ANIMATION
Animation is the process of designing, drawing, making layouts and preparation of
photographic sequences which are integrated in the multimedia and gaming products.
Animation involves the exploitation and management of still images to generate the illusion
of movement. A person who creates animations is called animator. He / she use various
computer technologies to capture the still images and then to animate these in desired
sequence.
Types of Computer Animations
1) 2D animation
2) 3D animation
2D animation
In 2D animation, a character is drawn by hand, on computer, or a combination of both. Even
with today's technology, most traditional 2D animation starts with drawings. The artist
creates a whole series of images, one after another, making slight changes in the character's
position. When these images are run together quickly, it creates the effect of movement
CONTD….
• Early animators did all their work by hand, and prepared each image, or cel.
When all the cels
• were finished, they were edited into a film that ran at a speed of twenty-four
frames, or
• individual cels, per second, which was the standard for motion pictures.
Classic animated
• films like Bambi or Fantasia (both by Walt Disney Studios) were done this way.
• Scene from the Walt Disney motion picture Bambi
• In the Bambi image, the flowers and the skunk have height and width. But you
can't see
• behind the flowers and the scene has a flattened quality to it. The background
is beautifully
• rendered, but doesn't exist in the spaces hidden by the characters.
• 3D animation
• In 3D animation, the process still starts with the creation of a character. But then the animator
• works on a computer and rigs the character, which means they create a skeletal structure on
• the computer for the character so they can control its movements, including every curve of a
• finger and every eye-blink, much like a virtual puppet. Animating in 3D requires much more
• work with mathematics, such as graphs and curves, than traditional drawing. And it's all done
• on computer.
• The character's whole body is always there (arms, legs, back, etc.), even when you don't see
• it. And, unlike their 2D counterparts, 3D characters need to be in constant movement. Why?
• Think of the world around you. Something is always moving, even if only twitching an eye or
• blowing in a gentle breeze. To achieve an effective sense of 3D animation, you need to
• capture everything.
• In the final 3D images, characters exist in three-dimensional space. They have height, weight,
• and depth. They can be manipulated and rotated 360 degrees, and you can see more of them.
• Animators can play with lighting and shadow effects, just as you could in the 'real world.'