Dhruvil Panchal, an electric engineer by profession always had a passion for art. But as per our societal norms, he had followed the conventional route of completing his Diploma after his 10th and then engineering. But his heart was always in art. After working for 2.5 years, he was not satisfied as he felt something was missing in his life. This led to his search to find the best way to quench his way for art.
As he was searching he came across Arena Animation Sayajigunj. With apprehension, he approached them to know more. The counselors there were very supportive and guided him on the various options available to him. Dhruvil was convinced that he had come to the right place to further his career. But his family, will they accept this decision of his? He was thinking about how he can make them understand that this is something he needs for his peace of mind. When he discussed this with his father, his father asked him to go ahead with the same. With the support of his family, Dhruvil started his journey with Arena Animation Sayajigunj. There he learned the basic and advanced level of VFX and animation under the guidance of the expert and experienced faculties of Arena Animation Sayajigunj. They encouraged and guided him on his journey to reach the pinnacle of his success.
Dhruvil got an option to showcase his skill when he participated in the National level Digital Art with the concept of Batman in his younger years which fetched him the first prize. His recent exploit is when he received second prize in World Art Day Competition defeating 3783 students participated from Pan India and winning XP Deco 01 V2 Worth Rs. 9499/-.
Dhruvil is associated with Xcitech technology that uses VR 360 in the field of Real Estate, Education and Medical. His aim is to use VFX and Animation to bring about a new revolution in the field of education. We are sure that he will surely reach there.
Just like any other form of art, Animation too is varied. As a career field, there are different types of animation and styles as there are animators in this industry.
Setting up a list or stating the types of animation based on some defined criteria would be a major flaw and also insufficient as the variations are too flexible. Nevertheless we have tried to compile all possible variations of animations based on the technique that are being used and the comparison of the styles between them. The following list should not be accounted as an absolute reference for animation types; it is more like a general idea to see the bigger picture.
1. 3D Computer Animation
3D Computer Animation or 3D Animation is the process of generating three dimensional moving images in a digital environment. This is the most common and popular animation style today, and is used in movies, games, ads, architectural visualization, medical simulations, and more.
Manipulation of 3D models is carried out with the help of software. However ‘animation’ is a broad term and there are many more aspects to it, each offering a wide range of career prospects. There is modelling, rigging, lighting, texturing, rendering, and animation, and there are sub-fields to these too. Involvement of sophisticated software makes 3D animation technologically intense. As you know, technology does help artists redefine their craftsmanship.
While there are various other animation styles that you may consider, as a career aspirant, a 3D Animation course may interest you the most.
Check out the trailer of Pixar’s Oscar award winning 3D animated movie here to understand this style better.
2. Traditional or Cell Animation
This was once a huge milestone in the history of animation, but is almost obsolete since it is time-consuming and expensive to produce.
Images are drawn or painted by skilled hands, one frame at a time, on the celluloid sheets (cels) to be photographed and exhibited on film. One of the major obstacles of this to seamlessly transform into a film was the timing of the frame with the sound. Every frame had to match with the background score/dialogues or else could appear as a major distraction. Hand drawing of hundreds of frames with precision is such an energetically draining task.
Image credits: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
3. 2D Animation
Conventionally, 2D animation was the same as cel-animation. However, with the introduction of computers, 2D animation got a technical upgrade. Today animators create scenes and characters a 2D space with the help of digital technologies and tools available to them. Compared to drawing multiple images, using computers is far less time-consuming and effective.
2D animation is most commonly seen in educational videos, editorials and advertisements today. However, there are a few entertainment series and games that continue to use 2D Animation style. ‘F is for Family’ and ‘Rick and Morty’ are a few examples of 2D entertainment series.
Today, you can be a 2D animator even if drawing isn’t your strong suit. Traditional animation, on the other hand, requires very strong drawing skills.
Image credits:IndieWire
4. Stop Motion Animation
Physical objects are manually manipulated in small movements in between individual frames so that they will appear to exhibit motion when the series of frames is played. Any kind of physical objects with the capability to twist and turn can thus be animated. Puppets with movable joints (puppet animation) or figures (claymation) are most commonly used. The key here is not the sound but to make small changes from frame to frame to make the illusion of motion as smooth as possible. Isn’t it time taking? Perhaps more than traditional animation. But this animation style is extremely adaptable as one can get as creative as they want. Plus it is easy to impress film critics and audience alike using this.
Take a look at the behind the scenes of animating Shaun the Sheep Movie with animator Andy Symanowski.
5. Motion Graphics
Commonly called Mographs, it is less of animation and more of graphic designing. Motion graphics can be both 2D and 3D, and you will find commonly in commercials, explainer videos, sporting events, news, and other television productions. Previously, before the advent of computer editing, it was a time-consuming process that was limited to high-budget productions.
Check out this simple motion graphics animation video.
The depth of understanding an artistry is what defines an artist. With the current evolution of computer there are may be many more variants piling up in this list.
Whether you wish to be a 3D animator or a Motion Graphics Artist, you need the right skill sets and training. Join one of the prestigious animation training institutes, get trained and get hired.
યુસુફ મનાગોરી કોમર્સ ગ્રેજ્યુએટ છે. તેમના 10 + 2 ના અભ્યાસ અને સ્નાતકના શિક્ષણના સમયગાળા દરમિયાન તે સાઈડ બિઝનેસ તરીકે સાયબર કાફે ચલાવતા હતા. તેને વિડીયો ગેમ્સ રમવાનું પસંદ હતું અને વિવિધ શાળાના પ્રોજેક્ટ્સમાં કામ કરવાનું મેનેજ કર્યું હતું. આ પ્રથમ વખત હતો જ્યારે તેને ગ્રાફિક્સ અને એનિમેશન ઉદ્યોગમાં કામ કરવાની રુચિ અને જુસ્સો મળ્યો.
તેને પૂર્ણ-સમયની કારકિર્દી બનાવવા માટે તેણે વીએફએક્સ અને એનિમેશન નો અભ્યાસક્રમ કરવાનો નિર્ણય કર્યો. ભારતની શ્રેષ્ઠ એનિમેશન અને વીએફએક્સ સંસ્થાઓના શોધ દરમિયાન, તે Arena Animation ઇન્સ્ટિટ્યૂટ ની માહિતી મળી. સંપૂર્ણ સંશોધન અને પરામર્શ પછી, તે Arena Animation ની પસંદગી કરવામાં ખુશ હતો અને 2 વર્ષના એડવાન્સ એનિમેશન ઇન્ટરનેશનલ VFX પ્રોગ્રામ (AAIP) અભ્યાસક્રમમાં પ્રવેશ મેળવ્યો.
યુસુફ કહે છે કે, “મને Arena Animation ના VFX પ્રોગ્રામ ની તાલીમ દરમિયાન ઇન્સ્ટિટ્યૂટના પ્રતિભાશાળી શિક્ષક દ્વારા યોગ્ય કુશળતા અને માર્ગદર્શન મળ્યું છે. Arena Animation પાસે ગ્રીન રૂમ, રેકોર્ડિંગ સ્ટુડિયો અને વી આર ગેમિંગ ઝોન આવી અનેક સુવિધા છે, જેથી તે ગુજરાતની સૌથી મોટી VFX ઈન્ફ્રાસ્ટ્રક્ચર તરીકે જાણીતું છે. Arena Animation પિક્સેલ સ્ટુડિયો, શેમરૂ અને ટોરેસિડ જેવી ટોચની ભારતીય કંપનીઓને આમંત્રણ આપીને પ્લેસમેન્ટ ડ્રાઈવ કરે છે. VFX માં 4 વર્ષ કામ કરવાનો અનુભવ પૂર્ણ કર્યા સાથે, હવે હું ભારતના પ્રખ્યાત Online Learning Platform BYJU’S માટે મોશન ગ્રાફિકસ કલાકાર તરીકે કામ કરી રહ્યો છું. ”
તેમણે વધુમાં ઉમેર્યું કે, “ઉદ્યોગમાં સર્વશ્રેષ્ઠ લોકો પાસેથી શીખવા માટે હું આભારી છું, જેના કારણે મને BYJU’S માટે કામ કરવાની આ સૌથી મોટી તક મળી. હું હંમેશા મારા બધા સાથી ઉમેદવારોને Arena Animation ની ભલામણ કરું છુ. ”
યુસુફ મનાગોરી ના પ્રતિભાવથી અમે ખૂબ જ ગર્વ અનુભવ કરીએ છીએ. તેનું ઉદાહરણ આપતા કહી શકીએ કે, ‘એક સાચો નિર્ણય તમારું જીવન કાયમ માટે બનાવી શકે છે.’ યુસુફને તેની કારકિર્દી માટે અમારી વિશેષ શુભકામનાઓ!
Disney remains to be the most popular name in animation, and not without reasons. Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas (two of Disney’s Nine Old Men), in 1981, introduced animators to the 12 basic principles of animation in their book, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. Although animation has evolved much over the years, these twelve concepts will not be outdated, and continue to be taught in popular animation institutes around the world.
Let us look at the first six principles in this first part.
Squash & Stretch
Squash and stretch remains to be the foundation of animation. It is the technique used to convey weight, emphasise movement, and enhance a character’s flexibility. From a person walking to a dog jumping, there are enough examples of squash & stretch in real life. However, in animation, these actions are exaggerated. The easiest way to understand how squash and stretch work is to look at a bouncing ball or a man walking at a regular pace.
Image courtesy: www.download.autodesk.com
Here is another excellent example of the use of this technique in 2D animation. The man in the front appears to be lighter and walking fast. With an accentuated squash and stretch, the character walking behind appears heavy and slow.
You may not have noticed it, but this technique is commonly used in your favourite 3D animation movies. Remember Murray from Hotel Transylvania? That is a lot of squash and stretch!
GIF courtesy: Sony Pictures Animation
Timing
Timing in animation refers to the number of drawings or frames that complete a given action. It determines the speed of the action. In simple terms, if there are more drawings between two poses, the action will be slow & smooth. But fewer drawings make the action fast. The below image will help you understand this better.
Image courtesy: www.evl.uic.edu
Anticipation
Anticipation is the preparation for an action. Some of the most common examples in real life include a golfer swinging his club backward before hitting the ball or a bowler waiting for a second before starting to run. In animation, humour is usually created when the movement of anticipation happens in the opposite direction of the main action. Any action that requires greater strength will have a bigger moment of anticipation. See Red smiling? Did you see this coming?
As any object or person starts to move, there will be acceleration. When they come to a halt there must be deceleration. Otherwise, the movements become robotic. Imagine that a car starts and reaches full speed in an instant or comes to a halt from 100km/hr in the blink of an eye. Such movements are unnatural. Slow in – Slow out or Ease in – ease out make such actions more life-like. In animation, the closer the drawings/frames are, the slower the animation will be. The farther apart they are, the faster the animation will be. A swinging pendulum is a classic example of this principle.
GIF Courtesy: Katie Bayman
Follow Through & Overlapping Action
These two closely related principles of animation help animators create realistic scenes. They simply follow the laws of physics. Follow-through is the idea that certain appendages and body parts continue to move even after the person/object stops moving. If a superhero character wearing a cape runs and stops abruptly, the cape will fly forward past the body, then fall back where the character stopped. If a car halts suddenly, the antenna on top of it will keep moving for another second.
Overlapping action explains the idea that different parts of a body will move at different rates. For example, when the superhero character walks, his arms will move at a different speed than his head.
GIF Courtesy: Dsource Ekalpa India via YouTube
Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose Animation
Have you ever created a stick-figure flipbook animation on the corners of your notebook? If yes, then chances are you didn’t plan it out with preparatory sketches. This is straight ahead animation, which involves creating frame-by-frame from start to finish. While most classic Disney movies were made using this technique, it is not much in use lately.
Most computerized animation uses the pose-to-pose animation. In this, you set the main poses first and insert the in-between poses later to get the timing right. In top animation studios, the key poses are often set by the lead animators while the rest of the frames are set by the newbies on the team.
Image courtesy: www.pluralsight.com
Now armed with these first six basic principles of animation, start practicing, and notice the difference in your animation, be it 2D or 3D. Bookmark this post and check back often so that you can brush up on the basics whenever required.
Watch this space for the remaining six basic principles of animation.
Interested in a career in animation? Click here and take a look at animation career courses that can help you get the right skill sets.
The 7 Best Animated Characters of All Time Who Never Speak
The most memorable animated characters on the screen are often the ones who say nothing at all. These characters have quite vivid emotions and you could easily tell what is going on with them emotionally.
Sometimes the character don’t have the ability to speak, such as animals like Snoopy and Pluto and sometimes they aren’t given vocals at all.
Here’s a list of impressive non-speaking animated characters.
Mr. Bean
The Mr. Bean series was broadcasted in about all the countries across the world. There doesn’t seem to be a person across the globe who cannot understand or enjoy his character and antics. Mr. Bean’s character was influenced by Jacques Tatia’s Monsieur Hulot, the infamous French silent comedy star.
Wall- E
Pixar’s garbage collecting robot has a modified Mac boot sound. His emotions and gestures were incredibly beautiful and made the character quite enjoyable.
Maggie Simpson
Despite her silent role, she has a distinct depth of character and is the main focus of a great number of episodes of The Simpsons. The baby often proves to be the most genius one in the family.
Shaun the Sheep
Mischievous sheep ‘Shaun’ was silent as creators didn’t want to waste time in lip syncing and voice acting. And that resulted in a global hit of a dialogue-free character.
Tom and Jerry
Silent comedy at its best. Their expressive faces and the physical quarrels are something that remains unmatched since decades.
Magic Carpet
The most unique in the list is the Magic Carpet from Aladdin. It not only stays silent but also doesn’t even have a face and still we get to know what it communicates with the Aladdin.
Abu
Remember the monkey from Aladdin?
Abu loyally accompanies the thief-turned-prince throughout his adventures and is in constant fight with his counterpart, the carpet.
Just because these characters are silent does not mean they don’t have anything to say. The silent animated characters communicates vividly through their gestures and expressions. To animate characters, especially the silent ones, you must not only be imaginative and creative, but also need the length and breadth of knowledge to make your creations come to life. With the right set of skills, you too can create such amazing characters! If you have the passion for animation, click here and check out this Animation Film Design course.
Who are your favourite characters who never speaks? Let us know in the comments below.
