"Follow through" and give your animation a pro touch.

The whip demonstrates a key fundamental in animation, the "follow through".  Following through is what happens to everything else when something slows down, or in response to an action. It is a natural aspect of movement.  Imagine a javelin thrower - they stretch backwards and then fling the javelin forwards, the throwing arm and body follow along after the javelin is released.  You can see how much effort they have put into the throw as they slow down to watch where the javelin will land.

While the main body of an object stops, elements of the object can take a while to catch up.  Think of loose clothing on a runner.  As the runner stops, their clothing billows just that little bit further behind.  A flag fluttering in the breeze starts moving at the end closest to the pole, the ripple in the fabric moves out to the end of the flag, usually flicking the end quicker and over a much greater distance than the start of the ripple.

Like anticipation, "following through" supports and strengthens the main action. 

Incorporating physics like this into your animation will make it much more professional, and impress your audience.

A fast way to show and practice the follow through is a whip animation.  Here is an example video and some instructions below:

We used a lump of wood and a pipe cleaner (now called a chenille stem) screwed to it.  You could also use a lump of sticky tack to hold the stem down.

In Stop Motion Pro we are filming at 25 frames per second.  You can practice this at 12 frames per second as well, just move the whip a little further between each frame.

	Frame 1 The whip is at rest.  The first 8 frames have no action at all. Over the coming frames the movement initially starts from the part of the whip closest to the screw –  a slight move back.   Keep the end of the whip stationary by bending it between frames.  Use the onionskinning tool in SMP to check the position of your stem.
	Frame 24 It has taken 1 second to get back here, while the move near the screw itself was small, the end of the whip has moved back some distance after frame 15. This is the anticipation of what is going to happen next
	Frame 30 Like the anticipation move, the main movement starts from the base of the whip, the end of the whip has almost moved nowhere, just pivoted on the spot.
	Frame 32 Now only two frames later the end of the whip is really moving fast.  The base part of the whip is not moving at all, it is locked in while the end of the whip flicks
	Frame 34 two frames later and the whip has become fully stretched. The base of the whip is about to move back now, bringing the end of the whip with it.
	Frame 36 Moving back slower than it whipped out, the middle and end of the whip flex, giving a nice smooth arc.   Note the base of the whip is already in its final position.  The end of the whip always follows the action of the base.
	Frame 42 The follow through action from the end of the whip.  A gradual reduction in speed, while less and less of the actual whip moves.
	Frame 54 After 2 seconds, it is all over, the whip is at rest.