2D Digital Animation

Prelim Lecture 2016-2017

Prelim Lecture 2016-2017
Computer Animation
• is the art of creating moving pictures (motion)
through the use of computer technology.
2D Animation
• A figures are created or edited on the computer
using 2D bitmap graphics or created and edited
using 2D vector graphics.

3D Animation
• is digitally modeled and manipulated by an
animator. The animator usually starts by
creating a 3D polygon mesh to manipulate.
 Tools of the Trade
• Fifty or sixty years ago, these tools would have
been nothing more than paper, a pen and a
pencil, but today there are entire applications
and software suites dedicated to animation.

• Here is a list of few of the best animation apps

for the 2D animation:
Synfig
• is a free, open source program for 2D animators
that offers a powerful suite of tools that can be
used to make anything from quick motion
graphics to cinema quality animation.
Toon Boom Studio
• is an all in one animation application for
beginners that is actually designed to teach you
the fundamentals of 2D animation as you work.
It’s full of powerful features that make the
hardest parts of animation easy enough for an
absolute novice to understand and execute.
Special effects, lip syncing tools, and tween
generation are all pre-packaged in Toon Boom
Studio.
Adobe Flash
• is the most widely used piece of software for
animations and motion graphics on the web and
has been around for over 15 years. In terms of
short 2D animations, games and interactive
multimedia, Adobe Flash is the industry
standard.
 Storyboard
• Storyboarding is an important step in the
animation process that simply can’t be
overlooked. On larger productions like movies,
storyboard artists will layout the storyboard for
animators, but for smaller 2D animation
projects, software like Storyboard allows smaller
teams to translate their ideas into visual stories
quickly and easily.
Creatoon
• Primarily used by animators looking to employ
the “cut out” style of animation, Creatoon is a
free and powerful piece of animation software
that is praised for its ease of use. Learning
Creatoon is intuitive and is extremely forgiving
for such an in depth application.
Pencil
• Pencil is a more barebones studio application
designed to resemble the traditional flipbook
style animation. While it’s not a great program
to create feature length animations, it is the
perfect toolbox to use to practice the
fundamentals of 2d animation.
 The 12 Laws of Animation
The 12 Principles of Animation

• The “12 Laws” or 12 basic principles of

animation are a set of rules to adhere by for
consistent and beautiful animation.

• First outlined by Ollie Johnston, the directing

animator of Pinocchio, and Frank Thomas
of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves fame,
animation studios the world over look back to
these tenants from the golden age of cartoons.
1. Squash and Stretch
• The most important principle is "squash and
stretch", the purpose of which is to give a sense
of weight and flexibility to drawn objects. It can
be applied to simple objects, like a bouncing ball,
or more complex constructions, like the
musculature of a human face.
2. Anticipation
• Anticipation is used to prepare the audience for
an action, and to make the action appear more
realistic. A dancer jumping off the floor has to
bend his knees first; a golfer making a swing has
to swing the club back first.
3.Staging
• This principle is to staging in theatre, as it is
known in theatre and film. Its purpose is to
direct the audience's attention, and make it clear
what is of greatest importance in a scene.
4.Straight Ahead Action and Pose to
Pose.
• These are two different approaches to the actual
drawing process. "Straight ahead action"
means drawing out a scene frame by frame from
beginning to end, while
• "pose to pose" involves starting with drawing a
few key frames, and then filling in the intervals
later.
5.Follow Through and Overlapping
Action
• Follow Through - when the main body of the
character stops all other parts continue to catch
up to the main mass.
6.Slow In and Slow Out

• An action starts, we have more drawings near

the starting pose, one or two in the middle, and
more drawings near the next pose. Slow-ins and
Slow-outs soften the action, making it more life
like.
7.Arc
• All actions, with few exceptions (such as the
animation of a mechanical device), follow an arc
or slightly circular path.
• Arcs give animation a more natural actions and
better flow.
8.Secondary Action
• This action adds to and enriches the main action
• Adds more dimension to the character
animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing
the main action.
9.Timing
• Timing refers to the number of drawings or
frames for a given action, which translates to the
speed of the action on film.
10.Exaggeration
• is an effect especially useful for animation, as
perfect imitation of reality can look static and
dull in cartoons.
11.Solid drawing

• The basic Principles of drawing apply to

animation as it does to academic drawing.
12. Appeal

• In a cartoon character corresponds to what

would be called charisma in an actor.
 fla extension can only be
•.

opened within Adobe Flash.

•The fla file extension is
used for editable Flash
animations
•is an abbreviation for small
web format, an Adobe
Flash file format used
for multimedia, vector
graphics.
Adobe Flash Tools

• The Tools menu is

probably the most used
panel in Flash. In it are
the tools needed to
manipulate items on the
stage. It can also be used
to do actions on the
timeline.
Properties Panel
• The properties panel is used to modify the
characteristics of pre-existing objects on stage.
Timeline
• The timeline is an important part of the
program, and can be used to animate either by
hand and/or with ActionScript.
The timeline represents all frames of an
animation; more frames means a longer
animation, less frames means a shorter
animation.