How to create frame-by-frame animation. Two types of computer animation. Differences from other animation techniques

This is the most full overview all aspects of the concept Animation with the best examples according to the editorial board.

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Warbringers: Jaina... A mixture of CG ART, 3D and special effects makes it possible to create relatively budget-friendly mini-stories for Blizzard cinematics. CGI + 3D animation. A social viral video you might have missed. Written, Directed & Produced by Lubomir Arsov

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Types of animation

Since the introduction of the simplest animation, a wide variety of views and styles have been invented. Consider 5 main types :

• Traditional animation;
• 2D vector animation;
• 3D computer animation;
• Motion graphics;
• Puppet animation;

Traditional Animation (2D, Cel, Hand Drawn)

Traditional animationsometimes called cel animation, is one of the older forms of animation. In it:

• the animator draws each frame to create a sequence of movements;
• sequential drawings, quickly exposed one after another, create the illusion of movement.

The simplest example of such an animation is old disney cartoons.

Cartoon "Mowgli"

How is traditional animation created?

• the animator prepares the working field: attaches a transparent sheet of paper to a special illuminated screen;
• a drawing is applied to a sheet of paper with a colored pencil;
• the drawing should be rough and approximate. This is done to see how many frames you need to create for the perfect movement of the character;
• once the cleanup and interim drawings are complete, production moves to taking each single shot.

How animation videos were created in 1938

Modern animators can give up drawing characters and freehand frames. Instead, they use computers, tablets, special pens.

Examples of modern traditional animation

Eluvium. Author Stas Santimov Are You Lost In The World Like Me? Written by Steve Cutts

Where to begin?

You can start in the profession by studying the basic

The advantage of lessons is a sequential study of the process of creating animation according to the principle - "from simple to complex".

Also, to complete the first steps of creating animation, you need to master the following basic programs as:

Photoshop is often overlooked when considering animation software, and its capabilities are great for frame-by-frame painting in any style. Photoshop's timeline functionality lets you animate by drawing frame by frame using look-skinning.

• The average salary of an animator in the West is $ 4250 / month;
• In our area, it is very different (in the studio, freelancing, remotely - from $ 400 to $ 3500 per month).

2D vector animation

Bojack Horseman (TV series on Netflix)

2D animation is a term used when referring to traditional hand-drawn animation. It can also refer to computer vector animation using traditional techniques.

Principle 2D animations

To create vector animations, the same techniques are used as for traditional ones.

This flexibility allows even a beginner to create their first passable video.

How to learn?

While traditional animation requires you to be a good artist, computer animation doesn't quite. 3D animation is more like a constructor than a drawing.

3D animation technologies have a lot in common with stop motion in that they follow a frame-based approach. But, in 3D, the implementation of tasks is more manageable, since it is in the digital field.

3D model

Instead of drawing a character or creating one from clay in 3D animation, the object is created digitally. Later supplied with a "skeleton" that allows you to move the model.

Animation is created by building models at specific keyframes, and then the computer calculates and interpolates between these frames to create motion.

See below for a visual example of the process of creating a 3D model in Blender.

Examples of modern 3D animation

Author - ManvsMachine

Nike air max

Author - PlatigeImage

Wonder Woman - Prologue | Making of

The profession of 3D animator: where to start

The profession is highly competitive as this animation is mainly for commercial purposes.

Where can you work as a motion designer:

• In studios
• Freelance
• Sell \u200b\u200btemplates
• Create training products

The average salary of a motion designer in the West reaches $ 5000 / month, our salary for a specialist starts at $ 700 / month.

Stop motion (Puppet animation)

Stop motionis the stop of the subject after the shot and its sequential movement to take a new photo and new movement. When you play back the taken photos one by one, the illusion of movement is created. This is how stop motion is created.

This technique is similar to traditional animation, but the animator uses real materials instead of drawings.

The process of working on the series Robot Chicken

I love all forms of animation, but there is something unique and special about stop motion: it's more real. But I think this is also a kind of lonely and dark thing.

Tim Burton

Stop Motion Evolution

Stop-Motion animation uses objects photographed in sequence to create the illusion of movement.

Example of Stop Motion animation

The process of creating stop motion animations is time-consuming, as each object must be carefully moved millimeter by millimeter. Each shot is simply required to create a smooth sequence of movements of the subject.

Examples of modern puppet animation

Another example from Robot Chicken by Bruna Berford

The profession of a puppet animator: where to start, how much does he earn

It is necessary to start moving into the depths of the profession of a stop motion designer with the development of Dragonframe and iStopMotion

The profession of a stop motion designer in the labor market has gradually revived. Stop motion today is an inexpensive method that makes it easy to show good artistic taste and patience. Therefore, designers make good money:

• average earnings in the West - $ 3864 / month;
• with us - from $ 1000 / month.

Types of animation

Let's consider what types of animation exist.

GIF animation

GIF (with file extension, .gif) is an image file format that is animated by combining several other images or frames into one.

GIF example. (converted to mp4 for smaller size)

Unlike the JPEG (.jpg) format, GIFs typically use a compression algorithm called LZW encoding, which does not degrade image quality and makes it easy to store the file in bytes.

You can read more about what a GIF is on Wikipedia.

GIF Animation Examples

Examples for every taste are on the portal giphy.com

How to make a GIF yourself?

• We have already written about the fastest.
• And here is another useful one tutorial on creating GIFs in Adobe After Effects.

Cinemagraphy

Also read the opinion can anime become mainstream (in English).

Examples of Japanese animation

Prison School Anime Flavors of Youth

How is anime created?

The anime creation process consists of several stages:

• search for animation and character ideas;
• coming up with a concept (characters are thought out, the main storyline, some first sketches are made);
• writing a detailed script;
• drawing characters and backgrounds;
• rough storyboard;
• sketches or sketches are digitized.

Video - How anime is created

12 principles of animation creation

1. Compression and decompression

According to this principle, animation objects can be compressed or stretched to convey the speed, momentum, weight, and mass of the object.

This can be used to indicate the bouncy or hardness of an object (for example, to show which ball in an animated video is filled with water, and which is just a bowling ball). Also, artists using this principle convey the facial expressions and emotions of the character.

Important: The size of the object should not change depending on whether it is flattened or stretched.

The first principle of animation

2. Preparing for action

It is to prepare the viewer for any action of the animation character.

For example, this technique is used to indicate that a character is about to jump. In this case, the preparation will consist in the fact that the character will sit down, gather strength and begin to straighten until he is in the air, which will be a jump.

Important: without preparation for any action, all subsequent steps of the character will look unrealistic and implausible. The artist cannot miss this moment, because the viewer simply will not understand what the character wants to do in the next seconds, and it will be simply not interesting to watch such a video.

Preparing for action - this is a must-have technique for keeping attention.

The second principle of animation

3. Staging

goal of this principle is to reveal the creative intention of the author as accurately as possible.

In any animation, it is important to direct the viewer's gaze to some moment or important nuance, a character's movement or an event that is taking place. Staging, as it were, draws attention to the most important thing.

Note that in this principle it is necessary to alternate close-ups with a distant background. Close-ups usually show the facial expressions of the character, and dynamic or static events of the multimedia clip take place in the background.

Important: in each scene and video as a whole, the action should be as clear as possible and be in focus. Otherwise, the viewer will simply not grasp the essence of the author's idea.

The third principle of animation

4. Spontaneous action and From pose to pose

Principle spontaneous action consists in the fact that several drawings are created in turn without a specific action plan and ending.

Principle from pose to pose consists in the fact that the artist draws each final point of movement and only after that draws intermediate poses and movements.

Important: the principle from pose to pose saves the artist's energy and time, because using it, he knows exactly what will happen on the screen and how it will end. There is no such bonus in spontaneous action - if the artist painted something incorrectly, he will have to redraw everything.

Spontaneous action is good for displaying fire, drops, clouds, smoke and dust, and it also perfectly conveys the aesthetics and unpredictability of natural phenomena.

The fourth principle of animation

5. Inertia and overlap

This principle is applied so that after the character stops, parts of his clothes, hair, arms or even legs continue to move by inertia. So the stop seems more natural and does not cause the viewer to nitpick about the unnatural picture.

Inertia and overlap make the movement, body and character of the animation more alive.

This group also includes such a principle as quickdraw.Thanks to the brace when turning the character's head, his hair or cheeks (like a bulldog) will slowly and springy move behind her.

The fifth principle of animation

6. Slowing down movement at the beginning and end

The principle is that all movements are performed slowly at the beginning, then they are accelerated and at the end, the actions slow down again. This is done in order to maximize the naturalness of the video and bring the drawn character closer to the real one.

Only robots move at the same speed, so the artist tries to draw all the movements of his characters in different amplitudes and at different speeds.

Important: deceleration is not used in all cases. For example, in order to show the movement of the bullet, deceleration is not necessary, but for the movement of the pistol during the shot - yes.

Sixth principle of animation

7. Arcs

Without considering the movement of the character in the arc, obvious errors occur and they become too mechanical.

Absolutely all movements of the characters are performed according to the principle of an arc, and not because they should all be smooth, but because the arc can outline a much larger trajectory and give the character the ability to move as naturally as possible.

The seventh principle of animation

8. Expressive strokes

This principle is often confused with overlap, but it is wrong. Expressive strokes are the features of the character's movements that give him color.

Expressive strokes give the character's movements the character of the moment and the mood. If the character is angry, then when knocking on the door, his other hand will be clenched into a fist. Maybe this stroke is not so striking, but it perfectly conveys the real, real emotions of a person.

An artist who attaches importance to such small details gives animation to life.

Eighth principle of animation

9. Frame rate

The general nature of the animation depends on how many frames the artist drew between the main actions.

By changing the frame rate, the animator can tell as many as 10 stories. If there are many poses between the main frames and they are located close to each other, then the movements will be very slow, and if there are few frames and they are located at a great distance from each other, the movements will be very fast.

The standard frame rate for cinema is 24... The animation is also drawn in one, two or three frames.

Important: the more often the frames change, there they will need a more thorough drawing.

Ninth principle of animation

10. Hyperbolization

The principle is that almost every facial expression, facial expression and emotion needs to be unique.

With this principle, a sad emotion can be made even more sad, and a cheerful one even more fun. Hyperbolization is not based on distorting emotions and facial expressions, but on making the movements and facial expressions even more convincing.

The principle of exaggeration is always appropriate, as it makes each video more interesting, rich and complete.

The optimal degree of hyperbolization is difficult to determine. Therefore, you first need to exaggerate the idea to the maximum, and then adapt it to the video.

Tenth principle of animation

11. Drawing

You need to draw on this principle in such a way as to present the drawing within the framework of a three-dimensional space. Transferring the mass, volume and balance of the character.

If you draw the shape from all sides, the animation process will be greatly simplified.

Important: When sketching your character, it is best to use standard geometric shapes such as spheres, cubes and cylinders, rather than squares and rectangles. And yet, make sure that the drawn character does not turn out flat.

Eleventh principle of animation

12. Charisma

The principle is that the drawn character must necessarily be interesting and unusual, which means evoking emotions in the viewer, catching and having a zest.

The beauty of a character doesn't have to be charisma. This trait can be expressed in any detail, be enclosed in one character or in all the heroes of the video.

Important: you can achieve the charisma of a character by diversifying the shape of the object, proportions, and also by emphasizing a characteristic detail. It must be unusual and stand out from the general picture of the character's character.

The twelfth principle of animation

Trends (trends) in animation

Today, animation is reincarnated in the most diverse and exciting ways of telling a story and idea. Due to the emergence of new advances in technology and telecommunication technologies, new trends in animation.

• Look.

Here are the most popular ones:

3D in retro and vintage style

A style of 3D animation that is gaining popularity again is retrofuturism. This allows for a fantastic aesthetic that people in the late 70s and early 80s thought the future might look like.

Technics:the use of lush lighting effects and pixelated digital elements serves to create terrain and characters in a retro world.

High Contrast Cel Animation

It's an animation trend that's been on the rise for several years now and is used by some of the world's top companies including Nike, Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network, and even Winter X games.

Bold, contrasting colors combined with angular design are used to give the animation a simplistic, almost cel-style.

Result - a funny sequence from which it is difficult to look away.

Some of best examples taken from Golden Wolf, an animation company based in London.

Mix 2D and 3D

A trend that started in recent years and continues to grow is creating animations that look like a mix of 2D and 3D.

You don't have to look far to find a tutorial that shows you how to end up with a flat 2D look using a cel shader for 3D rendering.

By giving 3D objects a 2D look, animators can create expressive, illustrative elements that immediately grab the viewer's attention by providing clear and colorful information.

Super surrealism

If there is one great animation trend that takes full advantage of the power of CGI images, it's surrealism.

The hyper-surreal animation effect is based on combining photorealistic elements with fantastic images to create dreamlike worlds and actions.

There is an example of animation like "The Dreamer" by Roof Studio for Honda, which draws viewers on a whimsical journey as the realistic vehicle moves through the wilderness.

Dynamic animation of functions in applications

Instead of using static images or all text, many apps in 2018 use functional animations that keep the user's attention with a vibrant, engaging user interface.

This includes using animation to enhance navigation elements, confirm user input, zoom in and out, and more.

The renaissance of 2D animation in marketing

In the entertainment industry like movies and video games, 2D animation almost disappeared when 3D came along. Since then, companies have felt no better way captivating audiences, players and potential customers than with 3D animation, even if it takes more time and effort.

Adobe after Effects - software from Adobe Systems for video and dynamic image editing, composition development, animation and creating a variety of effects.

Animation lessons

Chapter 8.

Animation basicscharacters

Now you can start creating your animation. As you can see, it is not just about moving objects, but involves modeling the characters, building the scene and giving them natural poses. In this chapter, we will look at motion and its timing, which is the foundation of animation.

One of the components of success is knowledge of Newton's laws of motion. Another, no less important, component is the observation of people and animals. To learn how to understand movement and become familiar with such basic concepts animations such as stretch-squeeze, lead, slip, tweak, etc., you should watch nature films, silent comedies or classic cartoons.

In addition, time needs to be spent wisely in animation. Actors, comedians and musicians always consider the time factor. For example, a comedian with a good sense of pace has a clear idea of \u200b\u200bwhen to perform a trick in a scene. An experienced animator knows when a character should react to an action, when he should blink or pull a mallet from behind. The fact that animation takes place over time is what distinguishes it from simple illustration. When properly synchronized, the characters look like they are alive, otherwise they appear to be just mannequins.

Timing value

Timing affects every aspect of a movie. First, the film has a specific duration - from 30 seconds of a commercial to 2 hours of a full-length film. Secondly, the division of this time span into scenes determines the mood and pace of the film. Third, the character's play and the timing of his actions affect the character of each scene.

The action of the film, like the sound of a piece of music, is largely time-dependent. A film can be considered the same work of an animator as a song or a symphony - works of a composer. Scenes from the film can be thought of as verses of a poem or chorus of a song. Parts of individual instruments are quite comparable to the individual actions of the characters. Every action, like every note, must happen in the right place at the right time. Just as the wrong note in the music is instantly detected, so the wrong timing in animation is immediately apparent.

Timing calculation

The timing of a movie starts with its length. A commercial can last about 30 seconds, and a full-length film can be an hour or more. Then a script is prepared, a storyboard and dialogues are recorded. Dialogues determine the duration of the animation, so use them in moderation. A lot of time is wasted on drawn-out dialogues and the speech of a slowly speaking character.

After dialogue has been recorded, all events are projected onto the movie's timeline. Decorations are scanned and positioned according to dialogue tracks using video editing software such as Adobe Premiere... Thus, the length of the film is set and time is allocated for individual plans.

After dividing the film into plans, each of them is decomposed into separate actions. The method depends on how the production process is organized in the studio. Traditional studios use frame tables, and most modern studios, which run entirely on computers, use the animation artist to synchronize.

Frames per second

When storyboarding a scene during animation, the frame rate is selected first. For half a century, all animated films have been filmed at 24 frames per second.

The proliferation of videos, CDs, and other media has made choices difficult. In the US, the frame rate for video is 30 frames per second, in Europe it is 25, and the animation rate in many games is only 15 frames per second.

With such a variety of timescales, it is sometimes difficult to determine the number of frames that an action will take. A seasoned animator can usually call this figure at 24 frames per second. To convert this value to the number of frames for video at 30 frames per second, you need to multiply it by 1.2 (24 x 1.2 \u003d 30).

Which frequency should you choose when timing?

It is advisable to use both - 24 and 30 frames per second in order to be able to switch between them depending on the project requirements. Most modern studios still shoot on film, so the acquired skill will come in handy. Many animation artists are also working on videos for videos or computer games, and in this case it is better to choose a frame rate of 30 frames per second. You may also find an animator stopwatch useful, which allows you to count the number of frames for both 24 and 30 frames per second.

Time Determination Using Frame Tables

Frame table(exposure sheet) is an ordinary sheet of paper, divided into rows and columns, in which each row represents one frame of the animation, and each column contains some information, for example, the text of the dialogue track (see Chapter 10 for more details), instructions for the operator, and fields where the director can plan the timing of the scene by sketching out the poses of the character or marking the beginning and end of the action with lines (Figure 8.1).

Figure: 8.1. Frame table

Time calculation on the computer

Some studios don't use frame tables. In this case, the timing is performed by the animator directly on the computer (and the director makes his own corrections). Most powerful 3D animation packages allow you to load along with scene data sound track... Thus, the animator gets the opportunity to bring dialogues in real time without referring to the captions from the frame table.

Other studios create so-called anigrams(animatic), in which blanks of characters move around the scene, allowing you to roughly imagine how it will look. After the director approves of the anigram, the animators use it as a template when composing the scene and timing. It is quite simple to develop an anigram, and when it is played back in sync with the dialogue, it performs approximately the same functions as the frame table.

What time is it?

This is a top priority question for any animator. Time is a very insidious matter. If you take too much time for a movie, it will turn out to be stretched and boring, if too little, it will be crumpled. The sense of timing sharpens as you gain skill. Use trial and error. If you do not know how long it will take to complete an action, set its duration approximately. Frames are then added if the action develops too quickly, or removed if it becomes slow. Computers allow you to quickly change the timing of an animation.

Sequencing

There is an important rule for calculating animation: you must follow the sequence of actions. The viewer perceives events best if they occur sequentially. For example, you must first depict how the stumbling character jumps up, trying to maintain balance, then reflect certain emotions on his face. If you do not show the jump, the viewer will not understand what caused the character's grimace. Remember, this is likely the first time the viewer is watching your movie. Therefore, direct his attention throughout the video. Think of the cartoon "Roadrunner". When Sly Coyote falls into the gorge, he does not immediately notice that he is hanging in the air. Noticing this, he touches his paws in horror, and then looks into the camera with a pitiful expression on his face. The scene lasts almost a second. The coyote blinks or twitches his mustache, but is generally motionless. It disappears from the screen within a few frames. During the time that the animal remains motionless, the viewer has time to understand what the coyote is thinking - he is doomed to death. Thus, the animator clearly sets out the intended plot of the cartoon.

One of the most important rules is to draw the viewer's attention to the character before starting to move. In this case, the action is well received.

Correct timing

Animation artists have been developing a sense of the seasons for years. To take the first step in this direction, follow a sequence of actions, then break it down into precise time intervals. Many animation artists study classic animation and feature films frame by frame to understand how the timing of the movement was done. A freeze-frame VCR can be helpful in this regard.

To acquire the necessary skills, you should also learn the principles of motion synchronization in feature films. Motion in cartoons V is an exaggerated image of the real. An animation artist first learns to portray real people in order to understand the structure of a human figure, and only then proceeds to create cartoon characters; otherwise, he will not be able to correctly convey the figure using several lines. The situation is similar with movement: having figured out how the body moves in real life, you can exaggerate the movement, giving it a cartoonish shade.

When determining the duration of a scene, it is necessary to play it with a stopwatch in hand and measure the exact time of each action. Substitute the obtained values \u200b\u200binto the preliminary calculation and fine-tune in the animation program.

Timing calculation and software

Three-dimensional animation programs offer different ways tracking and manipulating time. For this, curves, temporary tables and paths are used. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the choice of instrument depends on the specific scene. We will cover the basic tools that are found in most programs.

Curves

Most graphics packages allow you to represent the movement of objects in the form of curves, which is very important for diagnosing and fixing animation errors. You should be familiar with animation curves and be able to work with them. Despite the differences in the packages, most curves are constructed in the same way. As a rule, the horizontal axis corresponds to time, the vertical axis to a variable parameter such as position, angle, size, etc. These parameters are displayed as a graph for a visual representation of how the object is moving.

Imagine the character is walking down the street. Its movement can be represented in the form of a graph. First, the hero moves along the sidewalk at a constant speed, then stops at an intersection. After the path is cleared, it continues to move at a constant speed.

The movement graph may look something like the one shown in Fig. 8.2.

If the vehicle is moving at a constant speed, the graph is shown as a straight line. If it is standing, the graph in this section is horizontal. As the speed changes, the graph looks like a curve. If the curve bends up, then the movement is accelerated, if down, it slows down.

In most packages, the movement of an object is displayed in three graphs: for axes x, yand z.An object can move linearly along one of the axes and accelerate along the other. In fig. 8.3 shows the program window, where three lines correspond to the axes x, yand z. Note that one line is horizontal, that is, movements along the axis zno.

Figure: 8.2.Car animation curve in city

Figure: 8.3.Program window with movement schedules

Figure: 8.4.Problem area of \u200b\u200banimation

Motion graphics help you find and fix animation flaws. They usually look like spikes on the chart. They correspond to those positions in which the keyframe changes or is in the wrong position (Fig. 8.4). These graphs are also used to track motion. For example, if the character's leg is motionless, then the curve of its displacement has a zero value (Fig. 8.5). "If the curve takes negative values, then the leg falls below the floor level (Fig. 8.6).

Figure: 8.5. Zero Curve Value may indicate the onset of unwanted foot movement

Editing curves

Editing animation curves is similar to editing curves used in modeling. Each curve has keyframe controls associated with it. In most programs, the curve has Bezier controls that allow you to vary its shape (Figure 8.7).

You can also move the controls themselves, thereby changing the duration or parameters of a specific event.

In addition to controls for Bezier curves, many packages use other types of interpolation. Linearthe curve has no braking sections oracceleration and is a sequence of straight line segments (Fig. 8.8). Steppedthe curve looks like a sequence of rectangular signals, and the transitions from one value to another occur abruptly (Figure 8.9). Most types of interpolation are done using Bezier curves.

Figure: 8.6.Negative curve values \u200b\u200bindicate that the leg has "failed" through the "ground"

Figure: 8.7.Control with Bezier curves

Figure: 8.8.Linear curves

Figure: 8.9.Stepped curves

Using curves for animation by composition method

For compositing animation, you need to have a good understanding of motion curves. In traditional animation, the poses are drawn first, and then a pose test is performed to measure the time that separates them (Figure 8.10). After all, it is much easier to calculate the time between the main poses and only then draw intermediate positions. This allows the artist to focus on calculating the total time without being distracted by the details.

A similar approach can be used in computer animation. The artist sketches the main poses on the timeline using a stepped curve. In this case, the character "jumps" from one pose

Figure: 8.10. In this animation, the character stands, then bends down to examine something on the ground, and then straightens

The basics of character animation to another (fig. 8.11). With linear curves, the smooth transitions make it difficult to accurately track time. Of course, with a jump-like change in poses, realism is lost, but this technique allows you to focus on individual moments of the animation and their duration. After the time is set, the key points are copied a few frames later on the timeline (Fig. 8.12), and then the stepped curves are converted to Bezier curves. Now the character takes one pose, which smoothly transitions into the next, etc. The scene takes on a natural look (Fig. 8.13). After synchronization, you can start creating intermediate poses. The main idea is to consistently fix the poses for a short period of time, and then make transitions between them. Typically, 6-8 frames are allocated for a transition (although this number may vary depending on the scene). The transitions are then converted to Bezier curves. After that, the movement is corrected, the frames are reduced to coincidence, etc.

Figure: 8.11.Using a stepped curve

Figure: 8.12.Copied key points

Figure: 8.13.Convert stepped curves to Bezier curves

Temporary tables

Temporary tableis more in a simple way presentation animation. The curve (the dependence of the parameter value on time) gives a two-dimensional representation of the movement, and the time table - one-dimensional. The animator deals with a line on which dots or other symbols indicate changes in motion in key frames (Figures 8.14 and 8.15). In the previous example, the first point on the timeline was the start of the character's movement. The next mark corresponds to the moment of stopping, and another mark indicates a change in the direction of movement. This line is similar to an animation curve, but does not contain information about the value of the curve parameter.

Animations are easier to represent as events on a timeline rather than their values. In addition, you can easily get confused by the abundance of curves on the screen. Temporary tables make it easy to manipulate key frames. Many of them let you select and move dozens of frames at once, making it easy to change the execution time for entire scenes.

Figure: 8.14.Temporary table in 3D Studio MAX

Figure: 8.15. Temporary table in Maya

Paths / trajectories

Another method of controlling animation involves using paths.Most packages display the path of an object in space, which helps to accurately determine its movement (Fig. 8.16). Correcting the shape of the path changes the way the character moves around the scene.

In character animation, paths are commonly used to visualize an action. For example, if the hero's arms move through a kinematic chain (you will later see that they make circular movements), then the path method is quite suitable. In fig. 8.17 shows how, when using the inverse kinematics method, the character's hand follows the movement of the wrist, and the path of this movement is presented. As another example, consider the hero's flight along

Figure: 8.16.Line indicating the path of movement of the wrist

Figure: 8.17.Using the path in inverse kinematics animation

room. The path indicates the movement of the body in space. In addition to generating a path for motion with specified keyframes, many packages allow you to draw splines and use them as a path. But if you want the character to move in a straight line, the path must be represented by a straight line.

Calculation of the travel time taking into account the model weight

If the package you are using does not calculate the movement of the body in accordance with the laws of physics, then it is impossible to set the weight of the object. Consider a ball on the ground (Figure 8.18). Is it a bowling ball or a basketball? Until he starts to move, this question cannot be answered. The bowling ball is heavy, rolls slowly, and requires a lot of effort to change its direction of motion. The basketball is relatively light, rolls faster, bounces easily, and even a baby can throw it.

Figure: 8.18. Balls whose weight is unknown until they begin to move

Exercise 1.Weight simulation by movement

The best place to start is to experiment with simple objects (sphere and cube). Their models are easy to create and use in animation in any 3D graphics package. By choosing simple objects for animation, you can focus on the movement itself and the synchronization process.

1. Model a ball, a cube, and a smooth surface. Place the ball and cube on the surface at some distance from each other.

2. Animate the ball to roll in a straight line to one of the sides of the cube.

3. As soon as the ball touches the cube, reverse the direction of its movement. In this case, the cube must remain stationary. Render the scene.

4. It seems that the ball is much lighter than the cube. Now reproduce the reverse situation.

5. At the same starting position, animate the ball so that it rolls in a straight line towards the cube.

6. This time, after hitting the cube, the ball should continue to roll in a straight line, and the cube should budge and begin to rotate. Render the scene.

7. There is a feeling that the ball is heavier than the cube it knocks down.

Both scenes use the same objects that interact with each other in different ways. In the first case, the ball seems lighter than the cube, in the second - heavier. As you can see, the nature of the movement affects the perception of the object's weight.

The language of movement

An animator must know basic principles movement. We are talking about the basic rules for reproducing movement, described by such terms as "arcs", "preparation", "taking a pose", "secondary movement", "fine-tuning", "imposition", "hold the pose", etc.

Arcuate paths

In nature, many movements take place along an arcuate path. For example, due to the fact that the joints of the human body can rotate, when the shoulder and elbow are rotated, the arm makes an arc. A similar curve is described by the hand and fingers (fig. 8.19).

Figure: 8.19.The arc along which the hand moves

Objects also move along an arc by the force of gravity: the planets move in elliptical orbits, and the thrown ball flies along a parabolic trajectory (Fig. 8.20). Thus, bodies often describe an arc during their movement.

A good example of arc movement is a simple head turn. Let's say you want your character to turn his head to the left. The first desire will be to simply turn your head in a straight horizontal line. In this case, the movement turns out to be unnatural (Fig. 8.21). In real life, the head usually lowers a little at first during the turn and then rises, describing an arc, as shown in Fig. 8.22.

Figure: 8.20.The flight path of a ball thrown into the air

Figure: 8.21. Incorrectly executed head turn

Figure: 8.22.Frames of the correct animation

Accelerated start and end of movement

Natural movement does not start or end suddenly. One of Newton's laws says that an object to which a force is applied makes an accelerated motion. Consequently, the beginning of the movement of the object occurs with some positive acceleration, and the end - with a negative one. Imagine a ball tossed up. Gravity initially slows its takeoff until it stops, and then accelerates its fall until it touches the ground. In animation, these effects are called accelerated start and end of movement(slow-in and slow-out.)

In addition to gravity, the characters are affected by many other forces. They can be external, if, for example, the hero is pushed (Fig. 8.23), pulled by the hand or taken in a car, or internal. Internal forces act when a joint rotates due to muscle contraction, resulting in accelerated movement of the limb. (With a certain degree of generalization, this concept can be attributed to the power of the character's thought - an indecisive hero even moves in a different way than a self-confident one.)

It is best to use a Bezier curve to simulate the effect of accelerating the start of the movement and slowing down at the end of it. However, this is usually not required. For example, if a character collides with a brick wall, then he stops almost instantly, without braking. Note that on the graph, as the speed approaches zero, the curve becomes almost horizontal (Figure 8.24). In this case, it is advisable to use a linear or stepped curve.

Figure: 8.23.Accelerated movement of the hero who was pushed

Figure: 8.24.Animation curves to display accelerated motion at the start and end of a path

Lag

When animating, you need to take into account the effect of the so-called lag. A force applied to an object affects different parts of it in different ways. Consider two rods with a hinge connection. If you pull one of them, then the second will not immediately follow it (Fig. 8.25). First, the second will turn after him (Fig. 8.26) and only after a while the two rods will be located along one straight line (Fig. 8.27). This effect is called lagging(lag), or inertia.

When an object composed of a plurality of links moves, each of the hinges rotates following the previous one. If you add a third rod to the first two, then it will start moving after the second.

Adding a third bar introduces additional delay. The third link moves after the second, which moves after the first (Fig. 8.28).

Figure: 8.25.Pulled on the first rod

Figure: 8.26. Second rod turned following the first lagging

Figure: 8.27. Rods settled along one straight

Figure: 8.28.Three-link chain movement

The same principles apply to the movement of a character's joints. The spine is a collection of similar hinges. The force applied to one end of the spine reaches its other end after a while, as does the force applied to the forearm muscle - the shoulder (Fig. 8.29). Imagine a dog's tail. Her tail joints behave in the same way as the hinges in our example. The base of the tail rotates, causing the rest of its parts to move with some delay (Figure 8.30).
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Animation on the Internet has long ceased to be a simple page decoration and has become a useful tool for improving usability. It helps the user interact with the interface and draws attention to important points.

Animation is a sequential display of similar frames one after another. Each frame changes slightly, so the picture appears to be moving.

To animate the interface, create interactive prototypes or commercials, special programs are used, for example, Adobe Animate or After Effects.

To create a simple web banner or presentation, you don't have to deal with special programs. The built-in Photoshop tools are also suitable for this.

Where to start

The first step is to decide what we will animate and what result we plan to achieve.

To create the animation, I took one of the striking projects from Behance and redrawn it in Photoshop. Aligned to the content grid, resized and placed each element on a separate layer. As a result, I got the first screen of the site rendered in PSD format, which I then animated.

Time scale

Before creating an animation, you need to prepare the necessary tools - enable the display of the "Timeline", which helps to manage frames in the animation.

To do this, I open the "Window" tab and put a tick in front of the "Timeline" line.

A wide line should appear at the bottom of the window in Photoshop, with which you can control the frames in the animation.

To create the first frame, I click the Create Frame Animation icon on the Timeline.

After the first frame has appeared, you can start creating motion.

Intermediate frames

In Photoshop, an element can be animated in several ways:

• Draw multiple frames by manually changing the position and properties of elements. If the animation is long enough, it takes a long time to render each frame.
• Insert intermediate frames. You only need to manually set the states of the layout: at the beginning and at the end of the animation. The necessary frames between these states will be added by Photoshop itself. This method is suitable for fading in and out of an object, or showing its movement.

First, I animate the balalaika image. For a smooth appearance of the image, I use the "Insert Intermediate Frames" tool. In order for Photoshop to animate an element on its own, you need to set two states for the element - a start in the first frame and an end in the next.

So I'll add another frame to the Timeline using the Create Copy Frames button.

After adding a new frame, switch to the first one and remove the visibility of the balalaika layer. You can also set the layer's opacity to 0%.

In the next frame, I check if the balalaika layer is visible.

After working with the balalaika image, I customize the appearance of the text line. In the first frame, I select the “Soul sings” text and move it to the right outside the layout. I do the same with the text "3 strings" - move it to the left until it disappears.

In the second frame, I return the text back.

Excellent. Now let's insert intermediate frames between the key frames.

To do this, I press the "Create intermediate frames" button on the "Timeline".

In the dialog box that appears, I indicate how many frames should be added.

The more frames, the longer the animation and the smoother the element moves. If there are too few frames, the elements will move in jerks.

The first part of the animation is complete. Now you can play it and see what happened.

I click on the play button on the "Timeline".

Inserting intermediate frames helped quickly create animations with smooth appearance and movement of elements.

Appearance, disappearance and movement can be combined with each other to achieve even more interesting effects.

Manual frame-by-frame animation

In addition to linear animation, sometimes you need to create chaotic movement or show complex interaction of elements. Usually, for this, several copies of the first frame are created, and then each copy is slightly modified - the animation is drawn frame by frame.

I will copy the last frame several times to create the movement of the arrow and the "go to shopping" text.

In the next frame, I select the desired layer with the text and the arrow, move it slightly up, and in the last frame - down.

Now you can run the animation and see the result.

Since frames change quickly, the eyes do not have time to focus on the last frame and fix the final position of objects on the screen.

Therefore, I increased the duration of the last frame: you need to click on the arrow next to the inscription "0 sec." and choose another time from the list.

For the last frame, I set the duration to two seconds. Now playback slows down at the end. Therefore, it is comfortable to observe the movement of elements.

Save and export

In the preview window, you can view the animation again and change the save settings.

By default, the animation stops after playing. So I change the play mode to “Repeat” and save.

Here's the animation:

Conclusion

In Photoshop, it's easy to create short interactive banners and presentations, animate individual elements... It is convenient to experiment with the result.

You will learn:

• How to open and close and customize the animation panel.
• How to add, remove and edit animation keyframes.
• What is the Tween button for?
• How to make a simple star drawing animation.
• How to set up time intervals for each animation frame.
• How to optimize animation to reduce size GIF file.
• How to import Gif files into the program.
• How to switch from time-lapse animation to timeline.

The lesson is divided into the following sections:

1. Instructional video.
2. What is animation.
3. Part 1. Frame-by-frame animation.
4. Setting the intervals.
5. Setting the frequency of repetitions.

7. Optimization of animation.
8. Saving animation.

10. Opening GIF-files.
11. Buttons for unification of animation layers.
12. Closing the animation panel.
13. Questions.
14. Homework.

What is animation

Animation is a sequential change of images, as a result of which it seems to us that an object is moving, changing shape, appearing and disappearing, and other dynamic actions can also occur with it.

With animation in photoshop you can create slideshows from photos or pictures, make avatars, banners, screensavers for web pages, dynamic postcards and various presentations. It should be borne in mind that Photoshop is still a graphics editor, and is not designed for complex animation processes. There are two ways to create animation in the program - frame-by-frame animation and animation in timeline mode. We'll look at both types of animation in sequence. We will devote the entire 36th lesson to the study of time-lapse animation. And in lesson 37 we will deal with the timeline. Some simple tasks are more convenient to perform in the frame-by-frame animation mode. Even if you know how to work with the timeline from other programs, all the same, I advise you to try the tasks from this lesson. Based on the knowledge gained, you will be able to decide which method you will use in each case.

Part 1. Frame-by-frame animation

Panel Frames (Single) appeared a long time ago. Let's consider its settings using the example of the animation of drawing an asterisk.

Create new document 800 by 800 pixels, 72 resolution, RGB color mode. Create a new layer by clicking on the icon at the bottom of the Layers palette (Layers). Or press Shift + Ctrl + N.

Select the Brush tool from the toolbox black, 35 pixels in diameter with blurred edges. Draw the first slanted line (place a point, press Shift and place the next point - the line will turn out to be straight).

Create a second layer. Draw the next line. Then the third layer
and one more line, etc. You should have six layers including the background layer.

To open the Animation panel, click Animation from the Window menu. Or, from the Window menu, set Workspace to Video and Film / Video. Make sure the panel is in stop-motion animation mode.
Otherwise, click on the icon at the bottom right of the animation panel.

Turn off the visibility of all layers except for the background layer in the Layers palette (Layers) by clicking on the icon to the left of the layer thumbnail. This will be the first frame of our animation.

Click the icon at the bottom of the Animation panel. The second frame (a copy of the first frame) appears. To change it turn on the visibility of the first layer in the Layers palette (Layers). Click on the icon again and turn on the visibility of the second layer.

Continue to create new frames and turn on the visibility of the next layers until the entire asterisk appears in the last frame.

At the bottom of the Animation panel are tools for adding, removing, and viewing animations.

- conversion to animation along the timeline.

- Tween(Creation of intermediate frames).

- Duplicate current frame (Create a copy of the selected frames).

- Play buttons (Like any tape recorder).

Selects First Frame (Choosethe firstframe); Selects Previews Frame (Choosepreviousframe);

Play (Start animation);

SelectsNextFrame(Select next frame).

- Deleting selected frames. Note that the keyDel on the keyboard does not delete the selected frame, but deletes the selected layer from the Layers palette (Layers).

Setting the intervals.

Now let's set up the time intervals during which the animation frames will be visible.

0 s is written under each frame at the bottom. and there is an arrow. Click the arrow and select a frame rate. Choose a value of 0.5 for all frames (this means that frames will change in half a second).

Setting the frequency of repetitions.

The next step is to set up the animation repetition frequency. Click on the arrow at the bottom of the animation panel. The frequency selection menu appears.

If you select Forever, the animation will repeat over and over. This process is called looping.

If you select Once, the animation will play once and stop at the last frame.

If you select Other, you can set a different number of repeats within the range (from 1 to 999).

Now let's play the created animation. To do this, click the Play button. If you like everything, go to the next step, if not, then adjust the animation as you see fit.

Go to the animation panel. Click on the Duplicate current frame icon (Create a copy of the selected frames). Select all layers except the background layer.
Turn off the visibility of the background layer. Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E. A new layer will appear on which all the selected layers will be imprinted.
The layer thumbnail will show a star on transparent background... Name this layer Star.

Double click on the layer to go to the style settings. Set the shadow and color overlay. Choose the color you want.

Go back to the first frame of the animation
and remove the visibility of the star layer
in the Layers palette (Layers).

Select the last frame. In palette Layers (Layers) leave visible only the layer Star and the background layer.

Duplicate this layer and change the style settings: Change the color, set the emboss or stroke. Go to the animation panel. Click the Duplicate current frame icon. Go back to the first frame in the animation panel and turn off the visibility of this layer in the palette.

Duplicate the layer again and change the style. Select the Move tool or press Ctrl + T to switch to the Free Transform tool. Change the scale. Go to the animation panel. Click the icon. Go back to the first frame and turn off the visibility of this layer.

Duplicate the layer again and zoom in a little more and change the style. And add an animation frame. You should have a storyboard like this:

Click the Play button and see the result of your work.

Animation optimization.

Click on the icon at the top right of the animation panel. An additional menu will appear.

When finished, the animation should be optimized to reduce the size of the GIF and better load it in the web browser. The reduction occurs due to the exclusion of areas that do not change when moving from frame to frame.

Please select Optimize Animation ...... Check both boxes.
BoundingBox (Bounding box) - trims frames by the changed area in comparison with the previous frame.

Redundant Pixel Removal (Removal of extra pixels). If a pixel hasn't changed from the previous frame, it becomes transparent.

To have PhotoShop save frames that include transparency, select the option "Automatically". To do this, select one or more frames. Click right click mouse over the frame thumbnail. Choose from three options:

Automatic (Automatically) - the current frame is discarded if the next frame contains layer transparency.,

Donotdispose (Do not dispose) -The current frame is visible through the transparent areas of the next frame.,

Dispose (Dispose) - the current frame is not visible through the transparent areas of the next frame.

Saving animation.

Now it's time to save the animation. Of course, in the process of work, it was necessary to save the file in PSD format so as not to get into a situation with a sudden power outage or an unexpected restart of the computer. But now I mean a different preservation. The animation can be saved as an animated GIF using the Save for Web command.

Select Save for Web from the File menu. Set the Gif format in the settings. Pay attention to the size of the future file. Reduce its size if possible. How to do this we discussed in detail in the lesson Image Size (Image size). When optimizing, use an Adaptive, Perceptual, or Selective color reduction model to ensure consistent colors across all frames. Click Save, enter the name, path and click Save again.

Previously, to record animation, we went to the ImageReady application.

Photoshop CS2 introduces the Animations panel. But to save the animated file, you still had to go to ImageReady. For the transition served the button at the bottom of the toolbar or the menu File (File) - Edit in ImageReady (Go to ImageReady).

From Photoshop CS3 and up, no additional software is required to record animations. The Animations panel is now used for editing, and for recording, the item was adapted in the File menu. SaveforWeb (Save forWeb) .

Let's consider another small example of creating a frame-by-frame animation, in which we will analyze what a button is for. Tween (Create intermediate frames).

Create a new document, 500 x 250 px. Select the Type tool, Impact font, size 150 pt. and write any word. Set the opacity to 100%. Add layer styles: shadow, gradient and emboss. You can choose a different style, it is not necessary to do like mine. The deformation of the text can also be animated. In the animation panel, set the interval to 0.2 sec. Click the button to copy the first frame. Go to the Layers palette (Layers) and reduce the opacity to 0. Change the layer style (for example, add a color overlay instead of a gradient overlay). Switching between frames, you can watch how the image changes.

Let's add a move. Select the Move tool and move the text down, off the sheet. Go to the animation panel and click the button

In the window that appears, you can configure the number of added frames. The more there are, the smoother the transition will be. In the graph TweenWith (Intermediate frames) you can choose from the list where frames will be inserted:

Last (Last frame); Selection (Selection); Previous Frame; First Frame; Next Frame. The list changes depending on the selected frame.

Leave all settings as default. Click OK.

Click on Play. If everything suits you, then proceed to saving the animation.

Opening GIF files.

In Photoshop CS3 and CS44, video and GIF animation files cannot be opened from the File - Open menu. When you try to open a window appears:

Be sure to install QuickTime Pro 7.1 or higher.

Photoshop CS5 doesn't have this problem. Files can be easily opened in the usual way.

Select File - Import - Video Frames to Layers from the menu.
into layers ...). You will not be able to select GIF files in the file type field. However, this defect can be easily circumvented by first copying the name of the .gif file and pasting it into the file name field, or manually typing the name in this field. Or enter * in the File name field and click Load, then
the name of the gif file will become visible and you can open it (Other files will also become visible, even those that cannot be opened in the program).

Leave the default settings in the window that appears. The items From Beginning To End and Make Frame Animation should be checked. Unfortunately, files opened this way will not have a transparent background - they will be white instead. When you open such a file in CS5, the transparent background will be preserved.

Buttons to unify animation layers.

Look closely at how the palette has changed Layers (Layers) when working with time-lapse animation. There are now buttons allowing to apply changes in the current frame to all other frames. Check the box next to Propagate Frame 1.

Let's see how they work ... Open the animation file for drawing a star. Select any frame and turn off the visibility of the background layer. Click Play. Only the selected frame has become transparent. Click on the Unify layer visibility button. A window will appear:.

Click on Match (Synchronize) and run the animation again. The star will be drawn on a transparent background throughout the animation. First frame transparency is now assigned to all animation frames. Likewise, you can control the position and style of a layer.

In palette Layers (Layers) select item Animation Options (Animation Options). By default, the layer unification buttons appear Automatic when the animation framebar is enabled. You can change this rule by selecting Always Show or Always Hide.

Closing the animation panel.

There are several ways to close the animation panel:

You can collapse or close the animation panel, and go to Preferences by clicking on User Interface Preferences.

Questions:

1. What happens if you select a frame in stop-motion animation and press Del on your keyboard?

The selected frame will be deleted.

The layer selected in the Layers palette (Layers) will be removed from all animation frames.

The layer selected in the Layers palette (Layers) will be deleted only for the selected animation frame.

The layer selected in the Layers palette (Layers) will be removed from all animation frames except for the background layer.

1. You have three frames. The animation will be continuous. What do you need to do to add
   5 intermediate frames between the last and first frames?

Select the first frame. Press the button
In the settings, in the Tween With column, select Next Frame.

Select the last frame. Press the button
In the settings, in the Tween With column, select Previous Frame.

Select the last frame. Press the Tween button (Create intermediate frames).
In the settings, in the Tween With column, select First Frame.

1. What is animation optimization for?

To convert to timeline animation.

To reduce the size of the Gif file by excluding areas that do not change when moving from frame to frame.

To set the frequency of animation repeats.

Homework:

1) Perform frame-by-frame animation of drawing a star (according to the lesson).

2) Perform frame-by-frame animation of the text.

Stop motion is an animation technique that draws every frame. A movie or cartoon created using stop-motion animation consists of hundreds or even thousands of frames, each of which is drawn separately.

The number of frames is equal to the number of drawings that need to be made for animation. This is a huge job done by several people at once. It takes a lot of time, but the result is really cool. We'll come back to the well-known examples of time-lapse animation later.

Each new frame is different from the previous one, and from this the animation becomes more lively. The technique is similar to hand-drawn animation, where frames are drawn on ordinary sheets, photographed (scanned) and combined into one cartoon. Pictures do not have to be drawn. Very often dolls are created for films in which all parts of the body are mobile. Each new frame is a new pose of the doll.

History of the phenomenon

The story begins in 1895. To shoot the execution scene, the director asked the executioner to freeze at the moment of the swing of the ax. The camera was suspended, and a doll took the place of the girl in the frame. Then the shooting was resumed, and a spectacular scene was obtained.

In 1900, animation was used in the short film Enchanted Drawing. In it, the protagonist demonstrates the benefits of time-lapse animation.

The character, as it were, interacts with the image on the canvas, masterfully working with freeze frames. He then adds objects to the drawing, then on the contrary takes them out.

One of the most striking examples of stop-motion animation in history is considered to be the film "King Kong", 1933. A monkey doll was created from rubber, skin and foam. It took a whole year to create the animation.

Time passed, and the animation itself changed. It became smoother and more natural for perception due to technology improvements. In modern films, frame-by-frame animation is used, but very rarely.

Differences from other animation techniques

There are several types of animation:

• Single frame;
• Transferring;
• Computer 2D;

Slide animation is one of the oldest techniques that can be seen, for example, in the cartoon "Hedgehog in the Fog". On paper, the object is cut into separate pieces, which are moved (shifted). Implementation on the principle of frame-by-frame animation, only you do not need to draw each frame. Despite the primitiveness of this animation, "Hedgehog in the Fog" is considered one of the best cartoons of all time.

2D computer animation - modern technology, which is used in almost every cartoon. We can say that this is just a hand-drawn animation that is drawn on a computer. The audience fell in love with this type of animation, because the cartoons are bright, dynamic and simple.

3D animation is a truly living cartoon characters. A three-dimensional model of the character is created on the computer, which "comes to life" with the help computer graphics... Therefore, cartoons with the use of 3D animation are especially pleasant to watch when people or animals are in the frame.

Frame-by-frame animation is the most difficult and time-consuming process of all of the above. However, this animation is smooth and lively. Many Disney cartoons are made using this technique.

Features of creating stop-motion animation

As we said earlier, with stop-motion animation, each frame is redrawn. The outlines of characters, objects, text - all the details are clearly drawn, as a result of which the animation looks a little unnatural. However, this is its distinctive feature.

However, the filmmakers realized that films shouldn't have this effect. A simple example: when you photograph a running person, the photo will not have a clear outline of the legs, the silhouette will be blurred. Even when you look at a running dog, you do not track its movements every frame, you see the big picture. Therefore, when creating stop-motion animation, the contours were not completely drawn, and when using dolls, they were photographed in motion.

Notable modern examples

Nowadays, frame-by-frame animation is mainly used to create simple videos for youtube and other video sites on the Internet. It can be both funny short videos and informational videos. Among the most famous examples are “Simons' cat” and “Mr. Freeman ”. The animation uses 10-15 frames per second, but this is the key feature of these cartoons. All actions look dynamic, they are interesting to watch.

Outcome

Frame-by-frame animation is gradually fading into the background, new technologies appear, with the help of which it is much easier and faster to draw a scene for a film or a whole cartoon. Still, frame-by-frame animation is the foundation of all modern cartoons.