Animation
Animation ( animare from the Latin " bring to life "; animus, " mind, soul " ) is in the strict sense, any technique that by creating and displaying a still image, a moving picture is created for the viewer. The individual images can drawn, calculated in the computer, or they can be photographic recordings. When playing such a sequence with about 24 frames per second in the viewer creates the illusion of an almost fluid motion. But this also means that a 90- minute film from 129,600 individual images is, and accordingly the cost of preparing is high.
The animation analyzed the movements found in nature, it is not only 1:1 in the synthesis in order, but also offers the possibility of warped or implement with altered timing to achieve dramatic or comic effects.
The largest part of the global animation is produced for the animated film area for cinema or television, for entertainment or advertising. In addition, the area of the moving visualization in science, architecture, design, or teaching exists.
Classic animation techniques
From the beginning part of film history, animation techniques have been continuously developed and are in use to this day. Each technology has spawned its own aesthetics. The decision for a specific animation technique is made today, especially from a commercial point, whereby the majority of all animated productions either animated or 3D computer animation is because both of these techniques are best suited for industrial production with many specialized workflows. All other techniques are used mainly in the short film, in advertising and film schools. They also require more of an artistic approach and a central person in the workflow.
Stop Motion or object animation
In the stop-motion technique objects are animated by being changed only slightly for each frame of the film. In this section, we distinguish:
- Brick films where all the characters and scenes are composed of Lego bricks;
- Pixilation, where the actors are photographed frame by frame just like objects;
- Collage films where any materials are assembled by the camera moving images;
- Claymation (so-called Knetfigurenfilme );
- Puppet animation films. The latter include but not be the puppet or hand puppet films, since in this case the film runs continuously.
2D animation
Experimental animation
Here are all the other techniques, such as time manipulation ( slow and fast motion ), creating animations from existing, recycled footage ( found footage ), a large part of the abstract film, but also (still) nameless trends and fashions of the motion graphic as currently play in advertising and TV design an important role.
Drawing techniques
The predominant techniques of classical animation are the pose -to- pose and the Straight Ahead method. In pose to pose technology, the animator defines the so-called first extreme to which represent the extreme phases of motion, typically start and end points. Breakdowns are then applied between the extreme phases that define the path from Extreme to Extreme detail. Finally, in order to represent the fluid motion, most recently between Extremes and Breakdowns intermediate phases ( betweens ) will be inserted. This operation is generally done not by the animator, but by his assigned assistant or inbetweener.
The pose -to- pose method enables the subscribers maximum control over timing, movement, and details of the characters and, through its task sharing a particularly economical operation of your dar. is however liable to a mechanical component that result in inexperienced subscribers to stiff, lifeless animation can.
The Straight Ahead method, the animator draws all frames in sequential order. Thus, it is possible to create very fast movements with eccentric, falling from the movement pattern frames that produce a dynamic overall impression. Design, details and timing of the so -drawn figure, however, are more difficult to control and errors tend to add up over the course of the scene or aggravate. Therefore, in the Straight Ahead method, the main task of the assistant to preserve the visual continuity of Rohzeichnungen of the animator.
In general, professional artist tend to use both techniques and mix partially. The methods require great for drawing understanding and the ability to assess the effect of many different individual images to display movement. Also in the 3D animation application both methods, however, the computer takes over the duties of the wizard and interphase signatory.
Principles of animation
In 1981 published Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, the book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. In this they took together the experience of leading animators from The Walt Disney Company that emerged since the 1930s to create credible animations. From this they deduced twelve principles that are essential for creating the illusion of living characters and worlds.
Computer Animation
Nowadays aesthetics and production methods are no longer as tightly linked as before. Therefore, many 2D animations created using special software in whole or in part, in the computer, or recorded in a classical way material is digitized and processed in the computer. Could be since about 1980, when both originals scanned and the resulting data sets were technically manageable, this technology undergoes rapid development and commercial success story. The resulting from the CAD CGI technology made it possible, finally, to waive any digitized template and generate all image objects in the computer completely. Are often based vector data of the objects in two or three dimensions. Information about the appearance and movements of all objects are merged, until eventually each required frame can be computed and rendered in the desired image resolution.
Among professionals is disputed since the Oscar nomination of the movie Happy Feet, whether films in which the movements of their characters were produced solely by means of motion capture, ever apply in animation films, or rather belong to marionettes and hand puppets films. However, alternative input options for movements of CGI characters have long been in use, preferably those which are derived from the puppet technique.
In the context of computer animation, a distinction in principle between three techniques: keyframe animation, action -based animation and frame-by- frame animation.
Keyframe animation When the keyframe animation (or keyframe animation), values to animate object properties at specific times in the animation software set ( = keyframes ). Each object or scene state thus receives an entry on a time axis. With increasing length of the animation and the number of animation events, the time -object diagram expands. The object values lying between the keyframes time points are calculated using mathematical interpolation of the animation software.
Activity-based animation The action-based animation going on object-oriented and encapsulates the time aspect in individual animation actions. For example, as in MS PowerPoint or 3d animation tools, the animations are defined by a list of actions that are executed during the course of succession. Parallel processes ( time synchronization ) are also definable, wherein the objects concerned are specially marked.
Frame-by- frame animation This animation concept, the individual images are created individually as in a flipbook.
Animation in the psychology of learning
In the psychology of learning animation in the broader sense is a process of knowledge transfer, multimedia processed in the for appropriate content and will be presented to the learner in a prescribed time sequence. The origin of this method is the one in the moving graphics of educational films, on the other, those submitted in experiments, for example by teachers in the classroom.
Screensavers have to the advantage of change explicitly mapped to static representations. However, they also provide high processing demands on the learner. They should therefore be used with caution and limited to matters that actually benefit from a moving presentation. However, even those media components to animate and thus overemphasized gimmicky Frequently who are for it largely unsuitable, such as texts.
According to the design criteria for multimedia R. Mayer animations should be accompanied with spoken rather than written text ( modality ). The comment should this be presented close in time to the commentary section of the animation ( Kontiguitätsprinzip; temporal contiguity ).