Intermediate
40 mins
Teacher/Student led
Learning Goals
Learning Outcomes
Lesson Files
+70 XP
Pupils work on their own device
What you need:
Chromebook/Laptop/PC
Wick Editor needs no account

Animate a Pendulum, Part 2: Reverse, Balance and Export

Students reverse and mirror their frames into a full swing cycle, delete the guide layer, refine the timing and export a looping GIF. This lesson counts towards outcome 3.8: students use these editing skills to build their digital montage in the montage lessons that follow.

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    1 - Start ~3 mins

    Illustration for StartYou have a pendulum that swings one way and stops. Today you give it the return swing, balance both sides, and export it.

    If your project is gone

    First try last lesson's .wick file: click open at the top right and choose it. If you do not have it, you can rebuild a short version at wickeditor.com. Draw the line and the bob, add the guide arc behind them, and make three frames swinging out from the centre. That takes about six minutes, and once you have it you can do the rest of the lesson from there.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +5 XP

    2 - Why Reversing Works ~5 mins

    A pendulum's return swing is its outward swing backwards. So you do not draw it again. You reuse what you have, in reverse.

    Part of the cycleWhere the frames come from
    Centre out to the leftYou drew these last lesson
    Left back to centreThe same frames, reversed
    Centre out to the rightCopied forward frame by frame, with the bob dragged along the arc to the right
    Right back to centreReversed once more
    Why bother

    Beyond saving work, it guarantees both sides match. A hand-drawn return swing is never quite symmetrical, and the eye notices.

    👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

    +10 XP

    3 - Hands-on: Reverse and Mirror the Swing ~12 mins

    Build the return, then the other side, keeping the frame counts equal.

    +15 XP

    4 - Hands-on: Clean Up, Refine and Export ~13 mins

    Remove the scaffolding, tune the timing, then get the file out.

    +15 XP

    5 - Make Sense ~5 mins

    You built a looping animation out of one hand-drawn quarter of a swing.

    Key point

    Animation is mostly about reusing what you already drew, and putting your effort into the spacing. The drawing is the small part.

    Play your pendulum once more. Every frame is the same simple drawing, so what makes it look like a real swing?

    +10 XP
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