Evolution Of Traditional Animation Technique To Digital Masterpiece

Some of the best childhood memories are those lazy Sunday mornings spent watching cartoons. Whether it was the unforgettable rivalry between a mischievous cat and a clever mouse, or a carrot-loving rabbit cracking jokes, animated shows have always captured our imagination.

Animation has evolved dramatically over the years, especially in places like Japan, the USA, and Korea. Today, animation is a huge part of both entertainment and business, bringing stories to life through video marketing and storytelling.

In simple terms, animation is the art of making pictures move. This goes back to early human history, as far back as the Paleolithic age. Today, animation is mostly known for lively cartoon characters who bring stories to life.

 

The history of animation technology showcasing  moving art pieces and images changed over years.

Now in a world where computer and internet technology helps create some terrific animated videos very much enjoyed by diversified assemblage.

One might just go back to flashback and might relive the evolution and history of animation and might explore certain things that is yet to come.

1. The Fascinating Roots
2. The crude Beginnings 
3. Traditional animation technology
4. The computer Revolution
5. The Golden Era of CGI 

The fascinating roots

People discovered early on that a series of pictures could create the illusion of movement. For example, a 5,000-year-old pottery piece shows a goat in motion through several images. Ancient Egyptians even used murals to show wrestling moves, while shadow puppetry (shadowgraphy) and magic lanterns were early methods for storytelling.

The crude beginning

The Phenakistoscope, invented by Joseph Plateau in 1832, was the first real animation device. It created the illusion of movement by showing images in quick succession. Early animated films were simple and used basic devices, like the Théâtre Optique, which showed movies such as Pauvre Pierrot with 300-700 frames for a 10-15 minute duration.

Traditional animation technology

In traditional animation history hand drawn animation was created using Cel animations.

Cel was a transparent sheet consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor used to create hand drawn objects.

Characters were drawn on Cells and superimposed on common background images to reduce the number of frames and production time.

Colonel Heeza Liar was the first animated cartoon series created using animation technique.

The production house was John Bray Studios.

Steamboat Wille was released in 1928 and it was the first animated film to include sound.

Many considered this the first animated feature film but there were as many as 7 films which were released before.

However this was the first one completely made using hand drawn animations technique.

The movie  was the debut of one of the lovable characters, Mickey Mouse.

Following the release of Snow White and Seven Dwarfs  in 1937 animated film was a popular form of entertainment.

The stories and characters started getting recognized and remembered by everyone.

Another animation technique that was commonly used in the traditional era was stop motion animations.

One may have observed the jerking movement of objects within the film sequences .

This has happened because the technique is used to create a perception of movement in the object.

The computer Revolution

Motion graphic- Although the first few computer animated films were very basic to the least it in fact changed the way animation was done.

Hummingbird was the first computer generated film .

It was made using 30,000 images and 25 motion sequences generated by computer.

The frame by frame animation of 2d characters could be done entirely on a computer.

Not only it made the process less arduous, it gave graphic artists more control and they were able to produce content without the use of actors, expensive species or props.

One of the 2d animated films in the history of 2d animation was Sword in the Stone produced by Disney.

One of the popular films of the age included Jungle Book, Mary Poppins and the Aristocrats.

The stop motion animations technique was succeeded by what we call today as computer animation.

Modern computer animation includes both 2d as well as 3d animated graphics which were then put in motion using either frame by frame or rigging technique.

The technique ensured that films were created and rendered faster, also ensuring that animation was not just used to produce cinema and TV series but also brand storytelling and webseries.

The Golden Era of CGI 

CGI generated images have totally revolutionized cinema and entertainment and then it has had an impact on business.

In Cinema and entertainment 

Computers have pushed the envelope with the development of 3d animations.

3d models or characters were constructed on a computer monitor using geometrical shapes in the 3d coordinate system.

Once the virtual skeleton of the characters are complete, eyes, limbs and clothes were moved on to the frames animation was rendered.

One of the first films to be produced using 3d animations computer graphics in the history of 3d animation was Adventures of Andre and Wally B by Pixar.

Pixar presented the ground breaking form of entirely CGi generated animation with Toy story in 1995.

Animated Videos for Branded Video content 

With the rise of the internet, animation has also become an important tool for brands. Companies like Coca-Cola, Apple, and Dropbox use animated videos and motion graphics to tell their brand stories. Animation allows brands to create fun, engaging stories that help them connect with their audience.

In traditional animation techniques, each frame is placed one after another and there are about 24-29 frames per second.

Modern animations makes use of rigging technique wherein one need to create only two frames for each sequence , the computer program generates all the frames in between.

In Modern 3d animations and Motion graphics, Winsupply is another notable example of how one  helped a hardware brand create awareness through a story driven cartoon animated video.

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