3D CGI Animation

CGI animation is the process used when generating animated images by using computer graphics. It was first used in 1976 for a feature film called Futureworld. was beginning to produce imagery that was of a good enough standard for Holywood. The design work was done by a computer science graduate (Ed Catmul) rather than someone from the film industry and although primitive by today's standards,  this use of 3D CGI was a defining moment in film animation history.

Many other movies were released that used 3D CGI animation, films like Alien by Ridley Scott in 1979 and Star Wars by George Lucas in the 1980's. By 1995 Walt Disney and Pixer both worked together to create toy story which was the first ever full length 3D CGI feature film.

ADVANTAGES - Anything you want can be created, Shorter production time
DISADVANTAGES - Requires good imagination, requires artistic capability, expensive to make

2D Computer Graphic Animation

Towards the end of the 20th century Cel animation was beginning to die out as now animators were using  computers and computer related hardware such as digital scanners, digital cameras, drawing tablet to produce entire feature films. Computer animation uses the same principals and techniques used by traditional animation except the tools used to make these animations happen to be different. The backgrounds and drawings would be scanned into the computer, or drawn in if it's easier.

One of the first feature films to use computer animation was Star Wars created by George Lucas in 1977.

In 1990 the first member of the public was allowed access to the internet and as a result the World Wide Web came into existence this was soon followed by e-commerce websites that made use of an animation program called "flash" to create simple 2D animations. Many other programs have been around that create 2D animations but none will quite compare to flash.

ADVANTAGES - Increases the speed of development, there's flexibility thanks to digital images
DISADVANTAGES - Very sophisticated, Expensive, a lot more skill is needed to use flash.

Cel Animation

Cel, short for celluloid , is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was it largely replaced by cellulose acetate.

The invention of Cel Animation is generally attributed to Earl Hurd, who had patented this process in 1914.

Generally, the characters are drawn on cels and laid over a static background drawing. This reduces the number of times that an image has to be redrawn and enables studios to split up the production process to different specialized teams.

An example of Cel Animation.

ADVANTAGES: Quicker to make, Cheaper, Innovative for its time

DISADVANTAGES:Highly flammable, Can't save characters since it's drawn 

Stop-Motion Animation

Stop-Motion

Stop-Motion or also known as stop frame is a form of animation technique that physically manipulates that appears to move on its own. The object is usually moved in small movements then photographs are taking which creates the illusion of movement when the series of frames are played back as a continues sequence.

Dolls with movable joints or clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of re-positioning. Stop motion animation using Plasticine is called is called clay animation or "clay-mation". Not all stop motion requires figures or models; many stop motion films can involve using people, household objects and other things for comedic effect. Stop motion using objects is sometimes referred to as object animation.

An example of "object animation".

Stop motion animation has a long history in film. It would be used to show objects flying by as if magic was being used. The first stop motion film is credited to J. Stuart Blackton and it was called "Haunted Hotel"

ADVANTAGES: Cheap, Easy to make

DISADVANTAGES: Very time consuming, difficult to get a consistent animation.

Flip Book

Flip Book

A flip book or also known as a flick book is a book with a sequence of pictures that differ gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate motion, this is due to the persistence of vision.

Flip books are essentially a primitive form of animation. They rely on the persistence of vision like most motion pictures do to create the illusion that continues motion  is being seen as oppose to just a series of discontinues images.

Advantages: Cheap and simple to make, you can create a flip book to be however you like there are no restrictions, a flip book retains the same comforting, user-friendly experience which applies to todays readers.

Disadvantages: Very time consuming, easily damaged, it can be difficult to keep a steady pace, you need a significant skill in art.

Zoetrope

Zoetrope

The word "Zoetrope" came from Greek origins, it comes from the Greek words "zoe" which means life and "tropos" which means to turn.

A zoetrope is one of the many pre-film animations devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of images showing progressive phases of that motion.

A zoetrope consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically into the sides. On the inside of the cylinder is a band of images from a set of sequence pictures. As you spin the cylinder you look through the the slits and across from where they are looking they will see a rapid succession producing the illusion of motion.

The basic drum-like form of the zoetrope was created in 1833/44 by a British mathematician William George Horner. Horner's revolving drum had viewing slits between the pictures. He called it "daedaleum"

For displaying moving images, zoetropes were displaced by more advanced technology, notably film and later television. However, in the early 1970s, Sega used a mechanism similar to an ancient zoetrope in order to create electro-mechanical arcade games that would resemble later first-person video game.

Thaumatrope

Thaumatrope

The word Thaumatrope originated from Greek origins, it roughly translates to "wonder turner".

The Thaumatrope was said to be created by two people,  John Ayrton Paris  and Peter Mark Roget, Paris used the thaumatrope to demonstrate the persistence of vision for educational purposes to the Royal College of Physicians in London back in 1824. Now however it is used as a toy for animation purposes.

The thaumatrope is a disk that contains two pictures, one on each side and contains two strings to hold it together. When the strings are twirled between your fingers quickly the two pictures on each side blend into one because of the persistence of vision.

The common thaumatrope generally consists of things like a bare tree on one side of the coin and its leaves on the other or a bird on one side and its cage on the other, they can also consist of poems and riddles having lines of writing on each side.

This is a short clip showing how to create a simple thaumatrope.

Thaumatrope is the first of many uses of optical illusion originating in the 19th century.