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| {{for|the 1983 album by ]|Animation (album)}} | |||
| <div class="thumb tright"> | |||
| <div class="thumbinner" style="width: 262px;"> | |||
| ] | |||
| <div class="thumbcaption">The bouncing ball animation (below) consists of these 6 frames.</div> | |||
| ] | |||
| <div class="thumbcaption">This animation moves at 10 frames per second.</div> | |||
| </div> | |||
| </div> | |||
| '''Animation''' is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an ] of ] due to the phenomenon of ], and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a ] or ] program, although several other forms of presenting animation also exist. | |||
| ==Early examples== | |||
| {{main|History of animation}} | |||
| ]ian ] ], approximately 4000 years old, showing ]s in action. Even though this may appear similar to a series of animation drawings, there was no way of viewing the images in motion. It does, however, indicate the artist's intention of depicting motion.]] | |||
| Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion drawing can be found in ] ]s, where animals are depicted with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion. | |||
| A 5,200 year old earthen bowl found in Iran in ] has five images of a goat painted along the sides. This has been claimed to be an example of early animation.<ref>. '']''. 04-03-2008.</ref>. However, since no equipment existed to show the images in motion, such a series of images cannot be called animation in a true sense of the word.<ref></ref> | |||
| The ], ], as well as the common ] were early popular animation devices invented during the 1800s, while a Chinese ]-type device was invented already in 180 AD.<ref>{{cite book | last = Ronan | first = Colin A | coauthors = Joseph Needham | year = 1985 | title = The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 2 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | id = ISBN 0-521-31536-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last = Dulac | first = Nicolas | coauthors = André Gaudreault | year = 2004 | url = http://www.rochester.edu/in_visible_culture/Issue_8/dulac_gaudreault.html#1 | title = Heads or Tails: The Emergence of a New Cultural Series, from the Phenakisticope to the Cinematograph | work = Invisible Culture: A Journal for Visual Culture | publisher = The University of Rochester | accessdate = 2006-05-13}}</ref><ref>, University of Minnesota, accessed May 13 2006</ref><ref>{{cite web | year = 2005 | url = http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit10.htm | title = Zoetrope | work = Laura Hayes and John Howard Wileman Exhibit of Optical Toys | publisher = The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics | accessdate = 2006-05-13}}</ref> These devices produced movement from sequential drawings using technological means, but animation did not really develop much further until the advent of ]. | |||
| There is no single person who can be considered the "creator" of the art of film animation, as there were several people doing several projects which could be considered various types of animation all around the same time. | |||
| ] was a creator of special-effect films; he was generally one of the first people to use animation with his technique. He discovered a technique by accident which was to stop the camera rolling to change something in the scene, and then continue rolling the film. This idea was later known as stop-motion animation. Méliès discovered this technique accidentally when his camera broke down while shooting a bus driving by. When he had fixed the camera, a hearse happened to be passing by just as Méliès restarted rolling the film, his end result was that he had managed to make a bus transform into a hearse. This was just one of the great contributors to animation in the early years. | |||
| The earliest surviving stop-motion advertising film was an English short by ] called ''Matches: An Appeal'' (1899). Developed for the ] Matchsticks company, it involved stop-motion animation of wired-together matches writing a patriotic call to action on a blackboard. | |||
| ] was possibly the first American filmmaker to use the techniques of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation. Introduced to filmmaking by ], he pioneered these concepts at the turn of the 20th century, with his first copyrighted work dated 1900. Several of his films, among them '']'' (1900) and '']'' (1906) were film versions of Blackton's "lightning artist" routine, and utilized modified versions of Méliès' early stop-motion techniques to make a series of ] drawings appear to move and reshape themselves. 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' is regularly cited as the first true animated film, and Blackton is considered the first true ]. | |||
| ] | |||
| Another French artist, ], began drawing cartoon strips and created a film in 1908 called ''Fantasmagorie''.<ref></ref> The film largely consisted of a ] moving about and encountering all manner of morphing objects, such as a wine bottle that transforms into a flower. There were also sections of live action where the animator’s hands would enter the scene. The film was created by drawing each frame on paper and then shooting each frame onto ], which gave the picture a blackboard look. This makes ''Fantasmagorie'' the first animated film created using what came to be known as ]. | |||
| Following the successes of Blackton and Cohl, many other artists began experimenting with animation. One such artist was ], a successful newspaper cartoonist, who created detailed animations that required a team of artists and painstaking attention for detail. Each frame was drawn on paper; which invariably required backgrounds and characters to be redrawn and animated. Among McCay's most noted films are '']'' (1911), '']'' (1914) and '']'' (1918). | |||
| The production of animated short films, typically referred to as "cartoons", became an industry of its own during the 1910s, and cartoon shorts were produced to be shown in ]. The most successful early animation producer was ], who, along with ] ], patented the ] process which dominated the animation industry for the rest of the decade. | |||
| ==Techniques== | |||
| ===Traditional animation=== | |||
| {{Main|Traditional animation}} | |||
| ] from ]'s 19th century photos.]] | |||
| (Also called ] or hand-drawn animation) Traditional animation was the process used for most animated films of the 20th century. The individual frames of a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, which are first drawn on paper. To create the illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the one before it. The animators' drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called ]s, which are filled in with paints in assigned colors or tones on the side opposite the line drawings. The completed character cels are photographed one-by-one onto motion picture film against a painted background by a ]. | |||
| The traditional cel animation process became obsolete by the beginning of the 21st century. Today, animators' drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned into or drawn directly into a computer system. Various ] programs are used to color the drawings and simulate camera movement and effects. The final animated piece is output to one of several delivery mediums, including traditional ] and newer media such as ]. The "look" of traditional cel animation is still preserved, and the ]s' work has remained essentially the same over the past 70 years. Some animation producers have used the term "tradigital" to describe cel animation which makes extensive use of computer technology. | |||
| Examples of traditionally animated feature films include '']'' (], 1940), '']'' (], 1954), and '']'' (], 1988). Traditional animated films which were produced with the aid of computer technology include '']'' (US, 1994) '']'' (Japan, 2001), and '']'' (2003). | |||
| *'''Full animation''' refers to the process of producing high-quality traditionally animated films, which regularly use detailed drawings and plausible movement. Fully animated films can be done in a variety of styles, from realistically designed works such as those produced by the ], to the more "cartoony" styles of those produced by the ]. Many of the ] are examples of full animation, as are non-Disney works such as '']'' (US, 1982) and '']'' (US, 1999) | |||
| *''']''' involves the use of less detailed and/or more stylized drawings and methods of movement. Pioneered by the artists at the American studio ], limited animation can be used as a method of stylized artistic expression, as in '']'' (US, 1951), '']'' (UK, 1968), and much of the ] produced in Japan. Its primary use, however, has been in producing cost-effective animated content for media such as ] (the work of ], ], and other TV animation studios) and later ] (]s). | |||
| *''']''' is a technique, patented by ] in 1917, where animators trace live-action movement, ] by frame. The source film can be directly copied from actors' outlines into animated drawings, as in '']'' (US, 1978), used as a basis and inspiration for character animation, as in most Disney films, or used in a stylized and expressive manner, as in '']'' (US, 2001) and '']'' (US, 2006). | |||
| ===Stop motion=== | |||
| {{Main|Stop Motion}} | |||
| ] | |||
| Stop-motion animation is used to describe animation created by physically manipulating real-world objects and photographing them one frame of film at a time to create the illusion of movement. There are many different types of stop-motion animation, usually named after the type of media used to create the animation. Computer software is widely available to create this type of animation. | |||
| *''']''' typically involves stop-motion puppet figures interacting with each other in a constructed environment, in contrast to the real-world interaction in model animation. The puppets generally have an ] inside of them to keep them still and steady as well as constraining them to move at particular joints. Examples include '']'' (France, 1937), the films of ], '']'' (US, 2009), and the TV series '']'' (US, 2005–present). | |||
| **''']''', created using techniques developed by ], are puppet-animated films which typically use a different version of a puppet for different frames, rather than simply manipulating one existing puppet. | |||
| *''']''', or Plasticine animation often abbreviated as ''claymation'', uses figures made of clay or a similar malleable material to create stop-motion animation. The figures may have an ] or wire frame inside of them, similar to the related puppet animation (below), that can be manipulated in order to pose the figures. Alternatively, the figures may be made entirely of clay, such as in the films of ], where clay creatures morph into a variety of different shapes. Examples of clay-animated works include '']'' (US, 1957–1967) '']'' shorts (UK, 1977–2000), '']'' shorts (UK, as of 1989), ]'s '']'' (], 1982), '']'' (US, 1987), '']'' (UK, 1984). | |||
| *''']''' is a type of stop-motion animation produced by moving 2-dimensional pieces of material such as paper or cloth. Examples include ]'s animated sequences from '']'' (UK, 1969-1974); '']'' (France/Czechoslovakia, 1973) ; '']'' (], 1979), The pilot episode of the TV series (and sometimes in episodes) of '']'' (US, 1997). | |||
| **''']''' is a variant of cutout animation in which the characters are backlit and only visible as silhouettes. Examples include '']'' (], 1926) and '']'' (France, 2000). | |||
| *''']''' uses non-drawn flat visual graphic material (photographs, newspaper clippings, magazines, etc.) which are sometimes manipulated frame-by-frame to create movement. At other times, the graphics remain stationary, while the stop-motion camera is moved to create on-screen action. | |||
| *''']''' refers to stop-motion animation created to interact with and exist as a part of a live-action world. Intercutting, ] effects, and split screens are often employed to blend stop-motion characters or objects with live actors and settings. Examples include the work of ], as seen in films such '']'' (1961), and the work of ] on films such as '']'' (1933 film). | |||
| **''']''' is a variant of model animation which uses various techniques to create ] between frames of film, which is not present in traditional stop-motion. The technique was invented by ] and ] to create ] scenes for the film '']'' (1980). | |||
| *''']''' refers to the use of regular inanimate objects in stop-motion animation, as opposed to specially created items. One example of object animation is the ''']''', which incorporates the use of plastic toy construction blocks such as ]. | |||
| *''']''' involves the use of live humans as stop motion characters. This allows for a number of surreal effects, including disappearances and reappearances, allowing people to appear to slide across the ground, and other such effects. Examples of pixilation include ]'s '']'' (], 1952), and a portion of the music video for ]'s song ] | |||
| ===Computer animation=== | |||
| {{Main|Computer animation}} | |||
| ] animation]] | |||
| Computer animation encompasses a variety of techniques, the unifying factor being that the animation is created digitally on a computer. | |||
| ====2D animation==== | |||
| ] figures are created and/or edited on the computer using 2D ] or created and edited using 2D ]. This includes automated computerized versions of traditional animation techniques such as of ], ], ] and ] rotoscoping. | |||
| Examples: '']'', ''](certain sequences only)'', '']'', '']'', '']'' | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| ====3D animation==== | |||
| ] digital models manipulated by an animator. In order to manipulate a mesh, it is given a digital skeletal structure that can be used to control the mesh. This process is called rigging. Various other techniques can be applied, such as mathematical functions (ex. gravity, particle simulations), simulated fur or hair, effects such as fire and water and the use of ] to name but a few, these techniques fall under the category of 3d dynamics. Many ] ] are very believable and are commonly used as ] for recent movies. | |||
| Examples: '']'', '']'', '']'' | |||
| =====Terms===== | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| 2D animation techniques tend to focus on image manipulation while 3D techniques usually build virtual worlds in which characters and objects move and interact. 3D animation can create images that seem real to the viewer. | |||
| ===Other animation techniques=== | |||
| *''']''': a technique where footage is produced by creating the images directly on ], for example by ], ] and ]. | |||
| *''']''': a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow drying ]s on sheets of ]. | |||
| *''']''': makes use of a screen filled with movable pins, which can be moved in or out by pressing an object onto the screen. The screen is lit from the side so that the pins cast shadows. The technique has been used to create animated films with a range of textural effects difficult to achieve with traditional cel animation. | |||
| *''']''': sand is moved around on a backlighted or frontlighted piece of glass to create each frame for an animated film. This creates an interesting effect when animated because of the ] ]. | |||
| *''']''': A flip book (sometimes, especially in British English, flick book) is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of photographs rather than drawings. Flip books are not always separate books, but may appear as an added feature in ordinary books or magazines, often in the page corners. Software packages and websites are also available that convert digital video files into custom-made flip books. | |||
| ===Other techniques and approaches=== | |||
| *] | |||
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| *]ing | |||
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| *] | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| {{portal|Computer graphics|5-cell.gif}} | |||
| * ] | |||
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| ==References== | |||
| {{Nofootnotes|date=February 2008}} | |||
| {{reflist}} | |||
| {{refbegin}} | |||
| *Ball, R., Beck, J., DeMott R., Deneroff, H., Gerstein, D., Gladstone, F., Knott, T., Leal, A., Maestri, G., Mallory, M., Mayerson, M., McCracken, H., McGuire, D., Nagel, J., Pattern, F., Pointer, R., Webb, P., Robinson, C., Ryan, W., Scott, K., Snyder, A. & Webb, G. (2004) ''Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the History of Cartoon, Anime & CGI''. Fulhamm London.: Flame Tree Publishing. ISBN 1-84451-140-5 | |||
| *Crafton, Donald (1982). ''Before Mickey''. Cambridge, Massachusetts.: The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-03083-7 | |||
| *Solomon, Charles (1989). ''Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation''. New York.: Random House, Inc. ISBN 0-394-54684-9 | |||
| {{refend}} | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| *, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring 1993): 3-12 | |||
| *Culhane, Shamus, ''Animation Script to Screen'' | |||
| *Laybourne, Kit, ''The Animation Book'' | |||
| *Ledoux, Trish, Ranney, Doug, & Patten, Fred (Ed.), ''Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation Film Directory and Resource Guide'', Tiger Mountain Press 1997 | |||
| *Lowe, Richard & Schnotz, Wolfgang (Eds) ''Learning with Animation. Research implications for design'' Cambridge University Press, 2008 | |||
| *Masson, Terrence, Unique and personal histories of early computer animation production, plus a comprehensive foundation of the industry for all reading levels. ISBN 0-9778710-0-2 | |||
| *] and ], '']'', Abbeville 1981 | |||
| *Walters, Faber and Helen (Ed.), ''Animation Unlimited: Innovative Short Films Since 1940'', HarperCollins Publishers, 2004 | |||
| *], '']'' ISBN 0-5712-0228-4 | |||
| * Bob Godfrey and Anna Jackson, 'The Do-It-Yourself Film Animation Book' BBC Publications 1974 ISBN 0-563-10829-0 Now out of print but available s/hand through a range of sources such as Amazon Uk. | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| {{Wiktionarypar|animation}} | |||
| {{wikinews|Annie Awards for animation Sunday; Wikinews will be there}} | |||
| {{Commons cat|Animation}} | |||
| * {{dmoz|Arts/Animation}} | |||
| * | |||
| * | |||
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| * | |||
| * , a 12-minute film demonstrating 10 different animation techniques (and teaching how to use them). | |||
| {{Animation}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Animation}} | |||
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