A Short History Of Animation

3D CGI Animation These are the new style of animation which is used for films such as toy story or in Horror movies for zombies, dragons etc. This is then used to make something loo although its real. For example in a film there could be a small crowd of a few people however with CGI you can make the crowd look 10 times the size of the original by creating Computer Generated Images. The advantage of this is that it is the most up to date way to create animation. Yet the disadvantage is that it is very technical and detailed and requires a lot of skill to produce. To the left is a picture of Toy story with the basic editing and then the colors edited into it. One side shows the raw animation and the other side shows it edited and polished.

2D Computer Graphics Animation These are animations which are created entirely on a computer with no drawings or anything printed. This is similar to stop motion is the fact that it is 12 frames per seconds which when played one after the other give the illusion of movement. The advantage is that it doesn't require a lot of paper and the same way the old cartoon styles were produced. Yet the disadvantage is that it requires a good computer. Some technical skills and a good understanding of how to work these systems. To the left is the Simpsons which is now done with computer animation which then allows the drawings to be done in greater detail and can be made to be more fluent etc.

Stop Motion Animation Stop motion is a multitude of images put together to give the illusion of movement, This is used in multiple different films etc. A well known stop motion is Wallace and Gromit, which later created Shaun the sheep. All of these are created using stop motion which is probably tedious for the creators. As they create the film at 48 fps, which is 48 pictures per second. which in a 90 minute film adds up too 5400 seconds. which therefore results in 21600 pictures to be taken for the entire film. The advantage of this is that for simple ones they can be easily made, yet the disadvantage to this is that they can take a while to make and are very tedious as the movement between frames is minuscule, and can sometimes require a fairly decent camera. To the left is a GIF of a fox running. This is done by drawing different poses an then taking a series of pictures and when played one after the other it gives the illusion of movement. Below is a tra...

Cell Animation Cell animation is a method of animation which, uses a static background and transparent sheets of paper or plastic. Where characters are drawn onto and then different layers are used to create the scene. An example of this would be how the Simpsons was done is which there would be a layer for the background scene, there would then be different layers for each characters and different background props. To the left is a photo of sponge-bob which is done with cell animation. Where the different positions of the characters are placed over the background. Below is beauty and the beast animation which is the same as sponge-bob and is used in every Disney cartoon is this similar style such as the old Cinderella etc.

Zoetrope A zoetrope is a cylinder device with little slits around the outside and a multitude of images on the inside. You then look through the slits to see the inside and then spin the entire device, This gives the effect of animation as many images are in rapid succession to each other. The credit of the animation goes to a William George Horner in 1833 who was also a British mathematician.  Further there are advantages for this animation is that it was a big step forward for animation at its time due to the multiple images being able to create a small movie like animation. Yet there are some disadvantages to this as it may sometimes require quite complex parts. This is another example of a zoetrope as there are different drawings of the horse however when they are spun together it gives the effect of the horse running. How to make a zoetrope , this shows how to make a very simple zoetrope.

Flip Book A flip book is a series of pictures that gradually change from one page to the next, this is used in books for children or adults demonstrating certain things. The pictures on each page are different however when you flip through the pages quickly you get the illusion of motion through the persistence of vision. The first documentation of the flip book was in the September of 1868 when it was created by John Barnes Linnet under the name ' kineograph' which means moving picture. It is a stapled notebook when people normally then draw on the corners which then gets flicked through at a decent speed, as too fast and you'll miss the animation an too slow and it wont connect the images. Below is a gif of a mortal combat flip book, this explains how they work with different pages having different pictures however when put together make an animation. Below is a gif of someone firing a gun, however if you look at the bottom yo...