Computer Animators
Animation as an art form has been around for almost one hundred years. From the earliest days of hand drawn cels, individual pictures strung together, to the complex rendering of 3-D virtual worlds, animation packs peoples' lives. Do you wonder how the computer-animated movies are made or want to become a computer animator? Computer Animation is a fast growing field. There are many different areas to of animation, computer animation is what this paper is about, history of animation and how it came to be and how to get there and what computer animators do for their job is what is in this paper.
Animation was first developed in 1906 by Stuart Blackton, a young English-born adventurer. His first short film, “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces”, was a sensation with audiences. Blackton’s illusion was created by a very simple method, comical faces were drawn on a blackboard, then erased. The camera was stopped after each face was photographed. The 'stop-motion' provided a startling effect as the facial expressions changed before the audience's eyes.
A major breakthrough for animation came in 1915, when J. R. Bray was granted patents for his use of glassine paper. Bray created a two-dimensional look with his animation by drawing on a clear plastic sheet and then placing it over a pre-drawn background. Max Fleischer's rotoscope consisted of a drawing board, fitted with a piece of frosted glass, and a motion picture projector mounted underneath which magnified a single frame of motion picture film onto the glass. When the figure on one frame had been traced onto translucent paper, a crank advanced the film to the next frame.
People who choose a career path as a professional animator work in a challenging, fast-paced, and rewarding field. The resurgence in popularity of animation has re-opened countless opportunities for highly creative individuals, with computer skills. The latest need for computer animators is created by the expansion of the World Wide Web. Businesses of all types are hiring web developers to design web pages to promote their products and services to prospective customers who are accessing the Internet. Web developers and animators, use animated gifs, an image that appears to be alive, to display their talents in the hope of crossing the bridge to a full time position in animation. The better the gif the brighter the future! This is a highly competitive career choice and individuals most often find themselves starting out at the bottom.
The animation techniques give
The first animated movie produced by Pixar, a famous space ranger named Buzz Light-year said, “To infinity and beyond!” and that is exactly where Pixar has taken the animation industry. The success of Pixar is duly noted worldwide and they remain a leader in the animation industry. The company reeled in more than 100 awards and nominations for their work on animated films, commercials, and technical contributions to the animation industry. The trials and triumphs of this company have earned it its spot as one of the leading animation companies in the entertainment industry today. With all this success it is hard to think it was almost over before it ever began. Pixar’s history of trials and triumphs starts with a group of men and their ideas that would revolutionize the entertainment industry.
In the 1980’s animation hit it peak with feature films, animated television, commercial that was paying very well, bands, and music videos. Stop motion animation was being the star in animation. Cable television shows would hire stop-motion animators to create their logo entirely with stop-motion animations, one network that did this was MTV. Also, some music videos would be completely done with stop-motion animation. Stop motion animation was almost used everywhere. Will Vinton created an animation studio that would produce the most iconic character today like the stop motion of Noid and the California Raisins made in clay for a commercial. These characters would become bigger than the brands they were to promote. “ Films such as Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Dragon Slayer, and Robocop would be filled with stop-motion visual effects to the point that the lines between reality and the imagined were so well blurred, many people thought it just couldn’t get any
Before talking films were big people were fascinated with the idea of moving pictures in the
Stop motion animation is basically just a series of still photographs taken one after another. Objects are moved and filmed picture by picture to emphasise small movements that they make. Some examples of stop motion films are the original King Kong film and Star Wars. These were made using many small objects and puppets. In this time this was the only way that that could bring immovable objects to life on screen.
Australian animators had adopted their animation techniques from America. Stop motion animation was first used by American J. Stuart Blackton in 1898. It was used to make a short animated film called The Humpty Dumpty Circus. At its
If any one has ever watched some of the really old animation such as Steamboat Willy done by Walt Disney Studios in the late 1920’s or some of the animations showing up on the Internet nowadays. They know that animation has come a long way and is still improving.
Bliss, John, Art that Moves: Animation Around the World. Chicago, Illinois: Heinemann Raintree, 2011. Print
This research will discuss the life of the master of animation Hayao Miyazaki, animation career, contributions and his work. Also It will mention his influence on the world and the wards he won over the years.
In this chapter, it has shown a brief history of animation and how it started in the early days of animation. It also discussed about 2D in brief and 3D. Also the techniques applied in making of animation since early ages with the evolution of 2D to 3D animation.
Animation is a visual technique that creates the illusion of motion, rather than recording motion through live action. The technique is used mainly for motion pictures. Animation can be created by illustrators, filmmakers, video makers, and computer specialists. Animation is most popular in creating cartoon movies. Advertisers also employ animation to develop commercials for television. In addition, producers of instructional films may use animation to help explain a difficult idea or one that could not be shown in live action. Animation can also be combined with live action in a movie. Many animators continue to make many drawings by hand. Since the mid-1980's, however, computer assistance combined with hand-drawn animation has become standard in many movie studios. These methods created such feature-length animated films as The Lion King (1994) and The Prince of Egypt (1998).
In the beginning of animation, animators created images using pen and paper. They were then arranged to give the illusion of movement and depth. This type of animation is called traditional or 2D animation. This style is a great option if the animator is working with characters and want the benefits of a hand drawn quality. However, with 2D animation the animator would need to start completely from a scratch piece of paper to change the camera angle for a scene. Also, truth is fewer and fewer animators can create drawings needed to make a beautiful 2D animation. Today, animators have turned more to 3D animation. 3D animations are created on a computer, with modeling programs to produce a much more realistic and complex animation experience. What helps in making a lifelike animation, is the simple fact that it can be viewed and lit from all angles. 3D animation also adds textures that can be placed into live scenes and elements. This style can work for any concept and offers flexible, customizable, and an overall fluid motion. A friend (a non-animator) of J.K. Riki was asked why he thought 3D compared to 2D was “more real”. He replied and said, “blurs the line between fantasy and reality” and “a child’s daydream – and all other ages – is theoretically 3D, so it’s like their fantasies come to life”. However, what an animator must know is to achieve beautiful movement within the animation, animators must apply the same principles that apply to 2D. Just because it 3D is done digitally, doesn’t mean it is done completely for the
Computer Graphics is the bond between humans and computers. Computer graphics is a large field that branches into almost all fields of computer science; however its roots are young. Computer graphics has massively grown over the past 40 years and is now our primary means of communication with computer applications. Do to technological limitations in the 1950s, computer graphics began as a small, specialized field. The Whirlwind project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is marked as the origin of computer graphics (Machover 14).
Animations are a series of drawings, computer graphics, or photographs of objects, like puppets and models, which are different from each to create a variety of entertainment for the audiences. Animations are what brings excitement and mystery, hooking the audience in through interest. It is a form of some sort of “magic” where things that aren’t real but from the imagination comes to life in front of people who live these mundane, ordinary lives, adding color to the eyes and mind. The creators of such amazing arts and creation are animators.
The demand for the manual animation technique known as “in-betweening,” where an artist draws hundreds of images to produce the idea of motion, takes countless hours and requires the dedication of an artist’s full time. With the aid of computers, images are generated at face paces and movement can be altered with the click of a mouse. Thus, those hired to do such jobs have the opportunity to better the product with far less time and frustration.