◆ INTRODUCTION TO ANIMATION

Definition of terms
• Computer graphics
o Visual images produced by computer processing.
o It's used in digital photography, film and
television, video games, and on electronic
devices and is responsible for displaying images
effectively to users.
2. Animation
o In computer graphics it means giving life to an
object

o It is the art or power of giving life, energy and

emotions to any non-living or inanimate object using
computers.
o It is the technique of designing, drawing, making
layouts and preparation of photographic series which
are integrated into the multimedia and gaming
products.
3. Frame
o In computer graphics, it’s one screenful of data or
its equivalent storage space.
o In video capture, storage and playback, it is a
single image in a series of consecutive images.
o It is a single, still image displayed by the computer
and is part of a larger sequence of images that
make up a video or computer game
◆ Application areas of animation
1. Advertisement and Marketing
o Many global brands do short animated social
media ads and animated banners.
o Motion graphics on websites is the current trend to
grab user attention.
2. Gaming
o In gaming most 3D characters for games are
created with animation. Examples of game creator:
Blender VFX.

3. Education
o Animation in education has brought more
dynamic study methodologies.
o The advent of simple whiteboard animation has
brought success to many educational YouTube
channels giving animated content.
4. Architecture and Engineering
o 3D Animation has opened up new avenues for interior
decorators.
o It allows the Interior Designers to see the layout of the
rooms virtually. Architecture design a building they
are planning to build beforehand and present them to
the clients.

5. AR and VR (Augmented Reality and Virtual

Reality)
o AR and VR technologies bridge the physical and
virtual worlds.
o In AR, virtual elements overlay the physical world’s
atmosphere on the screen.
o And in VR, users are surrounded by the virtual
environment
o They both rely heavily on the quality of animation
used to provide an amazing immersive experience.

6. Entertainment and Media

o A lot of animated cartoons and movies have found
their way to the market, demonstrating a lot of
creativity.

◆ Application areas of Computer graphics/

animations
Computer Graphics has numerous applications, some of
which are listed below −
◆ Computer graphics user interfaces GUIs − A
graphic, mouse-oriented paradigm which allows the
user to interact with a computer.
◆ Business presentation graphics − "A picture is worth
a thousand words".
o Cartography − Drawing maps.
o Weather Maps − Real-time mapping, symbolic
representations.
o Satellite Imaging − Geodesic images.
o Photo Enhancement − Sharpening blurred photos.
o Medical imaging − MRIs, CAT scans, etc. - Non-
invasive internal examination.
◆ Engineering drawings − mechanical, electrical, civil,
etc. - Replacing the blueprints of the past.
◆ Typography − The use of character images in
publishing - replacing the hard type of the past.
◆ Architecture − Construction plans, exterior sketches -
replacing the blueprints and hand drawings of the past.
◆ Art − Computers provide a new medium for artists.
◆ Training − Flight simulators, computer aided
instruction, etc.
◆ Entertainment − Movies and games.
◆ Simulation and modelling − Replacing physical
modelling and enactments

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION

o While originally developed for pencil sketching, the
same principles apply to digital animation as well.
o They should be the ultimate guide for creating
appealing and realistic character animations.
o The 12 principles include:
• Squash and stretch
o They give a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn or
computer animated objects.
o It can be applied to simple objects, like a bouncing
ball, or more complex constructions, like the
musculature of a human face.
o Taken to an extreme, a figure stretched or squashed to
an exaggerated degree can have a comical effect.
2. Anticipation
o It’s used in animation to set the audience up for an
action that is about to happen, and is required to sell
believable movements.
o E.g. before a baseball player pitches the ball, they first
need to move their entire body and arm backward to
gain enough energy to throw the ball forward

3. Staging
o Staging is how set up the scene, from the placement of
the characters, to the background and foreground
elements, the character’s mood, and how the camera
angle is set up
o Its purpose is to direct the audience's attention, and
make it clear what is of greatest importance in a scene
o The essence of this principle is keeping focus on what
is relevant, and avoiding unnecessary detail

4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose

o Straight ahead action is a very spontaneous and linear
approach to animating and is animated from start to
finish, frame by frame.
o With pose to pose, the animation is much more
 methodical, with just the most important poses
required to properly tell the story.
o You would animate the character landing on the
ground after jumping in the air by using fewer poses
(standing and crouched).

5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action

• Follow through
o It’s the idea that separate parts of the body will
continue moving after the character has come to a
stop.
o As a character comes to a stop from a walk, the arms
may continue forward before settling in a down
position.
o This could also be the case with articles of clothing.
b) Overlapping action (also called “drag” or “lead and
follow”)
o It’s very similar in that it means different parts of the
body will move at different times.
o An example of overlapping action is when a
character raises their arm up to wave: The shoulder
will move first, then the arm, and then the elbow,
before the hand lags behind a few frames.

6. Slow in and slow out

o As any object moves or comes to a stop, there needs to
be a time for acceleration and deceleration.
o Without ease in and ease out (or slow in and slow out),
movements become very unnatural and robotic.
o As a car moves away from a stop, it doesn’t just reach
full speed in an instant. It must first gain speed. As it
comes to a stop, it slows down until it reaches a
complete stop.
o For this reason, more pictures are drawn near
the beginning and end of an action, creating a slow
in and slow out effect in order to achieve more realistic
movements.
o Inversely, fewer pictures are drawn within
the middle of the animation to emphasize faster action.
7. Arcs
o Everything in real life typically moves in some type of
arcing motion.
o Since people/ objects don’t move in straight lines, this
principle ensures you get smooth, realistic movements.
o The quicker something moves, the flatter the arc and
the broader the turn.
8. Exaggeration
o Remain true to reality, just presenting it in a wilder,
more extreme form.
o It is used to push movements further, adding more
appeal to an action, and should always be
implemented to some degree.
o It can be used to create extremely cartoony movements
including physical alterations or supernatural
elements.
9. Solid drawing
o It means taking into account forms in three-
dimensional space/ giving them volume and weight.
o The animator needs has to understand the basics of
three-dimensional shapes, anatomy, weight, balance,
light and shadow, etc.
o Animators are warned against was creating "twins":
characters whose left and right sides mirror each other,
and look lifeless.

10. Appeal
o This principle can really come down to adding more
charisma in many different areas of your animation,
(e.g. in posing).
o Animator should find areas on the character to push
and exaggerate in order to create a more unique design
that will stick out in your audience’s memory.
11. Secondary Action
o Refers to the actions that support or emphasize the
main action to breathe more life into the animation and
create a more convincing performance.
o They should typically be something subtle that doesn’t
detract from the main action happening (perhaps even
thought of as a subconscious action).
o For this reason, dramatic movements take priority over
things like facial expressions.
◆ 12. Timing and Spacing
o Timing refers to the number of frames between two
poses, or the speed of action.
o Spacing refers to how those individual frames are
placed. If the spacing is close together, movement is
slower. If the spacing is further apart, movement is
faster.

◆ Top 5 types of animation styles

1. Traditional animation
o An animator meticulously hand-draws each frame on
paper, which is then photocopied/ retraced onto
transparent acetate sheets called cels.
o Paint is applied and each cel is photographed one-by-
one to produce an animated sequence.
o The style is good choice for artists that enjoy working
with paint and colouring pencils.
o It is, however, a lengthy process that
requires considerable attention to detail to achieve the
best results.
o Examples of movies: Cinderella (1950), The Lion
King (1994), Sleeping Beauty (1959)
2. 2D (also vector-based) animation
o It’s involves creating movement in a 2-dimensional
space.
o Advancements in animation software have meant that
2D animation increasingly accessible and popular
choice for artists.
o Rather than sketching every frame, artists significantly
reduce production time and costs by using software
e.g Toon Boom Harmony, Adobe Animate and Adobe
After Effects to manipulate images and speed up the
process.
o Some well-known 2D animations for TV include The
Simpsons, South Park, Rick and Morty and Family
Guy.

3. 3D animation
o Refers to the process of creating 3-dimensional
moving images in a digital environment.
o Specialised animation software make it possible to use
motion to bring characters, vehicles and props to
life through 3D animation.
o Animated objects can be rotated and moved in the
same way as real objects, creating a lifelike effect.

o The process is often divided into three main stages:

• Modelling - objects and characters are
created using a specific modelling tool
or by scanning real objects into a computer. The
aim is to capture unique personality traits and
movements, which can be achieved by giving a
character bones, skin weights and constraints that
enable it to move in specific ways.
2) Layout and animation
o It is focused on the creation of a set in which to
place the object and involves consideration
of factors like object size and location.
3) Rendering
o Computer calculations generate the finished image
using specialised software
4. Stop motion/Claymotion
o It is a technique achieved by capturing one frame at a
time, using physical objects or props that are moved
between frames.
o When the sequence of images is played back at rapid
speed, an illusion of movement is produced.
o Clay figures or puppets with movable joints are often
used in stop motion animation.
o Plasticine is an ideal choice of material as its
flexibility makes it easy to manipulate in order to
replicate different movements and expressions.

o There are many filmmakers, however, who continue to

work extensively with stop motion, including Tim
Burton and Henry Selick.
o Aardman Animations are also known for their use of
stop motion animation in the creation of many
celebrated characters such as Morph and Wallace and
Gromit.
5. Motion graphics
o Refers to a style of animation that utilises text as a
major component to communicate a message.
o The focus here is on adding movement to specific
graphic design elements that would otherwise be
static to create impact.
o Shapes, objects and text can effectively be set in
motion to create a powerful visual display.
o Motion graphics may be used in
the development of video titles, logo graphics, social
media applications and digital marketing strategies.
o The title sequence of Hitchcock’s classic film,
Psycho (1960), is a great example of this style and
illustrates how elements like sound, motion and
graphic design can work in harmony to create impact.
◆ Assignment 1
Discuss the following animation techniques bringing out
the best application for each:
• Rotoscoping
2. Cut out and mixed media
3. Live action filming
4. Particle systems
Submission: 4th July 2023 (Approx. 2 pages).
◆ LINEAR, 2D AND 3D ANIMATION
A] LINEAR ANIMATION
o The motion of a body is in one dimension or one –
dimensional motion if it moves along a straight line in
any direction.
o This type of motion is also called rectilinear or linear
motion.
o Only one position co-ordinate is required to describe
the position of the particle
Examples
(i) Motion of a vehicle on a straight line.
(ii) Motion of a train on a straight railway track.
(iii) Motion of an object dropped from a certain height
from the ground.
(iv) A man working on a straight path etc.

B] 2D ANIMATION
o The process of creating that illusion of movement for
characters and objects within a two-dimensional space.
o Traditional 2D animation was hand-drawn, but it can
now also be computer generated.
o The illusion of movement is created when individual
drawings are sequenced together over time.
o One second of time is usually divided into 24 frames.
Examples:
(i) Motion of an insect on a floor
(ii) Motion of a boat in a river
(iii) Motion of earth around the sun
(iv) Motion of a shell fired from a gun
C] 3D ANIMATION
o The motion of a body is said to be in three dimensions
or three dimensional motion if it moves in space.
o In this type of motion three position co-ordinates are
required to describe the position of the particle.
Examples:
(i) Motion of a kite
(ii) Motion of an aeroplane
(iii) Motion of a flying bird