How do we make digital animations? | Year 3 Computing PDF Download

Understanding Animation

• Another term for a cartoon is animation, which refers to making something appear alive or moving.
• To animate something means to create the illusion of movement.
• Animated cartoons and films achieve this by using numerous drawings that depict the gradual steps of movement. These drawings can be a sequence of hand-drawn sketches, paintings, or even photographs of models and toys.
• When these drawings are displayed rapidly, one after another, our brains perceive them as a single moving image or film, rather than individual drawings. This blending effect occurs because our brains retain the memory of the previous image as the next one appears.
• For instance, one second of animation may consist of up to 25 images.

Animating a dancing mouse

To create your own animated films or become an animator, here's how you can approach it:

• Creating the Animation: If you want to animate a dancing mouse, you'll need to produce many images of the mouse, each depicting the successive steps of its dance moves. These images are then displayed in rapid sequence.
• Challenges of Traditional Animation:
  • Time-Consuming Process: Making all the necessary images of the mouse can be very time-consuming, often requiring around a hundred images or more.
  • Frame Rate: Viewing the images quickly enough, one after another, to create the illusion of movement can be challenging.

Animating traditionally involves addressing these challenges through meticulous planning and skillful execution of each frame to achieve smooth and convincing motion in the final animation.

Using a computer to help make an animation

Here's how you can use digital devices such as a laptop, tablet, or smartphone to create animations:

• Utilizing Animation Software or Apps: The most effective method is to employ an animation program or application because it consolidates all necessary tools into a single platform.
• Tools Available: These tools typically include digital painting capabilities, a digital camera function for capturing images, and an animation player. The animation player plays back images rapidly to simulate movement convincingly.

Stop-motion animation

• Some animations employ models or objects rather than drawings. The animator captures a digital photograph of the model, adjusts its position slightly, and then takes another photograph. This process continues step-by-step to depict movement, with each position change being captured in a photo.
• Subsequently, the animation program swiftly sequences all the photos to simulate continuous motion. Once completed, the animation can be saved as a film, ready for sharing online or with friends.
• This technique is often referred to as stop-motion animation because it involves stopping and starting the camera to capture incremental movements.

Using coding and programming to make an animation

• Creating animations involves a significant amount of work in traditional methods where each image needs to be drawn individually. For instance, an animation requiring 25 images per second of film would demand around 1500 images for a one-minute film.
• Creating animations using computer programs involves providing a sequence of instructions that dictate movement and actions, transforming static images into dynamic visual experiences. By following a set of commands, the computer can bring images to life, resulting in an animated presentation.
• Key Instructions for Animation:
  • Move Up
  • Move Down
  • Swing
  • Bend Arm
  • Turn
• These instructions are essential for directing the movements of elements in the animation, such as characters or objects. By combining these actions in various ways, you can create engaging and dynamic visual stories.