P1

I am writing a report on the techniques used for different forms of animation, which will include line drawing, cel drawing, rotoscoping and 2D/3D animation. I will evaluate and explain what tools are used and will use examples of the technique in use.

In this post I discuss 4 different types of animation: 

Line Drawing

Cel animation

Rotoscoping 

2D/3D animation

Structure:
Intro
Summarise techniques
Examples (are they still relevant today?)

Line drawing

Line drawing is any image that consists of distinct straight lines or curves placed against a background, without graduation in shade or hue to represent two-dimensional objects. It is defined as the act of creating an illusion using basic strokes of varying weights and angles that demonstrate form and depth. It does not include shading or gradient and instead. focuses solely on lines.

There aren't many films that use line-drawing that I found. This is because it takes so long to draw each individual frame by hand. Typically, 60 seconds of line drawing can take 6-12 days of production with the producers sometimes staying extra hours to make sure it is completed quicker. This is because a traditional 60FPS film would require 3600 frames per minute, which would be a lengthy process and could still be quite costly.

Cel animation

Cel animation is the art of creating 2D animation by hand on transparent plastic called Cels. Cel animation is a lengthy, expensive process that demands the involvement of a large team. Once all movement in the shot is approved the pencil sketches are passed onto an inker
The inker transfers the linework to a transparent film of thin plastic(a cel) using black ink.
As soon as the ink is dry the film gets passed off to a ‘colorist’ who colors in the linework using Cel paint. They apply the colour on the opposite side to the ink giving each Cel a crisp look with clean, consistent line work, while each Cel is being inked and coloured, more artists are hard at work creating the backgrounds for each scene. 


Shows such as The Simpsons and Futurama were Cel animated; a typical Simpsons episode would take 5 months to animate therefore multiple episodes would need to be animated at once to create an entire series. 
To be a Cel animator you can be entry level, intermediate or expert level. 

Rotoscoping

Rotoscoping is an animation technique that involves tracing over live-action footage frame by frame, which produces graphic assets for both animated and live-action projects. Animator Max Fleischer invented rotoscoping in 1915 to create more realistic animations with fluid, life-like motions. Rather than drawing everything by hand, tracing live action footage sped up the process. Max famously filmed his brother in a clown suit to create the first rotoscoped cartoon character "Koko the clown". In addition, this technique allowed filmmakers to create complex animations scenes and characters and add features to live action films they may not have otherwise been able to.



2D/3D animation

In traditional 2D animation, everything was drawn by hand, frame-by-frame. However, in 3D animation you animate characters and objects in 3D animation tools, such as Adobe Animate, to manipulate objects and characters. 3D animation is often used for full-length movies, interactive advertisements, commercials, and other marketing materials. Films use 3D rendering for sequencing that would be too dangerous to do or unable to hire stunt personnel. 







Conclusion
Each of the different types of animation require different skills and require longer or shorter amounts of time, depending on their complexity and detail. The time is takes to animate can depend on different factors such as staffing, hardware and software, illness between crews etc. 
The least time consuming animation type is line drawing as the artists would have to draw each frame individually, which is a lengthy and expensive production, where typically 60 seconds of a 60FPS film would require 3600 individual frames. The least time consuming process is 3D animation as it is all designed and completed on computer software whereas cel animation, rotoscoping, line drawing and 2D animation are all completed by hand completing each frame individually.  
On the other hand, 3D animation might take less time as each frame is done using computer software whereas the other types of animation are drawn by hand. However, rotoscoping could also be quicker as it consists of tracing over live action footage which means drawing would be a lot quicker.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

M1- Evaluate how suitable each animation is for the target audience. *** assess 2 and conclude with whether you feel they are effective or not. Explain why

Image
The first example I have chosen to analyse is Spongebob Squarepants, which is a 2D animation created in 1999. The target audience of Spongebob is young children as the cartoon explores stereotypes aimed at children using bright colours and comedy that is understandable by young children.   The cartoonish style traditionally means it is aimed at children because of the bold outline, with often loud and obnoxious characters, who are also sometimes rude. Also, the show is very unrealistic as it is about a sponge and different cartoon sea animals living and breathing under the sea. The reason this attracts children is because children grow up watching similar products and are attracted to colourful products, which means Spongebob is very effective.  The purpose of Spongebob is to entertain children through comedy and convey lives of cartoon animals under the water.  The target audience of Spongebob is young children because they are easier to entertain. They us...
Read more

D1- Compare and contrast genres of animation across global cultures

Image
Disney Pixar vs Aardman Disney Pixar create 3D animation films aimed at children aimed more at American audiences. They use blockbuster actors that do voice overs for their animated characters, such as Tom Hanks in Toy Story and Dwayne Johnson as Maui in Moana, which creates more fans of the shows as they may want to watch just for their favourite celebrities. Toy Story Toy Story is a 3D animation and is aimed at young children as it is a story where toys come to life whenever humans aren't around and the story focuses on a relationship between old-fashioned cowboy doll named Woody and and a more modern astronaut action figure named Buzz Lightyear. 3D animation is aimed at children because it is imaginary and wouldn't happen in real world scenarios. The bright colours highlight life and happiness, colour is a very important aspect of film as it can influence thoughts and communicate feelings.  Throughout colour, Disney Pixar carefully choose their colours to evoke the right emo...
Read more

M2 - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

Image
 SWOT SWOT is Strengths , weaknesses , opportunities and threats and allows directors/artists to analyse their work to their audience before release. A strength to my animation in relation to my audience is that it will contain bright colours and bold fonts, which will mean my animation will be aimed at children. A weakness to my animation is that it might not be educational to children as I will have to communicate through the body language of characters. An opportunity to my animation is that as an animator, the characters could be used in future animations and could re-use work already completed. A threat to my animation is that topics discussed could be offensive to specific audiences, which could decrease overall ratings and could be bad for my reputation. Also another threat is my skillset as I have never used animation tools and the tools used will be very low level as I learn how to use them . Strengths My animation is strong as it is aimed at a young audience, which...
Read more