OpenMontage/skills/creative/animation-pipeline.md

Animation & Motion Graphics Pipeline

Sources: School of Motion curriculum, After Effects documentation, Remotion documentation, Disney's 12 Principles of Animation (Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston), Motion Design School, The Animator's Survival Kit (Richard Williams)

Quick Reference Card

FRAME RATE:       30fps for web video | 24fps for cinematic feel | 60fps for UI/smooth motion
EASE DEFAULT:     easeInOutCubic (0.65, 0, 0.35, 1) — never use linear
TRANSITION:       0.5-1.0s between scenes
ANTICIPATION:     2-3 frames before main action
OVERSHOOT:        10-15% past target, settle back in 3-5 frames
HOLD FRAMES:      6-12 frames (0.2-0.4s) on key poses
COLOR:            Max 5 colors from playbook palette
EXPORT:           H.264 CRF 18-20 for web, ProRes 422 for editing

Frame Rate Selection

Style	FPS	When to Use
Cinematic animation	24	Film-like feel, character animation, organic motion
Web/explainer standard	30	Default for YouTube/web video. OpenMontage default.
Smooth UI animation	60	Software demos, UI transitions, scrolling
Stylized/limited	12-15 on 2s/3s	Deliberately choppy, artistic choice

OpenMontage default: 30fps. Render Manim at 60fps and transcode to 30fps for smoother motion at delivery frame rate.

Timing Principles (Applied to Motion Graphics)

The 4 Most Important Principles

Principle	Application	Timing
Ease In/Out	Every movement starts slow, ends slow	Use cubic or quart easing, never linear
Anticipation	Brief movement opposite to the main action	2-3 frames (66-100ms at 30fps)
Overshoot	Object passes target, bounces back	10-15% past target, settle in 3-5 frames
Staging	Only one thing moves at a time	Stagger animations by 3-6 frames

Easing Curves

Curve	Cubic Bezier	Use For
easeOutCubic	(0.33, 1, 0.68, 1)	Objects entering the scene
easeInCubic	(0.32, 0, 0.67, 0)	Objects leaving the scene
easeInOutCubic	(0.65, 0, 0.35, 1)	Position changes within scene
easeOutBack	(0.34, 1.56, 0.64, 1)	Bouncy pop-in (playful)
easeOutElastic	spring simulation	Attention-grabbing reveals
linear	(0, 0, 1, 1)	NEVER for motion — only for opacity or color

Hold Frames

After a movement completes, hold the pose before the next animation:

Context	Hold Duration
Key information on screen	1.0-2.0s (narration dependent)
Between animation beats	0.3-0.5s (8-15 frames at 30fps)
After a reveal	1.5-3.0s (let it register)
Quick transition	0.1-0.2s (3-6 frames)

Scene Transitions

Transition	Duration	When to Use
Hard cut	Instant	Same topic, different angle/zoom
Crossfade	0.5-1.0s	Topic change, gentle shift
Wipe/slide	0.5-0.8s	Sequential steps, progression
Zoom in	0.8-1.2s	Diving deeper into detail
Zoom out	0.8-1.2s	Revealing bigger picture
Match cut	Instant	Same shape/position, different content
Morph/transform	1.0-2.0s	Concept evolution, before/after

Transition Rules

1. Consistent transitions — pick 2-3 types and stick with them throughout the video
2. Transition = meaning — a wipe means "next step," a zoom means "deeper detail"
3. Don't over-transition — a hard cut is the most invisible and most professional transition
4. Audio leads visual — start transition sound 10-20ms before the visual change

Composition for Motion Graphics

Layout

• Rule of thirds — place focal elements on intersection points
• Visual hierarchy — largest/brightest element = most important
• White space — minimum 10% margin on all sides (within title-safe)
• Direction of motion — left-to-right = forward/progress, right-to-left = reverse/back

Color

• Max 5 colors from the style playbook palette
• 1 accent color for emphasis — used sparingly
• Background should be the least saturated color
• Contrast between foreground elements and background: minimum 3:1

Stagger and Choreography

When multiple elements enter:

• Stagger entry by 3-6 frames (100-200ms) between elements
• Enter from the same direction for grouped elements
• Use LaggedStart (Manim) or staggered delay (Remotion) with lag_ratio=0.1-0.2

Export Settings

Target	Codec	Settings
YouTube/web final	H.264	CRF 18-20, -pix_fmt yuv420p, -movflags +faststart
Editing intermediate	ProRes 422	For further editing/compositing
Transparent overlay	ProRes 4444	When compositing over other footage
GIF preview	GIF	480px wide, 15fps, 256 colors

Applying to OpenMontage

When building animation/motion graphics content:

1. Render at 30fps (OpenMontage default) — Manim at 60fps, transcode down
2. Never use linear easing — default to easeInOutCubic for all motion
3. Stagger multi-element entrances by 100-200ms — don't reveal everything at once
4. Hold key frames for 1.0-2.0s after reveals (synced to narration)
5. Use 2-3 transition types consistently — hard cut + crossfade covers most needs
6. Audio leads visual — SFX starts 10-20ms before transition (see sound-design.md)
7. Max 5 palette colors — enforce from the style playbook
8. Anticipation + overshoot on important movements for polish
9. Export H.264 CRF 18-20 for final output via video_compose