a-project-on-animation

1 What is Animation
History
Introduction of animation in INDIA
INDIAN touch to animation
Scope of animation in India
Need for animators in INDIA

2 Techniques
Traditional animation
Full animation
Limited animation
Rotoscoping
Live-action/animation
3 Stop motion
Puppet animation
Puppetoon
Clay animation
Cutout animation
Silhouette animation
Model animation
Go motion
Object animation
Graphic animation
Pixilation
4 Computer animation
2D animation
3D animation

5 12 basic principles of animation
List of animated feature-length films

6 Pixar Studios
History
Traditions
Sequels and prequels
7 Pixar: 25 Years of Animation

INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS ANIMATION???

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or
model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical
illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be
created and demonstrated in several ways. The most common method of presenting
animation is as a motion picture or video program, although there are other
methods.

Etymology
From Latin animātiō, "the act of bringing to life"; from animō ("to animate" or
"give life to") + -ātiō ("the act of").

A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures, or frames.
Cartoons on television are one example of animation. Animation on computers is
one of the chief ingredients of multimedia presentations. There are many software
applications that enable you to create animations that you can display on a
computer monitor.

Note the difference between animation and video. Whereas video takes continuous
motion and breaks it up into discrete frames, animation starts with independent
pictures and puts them together to form the illusion of continuous motion.

HISTORY OF ANIMATION
Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion drawing can be
found in Paleolithic cave paintings, where animals are depicted with multiple legs
in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion.

A 5,000 year old earthen bowl found in Iran in Shahr-i Sokhta has five images of a
goat painted along the sides. This has been claimed to be an example of early
animation. However, since no equipment existed to show the images in motion,
such a series of images cannot be called animation in a true sense of the word.

A Chinese zoetrope-type device had been invented in 180 AD. The
phenakistoscope, praxinoscope, and the common flip book were early popular
animation devices invented during the 19th century.

These devices produced the appearance of movement from sequential drawings
using technological means, but animation did not really develop much further until
the advent of cinematography.

There is no single person who can be considered the "creator" of film animation, as
there were several people working on projects which could be considered
animation at about the same time.

Georges Méliès was a creator of special-effect films; he was generally one of the
first people to use animation with his technique. He discovered a technique by
accident which was to stop the camera rolling to change something in the scene,
and then continue rolling the film. This idea was later known as stop-motion
animation. Méliès discovered this technique accidentally when his camera broke
down while shooting a bus driving by. When he had fixed the camera, a hearse
happened to be passing by just as Méliès restarted rolling the film, his end result
was that he had managed to make a bus transform into a hearse. This was just one
of the great contributors to animation in the early years.

The earliest surviving stop-motion advertising film was an English short by Arthur
Melbourne-Cooper called Matches: An Appeal (1899). Developed for the Bryant
and May Matchsticks company, it involved stop-motion animation of wired-
together matches writing a patriotic call to action on a blackboard.

J. Stuart Blackton was possibly the first American film-maker to use the techniques
of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation. Introduced to film-making by Edison,
he pioneered these concepts at the turn of the 20th century, with his first
copyrighted work dated 1900. Several of his films, among them The Enchanted
Drawing (1900) and Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) were film versions
of Blackton's "lightning artist" routine, and utilized modified versions of Méliès'
early stop-motion techniques to make a series of blackboard drawings appear to
move and reshape themselves. 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' is regularly cited
as the first true animated film, and Blackton is considered the first true animator.

Another French artist, Émile Cohl, began drawing cartoon strips and created a film
in 1908 called Fantasmagorie. The film largely consisted of a stick figure moving
about and encountering all manner of morphing objects, such as a wine bottle that

transforms into a flower. There were also sections of live action where the
animator‘s hands would enter the scene. The film was created by drawing each
frame on paper and then shooting each frame onto negative film, which gave the
picture a blackboard look. This makes Fantasmagorie the first animated film
created using what came to be known as traditional (hand-drawn) animation.

Following the successes of Blackton and Cohl, many other artists began
experimenting with animation. One such artist was Winsor McCay, a successful
newspaper cartoonist, who created detailed animations that required a team of
artists and painstaking attention for detail. Each frame was drawn on paper; which
invariably required backgrounds and characters to be redrawn and animated.
Among McCay's most noted films are little Nemo (1911), Gertie the Dinosaur
(1914) and The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918).

The production of animated short films, typically referred to as "cartoons", became
an industry of its own during the 1910s, and cartoon shorts were produced to be
shown in movie theaters. The most successful early animation producer was John
Randolph Bray, who, along with animator Earl Hurd, patented the cell animation
process which dominated the animation industry for the rest of the decade.

INTRODUCTION OF ANIMATION IN INDIA
Overview
U.S. companies are doing wonders with 3D Computer Generated Imagery
(3D CGI), India still clings to 2D techniques. Musical instruments are
modeled using commercial 3D animation software and then animated via
proprietary algorithmic animation software in the U.S., while Indian
animation companies are still struggling with existing 2D software.
Arduously, 2D software takes the frames drawn by an artist and scans them,
and for each character, the animator creates a model.

But what is attracting Indian animation firms is the estimated $50-billion
market. Top Indian companies like Pentamedia Graphics Ltd, UTV Toons,
Crest Communications, Unilazer, Toonz Animation India Ltd, Tata Elxsi
and Digital Canvas are busy clinching deals with companies in the U.S.
These companies nurse smaller animation companies by sub-contracting a
part of their international projects, including those from Disney and Warner
Brothers (WB).

Indian animation has interesting history. In 1912, Dadasaheb Phalke
produced the first Indian animation movie, which was followed by a hiatus
that lasted over 40 years. In 1956, the Films Division set up a cartoon film
unit, where Clair Weeks, the veteran Disney animator, was invited to train
students. And one of his first students, Ram Mohan, went on to found UTV
Toons.

In 1997, Mohan, who had already spent two decades at the Films Division,
teamed with United Studios, a division of the UTV group, to spin off an
animation company. The venture, initially called RM-USL Animation, was
rechristened UTV Toons in 2000. Today, it is one of the largest 2D
animation companies in India, and Mohan is considered the ―father of Indian
animation.‖

Cost Factor
It costs a prohibitive $400,000 to 500,000 to produce one hour of
animation footage in the U.S. Perhaps that explains why studios there are
looking to outsource.

Take the case of Chennai-based Pentamedia Graphics Ltd. The parent
company, Pentafour Software and Exports Ltd, started with selling CD titles
and corporate presentations. A joint project with Griboullie, France, for
Excalibur was a breakthrough for the company. The company went on to
bag other international projects like The King and I from WB in 1999.

V. Chandrasekaran of Pentamedia says, ―Initially it was difficult to pitch for
the foreign animation projects since India figured nowhere compared to the
international levels of sophistication.‖ The Warner project served as a
springboard and it soon bagged Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists from
Improvision Corp.

Today, the company‘s turnover for the third quarter stands at $2,123 million.
―The joint venture with 3dMaxMedia Inc, U.S., to create high-end digital
entertainment content using cutting-edge tools for Internet, cinema and TV
media was really a fillip,‖ says Chandrasekaran. Last year, major Hollywood
and European studios outsourced services worth $300 million to India
because of the obvious cost advantage. ―While a 20-minute special effects
animation sequence costs about $75,000 in India, studios in the US charge
$150,000,‖ says K. Chandra Shekar, head, (Animation Business), Tata Elxsi
(P) Ltd.

Overseas studios, including American and Canadian ones, which normally
outsource their back-end animation work from Australia, Philippines,
Taiwan and Korea, are now increasingly veering toward India.

Maturity
Although yet to mature, animation companies are throwing their rings on the
―classic outsourcing model,‖ to which goes the credit of building the ―Indian
software industry,‖ until of course, the slowdown happened. ―If a company
can keep the quality of its output at a desirable level with low costs, it can
expect to produce movies for Hollywood,‖ says Chandrasekaran. While
most companies were reeling under the slowdown of last year, it turned out
to be one of the best for the Indian animation industry. Compudyne,
Winfosystems, Maya Entertainment, UTV Toons, Toonz Animation,
Western Outdoor and Color Chips India all bagged lucrative foreign
contracts.

Roadblocks
One major weakness for all Indian animation houses has been the lack of
trained animators—animation is not even offered at Indian art schools.
―Many companies try to master only the technology in animation, but pay
scant attention to aesthetics like timing and movements. This is the reason
why many projects get rejected,‖ says Tata Elxsi‘s Shekar.

Nasscom estimates that India could use 300,000 professionals in content
development and animation by 2008, though at the end of 2001 it pegged at
27,000. ―Animators must have creative and artistic abilities. A good sense of
humor and an observant eye to detect the incongruous are the assets. Along
with these qualities, a qualification in fine art and visual communication
design is a must,‖ says Sudhish, managing director of Hyderabad-based
ColorChips Ltd.

Acquiring to expand
Companies like Pentamedia Graphics and Crest Communication are now
chanting the M&A mantra. Pentamedia, touted in the early part of 2001 as
the No. 1 animation company in India, acquired Improvision, a U.S.-based
film production and distribution company, for $19.5 million, and a
Singapore-based 2D animation company, Animasia International, for SG
$0.5 million. ―The acquisition has helped the company implement offshore
development work, but ideally it could be used to tap the potential in the
commercial animation market,‖ says Chandrasekaran. Crest Communication
acquired Rich Animation, a U.S.-based animation production studio for $5
million. Its objective was to use Rich‘s pre- and post-production skills. Even
companies like Sriveni Multi-Tech and Compudyne Winfosystems have
acquired U.S.-based Station X Studios Entertainment and VisionArt Studio
for $1 million and $4 million respectively.

Beyond Quality
When it comes to animation, quality has not been easy to achieve. An entry-
level professional would take 10 hours for a single second of animation. In
fact, even for an experienced animator, it would mean half-a-day‘s job.
Arena, an Aptech subsidary, churns out thousands of students skilled in
animation, Maya, USAnimation, Animo, audio-video editing and special
effects. But only a few get to work in the studios. While computer 3D
animation is gaining popularity, UTV Toons‘ Nandini points out that for
traditional 2D animators, drawing skills are still very critical. ―What works
is a happy marriage of 2D and 3D, such as in the Lion King, where the
characters were 2D, but the background 3D.‖ While 2D animation requires
painstaking sketching of characters and movements, 3D animations are often
created from wireframes of sketches or models and then manipulated.

INDIAN TOUCH TO ANIMATION

India's animation sector is witnessing a major boom. Overseas entertainment
giants like Walt Disney,Imax and Sony are increasingly outsourcing cartoon
characters and special effects to India . Other companies are outsourcing
animation from India for commercials and computer games.

So what makes India a hub for animation? Why is the sector experiencing
exponential growth? In this special series, we take a look at what makes
India shine in the world of animation.

A full-fledged feature film called Tommy and Oscar is in the final stages of
production at the Toonz Animation Studio, Techno park, Kerala . A team of
artists and technicians is working frenetically to complete the film for the
Italian producer Rainbow Productions.

Applied Gravity, a New Zealand-based company, has outsourced nearly 90
per cent of it animation work to Nipuna Services, the business process
outsourcing subsidiary of Satyam Computer Services. An animatronics dog
for Animal Planet (Discovery channel) for a popular episode called K9 to11
and animatronics models for New Zealand theme parks were some of the
best-known creations of Applied Gravity in India.

The Walt Disney Company has outsourced some of its major animation
projects to various studios across India. Cartoon Network is buying
animation films made in India. MTV has added India to its outsourcing hub
along with the Philippines and South Korea.
A new outsourcing fever has gripped India.
Global entertainment majors like Walt Disney, IMAX, Warner Brothers and
Sony are signing up huge contracts with Indian animation companies.
And cities in India like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and
Trivandrum have emerged as the country's major animation hubs.

A slew of companies across these cities have dedicated themselves to the
outsourced world of animation and special effects. These include Toonz
Animation, Crest Communications, Maya Entertainment, Silvertoon Studio,
UTV Toons, Zee Institute of Creative Arts, 2NZ Studios, Pentamedia
Graphics, Prasad Studios, Acropetal, JadooWorks, Color Chips and Heart
Animation.

These animation firms have set up large production studios that are equipped
with state-of -the-art equipment and hardware and software like SGI,
3DMax and Softimage, SFX and processing motion capture facilities.

"Work is pouring in from places like the United States, Europe and Asia in
the form of outsourced projects and co-production deals," points out P
Jayakumar, Chief Executive Officer of Toonz Animation, arguably India's
biggest animation player.

Toonz Animation is a complete state-of-the-art facility, staffed with
internationally trained creative professionals from around the world. Its
primary studio, Studio A, is located at Techno park in Trivandrum where
over 400 artists and technicians create animated 2D and 3D films.

Jayakumar says Toonz formats include episodic television animation, ad
films, direct-to-video and feature length.

Animation veterans like Jayakumar says that India has become an
outsourcing hub for animation films because:
India has a vast base of English speaking workforce: Animation, which
requires familiarity with the English language, benefits when the work is
outsourced to India. A number of animation companies in the country are
also creating skilled manpower for the animation market through various
training programs.
Presence of good studios: India has the second largest entertainment
industry in the world, after Hollywood. Animation studios in the country
provide a large supply of low-cost, high-quality software engineers. A
number of Indian animation companies have set up hi-tech studios
(equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software) to execute
overseas projects.
Low cost of animation services: The main reason why foreign
entertainment firms are flocking to India is the cost advantage the country
offers. For instance, in the US, animators can cost about $125 an hour; in
India, they cost $25 an hour. Toonz Animation offers animation at 25 per
cent to 40 per cent lower rates than other Asian studios and much lower
than those of American studios.

The total cost for making a full-length animated film in America is
estimated to be $100 million to $175 million. In India, it can be made for
$15 million to $25 million.

C K Prahlad, an animation consultant based in Bangalore, says the biggest
advantage is the cost factor. "Indian animation companies are charging
extremely low rates compared to other countries. That is attracting the
Hollywood companies to outsource their animation film series to the
country," he said.

Major US animation studios and producers are realizing this huge cost
advantage that India offers.

"Due to changing viewing habits, channels or networks are being forced to
bring down license fees. As a result, the volume of work has been
dropping.

In this situation, India's advantage of low production costs could be a boon
to the domestic animation industry," said Margaret Dean, Sony Pictures'
head of family entertainment group and a consultant to various animation
studios in the US, during a recent India visit.

According to the National Association of Software and Services
Companies (Nasscom), the total revenues of the animation production
services sector in India were estimated by between $200 million and $300
million in 2004.

Nasscom estimates the animation sector grew at a rate of over 20 per cent
last year. "Demand for animation production services from India is
growing with the emergence of an organized animation production sector,
with state-of -the-art of work required for international TV program
production, at substantially lower costs," a Nasscom report said.

SOCPE OF ANIMATION IN INDIA
Animated cell phone displays, commercials, cartoons and movies are a big
part of life in today's modern world, but India so far has played a very
small part in the global animation industry. There are about 10 animation
studios across the country, and only around 3000 animators work for them.
"The industry is bottlenecked when it comes to procuring skilled
professionals for jobs. There are many people who are familiar with the
software, but they are not qualified animators," says Binu Raj, marketing
head, Toonz Animation.

Entertainment, though, is not the be-all and end-all of the industry. It has
applications in various fields. Defence personnel use animation to design
armaments, forensic scientists use it to recreate crime sequences and it is
also used in the fields of space research and medicine

Animation is a fast-emerging high-paying career option. To become an
animator, you need intensive training in 2D or 3D animation. Professional
diploma programs in animation and multimedia are available for higher
study. You can specialize in creating animation characters, creating two-
and/or three-dimensional shapes, special visual effects, video game
programming, game art and so on. The basic requirement is that you must
have excellent creative and artistic abilities such as flair for drawing,
sketching or caricaturing

In the present scenario animation has a huge demand in national as well as
in international market. This career is booming in the present market and in
future the scope is much better. There are several career institutes offering
Animation and Cartoon Courses in India.

These career courses entail intensive career training for the job
requirements in the field of animation and cartoon. Depending on one's
aspiration and confidence, from diploma to degree there are various
options for a candidate to choose. As art is at the core of the animation
sector, one can also pursue Bachelor of Fine Arts or Master of Fine Arts

courses to have an edge in animation education. Moreover students may
also do some specializations in both 2D and 3D pre-production, sound
engineering, editing, modeling, performance animation, technical
animation and other branches of animation. The National Institute of
Design, JJ School of Arts, Industrial Design Center, IIT Mumbai are some
of the best institutes in India that offer courses in the animation sector.

As the demand of animation industries is increasing at a faster rate and the
per capita growth has also helped in the economic growth of India. This
has change the entire face of animation industries. India has become a
favored destination for various pre production works of the animation
industry during the last decade mainly due to the availability of talented
animation artists at relatively low costs. Apart from outsourcing, the
expansion of the domestic market has also opened up opportunities for the
animation artists.

NEED FOR ANIMATORS IN INDIA
Explained by a INDIAN animation expert
Ram Mohan

I have a feeling that some people are looking at animation only as a career
as a job. They want the monthly income just like a telephone operator. For
those we should have like Polytechnics where they are taught in-
betweening, clean-ups and basics of animation. For them animation is not
an art form, it is a dhanda as they call it a business. It‘s their livelihood.
And those people are really needed without them classical animation
cannot be done. So there should be two types of Institutes: Polytechnics
which teach these basics of classical animation production at an affordable
fees and short term courses for them. And they are in demand; at least
they were in demand. Initially there was a tremendous demand because
they didn‘t need designers or storyboard artist or character designers
because all that was coming from abroad. What they want were people
who could take those storyboards and design and animate them. Now I
know we don't have enough people and I know how much we had to do
when We were in UTV Toons to train these people. To train these people
in the beginning and then take them on to productions where they would
continue to learn further when they were on jobs.

And then there is the other kind of school where animation is taught along
with film making. It‘s not just animation but animation as just film
making medium. So they should also know

about music and sound and I also feel it is very important for animation
students to have a knowledge of World classics literature, in dance, in
performance in choreography, in lighting etc with all this then he becomes
a complete film-maker with a very broad view in all arts. In fact animation
is one art in which so many other arts flow in. So it has to be that kind of
education for animators, sorry not animators but animation film maker.
There should be a 5 year program, at least 4 years minimum education
program in animation with 2 years graduation and 2 years post graduation
i.e. specialization. Even in art schools animation should be taught. Like
the other specialization subjects like Topography and Photography, even
Animation should be introduced soon after students enter that is after
foundation level. So that students can have the choice to take animation as
a primary subject so that by the end of 5 years you learn the skills of
animation and when you enter into the post-graduate school like IDC or
NID one can hone his skills further as film makers.

I wish if the government would subsidize training in animation.
Unfortunately they don‘t realize that there are very special skills that are
required for animation. Computer literacy is comparatively higher but not
everyone knows to do good graphic. One might know the software but the
creative aspect of it requires special training in Institutes. Sadly even Art
schools do not impart any training in animation. We have been trying to
persuade J.J. School of Arts but there are no funds. Nor even in the Films
- FTI Pune. So we are neither here nor there. Not in the Art schools nor
even in the Film schools. The only Institute that has done some work for
training in animation is NID. And now IDC is doing better, I am sure after
that Shilpa has joined they are exploring much more whereas before they
were doing animation only with simple devices. New avenues have to be
opened for 2D and 3D animation. In fact Animation should be looked
upon as an ‗Art-Form‘ which has a fourth dimension in Time. It is a very

beautiful concept- ―Art that is moving‘. So it has to be encouraged and
practiced because the talent is there in India and I am happy that people
are looking towards it.

There is no animation culture in India like the countries in the West.
Institutes like NID, J.J. School of Arts, IDC, FTI Pune, Films Division
and TASI should come together and form this. TASI is doing it but on a
very small level. There is a lot of potential for the growth of animation in
India. Basically there should be awareness and people should think
differently. The ‗Cartoon‘ image of animation from their minds should be
taken out. As the countries in the west, animation is done at different
levels- for children and for adults. Likewise it should be in India. There is
lot of potential for original content but unfortunately the infrastructure is
missing. Whereas countries like China, Korea, Japan, Philippines,
Vietnam and Indonesia have taken over India in this field. For content
development, ‗Amar Chitra kathaein‘ did some work but still that is not
enough. They could have explored much more. Moreover children in the
west read lots of comic books which is not so much practiced in India,
that has to be encouraged. Thus this Animation Culture has to be practiced
and developed in India.

―One reason why animation is useful in India is that when you have
animated characters they become sort of Generalized. Otherwise you take
a live character he belongs to a particular region. He is either a Keralite or
a Bengali or a Punjabi so they become associated with one particular
region in lifestyle. In Animation the character becomes sort of
generalized. Therefore he becomes an Indian farmer or an Indian
fisherman so animation can cover the entire country.‖

TECHNIQUES
TRADITIONAL ANIMATION

Traditional animation (also called cel animation or hand-drawn animation) was the
process used for most animated films of the 20th century. The individual frames of
a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, which are first drawn on
paper. To create the illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the
one before it. The animators' drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent
acetate sheets called cells, which are filled in with paints in assigned colors or
tones on the side opposite the line drawings. The completed character cells‘ are
photographed one-by-one onto motion picture film against a painted background
by a rostrum camera.

The traditional cel animation process became obsolete by the beginning of the 21st
century. Today, animators' drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned into

or drawn directly into a computer system. Various software programs are used to
color the drawings and simulate camera movement and effects. The final animated
piece is output to one of several delivery media, including traditional 35 mm film
and newer media such as digital video. The "look" of traditional cel animation is
still preserved, and the character animators' work has remained essentially the
same over the past 70 years. Some animation producers have used the term
"tradigital" to describe cel animation which makes extensive use of computer
technology.

Examples of traditionally animated feature films include Pinocchio (United States,
1940), Animal Farm (United Kingdom, 1954), and Akira (Japan, 1988).
Traditional animated films which were produced with the aid of computer
technology include The Lion King (US, 1994) Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi
(Spirited Away) (Japan, 2001), and Les Triplettes de Belleville (France, 2003).

Full animation
refers to the process of producing high-quality traditionally animated
films, which regularly use detailed drawings and plausible movement.
Fully animated films can be done in a variety of styles, from more

realistically animated works such as
those produced by the Walt Disney studio (Beauty and the Beast,
Aladdin, Lion King) to the more 'cartoony' styles of those produced by
the Warner Bros. animation studio. Many of the Disney animated

features are examples of full animation, as are non-Disney works such as
The Secret of NIMH (US, 1982), The Iron Giant (US, 1999), and
Nocturna (Spain, 2007).

Limited animation
Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not
redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames.
One of its major trademarks is the stylized design in all forms and shapes,
which in the early days was referred to as modern design. The short-
subject cartoons and feature-length cartoons of Walt Disney from the
1930s and 1940s are widely acclaimed for depicting animated
simulations of reality, with exquisite detail in every frame. This style of
animation is time-consuming and expensive. "Limited" animation creates
an image with abstract art, symbolism, and fewer drawings to create the
same effect, at a much lower cost. This style of animation depends upon
animators' skill in emulating change without additional drawings;
improper use of limited animation is easily recognized as unnatural. It
also encourages the animators to indulge in artistic styles that are not
bound to real world limits. The result is an artistic style that could not
have developed if animation was solely devoted to producing simulations
of reality. Without limited animation, such ground-breaking films as
Yellow Submarine, Chuck Jones' The Dot and the Line, and many others
could never have been produced.

The process of limited animation aims at reducing the overall number of
drawings. Film is projected at 24 frames per second. For movements in
normal speed, most animation in general is done "on twos," meaning 12
drawings per second are recorded meaning that each drawing uses two
frames of film. Faster movements may demand animation "on ones,"
while characters that do not move may be done with a single drawing (a
"hold") for a certain amount of time. It is said that the Disney average
was about 18 drawings per second, pretending that all characters of a
scene share the same sheet of paper. Limited animation mainly reduces
the number of in-betweens, the drawings between the key frames which
define a movement, and can cause stuttering if in-betweens are poorly

setup.

Overall, the use of limited animation does not necessarily imply lower
quality as it allows the use of many timesaving techniques that can
improve the quality and flow of the key frames and overall presentation
of an animation.

Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over
live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films.[1]
Originally, recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted
glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. This projection equipment is
called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers
in recent years. In the visual effects industry, the term Rotoscoping refers
to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-
action plate so it may be composited over another background.

Another Rotoscope was invented by LeRoy Wottring for orthoptic
training. See patent 2316139. The device was manufactured by the
Wottring Instrument Company of Columbus, Ohio. In 1950, American
Optical purchased the assets of Wottring Instruments and continued to
build and market the product. Orthoptic training was used for a variety of
eye conditions including amblyopia.

Live-action/animation
A live-action/animated film is a motion picture that features a
combination of real actors or elements: live-action and animated
elements, typically interacting

.

In The Three Caballeros (1945), Donald Duck cavorts with several Latin-
American dancers, plus Aurora Miranda (sister of Carmen Miranda), who
gives him a kiss.

Stop motion
Stop-motion animation is used to describe animation created by physically
manipulating real-world objects and photographing them one frame of film at a
time to create the illusion of movement. There are many different types of stop-
motion animation, usually named after the type of media used to create the
animation. Computer software is widely available to create this type of animation.

Puppet animation
Typically involves stop-motion puppet figures interacting with each other
in a constructed environment, in contrast to the real-world interaction in
model animation. The puppets generally have an armature inside of them
to keep them still and steady as well as constraining them to move at
particular joints. Examples include The Tale of the Fox (France, 1937),
The Nightmare before Christmas (US, 1993), Corpse Bride (US, 2005),
Coraline (US, 2009), the films of Jiří Trnka and the TV series Robot
Chicken (US, 2005–present).

Puppetoon
Puppetoon animation is a type of replacement animation, which is itself a
type of stop-motion animation. In traditional stop-motion, the puppets are
made with movable parts which are repositioned between frames to
create the illusion of motion when the frames are played in rapid
sequence. In puppetoon animation the puppets are rigid and static pieces;
each is typically used in a single frame and then switched with a separate,
near-duplicate puppet for the next frame. Thus puppetoon animation
requires many separate figures. It is thus more analogous in a certain
sense to cel animation than is traditional stop-motion: the characters are
created from scratch for each frame (though in cel animation the creation
process is simpler since the characters are drawn and painted, not
sculpted).

Clay animation
Clay animation or claymation is one of many forms of stop motion
animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is
"deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay.

All traditional animation is produced in a similar fashion, whether done
through cel animation or stop motion. Each frame, or still picture, is
recorded on film or digital media and then played back in rapid
succession. When played back at a frame rate greater than 10–12 frames
per second, a fairly convincing illusion of continuous motion is achieved.
While the playback feature creating an illusion is true of all moving
images (from zoetrope to films to videogames), the techniques involved
in creating CGI are generally removed from a frame-by-frame process.

In clay animation, each object is sculpted in clay or a similarly pliable
material such as Plasticine, usually around a wire skeleton called an
armature. As in other forms of object animation, the object is arranged on
the set (background), a film frame is exposed, and the object or character
is then moved slightly by hand. Another frame is taken, and the object is
moved slightly again. This cycle is repeated until the animator has
achieved the desired amount of film. The human mind processes the
series of slightly changing; rapidly playing images as motion, hence
making it appear that the object is moving by itself. To achieve the best
results, a consistent shooting environment is needed to maintain the
illusion of continuity. This means paying special attention to maintaining
consistent lighting and object placement and working in a calm
environment.

Cutout animation
Cutout animation is a technique for producing animations using flat
characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card,
stiff fabric or even photographs. The world's earliest known animated
feature films were cutout animations (made in Argentina by Quirino
Cristiani); as is the world's earliest surviving animated feature.

Today, cutout-style animation is frequently produced using computers,
with scanned images or vector graphics taking the place of physically cut
materials. South Park is a notable example of this transition since its first
episode was made with paper cutouts before switching to computer
animation.

Other notable examples include Angela Anaconda, and - more recently -
Charlie and Lola. One of the most famous animators still using traditional
cutout animation today is Yuriy Norshteyn

Silhouette animation
Silhouette animation is animation in which the characters are only visible
as black silhouettes. This is usually accomplished by backlighting
articulated cardboard cut-outs, though other methods exist. It is partially
inspired by, but for a number of reasons technically distinct from,
shadow play.

Traditional silhouette animation as invented by Reiniger is subdivision of
cutout animation (itself one of the many forms of stop motion). It utilises
figures cut out of paperboard, sometimes reinforced with thin metal
sheets, and tied together at their joints with thread or wire (usually
substituted by plastic or metal paper fasteners in contemporary
productions) which are then moved frame-by-frame on an animation
stand and filmed top-down with a rostrum camera – such techniques were
used, albeit with stylistic changes, by such practitioners as Noburō Ōfuji
in the 1940s and Bruno J. Böttge in the 1970s.Michel Ocelot's television
series Ciné si (Cinema If, 1989) was a little different, combining cutouts
and cells and also, more occasionally, live-action and clay animation (this
series is better known as Princes et princesses, the feature film version
mentioned below).This was also the first silhouette animation to
successfully make characters appear to speak for themselves
(traditionally, either intertitles or voice-over narration had been used) as
the mixed medium made accurate lip syncing possible.[4] Traditional
animation can also be used to imitate silhouette animation, as seen
regularly in Be-PaPas' Shōjo Kakumei Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena,
1997).

Most recently, several CGI silhouette films have been made, which
demonstrate different approaches to the technique – Jossie Malis' use
already 2D, vector animation,[5] Michel Ocelot's "Earth Intruders"
(2007) and a scene in Azur et Asmar (Azur & Asmar, 2006) use 3D
figures rendered as silhouettes, while Anthony Lucas' Academy Award-
nominated The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
(2005) mixes 2D characters and 3D backgrounds, both of which are
combination of live action and CGI. Computer animation has also been
used to make more explicit reference to shadow theatre – particularly of
the Southeast Asian wayang kulit style – by adding visible rods to the

characters which appear to be operating them (ironically, in CGI, it is the
other way round). This was used in Jan Koester's Our Man in Nirvana
(2006) and the opening of the Disney feature The Jungle Book 2 (2003).
Michel Ocelot's television series Bergères et dragons (Shepherdesses and
Dragons), which, as of March 2008, is still in development, uses a
mixture of 2D and 3D computer animation to simulate the look of his
earlier, analogue silhouette animation.

Model animation
Model animation is a form of stop motion animation designed to merge
with live action footage to create the illusion of a real-world fantasy
sequence.

Model animation was pioneered by Willis O'Brien, and it was first used
in The Lost World (1925). His work also includes

King Kong (1933)

The Son of Kong (1933)

Mighty Joe Young (1949)

The Black Scorpion (1957)

The Giant Behemoth (1958)

Picking up the model animation baton from O'Brien, and refining the
process further, introducing color and smoother animation, was his
protégé, Ray Harryhausen. Assisting O'Brien in Mighty Joe Young in
1949, Harry went on to do model animation (and other special visual
effects) on a series of feature length films, such as:

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955)

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

The Animal World (Opening Dinosaur sequence, with O'Brien, 1956)

20 Million Miles To Earth (1957)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960)

Mysterious Island (1961)

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

First Men in the Moon (1964)

One Million Years B.C. (1967)

The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)

Clash of the Titans (with Jim Danforth, 1981)

Go motion
Go motion is a variation of stop motion animation, and was co-
developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett

Stop motion animation can create a disorienting, and distinctive,
staccato effect, because the animated object is perfectly sharp in every
frame, since each frame of the animation was actually shot when the
object was perfectly still. Real moving objects in similar scenes of the
same movie will have motion blur, because they moved while the
shutter of the camera was open.

Go motion was designed to prevent this, by moving the animated model
slightly during the exposure of each film frame, producing a realistic

motion blur. The main difference is that while the frames in stop motion
are made up by images of stills taken between the small movements of
the object, the frames in go motion are images of the object taken while
it is moving. This frame-by-frame, split-second motion is almost always
created with the help of a computer, often through rods connected to a
puppet or model which the computer manipulates to reproduce
movements programmed in by puppeteers.

Go motion was originally planned to be used extensively for the
dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, until Steven Spielberg decided to try out the
swiftly developing techniques of computer-generated imagery instead.

Today, the mechanical method of achieving motion blur using go
motion is rarely used, as it is more complicated, slow, and labor
intensive than computer generated effects. However, the motion
blurring technique still has potential in real stop motion movies where
the puppet's motions are supposed to be somewhat realistic. Motion
blurring can now be digitally done as a post production process using
special effects software such as After Effects, Boris FX, Combustion,
and other similar special effects commercial software.

Object animation
Object animation is a form of stop motion animation that involves the
animated movements of any non-drawn objects such as toys, blocks,
dolls, etc. which are not fully malleable, such as clay or wax, and not
designed to look like a recognizable human or animal character.

Object animation is considered a different form of animation distinct
from model animation and puppet animation, as these two forms of stop-
motion animation usually use recognizable characters as their subjects,
rather than just objects like static toy soldiers, or construction toys such
as Tinker Toys, LEGO brand bricks (Brickfilm), Lincoln Logs, Erector
Sets, Playmobil, etc.

Object animation is often combined with other forms of animation,
usually for a more realistic effect (e.g., Model Animation or Puppet

Animation to add more complex movement or depth to the characters).
For example; a toy car can be animated, but is more often animated with
a character easily seen driving the car.

The use of animated objects in film has been present since the early days
of cinema.

An example of modern object animation can be seen on Robot Chicken,
part of the regular Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network, which
combines object animation with a variation of puppet animation, in this
case the puppets are made to resemble plastic action figures from various
TV shows, movies, and pop culture.

Graphic animation
Graphic animation is a variation of stop motion (and possibly more
conceptually associated with traditional flat cel animation and paper
drawing animation, but still technically qualifying as stop motion)
consisting of the animation of photographs (in whole or in parts) and
other non-drawn flat visual graphic material, such as newspaper and
magazine clippings.

In its simplest form, Graphic "animation" can take the form of the
animation camera merely panning up and down and/or across individual
photographs, one at a time, (filmed frame-by-frame, and hence,
"animated") without changing the photographs from frame to frame, as
on Ken Burns various historical documentary films for PBS. But once the
photos (or "graphics") are also moved from frame to frame, more
exciting montages of movement can be produced, such as on Los
Angeles animator Mike Jittlov's 1977 short film, Animato, also seen his
feature film, The Wizard of Speed and Time, released to theaters in 1987
and to video in 1989. Graphic animation can be (and often is) combined
with other forms of animation including direct manipulation animation
and traditional cel animation.

Examples are Frank Mouris' 1973 Oscar-winning short film Frank Film,
and Charles Braverman's Condensed Cream of the Beatles (1973),

originally produced for Geraldo Rivera's late night TV show of the time,
Goodbye America. Graphic animation was also used as a History of
Playboy Magazine piece used on Saturday Night Live when the
magazine's founder, Hugh Hefner, appeared on that show during the late
70s or early 80s.

Pixilation
Pixilation (from pixilated) is a stop motion technique where live actors
are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly
posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly
before the next frame or frames. The actor becomes a kind of living stop
motion puppet. This technique is often used as a way to blend live actors
with animated ones in a film, such as in The Secret Adventures of Tom
Thumb by the Bolex Brothers, which used the technique to compelling
and eerie effect.

Early examples of this technique are El hotel eléctrico from 1908 and
Émile Cohl's 1911 film Jobard ne peut pas voir les femmes‘ travailler
(Jobard cannot see the women working).

The term is widely credited to Grant Munro. He made an experimental
film named "Pixillation", available in his DVD collection "Cut Up - The
Films of Grant Munro".

COMPUTER ANIMATION
Computer animation encompasses a variety of techniques, the unifying
factor being that the animation is created digitally on a computer.

2D animation
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital
images—mostly from two-dimensional models (such as 2D geometric
models, text, and digital images) and by techniques specific to them. The
word may stand for the branch of computer science that comprises such
techniques, or for the models themselves.

2D computer graphics are mainly used in applications that were
originally developed upon traditional printing and drawing technologies,
such as typography, cartography, technical drawing, advertising, etc. In
those applications, the two-dimensional image is not just a representation
of a real-world object, but an independent artifact with added semantic
value; two-dimensional models are therefore preferred, because they give
more direct control of the image than 3D computer graphics (whose
approach is more akin to photography than to typography).

In many domains, such as desktop publishing, engineering, and business,
a description of a document based on 2D computer graphics techniques
can be much smaller than the corresponding digital image—often by a
factor of 1/1000 or more. This representation is also more flexible since it
can be rendered at different resolutions to suit different output devices.
For these reasons, documents and illustrations are often stored or
transmitted as 2D graphic files.

2D computer graphics started in the 1950s, based on vector graphics
devices. These were largely supplanted by raster-based devices in the
following decades. The PostScript language and the X Window System
protocol were landmark developments in the field.

o 2D graphics techniques

2D graphics models may combine geometric models (also called
vector graphics), digital images (also called raster graphics), text to
be typeset (defined by content, font style and size, color, position,

and orientation), mathematical functions and equations, and more.
These components can be modified and manipulated by two-
dimensional geometric transformations such as translation,
rotation, scaling. In object-oriented graphics, the image is
described indirectly by an object endowed with a self-rendering
method—a procedure which assigns colors to the image pixels by
an arbitrary algorithm. Complex models can be built by combining
simpler objects, in the paradigms of object-oriented programming.

o Direct painting

A convenient way to create a complex image is to start with a
blank "canvas" raster map (an array of pixels, also known as a
bitmap) filled with some uniform background color and then
"draw", "paint" or "paste" simple patches of color onto it, in an
appropriate order. In particular, the canvas may be the frame buffer
for a computer display.

Some programs will set the pixel colors directly, but most will rely
on some 2D graphics library and/or the machine's graphics card,
which usually implement the following operations:

 paste a given image at a specified offset onto the canvas;
 write a string of characters with a specified font, at a given
position and angle;
 paint a simple geometric shape, such as a triangle defined by three
corners, or a circle with given center and radius;
 draw a line segment, arc, or simple curve with a virtual pen of
given width

o Extended color models

Text, shapes and lines are rendered with a client-specified color. Many
libraries and cards provide color gradients, which are handy for the
generation of smoothly-varying backgrounds, shadow effects, etc. (See

also Gouraud shading). The pixel colors can also be taken from a
texture, e.g. a digital image (thus emulating rub-on screentones and the
fabled "checker paint" which used to be available only in cartoons).

Painting a pixel with a given color usually replaces its previous color.
However, many systems support painting with transparent and
translucent colors, which only modify the previous pixel values. The
two colors may also be combined in fancier ways, e.g. by computing
their bitwise exclusive or. This technique is known as inverting color
or color inversion, and is often used in graphical user interfaces for
highlighting, rubber-band drawing, and other volatile painting—since
re-painting the same shapes with the same color will restore the
original pixel values.

o Layers
The models used in 2D computer graphics usually do not provide for
three-dimensional shapes, or three-dimensional optical phenomena
such as lighting, shadows, reflection, refraction, etc. However, they
usually can model multiple layers (conceptually of ink, paper, or film;
opaque, translucent, or transparent—stacked in a specific order. The
ordering is usually defined by a single number (the layer's depth, or
distance from the viewer).

Layered models are sometimes called 2½-D computer graphics. They
make it possible to mimic traditional drafting and printing techniques
based on film and paper, such as cutting and pasting; and allow the
user to edit any layer without affecting the others. For these reasons,
they are used in most graphics editors. Layered models also allow
better anti-aliasing of complex drawings and provide a sound model
for certain techniques such as mitered joints and the even-odd rule.

Layered models are also used to allow the user to suppress unwanted
information when viewing or printing a document, e.g. roads and/or
railways from a map, certain process layers from an integrated circuit
diagram, or hand annotations from a business letter.

In a layer-based model, the target image is produced by "painting" or
"pasting" each layer, in order of decreasing depth, on the virtual

canvas. Conceptually, each layer is first rendered on its own, yielding a
digital image with the desired resolution which is then painted over the
canvas, pixel by pixel. Fully transparent parts of a layer need not be
rendered, of course. The rendering and painting may be done in
parallel, i.e. each layer pixel may be painted on the canvas as soon as it
is produced by the rendering procedure.

Layers that consist of complex geometric objects (such as text or
polylines) may be broken down into simpler elements (characters or
line segments, respectively), which are then painted as separate layers,
in some order. However, this solution may create undesirable aliasing
artifacts wherever two elements overlap the same pixel.

3D ANIMATION

Computer animation is the process used for generating animated
images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer
generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic
images, while computer animation only refers to moving images.

Modern computer animation usually uses 3D computer graphics,
although 2D computer graphics are still used for stylistic, low
bandwidth, and faster real-time renderings. Sometimes the target of the
animation is the computer itself, but sometimes the target is another
medium, such as film.

Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to the stop
motion techniques used in traditional animation with 3D models and
frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations. Computer generated
animations are more controllable than other more physically based
processes, such as constructing miniatures for effects shots or hiring
extras for crowd scenes, and because it allows the creation of images

that would not be feasible using any other technology. It can also allow
a single graphic artist to produce such content without the use of
actors, expensive set pieces, or props.

To create the illusion of movement, an image is displayed on the
computer screen and repeatedly replaced by a new image that is similar
to it, but advanced slightly in the time domain (usually at a rate of 24
or 30 frames/second). This technique is identical to how the illusion of
movement is achieved with television and motion pictures.

For 3D animations, objects (models) are built on the computer monitor
(modeled) and 3D figures are rigged with a virtual skeleton. For 2D
figure animations, separate objects (illustrations) and separate
transparent layers are used, with or without a virtual skeleton. Then the
limbs, eyes, mouth, clothes, etc. of the figure are moved by the
animator on key frames. The differences in appearance between key
frames are automatically calculated by the computer in a process
known as tweening or morphing. Finally, the animation is rendered.

For 3D animations, all frames must be rendered after modeling is
complete. For 2D vector animations, the rendering process is the key
frame illustration process, while tweened frames are rendered as
needed. For pre-recorded presentations, the rendered frames are
transferred to a different format or medium such as film or digital
video. The frames may also be rendered in real time as they are
presented to the end-user audience. Low bandwidth animations
transmitted via the internet (e.g. 2D Flash, X3D) often use software on
the end-users computer to render in real time as an alternative to
streaming or pre-loaded high bandwidth animations.

Methods of animating virtual characters
In most 3D computer animation systems, an animator creates a
simplified representation of a character's anatomy, analogous to a
skeleton or stick figure. The position of each segment of the skeletal
model is defined by animation variables, or Avars. In human and
animal characters, many parts of the skeletal model correspond to
actual bones, but skeletal animation is also used to animate other
things, such as facial features (though other methods for facial
animation exist). The character "Woody" in Toy Story, for example,
uses 700 Avars, including 100 Avars in the face. The computer does
not usually render the skeletal model directly (it is invisible), but uses
the skeletal model to compute the exact position and orientation of the
character, which is eventually rendered into an image. Thus by
changing the values of Avars over time, the animator creates motion by
making the character move from frame to frame.

There are several methods for generating the Avar values to obtain
realistic motion. Traditionally, animators manipulate the Avars
directly. Rather than set Avars for every frame, they usually set Avars
at strategic points (frames) in time and let the computer interpolate or
'tween' between them, a process called key framing. Key framing puts
control in the hands of the animator, and has roots in hand-drawn
traditional animation.

In contrast, a newer method called motion capture makes use of live
action. When computer animation is driven by motion capture, a real
performer acts out the scene as if they were the character to be
animated. His or her motion is recorded to a computer using video
cameras and markers, and that performance is then applied to the
animated character.

Each method has its advantages, and as of 2007, games and films are
using either or both of these methods in productions. Key frame
animation can produce motions that would be difficult or impossible to
act out, while motion capture can reproduce the subtleties of a
particular actor. For example, in the 2006 film Pirates of the
Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, actor Bill Nighy provided the
performance for the character Davy Jones. Even though Nighy himself
doesn't appear in the film, the movie benefited from his performance

by recording the nuances of his body language, posture, facial
expressions, etc. Thus motion capture is appropriate in situations
where believable, realistic behavior and action is required, but the
types of characters required exceed what can be done through
conventional costuming.

Creating characters and objects on a computer
3D computer animation combines 3D models of objects and
programmed or hand "key framed" movement. Models are constructed
out of geometrical vertices, faces, and edges in a 3D coordinate
system. Objects are sculpted much like real clay or plaster, working
from general forms to specific details with various sculpting tools. A
bone/joint animation system is set up to deform the CGI model (e.g., to
make a humanoid model walk). In a process called rigging, the virtual
marionette is given various controllers and handles for controlling
movement. Animation data can be created using motion capture, or key
framing by a human animator, or a combination of the two.

3D models rigged for animation may contain thousands of control
points - for example, the character "Woody" in Pixar's movie Toy
Story, uses 700 specialized animation controllers. Rhythm and Hues
Studios labored for two years to create Aslan in the movie The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which
had about 1851 controllers, 742 in just the face alone. In the 2004 film
The Day After Tomorrow, designers had to design forces of extreme
weather with the help of video references and accurate meteorological
facts. For the 2005 remake of King Kong, actor Andy Serkis was used
to help designers pinpoint the gorilla's prime location in the shots and
used his expressions to model "human" characteristics onto the
creature. Serkis had earlier provided the voice and performance for
Gollum in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Modeling human faces
The modeling of human facial features is both one of the most challenging
and sought after elements in computer-generated imagery. Computer facial
animation is a highly complex field where models typically include a very
large number of animation variables. Historically speaking, the first
SIGGRAPH tutorials on State of the art in Facial Animation in 1989 and 1990
proved to be a turning point in the field by bringing together and consolidating
multiple research elements, and sparked interest among a number of
researchers.

The Facial Action Coding System (with 46 action units such as "lip bite" or
"squint") which had been developed in 1976 became a popular basis for many
systems.[2] As early as 2001 MPEG-4 included 68 facial animation parameters
for lips, jaws, etc., and the field has made significant progress since then and
the use of facial micro expression has increased.

In some cases, an affective space such as the PAD emotional state model can
be used to assign specific emotions to the faces of avatars. In this approach the
PAD model is used as a high level emotional space, and the lower level space
is the MPEG-4 Facial Animation Parameters (FAP). A mid-level Partial
Expression Parameters (PEP) space is then used to in a two level structure: the
PAD-PEP mapping and the PEP-FAP translation model.

12 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION
 Squash and stretch
The most important principle is "squash and stretch‖, the purpose of
which is to give a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects. It can
be applied to simple objects, like a bouncing ball, or more complex
constructions, like the musculature of a human face. Taken to an extreme
point, a figure stretched or squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a
comical effect. In realistic animation, however, the most important aspect
of this principle is the fact that an object's volume does not change when
squashed or stretched. If the length of a ball is stretched vertically, its
width (in three dimensions, also its depth) needs to contract
correspondingly horizontally.

 Anticipation
Anticipation is used to prepare the audience for an action, and to make the
action appear more realistic.A dancer jumping off the floor has to bend his
knees first; a golfer making a swing has to swing the club back first. The
technique can also be used for less physical actions, such as a character
looking off-screen to anticipate someone's arrival, or attention focusing on
an object that a character is about to pick up

For special effect, anticipation can also be omitted in cases where it is
expected. The resulting sense of anticlimax will produce a feeling of surprise
in the viewer, and can often add comedy to a scene. This is often referred to
as a 'surprise gag'.

 Staging
This principle is akin to staging as it is known in theatre and film. Its
purpose is to direct the audience's attention, and make it clear what is of
greatest importance in a scene; what is happening, and what is about to
happen. Johnston and Thomas defined it as "the presentation of any idea so
that it is completely and unmistakably clear", whether that idea is an action,
a personality, an expression or a mood. This can be done by various means,
such as the placement of a character in the frame, the use of light and
shadow, and the angle and position of the camera. The essence of this
principle is keeping focus on what is relevant, and avoiding unnecessary
detail

 Straight ahead action and pose to pose
These are two different approaches to the actual drawing process. "Straight
ahead action" means drawing out a scene frame by frame from beginning to
end, while "pose to pose" involves starting with drawing a few key frames,
and then filling in the intervals later."Straight ahead action" creates a more
fluid, dynamic illusion of movement, and is better for producing realistic
action sequences. On the other hand, it is hard to maintain proportions, and
to create exact, convincing poses along the way. "Pose to pose" works better

for dramatic or emotional scenes, where composition and relation to the
surroundings are of greater importance. A combination of the two techniques
is often used.

Computer animation removes the problems of proportion related to "straight
ahead action" drawing; however, "pose to pose" is still used for computer
animation, because of the advantages it brings in composition. The use of
computers facilitates this method, as computers can fill in the missing
sequences in between poses automatically. It is, however, still important to
oversee this process, and apply the other principles discussed.

 Follow through and overlapping action

These closely related techniques help render movement more realistic, and
give the impression that characters follow the laws of physics. "Follow
through" means that separate parts of a body will continue moving after the
character has stopped. "Overlapping action" is the tendency for parts of the
body to move at different rates (an arm will move on different timing of the
head and so on). A third technique is "drag", where a character starts to
move and parts of him take a few frames to catch up. These parts can be
inanimate objects like clothing or the antenna on a car, or parts of the body,
such as arms or hair. On the human body, the torso is the core, with arms,
legs, head and hair appendices that normally follow the torso's movement.
Body parts with much tissue, such as large stomachs and breasts, or the
loose skin on a dog, are more prone to independent movement than bonier
body parts. Again, exaggerated use of the technique can produce a comical
effect, while more realistic animation must time the actions exactly, to
produce a convincing result.

Thomas and Johnston also developed the principle of the "moving hold". A
character not in movement can be rendered absolutely still; this is often
done, particularly to draw attention to the main action. According to Thomas
and Johnston, however, this gave a dull and lifeless result, and should be
avoided. Even characters sitting still can display some sort of movement,
such as the torso moving in and out with breathing.

 Arcs
Most natural action tends to follow an arched trajectory, and animation
should adhere to this principle by following implied "arcs" for greater
realism. This can apply to a limb moving by rotating a joint, or a thrown
object moving along a parabolic trajectory. The exception is mechanical
movement, which typically moves in straight lines.

As an object's speed and momentum increases, arcs tend to flatten out in
moving ahead and broaden in turns. In baseball, a fastball would tend to
move in a straighter line than other pitches; while a figure skater moving at
top speed would be unable to turn as sharply as a slower skater, and would
need to cover more ground to complete the turn.

An object in motion that moves out of its natural arc for no apparent reason
will appear erratic rather than fluid. Therefore when animating (for example)
a pointing finger, the animator should be certain that in all drawings in
between the two extreme poses, the fingertip follows a logical arc from one
extreme to the next. Traditional animators tend to draw the arc in lightly on
the paper for reference, to be erased later.

 Secondary action
Adding secondary actions to the main action gives a scene more life, and
can help to support the main action. A person walking can simultaneously
swing his arms or keep them in his pockets, he can speak or whistle or he
can express emotions through facial expressions. The important thing about
secondary actions is that they emphasize, rather than take attention away
from the main action. If the latter is the case, those actions are better left out.
In the case of facial expressions; during a dramatic movement these will
often go unnoticed. In these cases it is better to include them at the
beginning and the end of the movement, rather than during.

 Timing
Timing refers to the number of drawings or frames for a given action, which
translates to the speed of the action on film. On a purely physical level,
correct timing makes objects appear to abide to the laws of physics; for
instance, an object's weight decides how it reacts to an impetus, like a push.
Timing is critical for establishing a character's mood, emotion, and reaction.
It can also be a device to communicate aspects of a character's personality.

 Exaggeration
Exaggeration is an effect especially useful for animation, as perfect imitation
of reality can look static and dull in cartoons.The level of exaggeration
depends on whether one seeks realism or a particular style, like a caricature
or the style of an artist. The classical definition of exaggeration, employed
by Disney, was to remain true to reality, just presenting it in a wilder, more
extreme form. Other forms of exaggeration can involve the supernatural or
surreal, alterations in the physical features of a character, or elements in the
storyline itself. It is important to employ a certain level of restraint when
using exaggeration; if a scene contains several elements, there should be a
balance in how those elements are exaggerated in relation to each other, to
avoid confusing or overawing the viewer.

 Solid drawing
The principle of solid drawing means taking into account forms in three-
dimensional space, giving them volume and weight. The animator needs to
be a skilled draughtsman and has to understand the basics of three-
dimensional shapes, anatomy, weight, balance, light and shadow, etc. For
the classical animator, this involved taking art classes and doing sketches
from life. One thing in particular that Johnston and Thomas warned against
was creating "twins": characters whose left and right sides mirrored each
other, and looked lifeless. Modern-day computer animators draw less
because of the facilities computers give them, yet their work benefits greatly
from a basic understanding of animation principles, and their additions to
basic computer animation.

 Appeal
Appeal in a cartoon character corresponds to what would be called charisma
in an actor. A character that is appealing is not necessarily sympathetic —
villains or monsters can also be appealing — the important thing is that the
viewer feels the character is real and interesting. There are several tricks for
making a character connect better with the audience; for likable characters a
symmetrical or particularly baby-like face tends to be effective. A
complicated or hard to read face will lack appeal, it may more accurately be
described as 'captivation' in the composition of the pose, or the character
design.

LIST OF ANIMATED MOVIE

 First in Techniques
1917: Cel animation, El Apóstol

1926: Silhouette animation (Stop-motion), The Adventures of Prince
Achmed

1931: Synchronized sound, Peludópolis

1935: Puppet animation (Stop-motion), The New Gulliver

1937: Technicolor, hand drawn, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

1955: Widescreen, Lady and the Tramp

1961: Xerography (replaced hand inking), One Hundred and One
Dalmatians

1976: Hand-drawn animation done solely by one person, Zbojník Jurko

1981: 3-times stereophonic sound, The Fox and the Hound

1983: Computer-generated imagery, Rock and Rule

1985: Fully clay-animated, The Adventures of Mark Twain

1985: 3D, Starchaser: The Legend of Orin

1990: Produced without camera, The Rescuers Down Under

1995: Fully computer-animated film, Toy Story

2004: Cel-shaded animation, Appleseed and Steamboy. First Motion
Capture animation, The Polar Express

2005: Shot with a digital still camera, Corpse Bride

2007: Computer-animated solely by one person, Flatland

2008: Designed, created and released exclusively in 3D, Fly Me to the
Moon

2009: Character animated using rapid prototyping, Coraline

PIXAR STUDIOS
AN OVERVIEW

CORPORATE OVEVIEW
 Introduction
Pixar Animation Studios is an Academy Award ®-winning computer
animation studio with the technical, creative and production capabilities to
create a new generation of animated feature films, merchandise and other
related products. Pixar's objective is to combine proprietary technology
and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature
films with memorable characters and heartwarming stories that appeal to
audiences of all ages.

 Feature Films
On November 22, 1995, Pixar Animation Studios forever impacted the
future of filmmaking, storytelling and the medium of animation with the
release of its first feature film, Disney Pixar‘s Toy Story. Released nine
years after the founding of Pixar, Toy Story exhibited years of creative
and technical achievements from a small group of passionate computer
scientists and animators, led by present day President Ed Catmull and

Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter. The film, marking the birth of the
new medium of computer animation, went on to become the highest
grossing film of 1995 with $362 million in worldwide box office
receipts. Lasseter, director of Toy Story, was honored with a Special
Achievement Academy Award® for his "inspired leadership of the Pixar
Toy Story team resulting in the first feature-length computer animated
film."

Since Toy Story's release in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios, in
partnership with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, has also created
and produced A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Monsters, Inc.
(2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredible(2004), Cars (2006),
Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009) and most recently Toy
Story 3 (2010). The 11 feature films have resulted in an unprecedented
streak of both critical and box office successes, and combined to gross
more than $6 billion at the worldwide box office. The first 10 feature
films, through Up, have garnered 35 Academy Award® nominations,
nine Oscars®, six Golden Globes® and numerous other accolades.

From toys, bugs, monsters, fish and superheroes to cars, rats, robots and
septuagenarians, Pixary's talented creative and technical teams have
given audiences of all ages some of the most beloved characters in film.
Pairing these unique, relatable characters with compelling stories and
immersive, believable worlds, Pixar continually delivers on its promise
to truly entertain audiences all over the world.
 Short Films
Pixar Animation Studios has long believed in making short films. In
1986, Pixar's first-ever short, Luxo Jr., launched a new direction in
animated filmmaking, using three-dimensional computer animation to
tell a story. Since then, nearly every feature film that Pixar has released
has included a short beforehand, bringing back a tradition that was once
an expected pleasure for filmgoers.

Pixar's shorts have helped foster and develop technologies and talent at
the studio, but they are mostly made for one simple reason: love of the
art form. From Tin Toy's (1989) toy-tormenting baby to Partly Cloudy's
(2009) adorable storks, Pixar's shorts have delighted audiences and
earned critical praise, garnering nine Academy Award® nominations
and three Best Animated Short Film Academy Awards®. Day & Night,
the studio's most recent short, debuted in theaters with Toy Story 3.
 Technology
Since its incorporation, Pixar has been responsible for many important
breakthroughs in the application of computer graphics (CG) for
filmmaking. Consequently, the company has attracted some of the
world's finest talent in this area. Pixar's technical and creative teams
have collaborated since 1986 to develop a wealth of production software
used in-house to create its movies and further the state of the art in CG
movie making. This proprietary technology allows the production of
animated images of a quality, richness and vibrancy that are unique in
the industry, and above all, allows the director to precisely control the
end results in a way that is exactly right for the story. Pixar continues to
invest heavily in its software systems and believes that further
advancements will lead to additional productivity and quality
improvements in the making of its computer animated films.

Pixar also has a long standing tradition of sharing its advances within the
broader CG community, through technical papers, technology
partnerships, and most notably through its publicly available RenderMan
product for the highest-quality, photo-realistic images currently
available. RenderMan remains the standard in CG film visual effects and
feature animation and has been honored with an Academy Award for
technical achievement.

In 2001, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Board of
Governors® honored Ed Catmull, president of Pixar and Disney
Animation Studios, Loren Carpenter, senior scientist, and Rob Cook,
vice president of software engineering, with an Academy Award of

Merit (Oscar®) "for significant advancements to the field of motion
picture rendering as exemplified in Pixar's RenderMan." In 2002, the
Producer's Guild of America honored Pixar with the Guild's inaugural
Vanguard Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in new
media and technology.
 Creative Team
Pixar's creative department is led by Chief Creative Officer John
Lasseter, an Academy Award®-winning director and animator. Under
the guidance of Lasseter, Pixar has built a creative team that includes a
department of highly skilled animators, a story department and an art
department. This team is responsible for creating, writing and animating
all of Pixar's films. Pixar strives to hire animators who have superior
acting ability - those able to bring characters and inanimate objects to
life, as though they have their own thought processes. In order to attract
and retain quality animators, the company founded Pixar University,
which conducts three-month long courses for new and existing
animators. Pixar also has a complete production team that gives the
company the capability to control all elements of production of its films.
Pixar has successfully expanded the production team so projects may be
worked on simultaneously.
 Disney Relationship
Since the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Disney in
1937, animated films have become one of the most universally enjoyed
forms of entertainment. Disney has a long history of developing,
producing, and distributing films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin
and The Lion King. The stories and characters of these popular animated
feature films have become part of our modern mythology, enjoyed
generation after generation. Traditionally, these popular animated
feature films have been created using the time-consuming and labor-
intensive process of two-dimensional, hand-drawn cel animation.

In May 1991, Pixar entered into an agreement with Walt Disney Pictures
for the development and production of up to three computer animated
feature films to be marketed and distributed by Disney. It was pursuant

to this agreement that Toy Story was developed, produced, and
distributed. In February 1997, Pixar entered into a new Co-Production
Agreement with Disney pursuant to which Pixar, on an exclusive basis,
agreed to produce five original computer-animated feature-length
theatrical motion pictures for distribution by Disney. The five original
Pictures under the Co-Production Agreement were A Bug's Life,
Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredible, and Cars. Toy Story 2,
the theatrical sequel to Toy Story, was released in November 1999, and
is also included in the Co-Production Agreement. Ratatouille was
subsequently added to the terms of the Co-Production Agreement in
January 2006.

On January 24, 2006, Pixar entered into an agreement with The Walt
Disney Company to merge the two companies. The deal was approved
by shareholders of both companies and the merger became effective on
May 5, 2006. Pixar is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt
Disney Company.

Traditions
While some of Pixar's first animators were former cel animators,
including John Lasseter, they also came from stop motion animation or
computer animation or were fresh college graduates.A large number of
animators that make up the animation department at Pixar were hired
around the time Pixar released A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2. Although
Toy Story was a successful film, it was Pixar's only feature film at the
time. The majority of the animation industry was, and is still located in
Los Angeles, California, while Pixar is located 350 miles (560 km) north
in the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, traditional 2-D animation was still
the dominant medium for feature animated films.

With the dearth of Los Angeles-based animators willing to move their
families so far north, give up traditional animation, and try computer
animation, Pixar's new-hires at this time either came directly from
college, or had worked outside feature animation. For those who had
traditional animation skills, the Pixar animation software (Marionette) is
designed so that traditional animators would require a minimum amount
of training before becoming productive.

In an interview with PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley,Lasseter said that
Pixar films follow the same theme of self improvement as the company
itself has: with the help of friends or family, a character ventures out into
the real world and learns to appreciate his friends and family. At the
core, Lasseter said, "it's gotta be about the growth of the main character,
and how he changes."

Pixar has been criticized for its lack of female protagonists.Brave,
Pixar's 13th cinema release, will be the studio's first with a female lead
(voiced by Kelly Macdonald).

Sequels and prequels
Toy Story 2 was commissioned by Disney as a direct-to-video, 60-
minute film. Feeling the material wasn't very good, John Lasseter
convinced the Pixar team to start from scratch and make that their third
full-length feature film. Toy Story 3 was the second big-screen sequel
when it was released on June 18, 2010. Cars 2, the studio's third
theatrical sequel, was released on June 24, 2011. On June 27, 2011 Tom
Hanks implied that a fourth Toy Story movie was in the works, but this
has not been confirmed by the studio.

Pixar states that they believe that sequels should only be made if they
can come up with a story as good as the original. Following the release
of Toy Story 2, Pixar and Disney had a gentlemen's agreement that
Disney would not make any sequels without Pixar's involvement, despite
their right to do so. In 2004, after Pixar announced they were unable to
agree on a new deal, Disney announced that they would go ahead with
sequels to Pixar's films with or without Pixar. Toy Story 3 was put into
pre-production at the new CGI division of Walt Disney Feature
Animation, Circle 7 Animation.

When Lasseter was placed in charge of all Disney and Pixar animation
following the merger, he immediately put all sequels on hold; Disney
stated that Toy Story 3 had been cancelled. However, in May 2006, it
was announced that Toy Story 3 was back in pre-production, under
Pixar's control when a new plot had been conceived.

Lasseter further fueled speculation on future sequels when he stated, "If
we have a great story, we'll do a sequel". Cars 2, Pixar's first sequel not
based on Toy Story, was officially announced on April 8, 2008.
Monsters University, the prequel to Monsters Inc. and Pixar's first
prequel, was announced on April 22, 2010, for release on November 2,
2012.

Pixar: 25 Years of Animation

Pixar celebrated 25 years of animation in 2011 with the release of its
twelfth feature film, Cars 2. Pixar had celebrated its 20th anniversary
with the first Cars. The Pixar: 25 Years of Animation exhibition was
held at the Oakland Museum of California from July 2010 until January
2011.The exhibition tour debuts in Hong Kong, and was held at the
Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin, between March 27 and July
11, 2011.

Pixar: 25 Years of Animation includes all of the artwork from Pixar: 20
Years of Animation, plus art from Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, and Toy
Story 3.

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