Mention "animation" to anyone, and immediately Disney movies and wonderful visions pop into their head. With the advent of the computer, animation has come to mean many things. The design of web sites and the production of multimedia has led to a great increase in the need for designers to become proficient in developing commercial animations for presentations, video and advertising.

STOP-ACTION ANIMATION

Stop-action animation ushered in a new variety of films in the 1950's and 1960's. This type of animation relied not on visual artists, but sculptors and three-dimensional miniature artists. Small models would be produced through the use of clay and other materials. Through the use of stop-action photography and miniature sets, the illusion of horrible monsters and mythological creatures took form. The figures would be posed, photographed, posed and photographed again. The resulting frames would give the illusion of motion as they were projected at 24-30 frames per second. One of the premier animators of this particular industry was Ray Harryhausen. Students interested in this type of animation should view films such as "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Clash of the Titans". Other animators used similar techniques. Rankin-Bass created several holiday specials using bendable figures, such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and others.  One of the more famous techniques involved the use of clay. Referred to as "claymation", this technique was used to create a famous commercial featuring the "California Raisins".

LIMITED ANIMATION

True "Disney-type" cel animation was time consuming and costly. Any traditional type of animation is very expensive to produce these days. True cel animation flourished throughout the 1940's and 1950's. However, in the 1960's, the tremendous demand of television, the explosion of Saturday morning cartoon shows and the rising cost of labor to employ animators led certain studios to develop cheaper methods of production. Studios such as Hannah-Barbera, Warner Brothers, etc. shortened the production cycles of these shows using the technology referred to as "limited animation". Animators created less movement by using character drawings as backgrounds, and animating only certain features like the eyes and mouth. This animation was nowhere near the quality of the feature films created by Disney, but it was commercially successful. The lowered cost of production and the increased income from television commercials, made this a commercially successful industry.
"Japanimation" is the term that was coined from the influx of "limited animation" cartoons from Japan in the 1960's and 70's. Shows like "Speed Racer", were characteristic of these types of animations that depended more on the story and less on the amount of drawings created. Once again, these were commercially successful.
Limited animation and increased deadlines forced animators to search for even more ways to decrease production times and drawings for animation. This led to ways of reduced drawings of characters and on creating more illusions of movements. One of the most prevalent techniques used was "cycling". Cycling is the production of a few limited movements to create the illusion of a more complicated movement. For example, if a character was in a hurry to leave a scene, he might lift into the air on a blur of whirling legs and smoke. This allowed the artists to create a few drawings and then keep re-shooting the artwork onto multiple frames. This would create the illusion of running legs, and then with a puff of smoke, the character would exit. This helped the animators because the character could exit the scene without drawing many multiple frames of the entire character for realistic motion.

THIS CONCLUDES LESSON 1.

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LESSON 2

COMPUTER ASSISTED ANIMATION

As animators continued the quest for producing quicker, cheaper methods of animations, computer technology started to become affordable. Although "super" computers generated most of the early computer animations, the personal computer began to have an impact. However, software limitations kept animators from being able to create entire films. This led to a blend of both traditional and computer animation. This "hybrid" type of animation was made famous in some well known feature films. It was especially useful for creating special effects in science fiction films. Disney's "Tron" was the first truly commercial feature length film to feature a major blend of live action and computer generated imagery. This centered around characters placed inside a type of video game. "The Last Starfighter" utilized much computer generated effects in its space combat scenes. This "hybrid" blend of traditional and computer generated images is referred to as "computer assisted animation". It features the use of computer images and technology used in conjunction with other more traditional methods of film production and animation. It has had a tremendous impact on the industry. It has been used in such films as "Beauty and the Beast", "The Lion King", and "Tarzan", just to name a few. It has proven to be a commercial success, but computers have not yet replaced animators when it comes to making films.
The major impact of computers has been seen in the area of "in-betweening". That is the production of in-between drawings between major drawings. This has long been an area where beginning animators have had their start. Hopefully it will not displace animators, but just change their function in the industry.

COMPUTER-GENERATED ANIMATION

The area of animation is being challenged by a new breed of animators. Originally led by experimental artists and animators, the area of computer generated animation is now a very real industry. This area can be classified into smaller sub-sections. Those areas would be film animation, industrial animation, and web animation. This area offers tremendous opportunities for students. Many businesses and the film industry is continually searching for new workers in this rapidly expanding area.

Film animation -     This industry is led by companies such as Pixar Studios who created the films "Toy Story", "A Bug's Life" and "Toy Story 2". Pixar has proven that computer generated animation can be convincing and commercially successful. They offer the greatest challenge yet to traditional animation. Their award-winning films are proving that computer animation is a commercially viable medium. The production of this type of film utilizes computers throughout the entire production cycle. However, many of the tasks are handled by software engineers. Their technical expertise still can not create the characters. Artists are still required to visualize and create characters and modeling drawings. Another threat to traditional artists is the ability of software to render actual three dimensional characters. This can not be accomplished with traditional animation, in so far as characters may be viewed and rotated in three dimensions in real time. This technology is what has allowed Pixar and others to create truly spectacular images and incredible camera views and angles.

Industrial animation -     This area is a growing area due to the tremendous need for training and education in many industries. Animators in this area use software to simulate flight, driving, tool operation, robotics, etc. Simple animation is also used to create graphical presentations for businesses for sales and statistical reporting. Several interesting applications have been applied in this industry. For example, a company that manufactures roller coasters has the ability to generate an animated computer simulation to be shown to prospective buyers. The ride can be designed, viewed, and actually "ridden", before it has even begun construction! A customer can be given a "walk-through" of their new house before construction has begun. This allows changes in design to be done before the building actually begins. This translates into significant time and cost saving for various industries.
One particularly interesting application of this technology is in the area of litigation graphics. This specialized industry creates presentations and animations for attorneys. They actually recreate crime scenes and scenarios using ballistics and investigative evidence. As new technologies emerge, new applications will be found in this rapidly growing industry. 

Web Animation -     One of the fastest growing segments of the animation industry is in the area of "web content creation". Web content creation is the production of materials to be utilized for presentation or broadcast on the World Wide Web. The rapid growth of commercial web sites has led to a great demand for persons who can create animations for advertising, sales, communication and education for the Internet. There are two major areas of animation pertinent to the field:
GIF animations -     GIF animations are adaptations of the old traditional stop-action animations of days gone by. However, these animations usually consist of illustrations created entirely through the use of digital imaging and illustration software. They are raster or "bitmap" images that consist of many tiny "pixels" or picture elements. These illustrations are called a".GIF" file. They are name for the three letter extension on the end of the file name. It comes from an old graphics file format utilized by the CompuServe company on the Internet to transmit graphic images. They are then placed frame-by-frame into another software program to produce a group of files. These still files are then presented on screen in a timed fashion to create the illusion of movement. (It sounds like we've come full circle!) These are also referred to by some as "banner ads" although banner ads can be one still image on a web page.
Flash animations -    These animations get their name from the software program "Flash" distributed by Macromedia Software. They are unique in that they are not bitmap images. Macromedia has developed a method of producing "vector" images for transmission on the Internet. This results in a much smaller file than a bitmap image. Therefore, much more effects can be created without the long wait for the files to download. This program also uses a technology called "tweening". It can take an original image on a keyframe, and automatically generate all the images in between it and the next key frame. "Tweening" comes from the old "in-between" drawings of traditional animation. This can save much time and produce some rather spectacular effects. There is currently a need for Flash animators in today's industry.

Well, there you have it. A short, concise introduction to the area of animation. You will be using some of the techniques described above in your assignments. Be sure to complete all the review questions, and don't forget... you will be having a test on this!!! You may want to review it. Below are some links that you may be interested in checking out.

www.nrg.be     -    Super Flash animation

http://hotwired.lycos.com/animation/ - Some weird animations

http://services.valdosta.edu/animation/cool.html - Lots of GIF animations