Thursday, 8 July 2010

Other Test Animation

Short Stop-Motion Animation with Characters, Beginning, Middle & End.

Friday, 25 June 2010

Evaluation

Im pleased with my overall final animation even though i think it could have been slightly better. I started of in a particular style that i would have like the whole animation to be in but it was taking too long and i didn't have much time left. It was always going to be plain black and white but I had to resort to an easier way of using flash and cut small parts out that were shown in my storyboard. I think it flows well but most importantly looks good. I had trouble choosing and importing music onto it but sorted that out at the end. I could of used more time in this project but maybe that was because i got off to a slow start and in the end everything was fine so overall i'm happy.

Final Animation

My final animation shows a vinyl record transforming into a cassette, then into a boombox. then into a CD/CD player and finally into an ipod (the latest revolution in sound technology).
This basic 15 second animation created on Flash shows how music has evolved over the years from vinyl to mp3.

Test Animation 2

Test Animation 1

Action Plan

Timelines

Tuesday, 18 May 2010

History of Animation

Even though all these early examples may appear similar to a series of animation drawings, the lack of equipment to show the images in motion means that these image series are precursors to animation and cannot be called animation in the modern sense. They do, however, indicate the artists' intentions and interests in depicting motion. of artistic interest in depicting figures in motion can be seen as early as the still drawings of cave paintings, where animals are depicted with multiple sets of legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion. Other examples include a 5,200-year old earthen bowl found in an ancient Egyptian mural. The Persian bowl has five images painted along the sides, showing phases of a goat leaping up to nip at a tree. The mural, approximately 4000 years old, shows wrestlers in action.

Tuesday, 23 March 2010

The Walk Cycle

In animation, a walk cycle is a sequence of frames representing a (usually human) walk movement. Walk cycles are important, because when a walking person appears in an animation, the walk cycle simply can be looped over and over, without having to animate each step again.

The walk cycle is one of the most important learning concepts in animation and also one of the most technically difficult, because it requires so much attention to the movement of opposing limbs.

For a human walk cycle, poses like passing point, high point, contact point and recoil point can be identified as important frames defining the walk.

Besides the apparent move of the legs, many more details are necessary for a convincing walk cycle, like arms, head and torsion of the whole body. Also the bottoms of the feet must squash slightly, meaning stretch out, when the pressure of the body is placed on them.

Storyboards

The animation storyboard is the first sight of what a cartoon or piece of animation is going to look like. The animation storyboard looks like a series of strip comics, with individual drawings of storylines, scenes, characters and their emotions and other major parts of the movie. The drawings will reflect the early ideas of what characters will look like, what the backgrounds and scenery will be some idea of dialogue, emotions ,and a general feel of the animation process.

Storyboards are very important, as they form the basis of the work that is carried out on the movie, describing most of the major features as well as the plot and its development.

Animation storyboards are also the coordinating vehicle of the film, taking the place of the script, and allowing different teams of people to work on different aspects and scenes in the movie. A studio like Pixar will have thousands of storyboard frames like the one shown here.

The finished movie may not always conform to all aspects of the storyboard, but they will document many of the early developments in the movie. They are often the first step of the animation process, as they show the first views - albeit static - of the animation process.

Storyboards

When you're working on an animation, even a short one, it's almost impossible to just dive in and get started animating right away.

Using a storyboard will help you organize your animation, and match you mental visualizations of scenes with the written script; it can also give you a visual format to communicate your ideas to others.

A storyboard can be an elaborate, professional series of framed color artwork depicting action and motion in a scene, complete with written descriptions of dialogue, sound effects, and transitions into the next scene (these are most often used by studios for major projects)--or a single page of numbered thumbnail sketches, or even something as plain and simple as a quick series of motion-study sketches (as depicted here) to capture the movement of a body that you want to animate.

If you use a storyboard you'll find that you'll be able to plan your animations more cohesively with clear marker points to show progress, and you'll save yourself a lot of time and trouble when struggling to make the entire thing come together from beginning.

Family Guy Animation

A scene from my favourite animated TV show.
Created by Seth MacFarlane for Fox.

Pixar Animation

The trailer from my favourite Disney Pixar film 'Monsters Inc.'
Pixar also made the likes of; Toy Story, Bugs Life, Finding Nemo, TheIncredibles, Cars and Up.

Oasis Animation

This is the music video for the Oasis song 'The Masterplan'. Directed
by 'Ben & Greg', it shows the band walking and performing in the city
of Manchester.

BLU Animation

This is a "wall painted animation" made in Buenos Aires and Baden by an artist called BLU.
AMAZING!!!!!!!!! blublu.org