3 Basic Types of Animation

                   3 Basic Types of Animation
The basic types of animation are the primary keynote for animation effect. The 3 basic types of animation are cel, stop and computer animation.

Cel Animation
Cel animation refers to the traditional way of animation in a set of hand drawings. In this process, various pictures are created which are slightly different but progressive in nature, to depict certain actions. Trace these drawings on a transparent sheet. This transparent sheet is known as cel and is a medium for drawing frames. Now draw outlines for the images and color them on the back of the cel. The cel is an effective technique that helps to save time by combining characters and backgrounds. You can also put the previous drawings over other backgrounds or cels whenever required. Here, you need not draw the same picture again as it has the facility of saving previous animations that can be used when required. Coloring a background may be a more difficult task than a single drawing, as it covers the whole picture. Background requires shading and lighting and will be viewed for a longer duration. Then use your camera to photograph these drawings. Today, cel animations are made more attractive by using the drawings together with music, matching sound effects and association of timing for every single effect. E.g. To display a cartoon show, 10-12 frames are played in rapid succession per second to give a representation of movement in a cel animation.

Stop Animation
Stop animation or stop motion animation is a technique to make objects move on their own. Here, a few images are drawn with some different positions and photographed separately. Puppetry is one of the most used frame-to-frame animation types. Some famous movies that are animated via stop motion effects are King Kong, The Dinosaur and the Missing Link, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and The Lost World.

Computer Animation
Computer Animation is the latest technique that includes 2D and 3D animation. These not only enhance the hand-drawn characters but also make them appear real as compared to the above mentioned animations.

2D Animation: It is used through Powerpoint and Flash animations. Though its features are similar to cel animation, 2D animation has become popular due to simple application of scanned drawings into the computer like in a cartoon film.

3D Animation: It is used in filmmaking where we require unusual objects or characters that are not easy to display. Use of 3D animation can create a crowd of people in a disaster like earthquake, flood or war. There are different shapes, support of mathematical codes, display of actions and colors which are mind-blowing as if copied from an actual picture.

The above mentioned 3 basic types of animations have brought a new era of amazing technology in the field of Internet (website design and graphics), film industry and media. Many of us can try out making their own animation! In addition, animation is one of the popular Internet marketing strategies that make visitors stay on your site for a longer time.

Basic Types of Animation

2D Animation
2D animation can be basically divided into two main categories. One is cell animation, which is classical animation. This is the way all old 2D movies were made, but due to the advent of computer technology the other category of 2D animation which is computer generated has become very popular. Cell animation is done by drawing frame-by-frame. This means on paper, drawings are created and then these drawings are captured by a camera. A animation clip is created using photos of these drawings.

The computer generated 2D animation is basically created by drawing and painting sketches on the computer using a software, without any actual paper sketches involved. One of the most popular animation software used to create computer 2D animation is Adobe Flash. However, there is a third category of 2D animation which synthesizes both the above types of 2D animation. In this animation type half animation is computer drawn, while half is done using a software. For example, pencil drawings scanned in computer and then colored using a software.



3D Animation
Today 3D animation is dominating when it comes to full-length feature films. 3D animation is basically created using a software which allows to create models and animate them in a 3D environment, on three axis X, Y, and Z, while for 2D animation there are only two axis. In 2D animation you cannot look at a character in various angles by rotating it, but in 3D animation this is possible.

3D animation is completely done using software. Maya and 3D Max are two of the most popular 3D animation software. There is also Blender which is easier to understand. Blender is simple software and easy to grasp, while to comprehend Maya and Max you will need a lot of practice. There is also another type of animation which is called motion capture. However, motion capture is actually not a type of animation but a mix medium of live action and 3D animation. In this medium basically a motion is captured and then rendered using a software, to give an effect of an animation clip.

History of Indian animation

Main article: Indian animation

• 1974: Ek Anek Aur Ekta
• 1986: Ghayab Aaya
• 1992: Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama

 

Animation: Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages-both from personal experience and from readings

Its very fun to do! If you know what you are doing, know what you want to achieve and are organized, you can get though the process quickly. You can go at your own pace and not have to keep up with everyone else. It’s a form of group work, so you can bounce of ideas and knowledge off each other. If you can relate to a concept or content in your topic, you can expand your knowledge as you go through the process knowing all the theoretical content steps, and you produce something visual so you can deepen your overall understanding. Engages students in active learning, cooperative learning and uses a range of multiple intelligences (Tech4learning, 2004). Animation can be used to visualize a dynamic phenomenon or process which cannot be readily seen by the eye or science setting (e.g. meiosis), so they produce a visual product which shows the content (Tech4learning, 2004). Has the potential to deepen their understanding of topics through visualization of content.

The process of doing a claymation is very fun, motivating and interesting. I can see some benefits it can have in explaining certain processes in science. Students can sometimes become bored or dis-interested if you continuously show videos, projections and pictures (staple resources in science department) to them explaining process or systems. Experiments don’t always help either, as some difficult processes to visualize can only be seen in a real laboratory setting. This is where claymation can come in handy especially if you want students to get hands on with the content. You can select a difficult process to visualize (e.g. meiosis) and ask students to produce a movie that explains the process and final product. This can deepen their understanding as well as make them have fun.

Disadvantages-Both from personal experience and from readings.

Audio problems encountered during the editing process may frustrate students. Final editing process may be a problem as can only be done by 1-2 students. If working in large groups there’s nothing for the others to do, so they may become bored or passive. It’s a time consuming process. Task involves preparation time, actual photo-taking time and them editing time all of which may need to be under teacher supervision. Role determination as certain people will inevitably do more work than others, which is unfair to them and their group members. Familiarity with software. Many might not know how to use it or how to edit, so they may become frustrated or lose complete interest in the task. Also time consumed in explaining to all students how to use the software. Research shows that stop-motion animation rarely furthers students knowledge and rarely has any benefits to student knowledge when compared to static/textbook graphics or diagrams (Betrancourt, M. 2005). The final product sometimes does not relate to the content at all. Students may lose track somewhere and produce a movie that neither fills your criteria nor expands their knowledge, thereby being a waste of time. Level of knowledge with this technology in students is highly varied. Although some students may be interested in taking on the challenge, some may become disinterested or intimidated by the technology, and not produce a good final product (Betrancourt, M. 2005).

Having done a task requiring us to produce a claymation, I found the process fun but the final editing process was very frustrating. The music didn’t want to edit properly, only 1 person could do the editing, leaving the rest of us to do nothing and the slides began to move too fast, so some fine detail was lost. I’d imagine that if I encountered this, many students would encounter this problem and they would lose interest far quicker than I did. Also, it is hard to find content in science to actually allow students to produce a stop-motion animation video, with students becoming easily confused with concepts so adding more confusion about using the software would frustrate them. This is where normal resources in science can come in handy. Videos can be used to show processes which cant be seen, and clear projector slides can be used to explain step-by step processes like mitosis or DNA replication. Diagrams and pictures are also helpful, as the students can look at them constantly, whereas with a video produced, the odds of them watching again can be low.

Key Frame Animation

Specify animation parameters at particular

points in time

• Positions and orientations of objects, lights,

and cameras

• Non-rigid-body modifications in object

geometry

• Non-geometric parameters, such as color and

intensity of lights, focus of cameras, etc.

Specify interpolation modes

• None, linear, higher-order splines, etc.