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User interfaces are often based on static presentations, a model ill suited
for conveying change. Consequently, events on the screen frequently startle
and confuse users. Cartoon animation, in contrast, is exceedingly
successful at engaging its audience; even the most bizarre events are easily
comprehended. The Self user interface has served as a testbed for the
application of cartoon animation techniques as a means of making the
interface easier to understand and more pleasant to use. Attention to
timing and transient detail allows Self objects to move solidly. Use of
cartoon-style motion blur allows Self objects to move quickly and still
maintain their comprehensibility. Self objects arrive and depart smoothly,
without sudden materializations and disappearances, and they rise to the
front of overlapping objects smoothly through the use of dissolve.
Anticipating motion with a small contrary motion and pacing the middle of
transitions faster than the endpoints results in smoother and clearer
movements. Despite the differences between user interfaces and cartoons --
cartoons are frivolous, passive entertainment and user interfaces are
serious, interactive tools -- cartoon animation has much to lend to user
interfaces to realize both affective and cognitive benefits.
Keywords: Animation, User Interfaces, Cartoons, Motion Blur, Self
*This work was originally supported by Sun Microsystems Laboratories, an NSF Graduate Fellowship, National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Grant #CCR-8657631, IBM Powell Foundation, Apple Computer, Inc., Cray Laboratories, Tandem, NCR Corporation, Texas Instruments, Inc., and Digital Equipment Corporation.
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