Animation in Computer Graphics

The word Animation is extracted from a Latin language, "Anima," which means "Soul." TheAnimation is a technology that allows any image object, an entity to walk, talk, or do some movement that cannot be physically moved.

We use many images to create an animation. The images which have a different reaction, run it together one after another at high speed than the images look- real.

Computer Animation is an art to produce moving images. We can define it as a subfield of computer graphics and animation. When we use animation in a movie or film, it is called CGI (Computer Generated Imaging).

Application Areas of Animation

Animation is used in various fields. They are:

1. Education: An animated video or animated tutorial is used to increase the learning of the students. The animation is mostly used in schools, colleges, and training centers.
2. Entertainment: It is a vast area where we can use animations. Various animation methods are used in cartoons, movies, motion pictures, and TV shows.
3. Advertisement: Animation is also used to make ad films that take less space and captures the vast attention of the people. It is a better way to provide more information about products.
4. Medical: Animation is used in medical science. The professionals and the students can easily visualize the details of human anatomy through medical animation.
5. Retail: The marketers use animation to present the attributes of products to the customers.
6. Computer-Aided Design: Animation plays an important role in CAD. We can use CAD in automobile designing and many other designing.
7. Gaming: Animation is widely used in gaming. We can develop 3D games by using animation.
8. Presentation: We can present anything through an animated presentation. Animated presentation is a better way to represent an idea.

Types of Animation

The Animation is divided into three parts.

• 2D: It is also called “2 Dimensional.”2D animation is defined as a process of producing characters, storyboards, and backgrounds in a two-dimensional environment.

2D animation is a flat animation that only works on two coordinates x-axis(horizontal) and y-axis(vertical).

The 2D animation uses raster and vector graphics to produce and edit animated images.

For Example- Cartoons (Daffy Duck, Snow White, the jungle book, etc.)

The software used in 2D animation is:

1. Adobe Photoshop
2. Adobe Flash
3. After Effects
4. Encore

Advantages:

1. Easy to Control.
2. Less Time-Consuming.
3. Less Production Cost.
4. Easy to change.

Disadvantages:

1. Need proper skills to use animation software.

• 3D: It is also called "3 Dimensional." 3D animation is defined as the process of producing three-dimensional motion images in the digital environment. 3D Animation is used to create animated scenes through the computer.

We can manipulate 3D objects or models through the 3D animation software.

3D animation works on all three coordinates x-axis(height), y-axis(width) and z-axis(depth).

For Example-

1. Toy Story
2. Jurassic Park
3. The Transformers

The software used in 3D animation is:

1. ZBrush
2. Houdini
3. Blender
4. Autodesk Maya

The process of producing 3D animations is divided into three parts:

1. Modeling: It is a phase in which we can describe the creation of 3D objects within a specific scene.
2. Layout and Animation: It is a phase in which we can describe how objects are positioned and animated within a scene.
3. Rendering: It is a final process. It is a phase in which we can convert 3D objects or images into 2D objects or images.

Advantages:

1. Motion Communication
2. More Realistic
3. Reusable

Disadvantages:

1. Lack of purity
2. Limited Thought and Ideas
3. VFX: It is also called “Visual Effects.” It is a process in which we can make a mixture of real shooting (special effects) with animated images (digital effects). It is mostly and widely used in movie making.

For Example-

In a movie, we will see the hero flying into the air by using VFX effects.

In the Jurassic Park movie, the dinosaurs are also created by using VFX effects.

The Software used in VFX animation:

1. Nuke
2. After effects
3. 3D Studio Max
4. Adobe Creative Suite 4

This process has been done in two parts-

• Special effects (SFX): The special effects cover all visual effects that occur in live-action.

For Example- Stunt, Any Explosion on set.

• Digital Effects (VFX): It is also called “Visual effects.” It includes different steps by which photographic assets can create, and imagery can manipulate.

Digital effects mostly include a combination of real photography and computer-aided imagery to create a realistic environment. The environment would be impossible, costly, and sometimes very dangerous to shoot in-camera.

Advantages:

1. It helps to show unreal objects.
2. It saves a lot of time.

Disadvantages:

1. Need a Lot of Planning.
2. Overuse of Visual Effects