Animation Techniques Pdf
The 5 Types of Animation A Beginner’s Guide What is this guide about? The purpose of this guide is to take you through the intricacies of the different types of animation styles and techniques. It also shows you what path you should take, and what does that path entails, in order to become an animator based on the type you choose. This guide is not about leaning how to animate, but instead it breaks down the five different types (or genres) of animation available to you, and what you’ll need to start animating. Best software, best schools, and more. Styles covered:.
Traditional animation. 2D Vector-based animation. 3D computer animation. Motion graphics. Stop motion I hope that reading this will push you to take your first step to pursuing your dream of making animation. No more excuses.
All you need to know is right here. Toon Boom Animation course I’ve designed this course to be tailored specifically for people who want to get into 2D animation in the most professional way.
Toon Boom Harmony is an incredibly robust professional-level animation software, and can do pretty much everything in the realm of 2D animation. Anything from stick figures to Disney-level results. I’ve brought in an amazing 2D animator to take you through this amazing journey, and I truly believe he created one of the best animation courses out there. Sheridan College School information: Sheridan College was founded in 1967 as The School of Graphic Design at a converted public school until it was eventually moved. The Canadian animation industry was virtually non-existent during the 60’s and 70’s, but president Porter decided to start a course in classical animation at the college in 1968 in hopes of getting trained animators. Location: Toronto. Canada.
Courses: Animation, Computer Animation, Digital Creature Animation, Visual Effects. Tuition cost: $9,356.05 (Canadian dollars) per semester. Notable alumni: Dean DeBlois (Disney animator), Dan Lee (Pixar animator), John Kricfalusi (Creator of Ren and Stimpy show), Dan Antonucci (Creator of Ed, Edd ‘n, Eddy). Start of Academic year: September. Notable graduate film: Night Light (Qing Han, 2014). Gobelins School information: Founded by the Parisian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1964, but is best known for the Cinema Department of Animation, which was founded by Pierre Ayma in 1974 when the first Asterix and Obelix feature film was being produced by Studio Idefix. The studio didn’t have enough animators for the project, so they asked Gobelins to start an animation training program.
Location: Paris. France. Courses: Character Animation and Animated Film Making, 3D Character Animation. Tuition cost: €6,350 First year, €6,450 Second year, €6,550 Third year Notable alumni: Pierre Coffin (Director of Despicable Me), Bibo Bergeron (Director of A Monster in Paris) Start of Academic year: Beginning of September. BA Animated Film Making: 80 students. Notable graduate film: Oktapodi (Julien Bocabeille, Francois-Xavier Chanioux, Olivier Delabarre, Thierry Marchand, Quentin Marmier, Emud Mokhberi, 2007) Nominated for Academy Award, 2009.
JQuery 2.0 Animation Techniques PDF Download Free. Well as complex animations. JQuery 2.0 Animation Techniques Beginner's Guide will teach you to.
CalArts School information: CalArts was founded in 1961 by Walt Disney, when Chouinard Art Institute and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music merged together due to financial difficulties. Nelbert Chouinard, founder of the Chouinard Art Institute, started a professional relationship with Walt Disney in 1929, and agreed to train animators for him on a pay-later basis as Disney was struggling financially. Location: Valencia, California. USA. Courses: Film/Video (Includes animation). Tuition cost: $41,700 Full-time enrolment.
Notable alumni: Tim Burton (Disney animator and Director), Brad Bird (Director, Disney and Pixar), John Lasseter (Pixar), Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck (Directors of Frozen). Start of Academic year: September.
Notable graduate film: Trust & Estates (Jeanette Bonds, 2013) Official Selection, Melbourne International Animation Festival 2013. About vector-based 2D animation 2D animation is the term often used when referring to traditional hand-drawn animation, but it can also refer to computer vector animations that adopts the techniques of traditional animation.
Vector-based animations, meaning computer generated 2D animations, uses the exact same techniques as traditional animation, but benefits from the lack of physical objects needed to make traditional 2D animations, as well as the ability to use computer interpolation to same time. History In the late 90’s, due to bandwidth restrictions, many artists started using Flash to distribute short (and very limited) animations on the web, which were usually very small in size. That limitation gave Flash the mass appeal which made it such a huge success among independent artists and animators.
Flash really skyrocketed in 2005 when it was purchased by Adobe. When YouTube started growing, it completely exploded, and today you can find thousands of Flash animations there. The reason 2D was put in a separate category is that in addition to the option of animating frame by frame, an animator has the option of creating rigs for the characters and then move the body parts individually instead of drawing the character over and over. These flexibilities provides beginners with more options when approaching animation, especially if drawing isn’t their strong suit. Traditional animation, on the other hand, requires very strong drawing skills. Adobe Animate (Formerly known as Flash) Probably the most popular 2D animation software out there.
Animate has a long lineage of animation making, dating back to the early days of internet video publishing. It is vector based, very intuitive to use (as are most of Adobe’s programs) and relatively inexpensive. It’s great for getting started with 2D animation, and though it’s not meant for professional animation production (unlike Toon Boom Harmony) you can still get amazing results with it. Read: Supported platforms:. Windows.
Mac OS. Adobe After Effects An interesting choice for 2D animation. After effects gives you great control when for 2D, and using the puppet tool is very convenient and intuitive. I find it to be a great choice if you’re already comfortable with the Adobe environment, but that’s a matter of preference. Since it’s an editing software it’s great to be able to edit and color correct in the same place you animate, and while it’s not the traditional way the pipeline works, it could save some time.
Supported platforms:. Windows. Mac OS. After Effects Animation There’s enough in this course for the person who wants to make cool short animations for YouTube, as well as for someone who wants to get to know After Effects, and learn what amazing things can be done in it.
After Effects is simple to learn, though hard to master. I’ve been using After Effects almost daily for the past 7 years, and I’ve done anything from animated logos, animated web series, to compositing and visual effects. This course is a great place to start your path to animation, as well as learn a highly profitable skill. Full Sail University School information: Founded in 1979 by Jon Phelps in Ohio, before the University was moved to Orlando in 1980, under the name of Full Sail Recording Workshop. Focused on video and film production, but added in animation when the University moved to Orange County in 1989.
The University started offering online degree programs in 2007. Location: Orange County, Florida. USA.
Courses: Computer animation. Tuition cost: $14,762 per semester. Notable alumni: Culley Bunker (Lead visual effects artist), Chance Glasco (Senior animator). Start of Academic year: Second week of November. About 3D animation 3D animation, also referred to as CGI, or just CG, is made by generating images using computers. That series of images are the frames of an animated shot.
The animation techniques of 3D animation has a lot of similarities with stop-motion animation, as they both deal with animating and posing models, and still conforms to the frame-by-frame approach of 2D animation, but it is a lot more controllable since it’s in a digital work-space. Instead of drawn or constructed with clay, characters in 3D animation are digitally modeled in the program, and then fitted with a ‘skeleton’ that allows animators to move the models. Animation is done by posing the models on certain key frames, after which the computer will calculate and perform an interpolation between those frames to create movement.
When the modeling and/or animation is complete, the computer will render each frame individually, which can be very time-consuming, depending on the quality of the images and the quantity of polygons in the scene. A 3D animator will spend most of their time looking at curves that represent the movement of different body parts over time. Another big difference with 3D animation is that unlike traditional animation, the character’s body parts are always present and should be taken to consideration.
I’ll explain: When animating in 2D, the character has to be drawn again every frame. When the character is viewed from the side, half of its body isn’t shown and thus isn’t drawn. It technically doesn’t exist. It’s drawn on a flat page and there isn’t really more of the character other than what the animator draws.
With 3D though, the character’s body parts always exist in the shot. Even when one hand isn’t visible, it’s still there. That adds some work for the animator, since we need to be aware of the entire character at all times.
The last major difference with 3D animation is the frame rate. Traditional animators usually work on 2’s which means they draw a new drawing every 2 frames, and thus having one drawing last for 2 frames. With 3D animation, however, the motion is always smooth (animated on 1’s), except for stylized pieces which intentionally try to look different. Even when the character is standing still there should always be some sign of life or gentle movement to keep the illusion of life, this is something 2D animation can get away with much more easily than 3D animation. History 3D animation has definitely revolutionized how the animation industry looks today, and it all started in 1995 with Toy Story, directed by John Lassetter. Computer generated animation wasn’t completely new at the time, since it had already been used in TV commercials, movies and computer games, but Toy Story set the bar by being the first feature-length computer animated film, re-imagining the animation industry. 3D animation also lead to studios trying to achieve photo-realistic animations by combining high-level computer processing with advance motion-capture.
This has led to films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Planet of the Apes. School of Visual Arts (SVA) School information: Founded in 1947 by Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonist and Illustrators School, and then renamed in 1956. Part of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design as one of 36 leading art colleges in the United States.
The school offered its first degree in 1972, and it’s first master’s degree in 1983 in Fine Arts for painting, drawing and sculpture. Location: New York, NY. USA.
Courses: Animation, Computer Animation and Visual Effects. Tuition cost: $16,780 per semester + Department fees (Animation: $900, Computer Animation and visual effects:$1,340). Notable alumni: Bill Plympton (Academy nominated animator), John.R.Dilworth (creator of Courage the Cowardly Dog), Pres Antonio Romanillos (supervising animator at Disney and Dreamworks animation). Start of Academic year: September. BFA Animation: 270 students. BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation & Visual Effects: 325 students. Notable graduate film: Kiwi!
(Dony Permedi, 2006). Ringling College of Art and Design School information: Founded in Sarasota, Florida, by Dr. Spivey as an art school in 1931, and as a branch of the Southern College in Orlando. Became an independent college in 1933.
Qualified as a full degree-granting institution in 1971. Ringling College is named after John Ringling, a circus magnate, who was interested in funding an art college, but wasn’t interested in Southern College as he wanted to establish his own at his wife’s museum. However, he lost his museum and residence in bankruptcy, and it was all given to the state just before he died. Ringling’s nephew made a deal with Southern College to open an art college in Sarasota, and it was named School of Fine and Applied Art of the John and Mable Ringling Art Museum. Location: Sarasota, Florida.
USA. Courses: Computer Animation. Tuition cost: $18,400 per semester. Notable alumni: Aaron Blaise (Director of Disney’s Brother Bear).
Start of Academic year: August. Notable graduate film: Dia De Los Muertos (Ashley Graham, Kate Reynolds, and Lindsey St. Pierre, 2013) Won Student Academy Award, 2013.
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) School information: RISD was founded by the group The Centennial Women in 1877. The Centennial Women was a group formed to exhibit creations made by women from design schools, patents from female entrepreneurs, and books written exclusively by women, at the 1876 Centennial Exposition. The group raised $10,000, and by the end of the expo had over $1,675 left, which they decided to invest into founding Rhode Island School of Design. Location: Providence, Rhode Island.
USA. Courses: Film/Animation/Video. Tuition cost: $44,284 per academic year.
Notable alumni: Seth MacFarlane (Creator of Family Guy) Bryan Konietzko & Michael Dante DiMartino (Creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender), Lance Wilder (Animator, The Simpsons). Start of Academic year: Second week of September. Film/Animation/Video: 50 students per year. Notable graduate film: Inner Tubes (Tim Beckhardt, 2009) Screened at Ottawa International Animation Festival and Boston Underground Festival. Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) School information: Founded in 1978 by Paula S. Wallace with her husband and parents, taking out a $200,000 loan to build the first educational building, by renovating the Savannah Volunteer Guard Armory.
The university first opened in 1979 with only 71 students. Currently the University has over 11,000 students.
Location: Savannah, Georgia, USA. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Hong Kong, Guangdong, China. Lacoste, Vaucluse, France.
Courses: Animation, Visual Effects. Tuition cost: (In order of locations) $33,795 (American dollars), $261,911 (Hong Kong dollars), $10,983 (American dollars). Notable alumni: Mir Zafar Ali (Visual effects specialist, The Day After Tomorrow). Start of Academic year: September. Notable graduate film: Legacy (Adam Floeck, 2013). University of Southern California (USC) School information: USC was founded in 1880 by judge Robert M. Widney, who managed to acquire donations from Ozro Childs, John Gately Downey, and Isaias W.
Hellman; three very influential figures at the time. Originally operated in affiliation with the Methodist Church, but became officially secular in 1952. It has the largest amount of international students in the United States, and enrolls over 18,000 domestic/international students each year.
Has its own IMAX theater and research lab, which opened this year. Location: Los Angeles, California. USA. Courses: Animation and Digital Arts. Tuition cost: $48,347 for two semesters.
Notable alumni: George Lucas (Creator of Lucas Arts, Industrial Light and Magic, Star Wars), Eric Hanson (Digital Designer/Lead VFX artist, The Fifth Element), Ray Harryhausen (Stop-motion and Special Effects animator, Jason and the Argonauts). Start of Academic year: Last week of August.
BA Animation and Digital Arts: 75 students. MFA Animation and Digital Arts: 45 students. Notable graduate film: Ladies Knight (Joe Rothenberg, 2012) Nominated Best Animated Student Short at Annie Awards. Animation Mentor School information: Founded in 2005 by Bobby Beck, Shawn Kelly, and Carlos Baena, the last two employed as animators at Industrial Light and Magic. Location: Emeryville, California.
USA. Courses: Classic animation, Character animation, Creature animation. Tuition cost: $18,928 for Full 18 Month Program. Notable alumni: Siggurdur Orri Thorhannesson (Animator, Guardians of the Galaxy), Jude Brownbill (Animator, Pixar).
Start of Academic year: Every Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter. Animation Mentor courses: 5,000 students (Total). Notable graduate film: Greed (Alli Sadegiani, 2011). About motion graphics Think animated logos, explainer videos, app commercials, television promos or even film opening titles. The skills for motion graphics don’t necessarily translate to the other types of animation, since they don’t require knowledge of body mechanics or acting, but they do have some attributes in common such as understanding good composition and the all important camera motion. The process of creating Motion Graphics depends on the programs used, since video editing softwares often have different UI or settings, but the idea is the same.
Motion Graphics usually involves animating images, texts or video clips using key framing that are tweened to make a smooth motion between frames. History The term Motion Graphics came along computer based video editing, as programs like Adobe After Effects and Apple Motion made editing images a lot easier and faster. Previously, before the advent of computer editing, it was a very time-consuming process, which limited it to high-budget productions only. Today, it is highly popular in ommercials, news shows, sporting event and online videos. After Effects Animation There’s enough in this course for the person who wants to make cool short animations for YouTube, as well as for someone who wants to get to know After Effects, and learn what amazing things can be done in it.
After Effects is simple to learn, though hard to master. I’ve been using After Effects almost daily for the past 7 years, and I’ve done anything from animated logos, animated web series, to compositing and visual effects. This course is a great place to start your path to animation, as well as learn a highly profitable skill. School of Visual Arts (SVA) School information: Founded in 1947 by Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonist and Illustrators School, and then renamed in 1956.
Part of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design as one of 36 leading art colleges in the United States. The school offered its first degree in 1972, and it’s first master’s degree in 1983 in Fine Arts for painting, drawing and sculpture. Location: New York, NY. USA. Courses: Animation, Computer Animation and Visual Effects. Tuition cost: $16,780 per semester + Department fees (Animation: $900, Computer Animation and visual effects:$1,340). Notable alumni: Bill Plympton (Academy nominated animator), John.R.Dilworth (creator of Courage the Cowardly Dog), Pres Antonio Romanillos (supervising animator at Disney and Dreamworks animation).
Start of Academic year: September. BFA Animation: 270 students. BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation & Visual Effects: 325 students.
Notable graduate film: Kiwi! (Dony Permedi, 2006). Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) School information: Founded in 1978 by Paula S. Wallace with her husband and parents, taking out a $200,000 loan to build the first educational building, by renovating the Savannah Volunteer Guard Armory. The university first opened in 1979 with only 71 students.
Currently the University has over 11,000 students. Location: Savannah, Georgia, USA. Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Hong Kong, Guangdong, China. Lacoste, Vaucluse, France. Courses: Animation, Visual Effects. Tuition cost: (In order of locations) $33,795 (American dollars), $261,911 (Hong Kong dollars), $10,983 (American dollars). Notable alumni: Mir Zafar Ali (Visual effects specialist, The Day After Tomorrow). Start of Academic year: September.
Notable graduate film: Legacy (Adam Floeck, 2013). Full Sail University School information: Founded in 1979 by Jon Phelps in Ohio, before the University was moved to Orlando in 1980, under the name of Full Sail Recording Workshop.
Focused on video and film production, but added in animation when the University moved to Orange County in 1989. The University started offering online degree programs in 2007.
Location: Orange County, Florida. USA. Courses: Computer animation.
Tuition cost: $14,762 per semester. Notable alumni: Culley Bunker (Lead visual effects artist), Chance Glasco (Senior animator). Start of Academic year: Second week of November. About Stop Motion Stop-Motion animation can be referred to any animation that uses objects that are photographed in a sequence to create the illusion of movement. The process of stop-motion animation is very long, as each object has to be carefully moved inch by inch, while it’s being photographed every frame, to create a fluid sequence of animation. Here are the different types of stop-motion animation: Claymation One of the most popular stop-motion form is Claymation. Working with clay or play-doh characters that can easily be manipulated for animation.
Advanced claymation (such as The Neverhood or Armikrog) uses metal skeletons on which the clay is then molded for more sturdy rigs. Puppets Some animators use regular Puppets instead of clay ones, usually also built with some sort of skeleton rig. The faces of the characters can be replaced based on the expression, or controlled within the rig.
Cut-Out Another popular form of stop-motion is cut-out. Using construction paper or cardboard characters and placing them on paper while shooting the animation from above (that’s how South Park was made before they switched to computers). The cardboard is then moved a little each frame to create the illusion of movement. Silhouette Similar to cutout animation, silhouette animation uses cardboard or some kind of flat material, but the objects are all black and the shot is depicted with silhouettes only. This is one of the oldest forms of stop motion and is rarely used today. Action Figures / Lego Some use action figures or lego characters for animation. This genre is very popular on YouTube with many dedicated to creating funny skits with Lego characters.
Robot Chicken is a great example of that. They use famous action figures to make fun of pop culture. Pixelation Pixelation is a form of stop motion that uses real people and real environments to create unreal videos. It uses the stop motion method of taking a still photo, moving things around, and then taking another photo, but the subject matter is usually real people instead of puppets. History Stop-Motion animation was very often used as special effects before the introduction of CGI animation, and as such has a very long history in both the animation and film industry, starting from The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1887, Blackton). One of the earliest of clay animations was Modelling Extraordinary (1912), and the first female animator was a stop-motion artist named Helena Smith Dayton, who made a clay animated short based on Romeo and Juliet in 1917.
Another technique, which came about in the 80’s, was Go Motion. This technique involved programming a computer to move the models for the animators before each frame was photographed. It was used when creating visual effects for RoboCop (1987, Verhoven) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980, Kershner). It was a lot more complicated than doing it by hand, but the result was a more realistic-looking animation. Stop-motion set the standards fir visual effects with masters like Ray Harryhausen, who created animations for Jason and the Argonauts (1963, Chaffey) and Clash of the Titans (1981, Davis), or Nick Park who created the Wallace and Gromit franchise. However, stop-motion wasn’t always made for shorts and visual effects.
There have been many feature-length stop-motion animated films, most notably (1993, Selick) and (2005, Park.). Dragonframe If you’re planning on making a professional stop motion video, Dragonframe is the best tool for the job. Its comprehensive software can be used with many different attachments, such as a device that controls the camera, lights and even pull focus. It provides the user complete control over the lighting of the shot with an option to program the dimming of the different lights over a period of time, and it comes with a keypad controller for easy control of the photo taking process, as well as flipping between frames.
Dragonframe is the industry standard for stop-motion animation, and was used on films such as Kubo and the Two Strings and Shaun the Sheep. Supported platforms:. Windows. Mac OS. CalArts School information: CalArts was founded in 1961 by Walt Disney, when Chouinard Art Institute and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music merged together due to financial difficulties. Nelbert Chouinard, founder of the Chouinard Art Institute, started a professional relationship with Walt Disney in 1929, and agreed to train animators for him on a pay-later basis as Disney was struggling financially. Location: Valencia, California.
USA. Courses: Film/Video (Includes animation).
Tuition cost: $41,700 Full-time enrolment. Notable alumni: Tim Burton (Disney animator and Director), Brad Bird (Director, Disney and Pixar), John Lasseter (Pixar), Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck (Directors of Frozen). Start of Academic year: September. Notable graduate film: Trust & Estates (Jeanette Bonds, 2013) Official Selection, Melbourne International Animation Festival 2013.
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) School information: Founded in 1978 by Paula S. Wallace with her husband and parents, taking out a $200,000 loan to build the first educational building, by renovating the Savannah Volunteer Guard Armory. The university first opened in 1979 with only 71 students.
Different Types Of Animation Techniques
Currently the University has over 11,000 students. Location: Savannah, Georgia, USA. Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Hong Kong, Guangdong, China.
Lacoste, Vaucluse, France. Courses: Animation, Visual Effects. Tuition cost: (In order of locations) $33,795 (American dollars), $261,911 (Hong Kong dollars), $10,983 (American dollars). Notable alumni: Mir Zafar Ali (Visual effects specialist, The Day After Tomorrow). Start of Academic year: September. Notable graduate film: Legacy (Adam Floeck, 2013).
School of Visual Arts (SVA) School information: Founded in 1947 by Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonist and Illustrators School, and then renamed in 1956. Part of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design as one of 36 leading art colleges in the United States. The school offered its first degree in 1972, and it’s first master’s degree in 1983 in Fine Arts for painting, drawing and sculpture. Location: New York, NY. USA.
Courses: Animation, Computer Animation and Visual Effects. Tuition cost: $16,780 per semester + Department fees (Animation: $900, Computer Animation and visual effects:$1,340). Notable alumni: Bill Plympton (Academy nominated animator), John.R.Dilworth (creator of Courage the Cowardly Dog), Pres Antonio Romanillos (supervising animator at Disney and Dreamworks animation). Start of Academic year: September. BFA Animation: 270 students. BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation & Visual Effects: 325 students. Notable graduate film: Kiwi!
(Dony Permedi, 2006). Before you go Congrats for getting through this guide!
You took the first step to become an animator, and that’s amazing. BUT before you leave, if you want to take it a another step further, check out our ebook. It is a step-by-step guide to becoming an animator (even if you’ve never animated before). It doesn’t matter if you can’t draw, or that you’ve never used an animation software before, will take you through the journey of becoming a professional animator.
From making your demo reel, finding a job in the animation industry and all the way to making your first animated short film.
Animation means giving life to any object in computer graphics. It has the power of injecting energy and emotions into the most seemingly inanimate objects. Computer-assisted animation and computer-generated animation are two categories of computer animation.
It can be presented via film or video. The basic idea behind animation is to play back the recorded images at the rates fast enough to fool the human eye into interpreting them as continuous motion. Animation can make a series of dead images come alive. Animation can be used in many areas like entertainment, computer aided-design, scientific visualization, training, education, e-commerce, and computer art. Animation Techniques Animators have invented and used a variety of different animation techniques.
Basically there are six animation technique which we would discuss one by one in this section. Traditional Animation (frame by frame) Traditionally most of the animation was done by hand. All the frames in an animation had to be drawn by hand. Since each second of animation requires 24 frames (film), the amount of efforts required to create even the shortest of movies can be tremendous. Keyframing In this technique, a storyboard is laid out and then the artists draw the major frames of the animation.
Major frames are the ones in which prominent changes take place. They are the key points of animation. Keyframing requires that the animator specifies critical or key positions for the objects. The computer then automatically fills in the missing frames by smoothly interpolating between those positions. Procedural In a procedural animation, the objects are animated by a procedure − a set of rules − not by keyframing. The animator specifies rules and initial conditions and runs simulation.
Rules are often based on physical rules of the real world expressed by mathematical equations. Behavioral In behavioral animation, an autonomous character determines its own actions, at least to a certain extent. This gives the character some ability to improvise, and frees the animator from the need to specify each detail of every character's motion. Performance Based (Motion Capture) Another technique is Motion Capture, in which magnetic or vision-based sensors record the actions of a human or animal object in three dimensions. A computer then uses these data to animate the object. This technology has enabled a number of famous athletes to supply the actions for characters in sports video games. Motion capture is pretty popular with the animators mainly because some of the commonplace human actions can be captured with relative ease.
However, there can be serious discrepancies between the shapes or dimensions of the subject and the graphical character and this may lead to problems of exact execution. Physically Based (Dynamics) Unlike key framing and motion picture, simulation uses the laws of physics to generate motion of pictures and other objects. Simulations can be easily used to produce slightly different sequences while maintaining physical realism. Secondly, real-time simulations allow a higher degree of interactivity where the real person can maneuver the actions of the simulated character. In contrast the applications based on key-framing and motion select and modify motions form a pre-computed library of motions.
One drawback that simulation suffers from is the expertise and time required to handcraft the appropriate controls systems. Key Framing A keyframe is a frame where we define changes in animation. Every frame is a keyframe when we create frame by frame animation. When someone creates a 3D animation on a computer, they usually don’t specify the exact position of any given object on every single frame. They create keyframes.
Keyframes are important frames during which an object changes its size, direction, shape or other properties. The computer then figures out all the in-between frames and saves an extreme amount of time for the animator. The following illustrations depict the frames drawn by user and the frames generated by computer. Morphing The transformation of object shapes from one form to another form is called morphing. It is one of the most complicated transformations.
A morph looks as if two images melt into each other with a very fluid motion. In technical terms, two images are distorted and a fade occurs between them.