Forms of Animation
Hi… Now that you know what Animation is and how it began lets look at the types of animations. It can be broadly classified into two categories 2-Dimensional or 2D and 3-Dimensional or 3D. People generally confuse the type of animation with the medium used for example clay, cut-outs etc. but we shall come to those a little later.
Tom and Jerry (2D animation)
Shrek (3D animation)
2D animation is also at times referred to as Traditional Animation or Cel Animation, since animation clips were produced traditionally by drawing on paper and later transfering them on cels (a thin clear plastic sheet made of cellulose nitrate). Walt Disney, the creator of Mickey Mouse popularized 2D animation with films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio etc.
Here’s the basic difference between 2D and 3D; its that additional ‘D’ or dimension. 2D animations consist of only the height and width. In other words they are flat and what they lack is the third dimension called ‘depth’. The sense of depth in 2D is got through the use of color shades and painted shadows. Where as in 3D we have height, width and depth.
In the early days when computers didn’t exist or were limited to the military and research teams, all the animations were hand-drawn, colored and later photographed and transferred to film. With the advent of computers and the development of the Computer Graphics technology different avenues began to openup and the concept of 3D came into existence. Computers began assisting animators thus taking the world of Animation to a whole new level. Softwares like 3dstudio Max and Maya came into being. Computer Generated Graphics started a revolution, but the love for Traditional hand-drawn animation still remains…
