Unit 31 - Computer Animation P3

Unit 31 (P3)                                                                                                                        Scott Manton

Discuss the advantages and limitations of animated GIFs

What is a GIF?

Animated GIFs are usually 4 images stored together to create the illusion of animation.
GIFs are mainly made in a bitmap format, this is because all the pixels from each image can be stored in a fixed location to create the illusion of a real world photograph image becoming a GIF.

Different animation formats and tools

There are different types of animation formats when it comes to GIFs for example:

Flash

Flash is used to create animated GIFs because it allows you to create the animation frame by frame. Another reason it is the most used format is because it can also be used to add sound to the GIF.

A disadvantage of using flash animation is that it may slow the download speed on your PC and in some cases not even load the image on the webpages.

Shockwave

Shockwave was designed for 3D animation and is used in videos. Shockwave also has a fast rendering engine meaning it will play the videos in a smooth motion. An advantage of Shockwave is that is supports 3D animations unlike Flash that only supports 2D.

A disadvantage of Shockwave is that you have to download and install specific software to your webpages in order for it to work. Without this software downloaded you would not be able to watch videos on any website.

QuickTime

QuickTime is similar to Windows Media Player and because of this it's main advantage is it used to support; sound, animation and video.

QuickTime is an Apple made software which is one of it's disadvantages because it goes head to head with Windows Media Player, a software that more people use and is more well known.

Dynamic HTML

Dynamic HTML is primarily used on webpages and an advantage of this is that it can be used to create drop down menus and rollover images. Not only that but it can also be used to create online games.

A disadvantage of Dynamic HTML is that some web browsers read different languages and will not support the features on a webpage.

Advantages and Disadvantages of animated GIFs

Advantage

An advantage of using animated GIFs is they have loss-less compression, meaning the size of the file can be made smaller and the image will not lose any of its quality.

Another advantage is that animated GIFs already have a small file size. This allows you to use more GIFs on a webpage without it effect the download speed too much.

Animated GIFs support a transparent background, this is an advantage because it allows you to put a GIF over any background colour or even a picture and you will not be able to see a border or the picture being covered.

Animated GIFs are also suitable for online context. Meaning you can use GIFs on websites instead of lots of text and this will also help to grab the users attention.

Disadvantage

The main disadvantage of animated GIFs is that they only support 256 colours, this limits your options when it comes to using GIFs. Only having 256 could also be consider as an advantage because it makes the file size small.

Another disadvantage is the images can appear blocky when made too big or when zoomed in. This becomes a problem if you wanted to use GIFs for a larger and more colourful project.

Having too many GIFs can decrease your bandwidth, which will slow your download speed making it frustrating waiting for a webpage to load.

Also, having too many GIFs can be overwhelming and not aesthetically pleasing. Having GIFs will help a webpage look more interesting but overusing them will make it look ridiculous.

Explain different uses of animation (P2)

Explain different uses of animation (P2)                                   Scott Manton

Task: Add a page to your blog describing, how the animations are used in the following cases?

Advertising	Choose one advert of your own choice
Creative arts	Find at least one example of an artist that uses animation as a creative medium
Entertainment	Choose one computer game or film
Education	Think about your education to date. Has animation been used in any area to develop your learning?
Simulation	Pick a simulator of your own choice; note that the simulator should be used for a work or training purpose not for entertainment)

Advertising

The video is an example of advertisement where computer animation is used. Compare The Market (Compare The Meerkat) uses computer animation to show a Meerkat stood next to Steve talking to him. The animation is used as the vocal point of the advert to explain what the company can offer to you. The Meerkat became world famous and has even released a book! 

Creative Arts

This is the oldest form of animation. The Egyptian artists that created these pictures of men walking carrying objects are used to create an animation that is similar to a flip book. All these kinds of paintings/drawings are done to match the types of animation found in create arts. 

Entertainment

In the movie Avatar, animation is used to create the mythical creatures. Real actors and actresses are used to create the movement using motion capture suits and the dialog is also done by the actors but the animation is done using computers and it adds the effects onscreen after the scene is done. 

Education

http://disney.go.com/create/apps/flipbook/mickey 

Using this Disney website to actually create animation is one of the ways we used in animation in our education. This page allows you to make a flip book animation which you can view online to see how it plays out. You can also print out the animation on to paper and cut them to make little cards that will paper clipped together to form your flip book.

Simulation

In this simulation you see the animation of a saw coming down and going through the table. A simulation is a repeated animation of a process or information. Simulators are primarily used for online instructions to show are user how to complete a task.

Task 1 - Explain the different types of animation                                      Scott Manton Unit 31 (P1)

Definition

Animation is multiple pictures put together frame by frame to create motion animated films.

Famous Animators

Thomas Edison, who is most famous for creating the light bulb, is also one the most famous animation creators. Thomas Edison along with Eadweard Muybridge in 1879 created the Zoopraxiscope. The Zoopraxiscope became the more popular known Zoetrope, in which an image would spin around creating the motion of a picture moving. For example: An army marching down the street, in a smooth repetitive motion.

Another famous animator, who is perhaps responsible for the cinema we see today, is Lumiere Brothers. The Lumiere Brothers invented the portable camera and cinematography. Cinematography is movements that being recorded, this is an advanced form of the frame by frame picture taking. The Lumiere Brothers are known for producing the first 3D film as they produced a short film showing a train arriving in a train station from a diagonal angle as oppose to the left to right 2D form used before.

Computer Animated Techniques

Animation is a persistence of vision, which is created by fooling the human eye into thinking that the image is still there when the next image is shown. This means when you see one image it is mentally recorded in the back of your eye for a few seconds once the image is gone and the second image appears your eyes are processing two images together.

Frame by Frame

The are many movements involved in animations some are achieved by using frame by frame pictures of an object formed together to create a scene. For example, in "Clay Animation" if your clay model was to be shown raising his hand a picture will be taken of a model with its arm by its side and for the next picture the clay figures arm will be slightly raised up towards the head and this action will continue to be done until the process is complete. All the pictures will then place together in correct order to show the clay model's arm raising up in the air.

Tweening 

Another way animation is completed is by Tweening. Tweening is the process of placing two frames in between the first and second frame making it run smoothly into the second frame. This will give more detail to the animation as it will not look like the object has jumped from one position to another. Tweening is one of the key elements in all forms of animation as it makes the animation run smoother making it look a lot better.

Morphing

Morphing, is another very popular form of animation. Morphing is when one image slowly turns into another image. Many more advanced animations, such as computer animation, use the morphing technique. Cartoons will use this feature to smoothly cut from one scene to the next.

Masking

Masking is used to block specific areas of a layer. Masking will be usually used to block objects that are not being used in that scene, but it is still there and can be revealed in a later scene. Masking doesn't mean to cut off part of an image, it more refers to "covering it up" meaning you can use it over and over again.