Forms of Animation!

This lecture touched on the various methods of animation that are still popular in the industry today. The main three forms of animation are traditional, stop motion, and 3D computer animation.

Traditional animation is created by hand-drawing each frame of the animation. Pieces of equipment such as lightboxes make this method a lot easier. You are also able to trace over frames of live action footage which is called rotoscoping. Although these methods help, many animators simply use the principles of animation that they know to work without these.



Although I'm studying a 3D Animation based course which involves little traditional animation, I have to admit that I find a lot of traditional animation much more impressive simply by knowing. For instance, one of my favourite Disney films, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, uses some elements of computer animation, but still relies heavily on traditional hand-drawn methods.



The main thing I find amazing in this animation is the effects such as the fire and smoke, which also reminded me of all the effects used in 'Colours of the Wind' from Pocahontas.