How does “Frames Per Second” work?
Some people think of and treat FPS as speed. Well, it is and it isn’t. FPS is the number of drawn pages (or frames) shown per second. With that in mind, 12 FPS would be 12 drawings animated in one second.
Imagine drawing in 12 pages of a sketchbook showing a ball slowly falling and bouncing off a surface. Each page shows the ball in slightly different positions throughout the process of falling and bouncing. Flipping those pages “animates” those drawings, right?
FPS works similarly in FlipaClip. A project set in 12 FPS will require 12 drawings to fill in one second. While a project set in 10 FPS will require 10 drawings to fill in a second. 7 FPS will require seven. With that in mind, a full three-second animation set in 12 FPS will require 36 frames to fully animate.
Selecting FPS when creating a new project animation
The best time to set FPS is right when you start. Knowing the speed at which your animation plays will help you plan how many frames are needed.
Tap the create button from the home screen to create a new animation project.
Next tap the FPS option.
Choose the number of frames you want to draw to make one second.
Helpful Tips
- The animated bouncing ball you see gives you an idea of what it looks like if you were flipping through that number of frames every second.
- If you change it to a low amount of frames you will see that the bouncing ball animation is choppier.
- If you change it to a higher amount of frames you will see that the bouncing ball is way smoother.
- So if you choose 30 FPS, this means that the animation will look super smooth. However, it also means you will need to draw in 30 frames (pages) to animate one second. Remember that more frames will require more work.
- The highest frames per second you can choose in FlipaClip is 30 FPS.
Changing FPS
If you get to a later point in your project and feel that you need to change the FPS, FlipaClip lets you do it easily.
Open the project you want to edit. You’ll find a menu that is indicated by three dots at the top right of your screen. Tap on it.
Tap on Project settings.
Tap Choose frames per second and select the desired FPS.
From there, tap on the check icon found at the top right portion of the screen.
Test out your animation and don’t forget to Save Changes.
Things to note
The industry standard for animation is 12 FPS. This makes it an ideal number to practice on and to work with.
To smoothly slow an animation down, it would be ideal to draw in more frames to decrease movement increments. This will help achieve a slow-motion feel and make the animation feel smoother.