Tracebacks
nbetweening—producing the drawings inbetween the key drawings—is of fundamental importance to the success or failure of animation technique.
An inbetween is a drawing that is usually exactly between two extremes, or key drawings. Consider for example, a ball rolling from A to C.
- The inbetween of A to C is (B): ®
If the animator wants more inbetweens between the key drawings (say, 1 to 9), they would appear as:
In a studio, inbetweening is done by the assistant. It is essential that the assistant accurately carry out what the animator has indicated, even when inbetweening under pressure. Bad inbetweening can turn a potentially excellent piece of smooth animation into a staccato movement, irritating to the eye. Sloppy inbetweening has to be redone, costing the studio money, threatening the production schedule, and creating additional work for two people, who should be moving on to other things. Obviously, the fundamental requirement of inbetweening is accuracy.
To tell the assistant just how many inbetweens are needed between two keys, the animator draws a chart on the first key (drawing 1).
Drawing (5) is indicated in parentheses because it is the first inbetween to be done between 1 and 9 (the key drawings, which are circled). It is called the breakdown drawing.
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