MMA0001

INTRODUCTION TO MULTIMEDIA ARTS

INTRODUCTION
TO ANIMATION
Animation
Animation is a dynamic medium in which
images or objects are manipulated to
appear as moving images. In traditional
animation the images were drawn by
hand on cels to be photographed and
exhibited on film.
Animated pictures have always captured
our imagination. It is perhaps this
curiosity and enthusiasm, which has led
to so many dramatic changes in the
animation industry, in such a short period
of time.
Animated Films are ones in which individual drawings,
paintings, or illustrations are photographed frame by
frame (stop-frame cinematography). Usually, each
frame differs slightly from the one preceding it, giving
the illusion of movement when frames are projected in
rapid succession at 24 frames per second.
The earliest cinema animation was composed of frame-
by-frame, hand-drawn images. When combined with
movement, the illustrator's two-dimensional static art
came alive and created pure and imaginative cinematic
images - animals and other inanimate objects could
become evil villains or heroes.
Animations are not a strictly-defined genre category, but
rather a film technique, although they often contain genre-
like elements.
Animation, fairy tales, and stop-motion films often appeal
to children, but it would marginalize animations to view
them only as "children's entertainment." Animated films are
often directed to, or appeal most to children, but easily can
be enjoyed by all.
History of Animation
The difficult beginnings
People realized very quickly that pictures taken of a
moving object, could be flipped through in succession,
to create the illusion of a motion picture. The earliest
animations were created this way; simple drawings
photographed one at a time. It was obviously an
extremely tedious process, and we had to wait till the
development of celluloid in the 1920’s for easier
methods to evolve.
The Celluloid shift
One of the 400
surviving original
drawings of
Gertie. Source:
Wikimedia
Commons
The Celluloid shift
The first successful, fully animated
cartoon was Gerti The Dinosaur, created
by Winsor McCay in 1914. It is
considered to be the first cartoon to
feature an appealing personality.
The Celluloid shift
After Gertie, it wasn’t until a young
animator named Walt Disney came along,
that we got to witness the next revolution in
animation. Steamboat Willie was released
in 1928 and it was the first animated film to
include sound. The movie also marked the
debut of the lovable Mickey Mouse.
• A still from the movie
‘Steamboat Willie’ (1929)
DISNEY
• Following the release of Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937,
animated films became a popular form
of entertainment. The stories and the
characters started getting widely
recognized and remembered by
everyone, everywhere on the globe.
• The Cel Animation technique,
where two transparent cells,
each with a different character
drawn on them, and an opaque
background are photographed
together to form a composite
image.
Early Animation Devices
Paleolithic cave paintings
animals are depicted with
multiple legs in
superimposed positions
attempting to convey the
perception of motion
Zoetrope device
• As the cylinder spins, the user looks
through the slits at the pictures.
• The user sees a rapid succession of
images, producing the illusion of motion.

• The earliest known zoetrope was

created in China around 180 AD by the
inventor Ting Huan .
Phenakistoscope
•A spinning disc attached vertically to a
handle
•A series of drawings around the disc's
center
•A series of equally spaced radial slits
•The user spins the disc and looks
through the moving slits at the disc's
reflection in a mirror
•Invented by a Belgian physicist Joseph
Plateau in 1841
Praxinoscope
• Improved on the zoetrope by
replacing slits with an inner circle
of mirrors.
• Invented in France in 1877 by
Charles-Émile Reynaud
Flip book
• First appeared in September,
1868, patented by John Barnes
Linnett under the name
kineograph ("moving picture")
• The first form of animation to
employ a linear sequence of
images rather than circular
The Computer Revolution
Although the first few computers animated films very basic to
say the least, it nevertheless changed the way animation was
done. The frame by frame animation of 2D characters could
now be done entirely on computers. Not only did it make the
process less arduous, it gave graphic artists more control and
they were able to produce content without the use of actors,
expensive set pieces or props.
But where computers have really pushed the envelope is with
the development of 3D animation. 3D models or characters
were constructed on the computer monitor using geometrical
shapes in a 3D co-ordinate system.

Once a virtual skeleton of the character was complete, eyes,

limbs and clothes were moved on to the frames and the
animation was rendered.
But where computers have really pushed the envelope is with
the development of 3D animation. 3D models or characters
were constructed on the computer monitor using geometrical
shapes in a 3D co-ordinate system.
 But where computers have really pushed the envelope is with
the development of 3D animation. 3D models or characters
were constructed on the computer monitor using geometrical
shapes in a 3D co-ordinate system. Once a virtual skeleton of
the character was complete, eyes, limbs and clothes were
moved on to the frames and the animation was rendered.
 Once a virtual skeleton of the character was complete, eyes,
limbs and clothes were moved on to the frames and the
animation was rendered.
The Golden Era of CGI
Although the first few computers animated films very basic to
say the least, it nevertheless changed the way animation was
done. The frame by frame animation of 2D characters could
now be done entirely on computers. Not only did it make the
process less arduous, it gave graphic artists more control and
they were able to produce content without the use of actors,
expensive set pieces or props.
Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991 showcased exactly
what was capable of with cutting-edge morphing effects for its
partially computer-generated character, T1000.
Pixar presented its ground-breaking form of entirely CGI-
rendered animation with Toy Story in 1995. Using a complex
system of model articulation and motion-control coding, Pixar
was able to create characters with depth, charm and
personality.
Everything culminated with James Cameron’s two-decades-in-
the-making masterpiece, Avatar. It used advanced CGI and
motion capture techniques, requiring 2,000 Hewlett-Packard
servers, sporting 35,000 processor cores and 104 terabytes of
RAM, to render the film.
Today, we see animation everywhere. Switch on the TV and
you will witness Computer Generated Imagery in form or the
other. But the big question is this. Has all this technology
replaced the role of an animator?
The simple answer is no. Despite all the breakthroughs in
computer animation, any piece of animation still needs the
creative talent of an animator to give it a story, character and
dialogue. Which is way, traditional animation still remains a
prominent form of animation to this day. Computer animation
is not seen as a replacement for traditional hand-drawn
characters, but rather as another tool in the animator’s box of
tricks.
As animators and animation studios continue to blend
technological advances with brilliant creative talent, the sky is
the limit for what we will see, next time we find ourselves in a
movie hall.
Animation Techniques
Hand drawn

•Each frame is a photograph of

drawing on paper.
•Each drawing differs slightly from
the one before it.
•The drawings are photographed
one-by-one onto motion picture.
Hand drawn

Need to stay cost efficient

•Advanced artists model a set of
key poses or frames for the
characters
•Beginner artists would fill in the
motion in between these key
poses
Hand drawn
Stop Motion

Created by physically manipulating

real-world objects and
photographing them one frame at a
time to create the illusion of
movement.
Stop Motion
•Gumbasia, the first clay animation
•A short film produced in 1953 and
released on September 2, 1955
•Produced by Art Clokey, who went on
to create the classic series, “Gumby”
and “Davey and Goliath”, using the
same technique
2D Computer Animation
•Computerized Cel Shading
–Widely used instead of hand drawn
animation
•Cartoon In-betweening
–Automatically interpolate
–Hard to get right
–Often doesn’t look natural
3D Computer Animation
•Generating animated images by using
computer graphics
•Objects are modeled on a computer and
3D figures are rigged with a virtual
skeleton
•The limbs, eyes, mouth, clothes, etc. are
moved by the animator on key frames
3D Computer Animation
•Positions in between key frames are filled: –
Brute Force
•Manually set values for every frame
•Extremely expensive
Computer Keyframing
•In-between frames are computer generated
•Relatively cheap
•Finally, the animation is rendered
12 Animation Principles
Squash and Stretch

Squash and stretch is debatably the most

fundamental principle. Look at what happens
when a ball hits the ground. The force of the
motion squashes the ball flat, but because an
object needs to maintain its volume, it also
widens on impact. This what’s called squash
and stretch.
Squash and Stretch
Anticipation

Anticipation is the preparation for the main

action. The player striking the soccer ball
would be the main action, and the follow-
through of the leg is well… the follow through.
Anticipation
Staging

Staging is one of the most overlooked

principles. It directs the audience’s attention
toward the most important elements in a
scene in a way that effectively advances the
story.
Staging
Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose

These are two ways of drawing animation. Straight ahead

action is where you draw each frame of an action one
after another as you go along. With pose-to-pose, you
draw the extremes – that is, the beginning and end
drawings of action – then you go on to the middle frame,
and start to fill in the frames in-between.
Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose

Pose-to-pose gives you more control over the action. You

can see early on where your character is going to be at
the beginning and end instead of hoping you’re getting
the timing right. By doing the main poses first, it allows
you to catch any major mistakes early. The problem with it
is that sometimes it’s too neat and perfect
Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose
Follow-Through and Overlapping Action

Follow-through can also describe the movement of the

primary element though. If you land in a crouch after a
jump, before standing up straight, that’s follow-through.
Follow-Through and Overlapping Action
Ease In, Ease Out

When you start your car, you don’t get up to 60 mph right
away. It takes a little while to accelerate and reach a
steady speed. In animation speak, we would call this
an Ease Out.
Ease In, Ease Out
Likewise, if you brake, you’re not going to come to a full
stop right away. (Unless you crash into a tree or
something.) You step on the pedal and decelerate over a
few seconds until you are at a stand-still. Animators call
this an Ease In.
Carefully controlling the changing speeds of objects
creates an animation that has a superior believability.
Ease In, Ease Out
Arc
Life doesn’t move in straight lines, and neither should
animation. Most living beings – including humans – move
in circular paths called arcs.
Arc
Arcs operate along a curved trajectory that adds the
illusion of life to an animated object in action. Without
arcs, your animation would be stiff and mechanical.
The speed and timing of an arc are crucial. Sometimes an
arc is so fast that it blurs beyond recognition. This is
called an animation smear – but that’s a topic for another
time
Arc
Secondary Action
Secondary actions are gestures that support the main
action to add more dimension to character animation.
They can give more personality and insight to what the
character is doing or thinking.
Secondary Action
Timing
Timing is about where on a timeline you put each frame of
action. To see what this means in action, let’s look at the
classic animator’s exercise: the bouncing ball that we saw
earlier when we were talking about squash and stretch.
Exaggeration
Sometimes more is more. Exaggeration presents a
character’s features and actions in an extreme form for
comedic or dramatic effect. This can include distortions in
facial features, body types, and expressions, but also the
character’s movement. Exaggeration is a great way for an
animator to increase the appeal of a character, and
enhance the storytelling.
Solid Drawing
Solid drawing is all about making sure that animated
forms feel like they’re in three-dimensional space.
Solid Drawing
Appeal
People remember real, interesting, and engaging
characters. Animated characters should be pleasing to
look at and have a charismatic aspect to them; this even
applies to the antagonists of the story.
Appeal
Appeal can be hard to quantify because everyone has a
different standard. That said, you can give your character
a better chance of being appealing by making them
attractive to look at.
• Castello, V. (2016). Multimedia Foundation: Core
Concepts for digital design
• Hallday, H. (2016) The Art of Crayon: Draw, Color,
Resist, Sculpt, Carve! Quarto,
• Kay, J. (n.d.) Portrait Revolution: Inspiration from Around
the World for Creating Art in Multiple Mediums and
Styles. Watson Guptill Publications