Pencil is an animation/drawing software for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. It lets you create traditional hand-drawn animation (cartoon) using both bitmap and vector graphics. Pencil is free and open source. http://www.pencil-animation.org/index.php?id=Home
Disney's Frozen is quite a visual contrast from the previous warm and lively Tangled.
First thing you should know is there are spoilers in the book. They appear in the form of storyboards as well as concept art for the finale sequence. So if you intend to watch the film, I suggest you read the book after the film.
This is a nice artbook. 160 pages. Hardcover. The concept art consist of storyboards, character designs, environment designs, props and motifs. There are also wonderful photos from the research road trip in Norway.
The environment paintings are wonderful, especially those by production designer David Womersley, Jim Finn, Lisa Keane and James Finch. Some are really scenic, such as the setting of a castle by the lake in the valley, or the aurora beyond the mountains. The designs for the town houses are also beautiful, actually quite close to the research photos which are great to begin with.
Character designs are for the main ones, Anna and Elsa, of course, and also Kristoff the ice harvester, Olaf the snowman, Hans and other miscellaneous characters. They look good, very Disney-like as compared to Pixar. They look like they can be from the same universe as Tangled. Anna and Elsa kind of look like Rapunzel from Tangled except for the very different costumes and hairstyle.
There are more than 10 pages devoted to storyboards. While good, personally I would have prefer more character and environment art.
The commentary is an enjoyable read that focuses on the story and storytelling. It really gives insight into the characters and film design, on how and why they are designed the way they are, and how they have changed from the story pitching stage to the final CG production.
It's a cool artbook worth checking out for fans of the movie. The Art of Frozen is available at Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | IT | ES | JP | CN) and Book Depository (US | UK)
In the Golden Age of animation, individuals such as Walt Disney, Ollie Johnson, Ub Iwerks, and Frank Thomas all drew their animation by hand. The technology back then involved drawing on paper fastened to peg bars, then transferred to flammable celluloid, called cels, painted, and then filmed with a camera. It worked well and timeless classics were made from this process. A person can get a good idea of how they did it by visiting the Walt Disney Vault DVD’s. These films are a great source of animation history a definite recommend to any aspiring animator.
Today, computer software is used to produce both classically drawn and CG animation. The rise of computer technology has enhanced the way the art form is created. Many animators still draw by hand using an animation light table with rotating disc and peg bar. The drawings are then scanned into the computer software program. In some cases, proprietary software allows the artists to draw directly on screen. Most use a Wacom Tablet to draw inside the software program verses on paper. Toonboom Studio is one example of animation software used for creating the 2D classical type. If 2D is your passion ToonBoom.com is a great and cost effective choice.
Types of Animation
A prospective student may wonder what animation software they need to learn to get into the industry. The best way to answer this is to first define the types of animation being used, and secondly, to establish what your focus is in the industry.
Stop Motion Animation
3D Animation
2D Classic hand drawn animation
Paper Cut Out
Stop motion animation, as used for the Wallace and Grommet and Davie and Goliath series, is the most challenging and time consuming of them all. Animators work with clay or plastic characters, objects, and generally hand created sets all of which have to be moved by hand (even using robotics in stop motion requires hand intervention). Meticulously they photograph each pose set by hand. At 24FPS (frames per second) or 30 FPS one can see how tedious this type of animation can really be. Individuals that work on stop motion film projects are literally getting “hands on” animation training.
3D animation, also called CG animation is created solely using the computer. All characters, lights, cameras, and sets are modeled inside the computer software, animated, and then rendered as a complete film. In 1995, Toy Story became the very first feature length computer animated film to hit the big screen. Films such as Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron combined both 3D and 2D classical animation.
Classical animation, such as used on Pinocchio and Snow White, is the original type of animation. This art form has lots of history and was made possible in the late 1800’s with the invention of the movie camera and perfected throughout the 20th century. All animation was hand drawn, later painted, and filmed one frame at a time. Although CG has taken the movie industry by storm, in no way has it made obsolete classical animation. Many still use this type of animation for cartoons, commercials, and web graphics. There are other forms like Flash animation one can get involved with. Flash is mostly used for the web.
The type of animation software a person needs to learn depends on what form of animation they are passionate about.
Do you like drawing?
Do you like working with the computer?
Do you like the hands on as with stop motion?
Types of Animation Software
Animation software is used to create such things as TV commercials, films, cartoons, interactive web sites, graphics, and video games. Perhaps you are reading this with the question ringing in your mind, “What animation software do I need to learn?” First of all, wherever you go to school the primary focus will be to learn animation. This is important so let it get embedded in your brain. Once you learn the principles it really doesn’t matter which software you use after. A person will be able to animate regardless. If an individual bounces around form studio to studio there is a good chance multiple software’s will be learned. The types of animation software available today are as follows:
Autodesk Maya
Autodesk 3DS Max
Softimage
Lightwave 3D
Animation Master
To name a few…
The most common animation software used for making animated films is Maya. Maya is a complex but extremely powerful tool. A student will have a nice learning curve with it. Again, most schools will teach you as you go. If you are learning on your own then stay close to the tutorials. Maya animation software is also one of the most expensive. The interface is user friendly but densely populated.
3DS Max is a simpler animation software by comparison. It is highly used for the gaming industry although not limited to. The action film Lost In Space was created completely with 3DS Max. The interface is friendly and as with other programs can be altered to fit your style. This is also a pricey animation software, but as with other things, give it time and the price will come down. Another animation software used by many for gaming is Softimage. Here is a link to the price sheet for these three products by Autodesk. http://store.autodesk.com/store/adsk/list/categoryID.55928400
The choices continue with many software packages to choose from so don’t despair.
LightWave is a full 3D solution for modeling, rendering, and animation. The price range is much more feasible to the student at around $900.00. Hash’s Animation Master is also a software popular among home users which allows the individual to easily model, render, and animate. The price is $300.00. AM is a great package to use if you are going to monkey wrench with the idea of becoming an animator.
In conclusion, what gets a person a job in animation is not necessarily software skills but the following:
Good drawing skills
An understanding of the principles of animation
A demo reel that shows good story telling, acting, and body mechanics.
Knowing how to use a particular software package is good but not most important. Many animation studios have their own programs an animator will learn once they get hired. The most important thing is learn animation. Computer software’s and light tables are just tools to aid the animator during the animation process. What animation software do I need to learn can be answered like this, “Whatever one the school is using, or your area of interest requires.”
Working on a Maya-based project and need some help? Check out this selection of free and paid-for plugins, which are guaranteed to create a smoother, more efficient workflow.
If you're new to Maya, or working on a Maya-based project and need a little help, there's plenty of plugins out there that may be able to assist. Some are free, others come at a cost, but all are guaranteed to make life easier. Here, we've found 10 top Maya plugins to help you out, covering everything from animation and rigging to crowd simulations and camera views.
Character rigging can be a tiresome, not to mention tricky, task. Aware of this, artist John Doublestein created the Andy (short of androgynous) Rig to save the students at the Savannah College of Art and Design the trouble. This brilliant customisable character rig is probably one of the most used, flexible and stable rigs around. Updated based on student feedback, this tool plays both male and female roles and has multiple hairstyles and textures readily available. The latest release includes features such as including IK/FK matching on arms and legs, squash and stretch and bendy arms and animatable pivots on feet, root and head to make the task of rigging as simple and as quick as possible.
Price: Version 1: Free, Version 2: $50 for one user lifetime license
Designed by an animator, for animators, Miguel Winfield’s plug-in MG Tools has a number of features that aims to make the life of an animator that much easier. By downloading this plug-in, you'll benefit from a floating channelBox, specialised for animation, a selection of constraint tools to speed up the process, a MG to MA converter, motion path animation calculator and much more. Dubbed the animator’s utility belt, MG Tools can seriously save time and create a more efficient workflow. Winfield generously offers the first version of this tool as a free download, with the latest iteration of the software coming in at a $50 for a lifetime license.
Onion skinning is a technique used by animators to see multiple frames at once. By using this technique, artists can easily see how to alter or adjust an image based on the previous image in the sequence. This free script by animator and rigger Brian Horgan provides a different but helpful approach to onion skinning in 3D. Maya's in-built ghosting tool shows semi-transparent animated objects in a scene to give an overview of the animation created. But BHGhost takes it one step further, creating an onion skin that creates actual 3D outlines of your animation in the Maya viewport, making it easier to see the relation between poses and refine your animation even further.
Who better to get some free Maya tools from than the makers of the software themselves? The helpful bunch at Autodesk not only provide a huge amount of supportive information on their online community site Area, they've also uploaded this brilliant free collection of useful Maya scripts and plugins. Installation creates an additional pull-down menu, which provides easy access to a variety of every day tools and utilities. And so not to confuse you, tools have been organised to mimic the layout of the standard Maya menu sets, with each sub-menu containing a number of relating tools, which can be torn off and floated just like standard Maya menus.
If you want to create your own battle or crowd scene but have no idea where to begin, crowd simulation software Miarmy may be just the solution. This complex Maya plugin offers a range of features, including the ability to enable agents to be affected by forces or Maya Fluids systems, for a believable performance. The professional version will set you back almost back almost $1000. But, if you're starting small, take advantage of the Express version, which, although limited to 100 agents, is free to download forever.
Every animator out there will know how time-consuming keyframe animation can be. Created by 3D character animator Justin Barrett, the purpose of Maya plug-in TweenMachine is to greatly simplify the process of creating breakdown poses between key poses. TweenMachine significantly reduces the amount of steps it takes to create poses for your character with stepped keys. Barrett doesn’t claim tweenMachine creates perfect breakdown poses, but says it "helps you get closer to your goal a lot faster than other methods". This super-useful tool is free of charge but donations to the author for further development are, as always, gratefully received.
Shotview is a free and simple but very effective Maya plugin, which provides a constant and clean representation of your camera view in a floating window. This tool is incredibly useful, especially for artists with a two monitor set-up, as it allows you to view both the default Maya perspective and camera view simultaneously, saving the hassle of switching between the two and helping to develop the perfect cinematic shot. Shotview also allows you to set automatic filtering options that will turn off any controllers that you don't want to see when running a playblast, that will restore after it has been created.
Since working on various feature animated films such as Happy Feet and The Legend of the Guardians, technical director Oyvind Nostdal developed Advanced Skeleton to make character creation a much more efficient process. A collection of Maya tools for doing character setup, this useful plugin creates a complex motion system from a simple joint chain. A brilliant, timesaving tool, Advanced Skeleton will have your characters up and running in no time.
If you're a 2D artist making the move into 3D, you should check out this sketchpad for Maya, Blue Pencil, which provides 2D drawing to Maya's 3D viewport. The useful plugin features a grease pencil tool that allows artists to plan, annotate and illustrate shots. Like most painting tools, Blue Pencil benefits from drawing tools that include the pencil, brush, eraser and eye dropper. It also has built-in pressure-sensitive controls of line thickness and opacity. But don't expect the quality of other 2D imaging software such as Photoshop, Blue Pencil is simply a multi-purpose tool designed for roughing out ideas.
This brilliant selection of tools was set up by the Animation Mentor for its students. A subscription is required to access the site, but if you do sign up, you'll gain access to tools for selection, posing, scene management, scene setup and more. Aware that every artist works differently, the team behind these plugins have included multiple tools that can be used to achieve the same task. The team also works hard to make sure each tool is customizable for individual artists. Well worth a look. Words: Kerrie Hughes
1. A storyboard is made, all the animators and directors come together to discuss the entire film.
2. The storyboards are presented as the story
3. Once the story is laid out, the dialogue is recorded. This is done before animation, so the animators know what the characters will say.
4. After the dialogue is recorded, the animators can make rough sketches of just the characters. Usually these drawings are quite messy, there is still no color, or background. Some animated films have used over 50,000 individual drawings.
Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose are work methods for animators. They are possible answers for the “how do I animate?” question.
Straight Ahead
This is the oldest one. It means animating sequentially, creating pose after pose, frame after frame, "straight ahead", from the first to the last in a sequence.
Its main characteristic is that while animating one has considerable creative freedom to choose how and where each pose will be.
Pose to Pose
Following this workflow, the artist starts 1st blocking out (planning, sketching) a sequence, by defining the key poses in it and roughly estimating in which frame each of them should be. These poses, which are known as extremes, are created first.
The remaining, "transition" ones -- called inbetweens -- can be done automatically by software interpolation, but for acceptable results, in particular to apply the principles we're studying and to remove the mechanical look of computer animation, further work is needed.
Why
Straight Ahead
Good points:
very open for creativity during the keyframing work;
can result in more fluid and natural looking animation;
done for all frames in a sequence it totally eliminates the use of computer interpolation;
a talented artist in a good day can achieve very spontaneous and elaborate results;
specially good for fast, wild actions;
only after finishing the animator will know how the scene ended up.
Bad points:
it's easy to come to dead ends, where work may have to be discarded and redone;
hard to make the character respect "marks": be somewhere or grab something at a definite frame;
hard to create strong poses, well staged, solid and appealing;
the resulting set of keyframes will probably be complex and disorganized, hard to work with;
only after finishing the animator will know how the scene ended up.
Some might also add: more work while animating.
Pose to Pose
Good points:
more control over the results, easy to respect marks;
less room for pitfalls;
more work in less time;
the created extremes (plus soundtrack) can be used as animatic for critique and corrections;
with planning, there's a better chance to come up with elaborate poses and moves;
done every N frames or so, results in a clean layout of keyframes, easy to work with;
randomness is played down.
Bad points:
easy to result in “robotic”, dull animation;
less room for creativity while creating and keyframing poses;
Reference: John Lasseter, "Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D Computer Animation", Computer Graphics, pp. 35-44, 21:4, July 1987 (SIGGRAPH 87).
George Maestri, "Digital Character Animation", New Riders Press, 1996.
Introduction
Many of the principles of traditional animation were developed in the 1930's at the Walt Disney studios. These principles were developed to make animation, especially character animation, more realistic and entertaining. These principles can and should be applied to 3D computer animation.
Principles of Traditional Animation
The following principles were developed and named: 1.Squash and Stretch - defining the rigidity and mass of an object by distorting its shape during an action 2.Timing and Motion - spacing actions to define the weight and size of objects and the personality of characters 3.Anticipation - the preparation for an action 4.Staging - presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably clear 5.Follow Through and Overlapping Action - the termination of an action and establishing its relationship to the next action 6.Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose Action - The two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement 7.Slow In and Out - the spacing of the in-between frames to achieve subtlety of timing and movement 8.Arcs - the visual path of action for natural movement 9.Exaggeration - Accentuating the essence of an idea via the design and the action 10.. Secondary Action - the action of an object resulting from another action 11.. Appeal - creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys watching
Personality in character animation is the goal of all of the above.
The Twelve Basic Principles of Animation is a set of principles of animation introduced by the DisneyanimatorsOllie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation.[a][1] Johnston and Thomas in turn based their book on the work of the leading Disney animators from the 1930s onwards, and their effort to produce more realistic animations. The main purpose of the principles was to produce an illusion of characters adhering to the basic laws of physics, but they also dealt with more abstract issues, such as emotional timing and character appeal.
The book and its principles have become generally adopted, and have been referred to as the "Bible of animation."[2] In 1999 the book was voted number one of the "best animation books of all time" in an online poll.[3] Though originally intended to apply to traditional, hand-drawn animation, the principles still have great relevance for today's more prevalent computer animation.
Contents1 The 12 principles 1.1 Squash and stretch 1.2 Anticipation 1.3 Staging 1.4 Straight ahead action and pose to pose 1.5 Follow through and overlapping action 1.6 Slow in and slow out 1.7 Arcs 1.8 Secondary action 1.9 Timing 1.10 Exaggeration 1.11 Solid drawing 1.12 Appeal 2 Notes 3 References 4 Further reading
Illustration of the "squash and stretch"-principle:
Example A shows a ball bouncing with a rigid, non-dynamic movement. In example B the ball is "squashed" at impact, and "stretched" during fall and rebound. The movement also accelerates during the fall, and slows down towards the apex (see "slow in and slow out").
Animated sequence of a race horse galloping. Photos taken by Eadweard Muybridge. The horse's body demonstrates squash and stretch in natural musculature.
The most important principle is "squash and stretch",[4] 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.[5][6] Taken to an extreme point, a figure stretched or squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a comical effect.[7] In realistic animation, however, the most important aspect of this principle is the fact that an object's volume does not change when squashed or stretched. If the length of a ball is stretched vertically, its width (in three dimensions, also its depth) needs to contract correspondingly horizontally.[8]
Anticipation is used to prepare the audience for an action, and to make the action appear more realistic.[9] A dancer jumping off the floor has to bend his knees first; a golfer making a swing has to swing the club back first. The technique can also be used for less physical actions, such as a character looking off-screen to anticipate someone's arrival, or attention focusing on an object that a character is about to pick up.[10]
Anticipation: A baseball player making a pitch prepares for the action by moving his arm back.
For special effect, anticipation can also be omitted in cases where it is expected. The resulting sense of anticlimax will produce a feeling of surprise in the viewer, and can often add comedy to a scene.[11] This is often referred to as a 'surprise gag'.[12]
This principle is akin to staging as it is known in theatre and film.[13] Its purpose is to direct the audience's attention, and make it clear what is of greatest importance in a scene; [14] Johnston and Thomas defined it as "the presentation of any idea so that it is completely and unmistakably clear", whether that idea is an action, a personality, an expression or a mood.[13] This can be done by various means, such as the placement of a character in the frame, the use of light and shadow, and the angle and position of the camera.[15] The essence of this principle is keeping focus on what is relevant, and avoiding unnecessary detail.[16][17]
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.[14] "Straight ahead action" creates a more fluid, dynamic illusion of movement, and is better for producing realistic action sequences. On the other hand, it is hard to maintain proportions, and to create exact, convincing poses along the way. "Pose to pose" works better for dramatic or emotional scenes, where composition and relation to the surroundings are of greater importance.[18] A combination of the two techniques is often used.[19]
Computer animation removes the problems of proportion related to "straight ahead action" drawing; however, "pose to pose" is still used for computer animation, because of the advantages it brings in composition.[20] The use of computers facilitates this method, as computers can fill in the missing sequences in between poses automatically. It is, however, still important to oversee this process and apply the other principles discussed.[19]
Follow through and overlapping action is a general heading for two closely related techniques which help to render movement more realistically, and help to give the impression that characters follow the laws of physics. "Follow through" means that separate parts of a body will continue moving after the character has stopped. "Overlapping action" is the tendency for parts of the body to move at different rates (an arm will move on different timing of the head and so on). A third related technique is "drag", where a character starts to move and parts of him take a few frames to catch up.[14] These parts can be inanimate objects like clothing or the antenna on a car, or parts of the body, such as arms or hair. On the human body, the torso is the core, with arms, legs, head and hair appendices that normally follow the torso's movement. Body parts with much tissue, such as large stomachs and breasts, or the loose skin on a dog, are more prone to independent movement than bonier body parts.[21] Again, exaggerated use of the technique can produce a comical effect, while more realistic animation must time the actions exactly, to produce a convincing result.[22]
Thomas and Johnston also developed the principle of the "moving hold". A character not in movement can be rendered absolutely still; this is often done, particularly to draw attention to the main action. According to Thomas and Johnston, however, this gave a dull and lifeless result, and should be avoided. Even characters sitting still can display some sort of movement, such as the torso moving in and out with breathing.[23]
The movement of the human body, and most other objects, needs time to accelerate and slow down. For this reason, animation looks more realistic if it has more drawings near the beginning and end of an action, emphasizing the extreme poses, and fewer in the middle.[14] This principle goes for characters moving between two extreme poses, such as sitting down and standing up, but also for inanimate, moving objects, like the bouncing ball in the above illustration.[24]
Most natural action tends to follow an arched trajectory, and animation should adhere to this principle by following implied "arcs" for greater realism. This can apply to a limb moving by rotating a joint, or a thrown object moving along a parabolic trajectory. The exception is mechanical movement, which typically moves in straight lines.[25]
As an object's speed or momentum increases, arcs tend to flatten out in moving ahead and broaden in turns. In baseball, a fastball would tend to move in a straighter line than other pitches; while a figure skater moving at top speed would be unable to turn as sharply as a slower skater, and would need to cover more ground to complete the turn.
An object in motion that moves out of its natural arc for no apparent reason will appear erratic rather than fluid. Therefore when animating (for example) a pointing finger, the animator should be certain that in all drawings in between the two extreme poses, the fingertip follows a logical arc from one extreme to the next. Traditional animators tend to draw the arc in lightly on the paper for reference, to be erased later.
Follow through/Overlapping Action: as the horse runs, its mane and tail follow the movement of the body.
Adding secondary actions to the main action gives a scene more life, and can help to support the main action. A person walking can simultaneously swing his arms or keep them in his pockets, he can speak or whistle, or he can express emotions through facial expressions.[26] The important thing about secondary actions is that they emphasize, rather than take attention away from, the main action. If the latter is the case, those actions are better left out.[27] In the case of facial expressions, during a dramatic movement these will often go unnoticed. In these cases it is better to include them at the beginning and the end of the movement, rather than during.[28]
Timing refers to the number of drawings or frames for a given action, which translates to the speed of the action on film.[14] On a purely physical level, correct timing makes objects appear to obey the laws of physics; for instance, an object's weight determines how it reacts to an impetus, like a push.[29] Timing is critical for establishing a character's mood, emotion, and reaction.[14] It can also be a device to communicate aspects of a character's personality.[30]
Exaggeration is an effect especially useful for animation, as perfect imitation of reality can look static and dull in cartoons.[14] The level of exaggeration depends on whether one seeks realism or a particular style, like a caricature or the style of an artist. The classical definition of exaggeration, employed by Disney, was to remain true to reality, just presenting it in a wilder, more extreme form.[31] Other forms of exaggeration can involve the supernatural or surreal, alterations in the physical features of a character, or elements in the storyline itself.[32] It is important to employ a certain level of restraint when using exaggeration; if a scene contains several elements, there should be a balance in how those elements are exaggerated in relation to each other, to avoid confusing or overawing the viewer.[33]
The principle of solid drawing means taking into account forms in three-dimensional space, giving them volume and weight.[14] The animator needs to be a skilled draughtsman and has to understand the basics of three-dimensional shapes, anatomy, weight, balance, light and shadow, etc.[34] For the classical animator, this involved taking art classes and doing sketches from life.[35] One thing in particular that Johnston and Thomas warned against was creating "twins": characters whose left and right sides mirrored each other, and looked lifeless.[36] Modern-day computer animators draw less because of the facilities computers give them, yet their work benefits greatly from a basic understanding of animation principles, and their additions to basic computer animation.[35]
Appeal in a cartoon character corresponds to what would be called charisma in an actor.[37] A character who is appealing is not necessarily sympathetic – villains or monsters can also be appealing – the important thing is that the viewer feels the character is real and interesting.[37] There are several tricks for making a character connect better with the audience; for likable characters a symmetrical or particularly baby-like face tends to be effective.[38] A complicated or hard to read face will lack appeal, it may more accurately be described as 'captivation' in the composition of the pose, or the character design.
Disney's Frozen is quite a visual contrast from the previous warm and lively Tangled.
Illustration of the "squash and stretch"-principle:
