Timing & Principles

The pose updates only every 2 or 3 frames, giving a choppier hand-drawn rhythm than every-frame (ones) motion.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate [scene] by "Animating on Twos" (also called on twos or held frames): hold each pose for two frames, so the picture updates half as often as the video plays.
The motion should keep its path and overall speed but advance in small, even jerks, like hand-drawn or stop-motion animation — not a few big jumps with long pauses, which would be a stepped ease.
Keep it up for [duration], and hold each pose one frame longer (on threes) if it should feel choppier still.

A small move in the opposite direction before the main move, like a wind-up; the start-of-move counterpart of Overshoot.

This is for a motion graphics video. Start the move in [scene] with "Anticipation" (also called a wind-up or back in): the object first pulls back a little in the opposite direction, then launches into the main move.
The pull-back belongs to the start, before the object leaves — it is the mirror of an overshoot, which runs past the target at the end.
Fit the wind-up and the move into [duration], keeping the pull-back small and unhurried so the launch that follows feels fast.

The object follows a curved trajectory instead of a straight line; compare with a straight A-to-B move.

This is for a motion graphics video. Move the object in [scene] along "Arcs" (also called arc motion or a curved path): it travels from one position to the next on a curved trajectory instead of a straight line.
The start and end points stay where they are — only the path between them bends, the way a thrown ball or a swinging arm moves, where a straight A-to-B move looks mechanical.
Fit the move into [duration], and keep the curve one smooth sweep with no kinks along the way.

The object hits the target like a ball hitting the floor and rebounds with smaller hops until it rests; differs from Elastic by a hard stop at each contact.

This is for a motion graphics video. End the move in [scene] with a "Bounce" (also called a bounce ease or bounce out): the object hits its target like a ball hitting the floor and rebounds in smaller and smaller hops until it rests.
It should never pass through the target — each contact is a hard stop that turns it straight back, unlike an elastic ease, which swings past the target on both sides.
Fit the move and its hops into [duration], and make each hop clearly shorter than the one before.

The motion repeats from the start; in a seamless loop the end state matches the start so no restart is visible.

This is for a motion graphics video. Repeat the motion in [scene] as a "Cycle Loop" (also called a loop or repeat): each time it reaches the end, it starts again from the beginning.
It should jump back to the start rather than play backwards, which would be a ping-pong loop. For a seamless loop, make the last frame match the first so the restart cannot be seen.
Keep it looping for [duration]; if each repeat should carry on from where the last one ended instead of returning to the start, make it an offset loop.

Starts slowly and accelerates toward the end, so the object leaves at full speed; opposite of Ease Out.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate the move in [scene] with an "Ease In" (also called slow in, or accelerating): it starts slowly and keeps speeding up, so the object is at full speed when the move ends.
Do not soften the end — that is an ease out, the opposite curve, which starts fast and settles gently.
Fit the move into [duration]; it suits an object leaving the frame, since it is never seen stopping.

Slow start, fast middle, slow stop; differs from Ease Out by also accelerating gently at the start.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate the move in [scene] with an "Ease In-Out" (also called easy ease, or slow in and slow out): it starts slowly, is fastest through the middle, and slows to a soft stop.
Both ends should be gentle — unlike an ease out, which starts at full speed and only softens the stop.
Fit the move into [duration], and pick a stronger curve if the middle should feel like a quick snap between two rests.

Starts fast and decelerates to a soft stop; the object arrives already moving and settles gently, opposite of Ease In.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate the move in [scene] with an "Ease Out" (also called slow out, or decelerating): it starts at full speed and slows down steadily into a soft stop.
Do not soften the start — the object should already be moving when it appears, unlike an ease in-out, which also builds up speed gently.
Fit the move into [duration]; it suits an element entering the frame and settling into place.

Not a single look but the idea that speed changes over a move; compare with Linear to see eased motion feel natural instead of mechanical.

This is for a motion graphics video. Give every move in [scene] "Easing" (also called a timing curve or speed curve): let the speed change over the course of each move instead of staying constant.
Constant-speed (linear) motion looks mechanical; eased motion gathers speed and slows down the way real things do — ease out for things arriving, ease in for things leaving, ease in-out for moves that stay on screen.
Keep each move within [duration], and use the same family of curves throughout so the piece feels consistent.

Oscillates around the target several times with fading amplitude, like a stretched rubber band let go; more wobbles than Overshoot.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate the move in [scene] with "Elastic" easing (also called an elastic ease or elastic out): the object snaps to its target and wobbles back and forth around it, each swing smaller, like a stretched rubber band let go.
It should cross the target several times — an overshoot passes it only once, and a bounce never passes it at all.
Fit the move and the wobble into [duration], and let the wobble die out fully before the end.

A real movement pushed to more extreme scale or timing than realism; visible only as an intensity choice against a realistic version.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate [scene] with "Exaggeration": take the movement as it would really happen and push it further — a bigger wind-up, a longer stretch, a harder stop.
It is the same action with the intensity turned up, not a different one: keep the path and the order of events, and enlarge how far and how sharply each of them goes.
Fit it into [duration], and stop just short of the point where the object is no longer recognizable — it should feel cartoony and playful, not broken.

Loosely attached parts keep moving or trail behind after the main body stops or starts, so parts do not all move and stop together.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate [scene] with "Follow Through and Overlapping Action" (also called drag or lag): the loosely attached parts trail behind when the main body sets off, and keep going, swing past and settle after it has stopped.
The parts must not all move and stop together. They are passive — pulled along by the body — unlike a secondary action, which is a small separate gesture playing alongside the main one.
Fit the move and the settling into [duration], and let longer or lighter parts lag further and take longer to come to rest.

Outlines tremble slightly frame to frame as if redrawn each time, giving a lively handmade look even when the shape stays still.

This is for a motion graphics video. Give the outlines in [scene] a "Line Boil" (also called boiling lines or wiggly lines): redraw every line slightly differently every few frames, so it trembles in place even while the shape itself stays still.
It should change in small sudden steps at a low frame rate, like flipping through hand-traced drawings — not flow smoothly, which reads as liquid, and not shift the whole shape around, which is a wiggle.
Keep it boiling for [duration], and keep the tremble small enough that the shape stays easy to read.

The object passes its target slightly and then returns to it; differs from Bounce in that it makes one pass and settles without hitting a floor.

This is for a motion graphics video. End the move in [scene] with an "Overshoot" (also called a back ease or back out): the object runs slightly past its target, then comes back and settles on it.
It should pass the target only once, with no wobble afterwards — a bounce hits the target and rebounds without passing it, and an elastic ease swings past it several times.
Fit the move into [duration], and keep the overshoot small so it reads as energy rather than a mistake.

The motion plays forward then in reverse repeatedly; differs from Cycle Loop by not jumping back to the start.

This is for a motion graphics video. Repeat the motion in [scene] as a "Ping-Pong Loop" (also called a yoyo or boomerang): it plays forward to the end, then plays in reverse back to the start, and keeps going back and forth.
It should never jump — a cycle loop snaps back to the first frame and restarts, while this one retraces its own path.
Keep it going for [duration], with a soft turn at each end so the change of direction feels like breathing rather than hitting a wall.

A smaller supporting motion plays alongside the main one to add life without stealing focus.

This is for a motion graphics video. Add a "Secondary Action" to the main motion in [scene]: a smaller supporting movement that plays alongside it — a small accent, a blink, a flick — to give it more life.
It is a little gesture of its own, not a loose part dragged along behind the body (that is follow through), and it must never pull attention away from the main action.
Fit both into [duration], and let the small movement begin and end inside the main one.

One or two in-between frames distort or duplicate the subject along its path to fake motion blur during a very fast move.

This is for a motion graphics video. Use a "Smear Frame" (also called a smear or an elongated in-between) for the fast move in [scene]: for just a frame or two in the middle of the move, stretch the subject along its path so that it bridges the gap between the two positions.
The shape itself is redrawn — stretched, repeated as multiples, or trailed by motion lines — rather than blurred the way a camera would blur it, and the frames before and after stay sharp and undistorted.
Keep the whole move inside [duration] and very quick, so the smear is felt as speed rather than noticed as a shape.

Physics-driven motion that overshoots and oscillates around the target before resting; behavior comes from stiffness, damping and mass rather than a fixed curve.

This is for a motion graphics video. Drive the move in [scene] with a "Spring" (also called a spring animation or damped spring): a simulated spring pulls the object to its target, so it picks up speed from rest, runs past the target and swings around it before resting.
The motion should come from stiffness, damping and mass rather than a fixed curve — lower the damping for more swings, or raise it until the object settles with no overshoot at all.
Let it come to rest within [duration], and keep the same spring settings on every element so they feel like one material.

The object compresses and elongates while keeping its volume, conveying weight and flexibility.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate [scene] with "Squash and Stretch": the object flattens when it lands or is hit, and elongates along its direction of travel while it moves fast.
Keep its volume constant — when it gets wider it must get shorter, and the reverse — and tie every change of shape to the movement, so it reads as weight and flexibility rather than a rubber-band wobble played on the spot.
Fit the action into [duration], and deform it a lot for something soft and only slightly for something stiff.

The value jumps in discrete steps (or once, for a hold) instead of moving smoothly; a hold is one instant snap that then stays put.

This is for a motion graphics video. Animate the change in [scene] with "Steps" (also called a stepped ease or hold keyframes): the value jumps from one position to the next in a few discrete steps and stays still in between, with no smooth in-between motion.
For a hold, make it a single jump — the object stays put, snaps to the new value in one instant and stays there. These are a few deliberate jumps, not the fine frame-by-frame choppiness of animating on twos.
Spread the jumps evenly over [duration].

Randomized small offsets at a set frequency and amplitude make the object tremble or drift irregularly rather than along a designed path.

This is for a motion graphics video. Add a "Wiggle" (also called jitter or a random shake) to the element in [scene]: it keeps straying from its place by small random amounts, at a steady rate and within a steady range.
The offsets must be irregular — an even side-to-side swing is a shake, not a wiggle — and only this element moves, not the whole frame as with a handheld camera.
Keep it going for [duration], wiggling its position — or its rotation or scale instead, if that suits the element better.