Monday 14 October 2013

Different Uses Of Animation

Advertising

I have chosen this advert as it displays a wide range of animation within it, the entire advert is basically just an animation other than the cola bottle itself, the dragon and 2 opposing sides are all animated and both interact with the cola bottle, however, they remain animated and the cola bottle remains un-animated, this is a perfect way to display what it is that is being advertised as it stands out more on the screen.
Creative Arts
Creative arts is basically just the way in which ananimation actually moves, from each different movement there must be a whole new image there to display the image to look as though it is moving. A lot of animations which you see contain a lot of creative thinking and each different animation generally tends to have its own designer. Creative arts animation doesn't have to be a computer animated image, it can be shown through the use of a comic strip in a news paper or a comic book, the way in which this is possible is because each different drawing frame contains a whole new image displaying something different and the images in a different position/place than the one before.

Entertainment
Animation is used throughout a wide range of movies and games, such as Assassins Creed where you're the main character of the game and the game play is actually based on real events that have happened in the past, only difference is that have been created to be a computer animation for your own amusement, everything from the character itself and what is around him (buildings, rocks and terrains) are all animated, along with everything that you interact with, this is a key element to displaying computer animation.
Education
Animation is actually used in a lot of areas which you would least expect it, such as in areas of education, the way in a lot of aspects get explained to those in education is actually through the use of animation, whether it being clips from YouTube of specific aspects, such as how to do something in an animated way (making it more understandable and simple). Animation is used in areas such as Power-Points, there is a wide range of animation required for this, from different slide transitions to little images that may be inserted which move about the screen.

Simulation
Computer simulations and animations are basically the main way in which education gets created and taught, they are the main tools that are required. Animations display sequences to diagrams, images and number in a step by stem frame animation which makes it easier to display what is happening rather than to explain them which may be difficult. Simulations are a design of a system for a user, basically, the user enters specific details into the computer and then computer will find all of the consequences or all of the changes for that specific set of information entered.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

P1 - Different Types Of Animation

Animations

Animations are basically just multiple images put together in order to create a sequence which makes it look like the image is moving (commonly known as frames), basically a series of images grouped together to cause them to act together and create an animation/sequence of moving images.

The Coka-Cola advert that was released in 2006 is a very good example of animation, this is because it shows the Cola bottle as an un-animated object but everything else around it is animated. It was created by Dutch creators: the beginning of the advert begins with a man (un-animated) putting money into a vending machine to get the bottle of Coke, the moment the money enters the machine everything but the Cola bottle becomes animated, from the beginning, through to the Coke bottle leaving the machine for the man to collect his drink, thus, everything becoming un-animated again.
A clip of this is displayed as the YouTube link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX2xS9vPQ-Y

William Horner - Zoetrope - 1834
William Horner created the Zoetrope in 1834, it was one of the first simple animation techniques created (with what looked like moving images). A Zoetrope is basically just a device that displays an illusion which makes images look like they're moving, it is basically just an improvement to the simple Phenkitascope, (created in 1832 by Dr Roget which was basically just a disk that has images drawn on it in different attitudes which makes it look like the images are moving when the disk is spun around, when in reality they'r not, it's just an illusion, the figures from this are also able to be projected up onto a screen), however, the Zoetrope is much easier to hold and the images on it are displayed more clear which makes the animation appear a lot more clear than that of the Phenkitascope. The Zoetrope later went on to produce the Praxinoscope, (it is a typical toy that was created in 1976 by Charles Ă‰mile Teynaud after the Phenkitascope and the Zoetrope. it is basically just a cylinder which has a strip of paper with it, displaying 12 separate frames in which will display the animation. While the cylinder rotates, mirrors that are placed in the center of the Praxinoscope reveal an image in single motion), the Praxinoscope made it much easier to look at the animation that was being displayed, this is because it had smaller slits on the sides where the person was able to look inside of it, it also gave a better result than the Phenkitascope. There are a number of designs created for the Zoetrope, from animals and workers, to football players and children playing. Back in 1834 when the Zoetrope was first invented, because nothing like that had ever been created or seen before, the people who owned them thought that they were some form of magic as the images were moving before their eyes even though they weren't real, but in reality, it was just a simple illusion, a trick of the mind which lead the viewers to believe the images was moving when in reality it wasn't, it was just a series of images looping over and over, producing something that looks like it is moving.
Zoopraxiscope
Eadweard Muybridge invented the Zoopraxiscope in 1979. All that he did was use the movement that was used in moving toys, and basically combined it with the projection of what was called the 'magic lantern', what he then did after this was draw a series of pictures in which he would then place into the motion of 'moving' images, basically for the first time ever, making it seem like images were actually moving before your eyes, this was done by drawing a number of pictures, and putting them together so that it's like each image is its own frame. The Zoopraxiscope is actually the beginning of a moving image, what is considered to have been the missing link of slide projection and cinema.
Tweening
Tweening is the abbreviation of in-betweening in animation, it is basically just the process of putting frames in between the major frames which will make the animation look more effective and fluent, which would give the images a more smooth moving look instead of it jumping from place to place, this is done so that when the animation is playing, it is smooth and each steady movement is recorded in between for a full effective animation process. Tweening is a very important process in the area of animation, this is because it displays tiny animations like a short movie clip.
Morphing
Morphing is the abbreviation of metamorphosing. Morphing is basically just the changing of an animation, such as an image slowly changing into something which is completely different from the first frame which you started out with. The majority of animation programs that are used today support at least 1 type of morphing feature when it comes to animating images. With cartoons, animation is what is used entirely to create it, so the entire series is created with a series of frames, all holding a different image so that the character actually moves and interacts with things, however, each time the character moves, it is actually morphing, this is because each different movement makes the character change, therefore the character is morphing into a different position. With morphing, the effect is basically the entire changing of a character, so the first drawing of before, and the final drawing of after get drawn up first so that you're able to build up the frames between to get the morphing effect that is needed for the change.
Masking
Masking is basically just a feature which is designed to allow you to block a specific part of one layer so that you're able to put another layer there in its place to get an effective animation. You're able to use masking to hide any object in the animation that you don't wish to use or you don't need. you're actually able to place a variety of different masks in each different masking animation so that you can get the animation that you want. Masking is used so that you're able to add effects into your animation, such as making a specific character be the main aspect on the screen, or make something in the background more visible than the rest. Masking is actually used to be a window of your animation, each different window contains a different piece of animation which will be seen on your final animation once it is played. With masking, each different layer is only able to contain 1 item for animation, you're not able to add any more animation onto your window.