The following are properties that are commonly applied for animation and media projects. The settings can be applied to a range of typical production applications, such as Adobe Premiere, After Effects, and Animate, Toon Boom Harmony, Clip Studio, Procreate, and more.
Frame Rates
A good standard for the projection or playback speed of a project is:
- 24 frames per second (fps)
It is also known as:
- Single-frame animation”
- Animation on “ones” or “1s”
Quite often, with 2-dimensional drawn animation in particular, animation is created at:
- 12 images per second
It is also known as:
- Double-frame animation
- On “twos”
As a frame rate, movement at 12 images per second is still relatively smooth. Motion at values less than this, like at 8 or 6 images per second, will seem choppy, and not smooth.
Technically, with digital playback at:
- 24 fps
- Is really 23.976 fps
Aspect Ratios
Regarding the screens where we view work, the image frame, the proportion of units high, or vertical, to wide, or horizontal, are:
- 16:9
- Currently, this is the common format
- 4:3
- The ratio has been popular, particularly for TV and video screens
Dimensions & Resolution
The unit of measurement with digital imagery is measured in:
- Pixels
- The abbreviation of “picture elements,” or
- px
A pixel is the smallest element of a screen image, a tiny little square, depending on the resolution.
If high-definition dimensions (HD) are 1920 by1080 px, there are 2,073,600 pixels in the image.
- HD = 1920 x 1080 pixels or 1080p (at 16:9)
- HD = 1280 x 720 pixels or 720p (at 16:9)
With 4k, or ultra high-definition (UHD), at 3840 x 2160 px, the resolution is four times higher than HD, with 8,294,400 pixels in the image. The visual detail is much higher. And, the frame rates are too.
- UHD = 3840 x 2160 or 4k (at 16:9)
Square pixels = 1.0. This means, the smallest element or unit is 1.0 px high by 1.0 px wide.
Incidentally, there are also “non-square” pixels, 0.9 px high by 1.0 wide. It is an aspect ratio for previous video tape on electronic screens. You might find this is a default setting for projects in Adobe Premiere.
1080p
- Width = 1920
- Height = 1080
- Aspect Ratio = 16:9
- Frames per second = 24 fps
- Square pixels (1.0)
- Audio: 48 kHz or 48000 Hz
The “p” in 1080p stands for “progressive scan.” This means, we view movies as sequences of images progressively, at 24 images per second. This presentation is similar to traditional film. The system is different from “i” (lower-case i) for “interlaced.” That is the previous electronic broadcast TV and video system.
Home Project Folder
When you create a project, particularly for Premiere and After Effects, it is essential that you organize everything in a project folder, like a suitcase. In it, you will make several other folders.
Keep absolutely everything in the production folder and sub-folders. Don’t have stuff strewn all over your hard drive.
Even if you keep everything on your own computer, it’s meant to be portable, one that can be transferred to a drive that you can carry — and back up!
Be sure to include your name and project title as you name it, with a “one-word” file name; that is, all lowercase letters, no spaces. Use an underscore [ _ ] rather than a space.
- [ your_name_project_name ]
In the project folder, make additional folders, to organize assets and source files for editing and compositing:
- [ project files ] for software-specific files, like Premiere <prproj> and After Effects <aep> files
- [ video ] for time-based files, like MP4, QuickTime and AVI
- [ sound ] for audio files, like WAV, AIF, and MP3
- [ images ] for single image files and sequences, like PSD, PNG, and JPG
- [ exported video ] for interim, lossless video files, for compositing
- [ image sequences ] similar to “exported movies,” for interim, lossless sequences, like PNG plus alpha or transparency layers, for compositing
Image Sequences
When you choose to export animation as an image sequence, like for composting purposes, the files will be rendered in sequence, so they all have the same amount of characters in their names. There are placeholder “0” characters for ones, tens, hundreds, and so on. They are also “one-word file names,” without spaces.
- image_001.png
- image_002.png
- image_003.png
- image_004.png
- image_005.png
If you need to make the sequences manually, on your own, be sure the name files in this way.
Compositing & Video Editing Software
Programs like Premiere, After Effects, Animate, Harmony, and the like, will typically organize their workspaces, with:
- Project Window or Library
- Source files
- Pointers or reference files
- Timeline, for video and audio
- Multiple layers or tracks for editing and compositing
- Edit line or time locator
- Preview, for playback, fast forward, reverse, and so on