Tools for animation (P4)

Frames - The basic principle of animation is based around the use of frames. Movement is achieved by showing a sequence of pictures at such a speed that it appears as if the image is moving, frames simply refers to each picture that makes up the animation. There are two types of frames, key frames and in-betweens. Key frames are the key points in the movement the animator is trying to achieve, instead of drawing the frames in a sequential order animators first draw the extreme movements that take place two or three times over the course of a second. The in-betweens are the frames that fill the gaps of the key frames allowing the animation to flow smoothly and flawlessly from pose to pose. This is a very useful method as it gives the animator a good reference when they are trying to figure out how to make to movement flow naturally while keeping accurate and consistent.





Layers - These are different planes in which your drawings can be placed without having to worry about compromising other objects on the stage. This makes drawing and placing things such as backgrounds and other scenery objects much easier as it allows for easy editing and experimentation. Plus it is much easier than the alternative of having to draw the background again and again for every frame.










Tweening - Certain animation software packages allow several options that automatically place in-betweens between the key frames of your choosing, this comes in the form of two options them being motion tween and shape tweening. Motion tweening if you have an object located at two different positions on the stage on two different frames, the motion tween makes it so that between those two frames it will add frames where the object will move from one position to the other. Shape tweens are very similar to morphing in that if you had two different shapes like say a triangle and a square, placing a shape tween between the two frames will see the triangle morph into a square. While it may seem easier it is actually very limited compared to drawing your own in-betweens, although it does have its uses, like animating simple movements like clouds drifting in the background.