Unit 65- Task 3

Persistence of Vision

Persistence of vision works by our eyes which are able to create an illusion. For example when we observe an image for a long period of time and look away within a matter of seconds, our cells from the back of our eyes are able to re-create image we just saw.

In 340 B.C. approximately, Aristotle wrote about the after effects of light and motion and when it got to 130 A.D and Greek astronomer called Ptolemy developed a theory called persistence of vision.

Persistence of vision is used in cinema and film systems. Long time ago film productions worked out if frames were less than 16 frames per second the mind would only see flashing images but films in the 20th century run at around 24 frames per second and this is used in digital cinema systems as well as physical film.

For example classic example the moving horse:

Here’s a sample of persistence of vision. I know this because when you stare at the 4 dots in the centre of the image for quite a while and blink and look at a

blank wall you are able to see the women. This is to do with the brain which can still capture the image after looking away from the image as you’ve been looking at the image for a while.

Stop Frame

Stop frame is a cinematic process and way to use still objects in order to make them to look as though they’re moving. There are many materials used to create this effect, such as clay for the fact of it being easy to repositioning and as well when it’s moved it’s less noticeable. Clay motion is the one that is the most frequently used despite the amount of effect taken to make it but there are other materials such as puppets and figure’s. On the stop frame the still objects appear to look human and look like they’re moving by breaking up the figure’s motion into increments and filming one frame of film per increment. Which basically means each picture is linked together in a chain to look as though the static object is moving.

Computer imagery was used as a special effect tool as well as being cost efficient. We still use stop motion today as it’s good for many numerous of things. Stop motion is good for children’s cartoons for being a simple and attractive and a fun way for the kids. We also use it on purpose to add an old fashion vibe and as well advertisements to stand out and attracting in order to make sells.

In film stop motion is used in Movie’s for example Tim Burton (a movie maker) uses this process in his work for example one of his films called Coralline is a stop motion animation as it’s been created from clay motion which is an 3D fantasy/horror children’s film which was released in 2009. It involved efforts from 450 people and for the film they used nearly 150 sets as well as the characters having at average 208,000 facial expressions.

This shows in today’s world stop motion animation has been updated dramatically if you compare the quality from now to a film produced in 1989 you can see it’s changed quite an awful lot.

Stop Motion Animation

In this short animation called Gumby first animation in 1989. You can the difference from how it was and how it was today from the quality of the production and the image on the right was only created in 1953! A huge leap within 14 years! You can tell by the up to date software does make a difference!

The Magic Roundabout was created in the 1960’s. It was created by Serge Danot and still to this day is played on the BBC Channel. The first picture display’s the 1960’s character look which was created from materials and used stop motion frame and on the left it shows the new up to date version and shows how the quality has improved and has been created by using CGI. CGI is used mostly in most animation for example Disney uses it an awful lot. South Park is a TV animation series which was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in the 1990’s and it is created from construction paper.

South Park has been updated from when it first developed but it’s not as noticeable. The quality of it has improved because technology has been updated and has better high resolution. This technique is rare as not many animations are created in this method. Mixed media production is another type of animation which is currently used for example this picture is from the film Space Jam and has the mix of animation included in a film with real life Actors and Actresses. They’re not many animations which are created in this method but they’re some animators which have done mix media and are very well known films for example avatar is created by both mix media and the classical Who Framed Mr Rabbit. The pioneer of mixed media animation is George Melees in 1990s. Each frame was treated digitally to blend the lighting of animation tonally with the live material and was a lot of hard work to do.

Drawing animation is a type of animation that is done by producing images that show a motion object and for that is created by drawing everything from hand. An example of drawing animation is Snow White. Most Disney films like Snow White were drawn but in today’s world they have been adapted to CGI. CGI stands for Computer-generated imagery and is done to make a 3D effect in

order for it to look real and is done using software on the computer.

Programmes such as Flash can be used to do this type of animation because it is a much more understandable way and cheaper to do it this way than to do a whole animation hand drawn as that would be time wasting.

Onion skinning

Onion skinning is a type of computer graphic which isn’t 3D, its 2D. It’s used when creating an animation is involved. The purpose of onion skinning is to show the travel and direction the graphic is headed in. It’s used for animated cartoons or editing movies. Which helps the editors to see how many frames are involved as well allow them to make the decision to see if it runs like a smooth animation or it has errors which would lead the editor to change an image which is due to looking at the previous image in the sequence in order for it to work smoothly for the animation.

When you look back on how cartoon animation was first creation the separate frames which are in the movie. The animators and editors would physically draw a thin onion skin paper over the light which is used for the animation. This would be done so that the previous and next drawing over that image can be in the exact position so they knew that they could draw the next between images so it gives a full smooth animation which would look perhaps, realistic.

This technique has been in computer software for a very long time and is still used today. It achieves highly as it makes the frames translucent and the style of layering projecting them on top of each other. The effect has been used as an effect in order to create a motion blur. The matrix is a well-known film which has used it, in the movie the whole point about the matrix is time and speed as well as the famous firing bullet scene. So in order to show that off they use it as an effect on how quick things are going. Another example of onion skinning is when someone is trying to capture the feeling of being drunk or dizzy. The use onion skinning to show how time speeds up or speeds down and everything around is a blur.

Tweening

Tweeting is an editing tool which is only featured in Flash. Tweening is an option which helps build a cleaner motion for the objects in Flash which involve movement but are to a higher advanced level of movement. When adding a transition on flash you can do all sorts of different transitions. You can

customize the direction the object you are using on flash to where it first comes in on the stage as well where it leaves from. Shape Tween is a tool that is featured on Flash which helps you create shapes which can be 2 shapes joined together. Not only can you use Shape Tween for titles you can use them for many things using flash for example a screen saver, on an animation etc. Shape tween allows you to specifically help change the shape transform to the other shape with ease and still by having a smooth animation.

Classic Tween

Classic Tween is a tool that is used in order to create the effect on how animations use to look like. The way animation use to look like was as like the animation had a fluid motion either out of a shape or character.

Motion Tween

Motion Tween is a tool used specifically for movement, hints in the name. It helps certain characters move by creating a path for them to follow so the character would walk to whatever direction you designate them to go in and when you click play on the animation the object you decide for it to move in would smoothly move the animation.

Flick Books

One of the earliest forms of animation was flick books and is one of the ways where it’s the most basic so most people can understand how to make animation using flick books. The animation is done by drawing on different pages in the book. If we wanted the animation to move to the left we would draw series of pictures similar to each other for it slowly moving to the left. This does take time but we are talking years back when animation first came about. If the pages are the same you are flicking the pages of the same pictures so the picture isn’t moving so it can’t be an animation. It works as an animation because when you flip a book the illusion can be created because of the speed we flick books. If you were to look at each picture separately our eyes wouldn’t be able to see the pictures move because of the speed being too slow, so the quicker the better.

Animation Process

When animation first came about it had been created for the reason of doing hand drawn animation nothing on the computers. This means each individual page for the first 3 years of animation was just all by hand. When animation first came about there came more jobs available for people wanting to have a creative job for layout artists, effect animators and also inkers.

Animation has been updated since our generation most of our animation is done on computers. Software such as CorelDraw, Flash and Illusion Mage are what are commonly used for in animation in today’s world. These are for professionals of animation people who work for animation companies can’t just be anyone they will have to be professional animators or people who have experience with animation The process of animation can always change because it depends what kind of animation you will be using for your creation. There is too many types of animation for example CGI Animation, Cel shaded, cartoon or hand drawn animation.

GIF

A GIF file stands for a graphic information file. It’s a file format that is used for animation most of the time. It’s the most common file format which is used for animation. There are such products such as banner advertisements either on electrical banners in the city or just on the website if you see any electrical animated signs I can almost guarantee it has been saved as a GIF file format. Animation is used for promotion in order for their advertisement to stand out and catch your eye and what can be better than something moving and flashing because you automatically want to have a look even without thinking. The GIF format is used as well because it only supports 256 colours so the power and echo-friendliness is much great compared to other animation file formats. It’s not the most popular for saving pictures because we want to see as much detail and quality as possible so that’s why JPEG file format or BMP would be better for pictures because GIF file doesn’t show the whole colour palette.

XHTML

Extensible Hypertext Mark-up Language is what XHTML stands for. It’s used so people who don’t have for example DHTML coding on their computer XHTML has been created for they can still view it on their computer. So basically is used to include different web pages languages. It’s just an extension HTML which allows people to read and show more extensible mark-up languages. This is because it uses an XML namespace which has the power to read the certain pages not everyone can read. It also features a Mathematical Mark-up Language which displays can show mathematical formulas and Vector Graphic images on the page as well.

DHTML

DHTML can be used to add things such as images with transitions so they could move from one direction to animation as well as for rollover buttons and for forms to be filled out on a website. It’s basically a type of tool which can help make interactivity for websites. DHTML is a lot similar to HTML but just not exactly the same. DHTML allows you to do more facilities which HTML wouldn’t allow you to do. HTML doesn’t allow you include anything animated other than GIF file formats. DHTML can help you include so much more animated graphics and transitions. DHTML is used to simply the webpages for viewers so It can be the most easiest to control and explore on the web. It used HTML as well as it’s on code but not only that it also includes scripting language like JavaScript and CSS which serves as the presentation definition language and DOM which stands for Document Object Model which is included in DHTML because it allows you to interact with objects in HTML documents.

Java Applet

A Java Applet is a way to show different type of online media without the hassle of downloading and buying the software. The types of media which this usually is are such things as animation and videos. Not all videos can be shown on different players for example windows media players don’t show all the video file formats which have been created by Apple so Java Applet can allow you to watch Apple video file formats even if you don’t have QuickTime yourself. Therefore instead of downloading the software and waiting a long time as well as going through step by step instructions Java doesn’t make you wait long what so ever, no more than 2 minutes! Once again Java Applet has been created for the purpose of making it easier for people to use the web and allows them to go on the internet to watch videos, play games and look at images with ease.