It would seem that such an animation, everyone already knows. But if you delve into this topic well, you can find many interesting facts. For example, in the USSR, animation was called animation. There are many types and types of animation. The first animation appeared before cinematography. We will talk about all this further.
Definition
So, it’s worth understanding that the term “animation” has several interpretations. First of all, that's what animation is called in the West. Animation, in turn, is a special kind of cinema art. Simply put, this is all just an ordinary cartoon. From Latin, animation translates as "multiplication." That is, the name itself reveals a technique by which a moving picture is formed.
Short story
It is interesting that long before the Lumiere brothers, people learned what animation is. As early as the first half of the 19th century, the first attempts were made to “activate” the image. But the first full-fledged animated character was the Gerti dinosaur, which was created by Winsor Mackay in 1914.
After that, the animation developed rapidly. Already in 1928, Walt Disney introduced the world to Mickey Mouse. In the USSR, animation has been actively developing since 1936, when the Soyuzmultfilm movie studio was founded. Later, the animation spreads around the world. Already in 1958, an anime popular now appears in Japan. So the animation grew into computer animation.
Animation techniques
When the whole world understood what animation was, its different types began to appear. Over time, technology began to develop to create new cartoons. Now we can talk about five common techniques for creating a moving picture.
Rotoscoping is a special technique that forms a segment by sequentially sketching individual frames. Each frame is on a real film strip. Actors and sets are involved in the filming. Now this technique is also being applied. But before they hired an artist who manually finished everything that was needed, but now the whole process is computerized. If you need special effects, add a "wandering mask." It overlaps parts of the real image.
Another technique is clay. This animation is familiar to many from the animated film "Last year's snow fell." The technique involves shooting plasticine elements in frames. In this case, the position of the figures for the motion effect changes.
Sand animation is less popular. It involves working with cleaned fine sand, salt or coffee. The powder is poured out in a thin layer on the glass and is formed into a picture by hand movements.
Hand-drawn animation was previously very popular. Before computers, it was the most used. This technique consists in frame-by-frame shooting of drawn two-dimensional objects.
Computer method
This is the latest animation technique, and it is worth talking about it in more detail. What is computer animation? It is logical to assume that it is created using a PC. Despite the fact that it is most often found in art, they use this method in production, science and business.
Those familiar with computer graphics know that animation is a derivative. It can also be formed by vector, raster, fractal or three-dimensional methods.
Types
Computer animation can be done in several ways. One of the first is considered a way to arrange key frames. The computer itself fills in the intermediate frames. There is a motion recording technique. Special sensors are attached to the actors , thanks to which computers recognize their movements and transfer them to imitation.
Procedural animation is a complex software process in which a PC independently generates movements limited by rules and laws. Objects can also be animated using programming languages. So, JavaScript and ActionScript are known.
If you do not know how to make an animation, you can turn to special programs. Among them there are both paid and free options. Online services are also available.
Programs
If you want to create your own animation, know that it is real. Of course, you need to have drawing skills, even basic ones. But in general, the animation program itself will help you. Naturally, that leads the entire list of such software Adobe Photoshop. It's no secret that this option is paid, although for fans of pirated versions this is not an obstacle.
"Photoshop" is a universal program that allows you to do whatever you can think of. There are necessary tools and additions for this. If you need a professional version of this program, then buy Adobe Flash Professional. This multimedia platform is designed specifically for working with web applications and multimedia presentations. In its arsenal, it has development tools such as Adobe Animate. The add-on is designed to work with computer animation.
If you need animation on a transparent background, then you can add free GIMP or Blender to the above applications. The first option is a copy of Photoshop. Great for working with raster graphics. The second option is a whole package for professionals that works with three-dimensional graphics, modeling, animation, rendering, etc.
Online services
Of the online services, Moovly is considered popular. Here it is unlikely to be able to work with animation on a transparent background, but simple hand-drawn videos or advertising presentations are easy to do here. There is a whole library with templates and objects. You can add text and music and immediately send the finished product to YouTube. The service is shareware. You can make a video for 10 minutes in a resolution of 480p. It will be quite enough for animation.
Powerpoint
Many people wonder if this program can be used to create cartoons. Unfortunately, it will not be useful to you, since it will not work to make animation in it. This service is designed to create presentations. Of course, if you get used to it, you can try to create a certain series of moving pictures so that it looks like a cartoon, but this program is not at all for this.
The main tools in PowerPoint are, first of all, special effects. For example, each frame may appear in a special way: with dimming, lightening, rotations, patterns, etc. The same can be done with presentation objects. You can add a visual effect to the text or picture. Blocks can fly out, arise, fade, etc.