If you have answers or are looking for answers over What is Animation, its history, and types of it. You are on the very right page.
In this detailed guide, I will provide you one of the most in-depth information available on it. Please grab a coffee and start reading this detailed animation guide.
What Is Animation
Animation is the movement of continuous still frames, which gives us the illusion of movement of all the frames in a continuous sequence which are present in that series of frames.
It is often created when some very skillful animators from a talented team work together or individually on a project/ task or subject related to character animation.
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Though this is not necessary that animation can be created by animators and skillful cartoonists only, people still make animations by their own and what is required in animation is just a focus and small target just like moving a small object from A to B. In other words,
In other words, Definition of Animation can be also understood as the process of making the illusion of change or manipulation of electronic images by using some set of computer tools. Animation which is the process of giving reality to illusion is created to entertain, educate people by using tools which act as a huge support for the people behind those animations.
Since a long time Animation has been an important part of the entertainment industry. Back in the days of Star Wars movie series, Jurassic Park, Terminator and famous Tv series like Heman, Batman, Superman etc, Animation has been the major reason behind the success of these wonderfully crafted gems.
Animation offers a medium of story telling and visual entertainment which can bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the world — By_WaLt Disney.
The animation is an art to be learned and To become an animator it takes time and working hard in the right direction for man years. Professional guidance from experienced animators can also help aspiring people to get a breakthrough in this industry. A perfect explanation over Animation by Former Disney Animator DJ Nicke from Animation Salvation.
History Of Animation
Animation industry today is a billion dollar industry because of so many movies and video games are created worldwide in today’s generation.
However, History of animation is very old and during the Paleolithic era, it was observed that cave paintings created during that era have shown early attempts to capture the art of animation in the form of drawings. With time moving ahead, many devices were developed.
One of such devices was Thaumatrope which was used in 1824. It has a small disk on each sides having some pictures and is attached to strings. When the string is twirled, it gives the illusion of image movement. An advanced version of this technique was formed as FlipBook.
FlipBook actually has some series of images in continuation form which is played, while holding and bending all pages and slowly releasing pages one by one. This further gives the illusion of movement of images.
Types Of Animation
There are a lot of techniques involved in animation. Techniques which help animators decide what medium to use to create that desirable output. In general, Animation can be divided into few categories.
- Cell or Traditional Animation
- 2D or Flash Animation.
- 3D Animation.
- Motion Graphics Animation.
- Motion Capture Animation.
With so many talented pools of artists working together, they work according to a plan which consists of many levels. Levels include 3 stages which are:
- Pre-production.
- Production.
- Post Production.
With every single artist skillful in their own respective field. They decide their own specialization and move into that team. After preproduction team decides about story, sketches, character designs and backgrounds.
It’s time for production artists to work on their tasks according to the strong base created by Pre-production team.
When the production team is done with their work. The final shots are assigned to add post-production work by them and are finally compiled and rendered together and a movie is created.
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Animation For Kids
Because of entertaining a huge audience and producing stunning works across the globe. Movie studios along with Video game creators create stunning visual effects and Graphics, which results in creating a loyal audience and a huge fan following Animation for kids is actually a way to put creative thoughts into a reality.
Movies like Harry Potter, Aladdin, Tom and Jerry are perfect examples of this. With so many people around the world, the huge demand and popularity among kids for these fascinating characters, a stunning display of special effects and animation along with the creativity of Hollywood specialists delivers mind-blowing artworks.
One more reason for using Animation technology for entertainment is the characters and cartoons in them never die. They never become old and therefore, there is always a need for more and more talented people in the entertainment industry. Artists work day and night and work tirelessly and after months of hard work and continuous efforts.
They create a piece of art which is accepted by everyone and rules television and multiplexes. These movies, games and short films created by talented people often get awards from popular award shows. this also encourages young talent to work hard and staying connected to 3d communities.
What Is 2D Animation
2D Animation is often described as a form of animation which is having 2 dimensions. And, 2D Animation process involves creating graphics in form of vectors with the help of softwares. It was also called as Cell Animation among few people. Over the time technology has evolved, so as working methods. Studios who want animators need their animators to be expertly trained in the craft of animation with awesome drawing, visualization and color sense.
Software like Adobe Flash and Toon Boom are among the popular choice for creating 2d vector graphics. Famous Tv shows like Oggy and Cockroach, Tom and Jerry, Heman and the Masters of the universe, Disney’s Aladdin. Among movies, Disney’s Mulan, Aladdin, Tinkerbell, Dumbo, Cinderella are quite popular ones.
What Is 3D Animation
In simple words, 3d animation definition can be understood by creating animation using 3d softwares is another form of animation which is also called as Computer Animation. Computer Animation often requires software in which animations or character animations can be created. One very popular software used for movies and games is Autodesk Maya, also called as Maya.
There is some other software as well which can be used to create 3d work. Some of them are Autodesk 3ds Max, 3D Blender, Softimage. 3d Animation can be easily merged or combined with Live shoots which can give the illusion of 3d character walking in the real world. Transforms movie is a great example of that.
Not only characters, but there are also many 3d outputs which can be combined as explosions, tall buildings, smoke, fire, smoke and water effects. With the use of dynamics, a normal person or layman may or may not understand what is going inside the movie. But someone who knows about visual effects, animation can understand it very well.
It also helps in grabbing the attention of small kids who are at a very young age and need to learn more and more about this world.
During 1990’s one of the very famous movie, Jurassic Park released and it changed the way everyone was looking at movies. People were amazed to see what a wonderful movie it was and with 3d surround system. It was hard to believe that dinosaurs creatures are not real. After that, a huge number of movies have been released.
Some very popular movies names are Mission Impossible, Tomb Raider, Terminator, Mummy, The Ring, Van Helsing, Toy Story, Mr. Incredibles and the list is endless. After successful movies, their video games were released and many of them are very successful too making big money for their creators and gaining huge popularity among their audiences from all over the world.
Softwares Used In Animation
Animation is a complex topic which needs some really powerful 3d softwares from 3D Animation and other reputed companies. Sometimes one is enough sometimes more than one and their combinations give the desired output. Here is the list of 3d Softwares which are used in animation industry pipeline.
- Autodesk 3d Maya.
- Autodesk 3d MAX.
- ZBrush.
The main use of 3d Softwares is to create 3d Characters, 3d Backgrounds, Crowd, Effects, Hair and fur. With a team of skillful people working on projects of animation. They form 3d output in form of Video or Image format. A huge amount of 3d work can be produced in these softwares. Some of them are: Create fight scenes, Movement of Characters, Facial animation with dialogue, Animation of fur, cloth, special effects like fire explosion, smoke, water etc.
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Final Words:
So This was the article over What is Animation, We hope you liked our article. The animation is a topic which creates fascination in our mind and opens doors for unlimited possibilities for the future.
Even though the Animation is a craft which is learned and mastered by regular practice and guidance of professional animators and directors.
This is an industry which unlocks the huge potential for earning abroad, a high paying job and a secure career. People who spend some years as a junior animator often get offers from other studios at a high pay. We hope That you really liked our article.
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