Animation

Posted by : Unknown Friday, May 3, 2013

Animation

Introduction:

'Animation' is a performing art rather than a graphic art. The drawings and models replace actors and actresses. It is important to approach it through the creative skills in drama rather than graphical skills. Animation is image manipulation and it can be used on any object - from pins to people. The key is to let the imagination run wild!

Animation:

Animation is the process by which we see still pictures MOVE. Each picture is shot on film one at a time and is shown at the rate of 24 pictures per second, making the pictures appear to move.

History:

18,000BC

Cave paintings drawn on walls. Historians believe that these images were made to look like they were moving by the flickering shadows cast on them from the fires.

7,000BC

In China, shadows of puppets are projected onto parchment paper. This is developed into an art form in eastern countries, particularly India.

2,000BC

Greeks drew figures on vases in various stages of movement

1660's

Magic lanterns were introduced.

1830's

The phenaktiscope (spinning wheel with slots in) and the Zoetrope were developed. Many variations on these and other optical toys developed in this period.

1860's

Development of the flip book which led to a coin machine 'viewer' based on a series of photographs being flipped by turning a handle.

1880's

Emile Raynaud developed the praxinoscope. This was a spinning drum, rather like a zoetrope, but one in which viewers saw moving images in a series of mirrors rather than through slots.

1895

William Harbutt invented plasticine. This is used for model animation - now made famous by Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run.

1897

Arthur Melbourne-Cooper produced an animated commercial for Bird's Custard powder. It is one of the first1914

Windsor McCay, a pioneer animator produced the first proper animated film for cinema entertainment called Gertie the Dinosaur. This was a silent film in black and white.

1915

'Cel' or cellulose acetate was developed. This is a clear plastic that enables drawings to be made in layers. This cuts down the amount of drawings needed as drawings can be overlaid.

1920s

The means for adding sound to film was invented.

1928

Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse made his first appearance as a character called 'Steamboat Willie'. This was the first successful animated film by the Disney Film Company.

1930's

Color was added to film. 'Snow White' (1937) became the first full-length animated feature film in color.

1980's

‘Tron’ was the first animated feature film made by a computer.

1990's

Computers are commonly used in all levels of film making. The film 'Toy Story' was the first full-length all-computer-generated animated film.

2000’s

Fantasia 2000 becomes the first full-length animated film to be shown exclusively on the huge IMAX cinema screens.

2002
CGI is mixed with traditional hand-drawn animation to combine the art with the technology in films like Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

2003

Rugrats Go Wild is launched with smello-vision in the USA. For the first time, we see two TV cartoon favourites, the Rugrats and the Wild Thornberrys on screen together.

2004

Shrek 2 used the first technical software to make light naturally bounce from one surface to another to bounce from one surface to another to create more natural and life-like surroundings

Movement of images:

Why do we see these images as moving?

The reason our eyes are tricked into seeing movement can be explained by the 'Persistence of Vision' theory.

The persistence of vision theory:

Our brain holds onto an image for a fraction of a second after the image has passed. If the eye sees a series of still images very quickly one picture after another, then the images will appear to move because our eyes cannot cope with fast-moving images - our eyes have been tricked into thinking they have seen movement.

We can see this many pictures per second.

The Moving Hand Theory

You can do this by waving your hand in front of your eyes very fast. You will seem to see several hands at once. Try doing this in front of a television screen when it is switched on. You will see even more images of your hand because the television is actually flickering. By waving your hand in front of it you make your eyes very confused about what they are actually seeing.

In animation, you get moving images when the pictures change in some way. Here are some ways in which pictures can change:

Change in size: Things can get bigger (grow) or get smaller (shrink). Try drawing a balloon. Now draw it again but a little bit bigger. Now draw it getting even bigger. Draw it so that it is so big that it bursts!
Change in position: Imagine the spokes on a bike-wheel moving around as the wheel runs full circle. Draw the wheel five times - each time showing how the spokes on the wheel have moved.
Change in angle: Draw the hands of a clock as time is passing. Each time the hands should show a different angle.
Change in speed: Draw a car parked. Now draw the same car speeding down a road. How could you show the element of speed?
Change in color: Draw six circles and color them in, each time showing how the colors are getting darker.
Change of shape: Draw a face that is sad. Now draw three other faces changing the eyes and mouth.

Types of Animation:

Before jumping into writing Java code, you need some background on the different types of animation. Armed with this knowledge, you can then pick and choose which approach suits your animation needs best.

There are many different types of animation, all useful in different instances. However, for implementing animation in Java, animation can be broken down into two basic types: frame-based animation and cast-based animation.

Frame-Based Animation:

Frame-based animation is the simpler of the animation techniques. It involves simulating movement by displaying a sequence of static frames. A movie is a perfect example of frame-based animation; each frame of the film is a frame of animation. When the frames are shown in rapid succession, they create the illusion of movement.

In frame-based animation, there is no concept of an object distinguishable from the background; everything is reproduced on each frame. This is an important point, because it distinguishes frame-based animation from cast-based animation.

By treating each image as an animation frame and displaying them all over time, you can create counting animations.

Cast-Based Animation:

Cast-based animation, which also is called sprite animation, is a very popular form of animation and has seen a lot of usage in games.

Cast-based animation involves objects that move independently of the background. At this point, you may be a little confused by the use of the word "object" when referring to parts of an image.

In this case, an object is something that logically can be thought of as a separate entity from the background of an image.

For example, in the animation of a forest, the trees might be part of the background, but a deer would be a separate object moving independently of the background.

Each object in a cast-based animation is referred to as a sprite, and can have a changing position. Almost every video game uses sprites to some degree. For example, every object in the classic Asteroids game is a sprite moving independently of the other objects. Sprites generally are assigned a position and a velocity, which determine how they move.

Animation Techniques:

There are four basic techniques used in animation. These are:

Drawn animation
Cut-out animation
Model animation or stop motion animation
Computer animation or computer generated imagery (CGI)

Drawn animation:

This covers any form where one drawing is replaced by another in a sequence. Each drawing is slightly different from the one before. It works the way a flip book does. These animated films are made up of thousands of drawings which are shown on screen very quickly one after the other.

Ø It looks great!

Ø It takes a very long time to film from start to finish and is expensive needing many animators to complete the work.

Cut-out animation:

This covers any form of animation where cut-out shapes are moved around or replaced by other cut-outs. Flat objects like buttons, matchsticks and string can also be used in this form of animation. Cut-outs can also be laid on top of drawings.

Ø It is very quick and easy to do

Ø It is difficult to have more than one or two cut-outs moving at the same time. Cut-out animation appears to move in a very stiff and awkward way.

Model animation or stop motion animation:

This involves the filming of puppets or any form of three-dimensional models. The materials used could include plasticine, clay or wire - in fact anything that can be bent or formed into another shape. The puppets are positioned and filmed before being moved ever so slightly and filmed again. These shots are put together as a piece of film and will give the impression of the models moving.

Ø Models can be used over and over again and copies made of them to shoot different scenes at the same time so that the filming takes less time.

Ø This type of animation needs a lot of time and hard work. The makers of 'James and the Giant Peach' were only able to complete 45 seconds of stop-motion animation a week - 10 seconds a day. This was because each puppet had so many joints that needed moving for each frame - the centipede alone had 72!

Computer animation or Computer Generated Imagery (CGI):

This refers to the drawing of three-dimensional models and sets on the computer. Images can be scanned into the computer using digital photography or made within the computer itself. Human characters can be built from clay whilst sets and furnishings are modelled using design systems similar to architects drawings. These models are scanned into the computer as wire-frame models which are gradually built up into a colored and textured form which will finally be recorded onto film. The wire-frame model (far left) was made on a computer before being built up into the character (left).

Ø Computers are becoming cheaper and easier to use than traditional animation. The computer animated film 'Toy Story' cost $30 million to make and used 110 animators. "The Lion King' using drawn animation cost $45 million to make and used 800 animators.

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Starting Animation:

All you need to try your hand at animation is some paper, a pencil and lots of imagination!

Changing shapes

To be a good animator, you need to think about how shapes can change and move. To start with, try these simple shape changing activities:

Write down the letters of the alphabet
Write down the letters of the alphabet back to front
Write down the letters of the alphabet upside down
Try putting the letters on their sides

Mirror Images

Choose a letter from the alphabet and write it down on a piece of paper making it quite large. With a small mirror in one hand hold the piece of paper in the other, so that you can see the original letter and its mirror image. The reflection of the letter in the mirror will often make a picture. By moving the mirror, some letters look as though they have wings. Moving the mirror faster you can make the wings flutter.

Making faces

Use the letters of the alphabet to make faces
Write down your name on a piece of paper
Now try to make a face out of the letters of your name
Think of a flower and draw it using a letter from the alphabet for petals
Draw a house and then try to draw the same house just using letters of the alphabet. You can make them as large or as small as you like, and change them around in any direction.
Draw ten circles on a piece of paper and put the numbers 0 to 9 in the centre of each one, using these numbers as the nose in each circle. Now draw the rest of the face inside each circle.

Flip Book

Either:

Draw the outline of a face (no eyes, nose, or mouth, but DO draw ears and hair) on a sheet of paper then make several copies of it on a photocopying machine. You need to make copies so that each drawing is of the same size and matches up.

Or:

Trace the face outline onto several sheets of paper using a thick pencil so that your drawing will show through. When you have several copies of your face outline, start to draw some eyes moving from one side tot he other. Make the nose get longer in each drawing with the mouth opening wider and the tongue sticking out. Break the movement down stage-by-stage making sure each picture is only slightly different from the previous one.
Place your first drawing at the bottom and all your other drawings on top of this with the latest one on top. Now bind the left-hand side of the pages and flip the book from back to front.

Finger Shapes

Using a large sheet of paper, draw around your hand and fingers several times to make shapes. The fingers can be used for an alligator's jaws opening and closing or a rabbit's ears waggling. Your hand can be drawn around with the fingers opened and closed to look like a dog's head, an octopus, a snake, and even an elephant. Try thinking of other animals or characters that you can create using your hands.
In pairs, try making hand shadows on the wall. First you will need to stick a piece of paper on the wall and shine a light towards it. One pupil should then put their hand in front of the paper so that it creates a shadow shape, moving it closer or further away until the shadow is clear. The second pupil will then trace around the shadow. Now swap over so that both of you can create your own shadow shape.
Find some flat objects in the classroom and draw around them making several different pictures.

Making cut-outs

There are several ways to make cut-out figures. Thin cardboard is best to work with as it is stiffer than paper. On a piece of cardboard the sizes of a paper draw just the outline of a head - an oval shape - and cut it out. Then draw the following items on the cardboard and cut them out:

Four sets of eyes from wide open to nearly closed
Six mouths showing the sounds a e I o u and very wide open
Four sets of odd shaped ears
Four sets of eyebrows
Four sets of hair styles
Four different hats

Make up different faces with these cut-outs. Use a mirror and pull faces in the mirror to get some ideas. A simple way to make cut-outs is to stick magazine photos onto cardboard and cut around them. You can make pictures larger by using a photocopier. You can reverse them by tracing over the original then tracing over the back of the tracing paper.

Making up stories

Ideas can be very simple. For example you can draw a children's playground and show a child going down a slide, on a swing, on a seesaw, on a roundabout, and climbing a rope. Show three drawings of each picture to indicate movement:

A dog walking machine
A machine for a weighing an elephant
A machine for waking you up in the morning
A space rocket (put in all of the things you will need to go to Mars)
A rowing machine
A car that flies in the sky
A machine for beating bullies
A school bag that walks on its own

Roller Flip Book

You will need to cut out two pages to make your flip book (a roller) that you can flip using a pencil.
First draw a sad face on the bottom piece of paper.
Now trace over this face on the top piece of paper, but add a smile!
Flip the top page with a pencil and watch your face change.

A simpler way of doing this is to put a piece of carbon paper between the pages. Draw the outline on the top page and this will also appear on the bottom page. Remember not to draw the mouth as this will need to be different on each picture.

ANIMATION EXERCISES

TASKS FOR STUDENTS

Draw the lid of a box opening in six movements. Then re-draw it with something coming out of the box.
Draw a caterpillar crawling along in five movements.
Draw smoke coming out of a chimney and disappearing in four movements.
Draw a juggler with three juggling clubs. Show the positions of the three clubs as they move through the air.

SOUND

A film's soundtrack consists of dialogue, music and sound effects.In animation, sounds are often shown as drawings as in comics. Draw the following sounds using a suitable picture:

Plop!
Vrooooooooooooooom!
Clang!
Zap!
Splosh!
Crash!
Wheeeeeeeee!

Think of some sounds and make up some of your own. Now have a go at drawing them. Now draw pictures of the scenes listed below:

A haunted house (ghostly noises, chains clanking, footsteps, groans, doors creaking, crazy laughter, whispers, wind, rain, thunder and lithening.)
A farmyard (Animal noises, machinery noises.)

Using an audio cassette player make up some sound effects for these scenes. Use your voice, musical instruments and/or any objects available in the classroom to make the sound effects.

Storyboards

Filmmakers use storyboards to plan their films. Storyboards are a sequence of pictures with a description of the dialogue and action. They look similar to comic strips.

Applications:

Can you think of films or programs that use computer animation? Animation is often thought of as pure entertainment, but it is used in many other ways. For instance:

Computer games/CD ROMS Creating characters, backgrounds, and sound effects.
Internet: Sound and pictures have to be treated as a form of animation in order to send them through telephone lines.
Advertising: Animation offers a way of capturing people's attention as it can create fantasy situations.
Science: Many scientific ideas are not possible to film. These concepts are shown through computer-generated animation and allow scientists to visualize what cannot be seen.
Military simulation: The effects of testing weapons, or military maneuvers is achieved by simulating the effects on a computer. This is cheaper, safer and faster than doing it for real.
Transport: Traffic controllers, who look after the traffic light systems for air and road use animated diagrams to show traffic flow and predict traffic problems.
Doctors use computer-generated 'virtual' images of delicate operations when teaching their students.

Conclusion:

We have came across two types of animations i.e., Frame-based and Cast-based animations. Although the Frame-based animation, example applets are interesting and useful, Cast or Sprite-based animation is where the fun really begins.

Java animation is both powerful and easy to implement. We should be able to add many cool animations to your own Web creations

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