious
of this fact when considering any new action and
needs to underline this point to the assistant also. It is
by using arcs, however subtle they may be, that your
animation will take on a greater sense of reality and
naturalness. By way of explanation, let us consider
these two key drawings of a basic head turning,
showing the head moving from front to profile.
How might the breakdown drawing be approached
here to reflect the use of arcs? Well, the way that it is
most certainly NOT drawn is as a straight inbetween...
A logical, straight inbetween of the head turn will look
"mechanical" and will actually give the appearance
that the features of the face are sliding across the
head. Try it and see. Therefore, to avoid this
happening and to make the action look more natural
and realistic, the breakdown needs to be positioned at
the base of a downward arc.
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However, before you draw your breakdown, try
turning your own head and sense what is happening.
You will be conscious of a very slight dip in its path of
your head's action as it turns... however slight that dip
may be... and a sense that your head moves up at the
other end as your eyes focus on what you are turning
to see. It's quite subtle, but it’s real. This is the action
that has to be imitated for our example. Therefore, a
more natural-looking breakdown drawing might
appear as…
Remember also that when the other inbetweens have
to be added to the arced action, they too will have to
be drawn on an arc also... never in a straight line. This
sequence may take a little longer for the assistant to
do (I would expect the animator to do the breakdown
drawing in this case, unless the assistant is an
experienced, seasoned professional) but the final
effect on the action will be so much superior to the
straight inbetweens, which might be attempted if
speed and inexperience are a factor.
Now bringing the eyes into play, on top of the arced
head turn, will bring even more life and naturalness to
the action. Therefore, in the next lesson we will deal
with the basic elements that are involved in eye
action.
Eye Movements: As earlier suggested, it is a very
valuable exercise for an animator to be able feel out
the proposed movements of a character through their
own body first, wherever possible. To animate well, an
animator truly needs to literally "feel" that action
within them before attempting it. Remember too that
the action of a character is determined by their
inherent thoughts and feelings within the scene... for
thinking always initiates action. Remember too that
animation is not just making drawings move… it is
making drawing move WELL. That is dependent upon a
number of factors that the animator needs to address
before starting a scene, the least of which being the
ability to feel the action within themselves before
animating it. I suggest that this as the "method school
of animation".., where you only really get out what
you put in and what you put in must come from within
your own understanding of yourself and the script.
The more effort the animator puts in up front, the
better the action will turn out. It is an old, well-worn axiom but the eyes truly are
"the window to the soul". We can tell so much about a
With such intentions in mind, start to become aware person, how they are thinking and how they are
of your own body and its movement… specifically its feeling, from the expression in their eyes. When it
less obvious movement. Apart from the arcing comes to films, whether they be animated or
movements discussed, what other events happen otherwise, it is universally acknowledged that the
when you turn your head from front to side? (A word audience will always focus on the eyes when a person,
of caution and reminder here... everyone acts or character, is speaking. And, when it comes to
differently when performing the same action and even market research, to test audience responses to
the same person might turn their head in a number of products in advertising commercials, it is the degrees
different ways, depending on their general alertness, of dilation in the pupils of the eyes of the audience
intention or state of emotion [such as fear, irritation, that acts as a barometer to their receptivity to the
aggression, supplication, desire, etc.]... so don't be products or not. Therefore, so important are the eyes
surprised if your action differs from what follows!) to the enrichment or a character's performance, that
Pretty much universally, the normal expectation of a some additional attention, concerning the animation
head turn is that as it turns, the eyes close fully of eyes, will be invaluable...
midway through. This happens as they are beginning
to adjust to a look in a new direction. Therefore, in the
case of our example, the breakdown drawing will
require a definite eye change if it is to become more
impactful and plausible, which simply closing the eyes
will emphasize...

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For example, if the pupil is moving from one side of
the eyeball to the other, it is essential that the action
of that pupil also be placed on an arc. If not, the same
sliding effect we discussed earlier with the straight
head turn will occur. Remember too that the eye is a
ball, not just a fiat white circle, so the action must
reflect a spherical one, not a lateral one. Anyway, to
gain strength and plausibility to the moving eye, the
movement will be more successfully achieved as so....

Other subtle touches involved with the eyes will

enhance, many fold, the effectiveness of the action.
For example, character receptivity. Have you noticed
Now, if the pupil is moving on just one side of the
that if the pupil in the eye of a real person is very
eyeball, either up or down... then the action of that
small, it gives the impression that they are dazed,
pupil becomes even more convincing if the outer circle
weak, bored or just generally out of salts. On the other
of the eyeball it touches is stretched out just a little
hand, if a person's pupil is very large it gives the
where the pupil is. This distortion (again the more
impression of interest, receptivity, awareness... or
subtly drawn the better... although with some
simply that they are under the influence of some
cartoon approaches this can be exaggerated quite
relaxant substances! Therefore, animated character
outrageously) would consequently move up or down
eyes should reflect this reality, depending on the
with the pupil as it moves...
thinking and emotion of the character at any moment
in a scene. For example, below “A” is quite
reminiscent of a startled response, or of Homer
Simpson's vacant gaze... whilst “B" is more an
expression that two lovers might have when gazing
into each other’s eyes, or else a cat might have when
it's about to pounce on its unsuspecting prey.

With regards to our head turn example... when the

characters head is turning in one direction, the action
will be so much more convincing and impactful if the
eyes actually lead the direction of the head as early
within the action as possible. The following charting
and keying is a suggestion only, as so many factors will
influence why it should be created differently.

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Exposure Sheets: An "exposure sheet" ("x-sheet or
"dope sheet") is a page (or series of pages) that
contains all the relevant information that the animator
will need to use when animating... including the
phonetic breakdown transferred from the bar sheets,
scene "start" and "cut" (end) points, the director's
action notes and timings, areas for logging animation
and communicating shooting instructions to the
cameraman, etc. The exposure sheet is therefore the
means by which the animator can both organize their
thinking all in one place and then communicate these
thoughts to others in the production chain. In some
ways, the exposure sheet is quite similar to a bar
sheet, in that it reproduces exactly... with frame-by-
frame accuracy... the phonetic breakdown the sound
editor produced for the bar sheets. The only exception
to this is that the exposure sheet is smaller in size and
formatted somewhat differently. A typical exposure
sheet looks like this...
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Although many exposure sheets do differ (mainly in
layout) from studio to studio and country to country,
the information contained here is pretty much
standard. At first glance the x-sheet will appear a
formidable adversary... comprising of a confusing
number of vertical columns and horizontal lines.
However, once this is all broken down into its various
relevant parts, and understood well enough, the
exposure sheet soon becomes a friend, not an enemy.
Apart from the top section... which clearly provides
space for the writing in of the "Sequence", "Scene",
"Scene Title" and "Page number" information.., the
narrowly-spaced horizontal lines, seen beneath,
basically represent each frame of film the animator
will be using. The vertical columns, on the other hand,
represent other aspects of what comprises a scene
and the animation process... namely (from left to
right) the director's/animator's action notes column,
the dialogue breakdown column, the six columns that
represent the layers possible for cel animation plus
background artwork, and the camera instructions
column.
There are 16 frames of action for every foot of 35mm film;
therefore every sixteenth horizontal line on the exposure
sheet is printed with a double fine-line, to indicate that a
foot of film has been reached; as most animation has been
traditionally produced on 35mm film... and as cinema
projectors project film at 24 "fps” (frames per second).
It has always been easy to assess the exposure sheets
in terms of "time"… that one and a half feet of film
equals one second of time... i.e. three sections of the
heavier ruling. (Indeed, as I prefer to work in time
terms, rather than footage terms, I invariably circle
the number of seconds passed in the
"director/animator's" column beside the dialogue
column.)
The far left column is basically available for the
director and/or the animator to make action notes,
sketch in thumbnail pose ideas, suggest timings that
need to be adhered to, etc. It is basically a time and
motion "note pad" which has no relevance to anyone,
other than the director or animator. This column is
therefore really only used prior to the animation being
produced.
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The next column across indicates the phonetic
breakdown of the soundtrack. This will be information
that has been directly transferred from the bar sheet,
on a frame-by-frame basis, and will accurately indicate
just on what frame (or frames) each word's phonetic
breakdown falls. (Note: With regards "phonetic"
breakdowns... if the word being analyzed is "barn",
then it will phonetically notated as "B", "AH", "N".
If, alternatively, there is a musical content in the
soundtrack, then the dialogue column will display both
the timings of the "music beats" (usually marked with
a colored asterisk on each frame where the beat
falls).., in addition to the "lyrics", broken down
phonetically as before.
The next set of six, vertical columns indicate the
maximum levels of cels... plus background... that can
possibly be filmed together at any one time.
Traditional 2D animation established the fact that a
set maximum of cels only could be shot over a
background at any one time and that any more than
this would render the background and lower cel
artwork too dark. (Due to the fact that each level of
cel [acetate] reduced the light intensity of the artwork
significantly... and therefore it was universally Finally, the vertical column to the right of the
accepted that there could only be a maximum of five exposure sheet is exclusively reserved for the
levels used before the scene would begin to look animator to communicate specific, additional
impossibly dark) instructions to the cameraman. (i.e. "Additional" to
the shooting instructions indicated in the previous six
columns.) Such additional information can include the
"Start" and "Cut" (end) points of the scene, the "field
size" (i.e. area of artwork to be seen by the camera)
required, any "panning & tracking" movements, "fade-
in" and "fade-out" instructions, etc.

However, with modern digital technology of course,

there is no limit to the number of animation layers
that can be used... thereby, in some ways, making this
traditional exposure sheet system impractical when it
comes to the more multi-level work. (Hence the need
for each animator, or animation studio, to adapt the
traditional exposure sheet format to suit their own
personal requirements.)
Now, reading the animation level columns from right
to left, we can see that the first... and lowest level is
that reserved for the background. Then, the layers
ascend... column "1" being the lowest level and
column "5" being the highest. A great deal of full,
traditional animation is still produced on one or two
levels however.., plus a background. Therefore, unless
five levels are used in any one scene, it will most likely
only be columns "1" and “2” that are used.
Needless to say, such information must always be
clearly and coherently written by the animator.., as
any ambiguous instructions here will undoubtedly lead
to confusion on the part of the cameraman, causing
errors in the shoot and therefore a need for the entire
scene having to be filmed again. (Note: In speaking in
terms of "cameraman", "shoot" and "filmed", we are
here referring to traditional terminology that still
somehow sticks in the industry. It should therefore be
taken as read that these terms can also apply to
modern "scanning" and "digital compositing"
techniques also.)

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