What is animation

Is animation right for me? Skills required in Animation. Explore Colleges. Although the animator can move their character using the rig, parts of the frame still might have to be drawn by hand. Rick and Morty is an example of a vector-based animated show.

In terms of animation tools, Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Animate CC are two computer programs used for 2D vector animation, allowing you to use character rigs and hand-drawn techniques for cartoon animation. In the early s, all the major animation studios began to lose out at the box office with traditionally animated films and made the shift to 3D animation , which Pixar pioneered.

Film producers commonly incorporate CGI into live-action films. Like 2D vector animation, the animator uses character rigs, so 3D animation is more like working with puppets. Once the character has been designed, computer animation programs provide animators with the animation tools to animate every element of a character.

Once the character has been animated, the computer interpolates the frames of the animation between keyframes. The animator sharpens each frame until it is perfect. Multiple animators are required; specialising in different areas, such as the bones and controls of the character, or texture and light in the final shot. Motion graphics can be 2D, but these days, motion graphics are predominantly CG. Motion graphics is the dynamic presentation of text, logos, and illustration, and it is ubiquitous in TV programmes, the news, advertisements, and online content.

An example of motion graphics is a title sequence in a TV programme. One of the best benefits of motion graphics is communicating cause-and-effect to users, particularly with gesture controls on mobile device. Imagine if, when you swiped, the screen just blinked and loaded a new profile. There are many more ways to use animation for business, but take a look below at some of the common instances:.

Although there are more, here are the four main ones designers find most useful:. Traditional animation —Each frame is created individually, and then run sequentially for the illusion of movement.

This is the historical root of animation, but its cost and time-commitment are the reasons animators developed more modern methods. CGI animation is said to be closer to puppetry and traditional animation—the animators focus more on controlling the movements and leave the visuals up to the computer.

Stop motion —Individual frames are captured by manipulating and photographing real objects; most commonly known as claymation, but it can be used with more than just clay, as you can see below. Although its as costly and time consuming as traditional animation, the final results often have a unique and priceless look. The style you choose depends on your goals, brand personality and budget.

Making a stop-motion explainer video might help yours stand out from the sea of generic ones, but making a stop-motion interface for your website… perhaps not so much. By now you should have an idea of how animation can benefit your business, and maybe even a few plans for how to use it. Check out our ultimate guide to video marketing to learn more! Compiling the expertise of Disney animators since the s, this book set out to give animators a solid foundation for their craft, addressing areas like replicating real-world physics, emotional expression and character design.

How an object responds when it touches another object—how it squashes and stretches—communicates its rigidity and paints a better picture in the minds of the viewer. This effect can be exaggerated for comic effect, or maintained realistically for more life-like animations.

The one golden rule for both styles, though, is that the total volume of the object never changes, it just gets redistributed. This principle remains just as valid when dealing with abstract objects in a digital space, like bouncing icons.

You can choose any point you like on the spectrum between cartoony and realistic, as long as you account for this real-life law of nature. Before someone throws a punch, they wind up their arm; before they jump, they bend their knees.

If your animation happens without an anticipating action, it may seem too sudden and jarring—in other words, fake. For web design, this means extra emphasis on the pre-animation state. This principle is borrowed from theater: staging is where the actors are placed on stage for maximum effect. Animation, though, is more cinematic than theater, so this principle can also account for lighting and angles. For online animation, consider adding drop shadows or shifting the angle to achieve the best look.

This principle refers to the method used for animation—starting with the initial pose and creating sequential, vs. These refer to two different, but related, principles for capturing realism.

To create the appearance of smooth motion from these drawn, painted, or computer-generated images, frame rate, or the number of consecutive images that are displayed each second, is considered. In the film, a frame rate of 24 frames per second is often used for smooth motion.

This is one of the oldest forms of animation in film. As mentioned above, in traditional animation, objects are drawn on celluloid transparent paper.

In order to create the animated sequence, the animator must draw every frame. Traditional is most often 2D animation. Aladdin , The Lion King , and other earlier cartoons are the best examples of this. But we'll get to that in a minute. In the earlier years, the animator would draw on a table that had a light inside of it, so the creator could see his or her previous animation.

While the traditional style is not nearly as prevalent today, drawings are generally done on tablets. Here's an explanation of how animator Aaron Blaise creates traditional, hand-drawn animated movies. But there is something called Vector-based animation that can be 2D without being traditional.

With Vector-based, the motion here can be controlled by vectors rather than pixels. So, what the heck does that mean? These images cannot be enlarged or shrunk without affecting image quality. Vectors are characterized by pathways with various start and end points, lines connecting these points to build the graphic.

Shapes can be created to form a character or other image. Below is an example. Vector-based animation uses mathematical values to resize images, so motion is smooth. You can move around these vectors and animate that way. Today, 3D or computer animation is the most common type. The computer is just another tool, and 3D animation is still a long, intense process. They set their digital frames when all of the parts of the character are in the right position.