Unit 5

Meaning of animation
By definition, animation makes static presentation come alive.

Animation is the act of making something come alive.

Depending on the size of the project, you can animate the whole thing or
you can just animate parts of it.

Principles of Animation
Animation is possible because of a biological phenomenon known as
persistence of vision and a psychological phenomenon called phi

With animation, a series of image are changed very slightly and very
rapidly, one after the other , seemingly blending together into a visual
illusion of movement

When the images are progeressively and rapidly changed, the arrow of the
compass is perceived to be spinning.

Digital television videos display either 24, 30, or 60 full frames (pictures)
per second, depending on the settings.

The speed at which each frame is replaced makes the images appear to
move smoothly.

Movies filmed on actual film are usually recorded at 24 frames per second.

A projector's shutter flashes light through each image twice, increasing the
flicker rate to 48 times per second, creating the illusion of motion.

Some projectors show each frame three times before moving to the next
frame, resulting in 72 flickers per second.

Unit 5 1
 This higher flicker rate reduces flickering and makes the beam of light
appear more continuous.

The same principle applies to animatics, flip-books, and zoetropes, which

use quick changes in images to create motion.

To make an object move across the screen and change its shape, adjust its
shape and position slightly for each frame.

Playing these frames quickly blends the changes, creating smooth motion
and animation.

This effect works because fast movements can trick the eye, similar to
sleight-of-hand magic tricks.

Animation by Computer
Using specific software and techniques, you can create animations in
various ways.

The simplest animations happen in 2-D space, where movement and

changes occur along flat x and y axes.

More complex animations can be made in 2½-D space, where shadows,

highlights, and perspective create the illusion of depth.

The most realistic animations occur in 3-D space, simulating depth and
dimension.

Examples of 2-D animations include blinking text, color-changing logos,

and buttons or tabs that react when hovered over with a mouse.

These simple 2-D animations often do not change their position on the
screen.

Path animation in 2-D adds motion, moving an image along a set path
during a specific time frame.

Tools like Flash or PowerPoint make it easier to create animations, such as

a bouncing ball or a mascot sliding onto the screen.

Combining movement and visual changes can create more dynamic effects,
like making a mascot "walk" onto the stage.

Changing the size of an object as it moves can give the illusion of depth,
making it appear as though it is coming closer (a 3-D effect).

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 2½-D animation adds an illusion of depth (z-axis) to an image through
shadowing and highlighting while keeping it on the flat x and y axes.

Techniques like embossing, shadowing, beveling, and highlighting create

the appearance of depth by raising or cutting into the image.

Tools like Zaxwerks’ 3D Invigorator create "3-D" effects in 2-D image

editing programs like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Fireworks, and After
Effects.

3-D animation uses software to create a fully virtual space where objects
exist with a front, back, sides, top, and bottom.

Changes (motion) in 3-D animation are calculated along all three axes (x, y,
and z), allowing objects to move in depth or rotate to show all angles.

Virtual light sources and camera perspectives enable viewers to explore

objects from various viewpoints in 3-D animations.

High-end 3-D animation software, such as NewTek’s Lightwave and

AutoDesk’s Maya, render these animations frame by frame.

Modern computers have automated the animation and rendering process,

making it more efficient.

Commercial films like Shrek, Coraline, Toy Story, and Avatar showcase the
power of computer animation.

For instance, Toy Story used a "computer wall" of 117 Sun SPARCstations to
render its frames,

Animation Techniques
Cell Animation:

The animation techniques made famous by Disney use a series of

progressively different graphics or cels on each frame of movie film.

A minute of animation may thus require as many as 1,440 separate frames,

and each frame may be composed of many layers of cels.

The term cel derives from the clear celluloid sheets that were used for
drawing each frame, which have been replaced today by layers of digital
imagery.

Cel animation artwork begins with keyframes; these are the first and last
frames of an action.

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 Tweening is an action that requires calculating the number of frames
between keyframes and the path the action takes, and then actually
sketching with pencil the series of progressively different outlines.

Computer Animation:

Computer animation programs typically employ the same logic and

procedural concepts as cel animation and use the vocabulary of classic cel
animation—terms such as layer, keyframe, and tweening.

The primary difference among animation software programs is in how much

must be drawn by the animator and how much is automatically generated
by the software.

Kinematics is the study of the movement and motion of structures that

have joints, such as a walking man.

Inverse kinematics, available in high-end 3-D programs such as Lightwave

and Maya, is the process by which you link objects such as hands to arms
and define their relationships and limits (for example, elbows cannot bend
backward).

Morphing is a popular (if not overused) effect in which one image

transforms into another.

Morphing applications and other modeling tools that offer this effect ca
transition not only between still images but often between moving images
as well. Some products that offer mor phing features are Black Belt’s Easy
Morph and WinImages (www.blackbeltsystems.com) and Human Software’s
Squizz (www.humansoftware.com).

The morphed images were built at a rate of eight frames per second, with
each transition taking a total of four seconds and the number of key points
was held to a minimum to shorten rendering time.

Animation file formats:

Some file formats are specifically designed for animations, allowing them to
be shared across applications and platforms.

Examples include:

Director (.dir and .dcr)

AnimatorPro (.fli and .flc)

Unit 5 4
 3D Studio Max (.max)

GIF89a (.gif)

Flash (.fla and .swf)

File size is critical for web animations, so compression is essential.

A Director movie file (.dir) is compressed into a Shockwave animation

file (.dcr) for web use.

Compression can reduce file sizes by 75% or more, speeding up

download and display times.

Flash animations use vector graphics to minimize file size.

Flash files (.fla) must be converted to Shockwave Flash files (.swf) for
web playback.

Special plug-ins or players are required to view these animations in a

browser.

3-D animations often compile individual rendered frames into standard

video file formats, such as:

AVI (.avi)

QuickTime (.qt, .mov)

MPEG (.mpeg, .mpg)

These formats can be played using media players included with operating
systems.

HTML5 introduced animation capabilities within SVG files (.svg):

Graphic elements in SVG can be programmed to change over time.

Example: A simple SVG code can create an animation where a red patch
expands to fill a rectangle in three seconds.

The animation can be viewed by opening the .svg file in an HTML5-

compliant browser.

Adjusting parameters like duration, color, and location in the code

allows for customization.

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