Overlapping Action
Assignment
For this assignment the student would be using their drawings from Assignment #2 the Slo-in and Slo-out. They are to add a short string with a smaller ball attached to it on the bottom of the Slo-in Slo-out drawings. As the main ball travels across the screen the smaller ball will follow after and then swing to a stop at the end.

Purpose and Principles Involved
This assignment introduces the student to the application of the overlapping principle in their animation

This is a slightly more complicated assignment than the pendulum swing and is given to allow the student to continue to get used to all these basic principles:

• The Effect of Gravity
• Realistic Timing
• Use of Arcs
• Weight
• Slo-in and slo-out
• Use of the Repeat Cycle
• Spatial Relationships
• Accuracy in Drawing
• Reading and Following a Timing Chart
• Maintaining Volume and Proportions
• Flipping Drawings

and to introduce the new principle of overlapping action.
Overlapping action is very similar to secondary action but rather than the overlapping action being a direct result of the primary action it is an action of it’s own that simply moves at an off timing to the original action. An example of this is the stomach of a very fat person who is jumping up and down on the spot. The stomach is slightly delayed to the primary action, sometimes by one or two drawings. So, as the body reaches it’s lowest point in the jump action and the legs begin to propel the body upward, the stomach is still moving down, then on the next drawing it begins to move up with the rest of the body.

Another example would be an old jalopy car with loose fenders, hood, trunk and doors. As the car sits idling, the main frame of the car may be moving up and down on a 4 drawing cycle, however, each of the parts described above would be on a different timing to create a very loose action in the car.

Overlapping action happens mostly in cycle types of action but is not limited to this at all.


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Overlapping Pendulum Swing