Animation: Introduction to Animation, Traditional Animation

Techniques, Principles of Animation, Key framing: Character and

Facial Animation, Deformation, Motion capture

Introduction to Animation

Animation comes from the Latin words “anima,” which means “life,” and “animare” which means “to
breathe life into” Animation consists of still images (called “frames”) with slight differences between
them. When viewed together in a sequence, they give the illusion of motion – like a flipbook.

Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images.
In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be
photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most animations are made with computer-generated
imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D computer
animation (which may have the look of traditional animation) can be used for stylistic reasons, low
bandwidth, or faster real-time renderings. Other common animation methods apply a stop
motion technique to two- and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts, puppets, or clay figures.

Types of animation:

● 1 Traditional animation. Traditional animation, also known as cel animation, is the oldest
form of animation. ...
● 2 2D animation. 2D animation, also known as vector-based animation, is all about creating
movement in a 2-dimensional space.
● 3 3D animation.
● 4 Stop motion.
● 5Motion graphics.

Traditional Animation Techniques:

Traditional animation usually refers to animation hand-drawn on paper. It was the process used for
most of the productions throughout the 20th century.

An animator draws the characters, layout and backgrounds on paper. Each drawing in the animation
would be slightly different than the one before it and the one following it, creating the illusion of
movement when everything is put onto film.
Once all the animation has been drawn on paper, it is then photocopied or retraced onto transparent
acetate sheets, called cels. After the line art is transferred onto the cels, paint is applied to the
images, using a colour chart that is pre-determined for each character or element of the movie. Cels
were essential to drawn animation since it freed up the animator from having to draw every element
in the film on one single layer of paper. Instead, by using cels, each element had its own layer and
could be animated separately.

With today's technology, this traditional animation technique of using cels to colour animation
drawings is outdated. It is now possible to hand-draw animation, then scan the drawings to colour
them digitally using computer software such as Harmony. So, contemporary animation has become a
mix of traditional and digital techniques.

Full Animation

Animators will refer to full animation when they're working on a high-quality animated film. Often
they will work with a high level of detail in the design and will try to animate characters and
elements so they're believable and lifelike. This type of animation often requires a huge number of
drawings to make it appear fluid and realistic.

Limited Animation

Limited animation applies to animated films that require fewer details. It is typically a very stylized
and expressive type of animation and rarely realistic. Limited animation was introduced by studio
artists at United Productions of America (UPA).

This method was primarily invented as a cost-effective way to create animated series for television,
but it soon became a style of its own with its funky characters and background designs and its
original use of colour.

Rotoscoping

This particular technique is used by animators when they want to trace live action sequence
movements and turn them into drawings. They'll often use the action sequence as a basis and as an
inspiration for character animation.
Principle of Animation
Animation is defined as a series of images rapidly changing to create an illusion of movement. We
replace the previous image with a new image which is a little bit shifted. Animation Industry is having
a huge market nowadays. To make an efficacious animation there are some principles to be
followed.
Principle of Animation:

There are 12 major principles for an effective and easy to communicate animation.

1. Squash and Stretch:

This principle works over the physical properties that are expected to change in any
process. Ensuring proper squash and stretch makes our animation more convincing.
For Example: When we drop a ball from height, there is a change in its physical property.
When the ball touches the surface, it bends slightly which should be depicted in
animation properly.
 2. Anticipation:
Anticipation works on action.Animation has broadly divided into 3 phases:

1. Preparation phase
2. Movement phase
3. Finish
1. In Anticipation, we make our audience prepare for action. It helps to make our animation
look more realistic.
For Example: Before hitting the ball through the bat, the actions of batsman comes
under anticipation. This are those actions in which the batsman prepares for hitting the
ball.

2. Arcs:
In Reality, humans and animals move in arcs. Introducing the concept of arcs will
increase the realism. This principle of animation helps us to implement the realism
through projectile motion also.
For Example, The movement of the hand of bowler comes under projectile motion while
doing bowling.

3. Slow in-Slow out:

While performing animation, one should always keep in mind that in reality object takes
time to accelerate and slow down. To make our animation look realistic, we should
always focus on its slow in and slow out proportion.
For Example, It takes time for a vehicle to accelerate when it is started and similarly
when it stops it takes time.

4. Appeal:
Animation should be appealing to the audience and must be easy to understand. The
syntax or font style used should be easily understood and appealing to the audience.
Lack of symmetry and complicated design of character should be avoided.

5. Timing:

Velocity with which object is moving effects animation a lot. The speed should be handled with care
in case of animation.
For Example, An fast-moving object can show an energetic person while a slow-moving object can
symbolize a lethargic person. The number of frames used in a slowly moving object is less as
compared to the fast-moving object.

1. 3D Effect:
By giving 3D effects we can make our animation more convincing and effective. In 3D
Effect, we convert our object in a 3-dimensional plane i.e., X-Y-Z plane which improves
the realism of the object.
For Example, a square can give a 2D effect but cube can give a 3D effect which appears
more realistic.
 2. 8. Exaggeration:
Exaggeration deals with the physical features and emotions. In Animation, we represent
emotions and feeling in exaggerated form to make it more realistic. If there is more than
one element in a scene then it is necessary to make a balance between various
exaggerated elements to avoid conflicts.

3. Stagging:
Stagging is defined as the presentation of the primary idea, mood or action. It should
always be in presentable and easy to manner. The purpose of defining principle is to
avoid unnecessary details and focus on important features only. The primary idea should
always be clear and unambiguous.

4. Secondary Action:
Secondary actions are more important than primary action as they represent the
animation as a whole. Secondary actions support the primary or main idea.
For Example, A person drinking a hot tea, then his facial expressions, movement of
hands, etc comes under the secondary actions.

5. Follow Through:
It refers to the action which continues to move even after the completion of action. This
type of action helps in the generation of more idealistic animations.
For Example: Even after throwing a ball, the movement of hands continues.

6. Overlap:
It deals with the nature in which before ending the first action, the second action starts.
For Example: Consider a situation when we are drinking Tea from the right hand and
holding a sandwich in the left hand. While drinking a tea, our left-hand start showing
movement towards the mouth which shows the interference of the second action before
the end of the first action.
Key framing: Character and Facial Animation

Keyframing is the simplest form of animating an object. Based on the notion that an object has a
beginning state or condition and will be changing over time, in position, form, color, luminosity, or
any other property, to some different final form.
The Five Basic Keyframe Types and Their Icons
● LINEAR KEYFRAMES.
● Auto Bezier.
● CONTINUOUS BEZIER.
● BEZIER KEYFRAMES.
● HOLD KEYFRAMES.
Keyframes produce sleek animated movements, while minimising the risk of any clunkiness or jolting
movements (which can arise if the drawings used contain any slight differences). They make the
process far quicker.

Computer facial animation is primarily an area of computer graphics that encapsulates methods and
techniques for generating and animating images or models of a character face. The character can be
a human, a humanoid, an animal, a legendary creature or character, etc.

Deformation
In computer graphics, free-form deformation (FFD) is a geometric technique used to model simple
deformations of rigid objects. It is based on the idea of enclosing an object within a cube or another
hull object, and transforming the object within the hull as the hull is deformed.

Motion capture

Motion capture sessions involve the movements of actors many times per second. Only the
movements are recorded - not their real visual appearance. The animation data is then mapped to a
3D model which is enabled to perform the actions that were captured. Motion capture is the process
of capturing the movement of people, animals or objects, transferring it to a 2D or 3D model and
animating it with the set of recorded movements. In this way, motion capture aims to produce 3D
models that reflect the real movement of moving subjects

Motion capture (mocap) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. The
technology originated in the life science market for gait analysis but is now used widely by VFX
studios, sports therapists, neuroscientists, and for validation and control of computer vision and
robotics. Motion capture is actually a descendant of one of the oldest animation techniques, known
as rotoscoping. This is the process of tracing over live action footage to make an animated film.
Motion capture offers several advantages over traditional computer animation of a 3D model: Low
latency, close to real time, results can be obtained. In entertainment applications this can reduce the
costs of keyframe-based animation. The Hand Over technique is an example of this.