ICT: 2D Animation

Module

Raymond G. Puno
MAED - TLE
PRE-TEST
Introduction
Animation
“To animate” means “to give life to”.
Animations are created from a
sequence of still images. The images
are displayed rapidly in succession
so that the eye is fooled into
perceiving continuous motion.

Persistence of Vision
This is the tendency of the eye and
brain to continue to perceive an
image even after it has disappeared.
 Animation generally deals with
hand drawn images in contrast to
motion video which deals with actual
photographs of real-world objects
taken through a camera, although both
uses the concept of displaying
sequences of images one after
another to depict motion.
In multimedia, animation is regarded
as an important and useful tool for
communicating information. The main
application areas of animation include:

• Marketing and advertising

• Educational Multimedia Programs
• Sports
• Games
• Interactive Magazines
• The Internet
History of Animation
In 1824, Peter Roget published a
paper called “Persistence of Vision
With Regard to Moving Objects.” This
paper describes the phenomenon
that occurs in human vision where an
image lingers even after the light
from the source has ceased. This
phenomenon make animation
possible. This led to numerous
“philosophical” toys during the 19th
century. These include the Zoetrope,
and the ever famous Flipbook.
 The first animated cartoon(in the
traditional sense, i.e. on film) was
“Fantasmagorie” by the French
director Emile Cohl. Released in 1908.
 One of the very first successful
animated cartoons was “Gertie the
Dinosaur” by Winsor McCay. It is
considered the first example of true
character animation.
 In the 1930s to 1960s, theatrical
cartoons were produced in huge
numbers, and usually shown before a
feature film in a movie theater. MGM,
Disney and Warner Brothers were
the largest studios producing these 5
to 10 minute “shorts”. Competition
from television drew audiences away
from movie theaters in the late
1950s, and the theatrical cartoon
began its decline.
How animation works
In the traditional animation process,
animators will begin by drawing
sequences of animation on sheets of
paper often using colored pencils,
one picture or “frame” at a time.

The Animators
A key animator will draw the key
drawings (“key” in the sense of
“important”) in a scene, using the
character layouts as a guide. The key
animator draws enough of the
frames to get across the major
points of the action
 The clean-up animators take the
lead and assistant animators’
drawings and trace them onto a new
sheet of paper, taking care in
including all of the details present on
the original model sheets, so that it
appears that one person animated
the entire film.

The inbetweeners will draw in

whatever frames are still missing in
between the other animators’
drawings. This procedure is called
tweening.
• TV video builds 30 entire frames or
pictures every second. Movies are
shot at a shutter rate of 24 frames
per second, but using projections
tricks the flicker is in-creased to 48.
On some projectors each frame is
shown 3 times before the next
frame, for a total of 72 flickers per
second which helps eliminate the
flicker effect.
Types of Animation
Traditional Animation
• Animators draw images on a
transparent piece on a top of a
lightbox, one frame at a time.
• Requires very strong drawing skills.
2D Vector-based animation
• Computer generated animations,
that uses the exact same
techniques as traditional animation.
• The animator has the option to
move the body parts individually
instead of drawing the characters
over and over.
• Does not require very strong
drawing skills.
3D Animation
• Also referred to as Computer
Generated Imagery
• Instead of drawing, the characters
are digitally modeled in the program,
and then fitted with a “skeleton” that
allows animators to move the models.
• Body parts are always present and
should be taken into consideration,
not like in 2D Animation.
Motion Graphics
• Animated logos, commercials,
television promos or film opening
titles.
• Usually involves animating images,
texts, or video clips.
Stop Motion
• Any animation that uses objects that
are photographed in a sequence to
create the illusion of movement.
• The process of stop-motion is very
long, as each object has to be
carefully moved inch by inch, while it
is being photographed every frame to
create a smooth sequence of
animation
Types of Stop-Motion
Claymation
• One of the most popular stop-
motion form
• Working with CLAY or PLAY-DOH
characters
• Some Claymation uses metal
skeletons on which clay is molded
Puppets
• Animation using Puppets (built with
skeleton rig; some with strings)
• The faces of the characters can be
replaced based on the expression.
Cut-out
• Using construction paper or
cardboard characters and placing
them on paper while shooting the
animation from above.
Silhouette
• Also uses cardboard or some flat
material, but the objects are all black
and the shot is depicted with
silhouette or shadow only.
• One of the oldest forms of stop
motion.
Action Figures/ Lego
• Uses action figures or Lego
Characters
• Popular on YouTube.
• Dedicated to create funny skits.
• Some use popular action figures to
make fun of pop culture.
Pixelation
• Uses real people and real
environments to create unreal
videos.
• Taking a still(not moving) photo,
moving things around and then
taking another photo.
12 Principles of
Animation
The 12 basic principles of animation
is a set of principles of animation
introduced by the Disney Animators
Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in
their 1981 book The Illusion of Life:
Disney Animation. Johnston and
Thomas in turn based their book on
the work of the leading Disney
animators from the 1930s onwards,
and their effort to produce more
realistic animations. The main
purpose of the principles was to
produce an illusion of characters
adhering to the basic laws of
physics, but they also dealt with
more abstract issues, such as
emotional timing and character
appeal.
The book and its principles have
become generally adopted, and have
been referred to as the "Bible of the
industry. In 1999 the book was voted
number one of the "best animation
books of all time" in an online poll.
Though originally intended to apply
to traditional, hand-drawn animation,
the principles still have great
relevance for today's more prevalent
computer animation.
1. Squash and stretch
The most important principle is
“squash and stretch”, the purpose of
which is to give a sense of weight
and flexibility to drawn objects. It can
be applied to simple objects, like a
bouncing ball, or more complex
constructions, like the musculature
of a human face. Taken to an
extreme point, a figure stretched or
squashed to an exaggerated degree
can have a comical effect.
2. Anticipation
An action occurs in three parts:
1. the preparation for the action - this
is anticipation
2. the action
3. the termination of the action
Anticipation can be the anatomical
preparation for the action, e.g.,
retracting a foot before kicking a
ball. It can also be a device to attract
the viewer's attention to the proper
screen area and to prepare them for
the action, e.g., raising the arms and
staring at something before picking it
up, or staring off-screen at
something and then reacting to it
before the action moves on-screen.
3. Staging
This principle is akin to staging as it
is known in theatre and film. Its
purpose is to direct the audience's
attention, and make it clear what is
of greatest importance in a scene;
what is happening, and what is about
to happen. Johnston and Thomas
defined it as "the presentation of any
idea so that it is completely and
unmistakably clear", whether that
idea is an action, a personality, an
expression or a mood.
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose-
to-Pose Action
Straight Ahead Action in hand
drawn animation is when the
animator starts at the first drawing in
a scene and then draws all of the
subsequent frames until he reaches
the end of the scene. This creates
very spontaneous and zany looking
animation and is used for wild,
scrambling action.
Pose-to-Pose Action is when the
animator carefully plans out the
animation, draws a sequence of
poses, i.e., the initial, some in-
between, and the final poses and
then draws all the in-between frames
(or another artist or the computer
draws the inbetween frames). This is
used when the scene requires more
thought and the poses and timing
are important.
5. Follow through and overlapping
action
These closely related techniques
help render movement more
realistic, and give the impression
that characters follow the laws of
physics. "Follow through" means that
separate parts of a body will
continue moving after the character
has stopped. "Overlapping action" is
the tendency for parts of the body to
move at different rates (an arm will
move on different timing of the head
and so on).
6. Slow In and Out
This refers to the spacing of the
inbetween frames at maximum
positions. It is the second and third
order continuity of motion of the
object. Rather than having a uniform
velocity for an object, it is more
appealing, and sometimes more
realistic, to have the velocity vary at
the extremes.
7. Arcs
Most human and animal actions
occur along an arched trajectory,
and animation should reproduce
these movements for greater
realism. This can apply to a limb
moving by rotating a joint, or a
thrown object moving along a
parabolic trajectory. The exception is
mechanical movement, which
typically moves in straight lines.
8. Secondary action
This is an action that directly results
from another action. It can be used
to increase the complexity and
interest in a scene. It should always
be subordinate to and not compete
with the primary action in the scene.
An example might be the facial
expression on a character. The body
would be expressing the primary
action while the expression adds to
it.
9. Timing and Motion
The speed of an action, i.e., timing,
gives meaning to movement, both
physical and emotional meaning. The
animator must spend the appropriate
amount of time on the anticipation of
an action, on the action, and on the
re-action to the action. If too much
time is spent, then the viewer may
lose attention, if too little, then the
viewer may not notice or understand
the action.
10. Exaggeration
Exaggeration is an effect especially
useful for animation, as perfect
imitation of reality can look static
and dull in cartoons. The level of
exaggeration depends on whether
one seeks realism or a particular
style, like a caricature or the style of
an artist. The classical definition of
exaggeration, employed by Disney,
was to remain true to reality, just
presenting it in a wilder, more
extreme form.
11. Solid drawing
The principle of solid — or good —
drawing, really means that the same
principles apply to an animator as to
an academic artist. The drawer has
to understand the basics of anatomy,
composition, weight, balance, light
and shadow etc.
12. Appeal
Appeal in a cartoon character
corresponds to what would be called
charisma in an actor. A character
who is appealing is not necessarily
sympathetic — villains or monsters
can also be appealing — the
important thing is that the viewer
feels the character is real and
interesting.[
Drawings in Animation
Rough Drawing
• A rough drawing is always done
first
• It is the skeleton of the character
• It is done to get a feel on the weight
and form of the character.
• Often done in a very loose fashion.
Clean-up Drawing
• It is the drawings you see in the
finished film
• The artist doing the clean-up is
responsible for the final line and
finished look of the character or
scene.
• Usually done on a new sheet of
paper.
Inbetween Drawing
• The drawing generated between
two images to give the appearance
that the first image evolves
smoothly into the second image.
• The drawing that gives the
appearance of motion.
Model Sheet
• also known as a character board,
character sheet, character study or
simply a study
• is a document used to help
standardize the appearance,
poses, and gestures of an animated
character.
• a communication tool that a
character designer uses to show
other artists how the character
works, and therefore how he/she/it
should be represented
• Model sheets are required when
large numbers of artists are
involved in the production of an
animated film to help maintain
continuity in characters from scene
to scene, as one animator may only
do one shot out of the several
hundred that are required to
complete an animated feature film.
• A character DRAWN according to
the production's standardized
model is referred to as “ON-
MODEL”
• While a character NOT DRAWN
according to the production's
standardized model is referred to
as “OFF-MODEL”
Character rotation
• a template that shows the
character from all sides – front,
side, ¾ and back views.
• Its purpose is to show the
character from all sides
Expression sheet
• helps show what your character
looks like in different situations. It is
helpful to see how their eyes,
brows, nose (beak), mouth, and
other features move.
Tools in Traditional
Animation
Non-Photo Blue Pencils
These pencils are useful for doing
initial sketches because they're a
shade of pale blue that doesn't to
show up on copies when you transfer
your work from paper to clear cels.
3-Hole Punched Paper
You need something to draw on with
your pencil sets. Three-hole punched
paper attaches to a peg bar taped on
your light table to hold the paper in
place.
• Light Table
• Light box
It lights up your artwork from
beneath to make it transparent
enough to see through for
reference.
• Animation/ Drawing disc
An animation disc is where
animators draw the drawings
needed for the animation. It is
placed on a lightbox and used to
work out camera moves and
panning walk cycles. It has two
sliding peg bags at the top and
bottom.
Peg bar
Holds the papers in place when
you’re drawing. Also makes sure that
the paper goes exactly where it did
last time when you place them back.
POST-TEST