Photo Animation Softwares List

The following photograph animation softwares use still photos to create animated movies.

iStopMotion 2
Boinx Software’s iStopMotion 2, version 2.0.3, is a powerful application that both recreational moviemakers and serious Claymation artists can use to their advantage. When it comes to creating stop-motion videos on your Mac, there is simply no substitute for iStopMotion. Although shooting frame-by-frame animations is always a tedious procedure, iStopMotion streamlines the whole process from start to finish. iStopMotion is a Universal Application, which means it’s optimized to run natively on both PowerPC and Intel based Macs. iStopMotion is a fun program designed for stop-motion animation. It can work with the camera built into your Mac, or can quickly import photos to build your animations.

Morpheus Photo Animation Suite
Morpheus Photo Animation Suite Standard is a fun piece of software that allows you to make several different kinds of morphing animation. The creation process is easy and the results are very good. It is designed to transform your photos into other things such as cartoons or animals. The morphing process itself is the extent of the animation involved, but it can be interesting to play with.

Amara Photo Animation
Amara Photo Animation Software creates stunning Adobe Flash player compatible virtual tours through still photos, resulting in a slideshow where your visitors get taken through each image in a way defined by you or let them 'walk through', i.e. pan across the images themselves using their mouse. It allows you to bring motion to your still photos in a slide show, with lots of options such as pan and zoom (the 'Ken Burns' effect), as well as pauses, text over picture, hyperlinks and background music.

3D Animation Softwares List

For the most part 3D is considered to be software for professionals, although the following applications are seeing use at home.

Blender
Blender is a free, open-source 3D rendering program that puts the power of the medium back into the hands of the artist. Blender features a laundry list of animation essentials that can be broken down into categories: Interface, Modeling, Rigging, Rendering, Animation, UV Unwrapping, Shading, Physics and Particles, Imaging and Compositing, and Real Time 3D/Game Creation. The interface, though loaded with complicated tools, is remarkable for neither obscuring nor interfering with the image being worked on. A brief sampling of tools and functions includes 3D paint for vertex weighing, polygon meshes, 2D and 3D procedural brushes, edge rendering, textures, collision simulation, and support for around two dozen 2D and 3D file formats. Extras can be added with Python scripting, and since it's open source, many scripts can be easily found for download in the user forums. Blender has recently made a pretty impressive splash when it was used to create the impressive cartoon Big Buck Bunny. This entertaining and professional cartoon should be all the reason you need to try out this open source animation program.

Anim8or
Truly a personal labor of love, this 3D animation program is the creation of Steve Glanville, a software engineer for NVidia. Anim8or, besides being difficult to spell, is a Windows-only application. It is a good introductory animation program, especially if you’re interested in learning how to animate in 3D. Anim8or is a great program to begin using when you talk about 3d modeling. Anim8or is the perfect way for the inexperienced users to model and to animate their objects and characters. It is very simple to install and use for newbies, who never dreamt that they can afford to enter in modeling animation world.

iClone4
One of the most impressive features offered by iClone 4 Pro by Reallusion that allows users to easily create professional quality films without a great deal of experience with other software. The intuitive interface allows one to implement physics effects, particularly in terms of movement of cloth and set elements. One of the enhanced features of iClone 4 Pro is the motion capture ability. When characters are dressed in the clothing you have selected and designed from the extensive amount of cloth available, you can have them dance run and walk without having their clothing appear stiff or unyielding to their movements. One of the coolest features is the ability to implement an application called music sync that automatically keeps your character in tune with the beat, thus making them able to dance to music exactly as it is being played on the soundtrack. This is a truly amazing future, especially for software that is only $200. Even five years ago this would have been completely unthinkable, thus Reallusion’s IClone software has been a huge hit among casual animators and filmmakers.

Swift 3D
The ultimate 3D software for graphic and rich media designers using Adobe Flash and Microsoft Expression Blend. Swift 3D is the only 3D software to directly integrate with Flash through the Swift 3D File Importer and SmartLayer Technology and exports to Microsoft XAML. Swift 3D's toolset and interface allow anyone to quickly create 3D content, while providing a full set of advanced tools to grow into. Swift 3D is a powerful, easy-to-use 3D solution that delivers high-quality results for an unbeatable price. The original intention of the Swift 3D software was to offer a 3D alternative to Flash users. This animation program will let you model and animate directly in the software, and then export to the Flash-friendly .swf format.

Lightwave 3d 10
Lightwave is a truly professional 3D program, used to create many movies and TV special effects. Tackling Lightwave is not something you should enter into lightly. LightWave 3D graphic design software package for modeling, animation, rendering, particle FX and dynamics. Its available both for Windows 32 or 64-bit and Mac platform. The program has been used in films, game, visualization industries as well as commercial television. Feature films such as Dark Knight, Iron Man,Jumper, Serenity Pan’s Labyrinth, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. And features games including Quake IV, The Chronicles of Riddick, Doom III, Halo, Age of Mythology.

3D Studio Max
3D Studio Max wins the dubious honor of being the most exspensive animation software program on this list. You many notice that this and the next program, Maya, are both owned by Autodesk. While it’s a popular program for industrial designers and architects, 3D Studio Max is an acknowledged heavyweight in the 3D design world. It has a large user-base in architectural modeling and virtual walkthroughs, but is also the dominant player in 3D games development. 3D Studio Max is also the only major 3D product that has not bothered developing a Mac version. Probably thinking, not without reason, that the Mac market is already saturated. 3DS Max comes fully featured out of the box, but has gained a huge user base largely due to the enormous amount of third party plug-ins available for it. For example, it was one of the first packages to be able to export directly to Flash, as the result of plug-in development.

Maya
Increasingly Maya is becoming the 3D tool of choice for film, as it allows for a vast array of shading and lighting effects. Maya is also extremely customizeable, allowing for easy integration with third party software. This makes it an easy choice for animation production houses. There’s a Personal Learning Edition that you can download for free, which we recommend if you’re considering this software. Autodesk’s software has a long and prestigious following. Maya, one of their leading programs for digital 3-D creation, has been used in every movie that has won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects since 2001, and is also a favorite of top video game manufacturers. The much anticipated release of the Maya Entertainment Creation Suite 2010 brings some new features and updates to Autodesk’s popular digital 3-D creation software.

2D Animation Softwares List

The following animation softwares are all designed to function in 2D and the list order is as per the Price.

Pencil v0.4.4b
Pencil is an interesting animation program in that it allows for both vector and bitmap drawings. It’s as if the drawing tools of Photoshop were combined with the powers of Flash. The software itself has been pared down to its most essential elements, meaning it’s an excellent introductory animation program. It doesn’t have all the bells, whistles, and polish that you might find in some more complex (and often expensive) programs, but it is easy to learn the basics and get to the fun stuff quickly.  The tools it does have, give you some pretty neat capabilities, particularly if you have some drawing skill. 

Synfig Animation Studio
Synfig is a strong, industrial-strength vector-based 2D animation program package, designed from the ground-up for producing feature-film quality 2D animation with fewer people and resources. The creators of the Windows-only Synfig have ambitious goals of their animation software being used to create feature film quality animation. After watching an impressive demo it looks like they’re not far away from their goal. Synfig can create complicated lighting and camera effects, it’s up to you, the animator, to use them properly.
Free, synfig.org

CreaToon 3.0
Another Windows-only animation program, CreaToon uses a cut-out animation process, similar to Toon Boom. The application itself seems a bit less polished, but the ability to use bitmap images within the program is useful. Note that without further technical support.

Plastic Animation Paper (PAP:Pro 4.0 is released for free )
Plastic Animation Paper (PAP) is a software package for doing 2D animation. It will allow traditional animators to utilize the powerful and timesaving advantages of computers. Using PAP you see your animation as you create it, removing the need for line tests, cameras and scanners. After getting comfortable with drawing directly to the screen you never want to go back. You will increase your daily output many times. Your workflow becomes more dynamic, you get better quality and your animated character improves his acting.PAP is perfect for big studios and professional animators, as well as small companies and independent filmmakers. Beginners or semi-pro animators get an opportunity to produce great animation from their home office.

Flip Boom Classic
Flip Boom Classic is a fun and creative software for kids designed to animate freely. Based on traditional animation principles, Flip Boom Classic stimulates imagination and self expression while teaching notions of timing and motion. Easy to use, this educational software is intuitive and playful. It is ideal for children who want to start creating animation in seconds.

MotionStudio 4 
MotionStudio 4 is an easy-to-use, all-in-one multimedia authoring software, that combines image, sound, interactivity and animation for you to create stand-alone, royalty-free, executable files. It is an ideal solution for creating your slide shows, interactive and animated stories, educational materials or just "pictures to EXE" for your auto-run CD-ROM. It's compatible with Windows Vista. With MotionStudio 4, you can create scalable, vector-based drawing objects as well as adding photos and pictures. With an array of  time-saving productivity tools, adding interactive actions and animation is easy. 

Animationish
For Kids:- Animation-ish is designed to have your drawings up and moving in minutes. Animation-ish lets you design animations for movies, greeting cards, websites, presentations and school projects, and then share your creations with the world. Animation-ish is the animation program with a mission. Animation-ish is designed to encourage the artist in everyone, from amateur to professional, from kids to grown up kids. The program's simple-to-use tools, engaging design, and multiple levels offer a fun, rewarding experience providing the novice animator the courage to create with confidence. Animation-ish is a great application to learn the basics of cartoons. 

Pro Motion 6
Pro motion is a drawing and animation software for Windows designed similar to the famous Amiga Deluxe Paint (DPaint). It is ideal for artists working on detailed and pixel precise graphics as required for mobile systems like cell phones, smart phones, Pocket PCs, handheld video game consoles like Gameboy / Advance / Nintendo DS or Playstation Portable. It also suites well to create light weight graphics for the web or Macromedia Flash applications. Pro Motion is a Windows-only animation program designed for close-up pixel manipulation. This makes it ideal software for building sprite-based characters such as those found in video games.

SWiSH Max4
SWiSH Max4 is absolutely amazing. I want people to understand that this is a fully featured development environment that is capable of producing anything that flash can. If you are a developer comfortable at building things from the ground up, I feel that SWiSH Max4 is faster, more logically constructed, and easier to work with. SWiSH was initially created to take advantage of the open .swf format established by Flash. Originally billed as a cheaper Flash alternative, SWiSH has become a solid Windows-only text animation program in its own right, allowing you to easily create impressive swooping effects and export them for the internet.

Toon Boom Studio
Home Users:- Toon Boom Studio is the best 2D animation software to learn and create animation with. Ideal for students and hobbyists looking for an easy-to-use animation program, excellent for teachers and educational institutions, Studio makes all animation techniques accessible to users, offering them the most creative and rewarding experience.

CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5
Graphic design software for striking visual communication. Put the power of CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5 behind your ideas and make a bold impact across any media. This versatile graphic design software has it all—vector illustration, page layout, photo editing, tracing, Web graphics and animation in one tightly integrated suite. Designed for professional and aspiring designers alike, it offers a quick, intuitive workflow, high-value digital content, market-leading file compatibility and graphic design tools that let you do more than you thought possible.

Toon Boom Animate 
Professional:- Toon Boom Animate is a unique all-in-one vector based professional animation software that includes content creation, compositing and delivery to audiences no matter what the media. Ideal for the professional Flash animator and educator, Toon Boom Animate is the most complete Flash-style animation software for paperless creation.

CorelDRAW® Premium Suite X5
Premium design software for print, web design and video editing. Open yourself up to new web possibilities with CorelDRAW® Premium Suite X5! Built on the renowned CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite X5, this premium design collection introduces website creation, complete video editing for web and disc, and flash animation software on top of enhanced illustration, tracing and graphic design tools. What's more, this high-value suite gives you hundreds of dollars in savings, compared to buying the applications separately. Now, do even more than you thought possible.

TVP Animation Standard Edition
TVP Animation is a unique package for the creation of graphic content and 2D animation and is intended for all digital painting and animation lovers. This package offers a complete toolset to create a simple blue-lined rough animation sketch to digital hand-drawn paperless animation. TVP Animation also allows you to import pictures to create cool animation or you can grab the pictures directly from the application and then create and add some cool 2D animated sequences with your own Custom Brushes.

Adobe Flash Professional CS5
CS5 brings out a new version of Flash that will transform the way many use the program, and will open up new possibilities for animation, design, web development, and interactive content sharing. Adobe Flash Professional CS5 software combines expressive design features like a new multilingual text engine and more realistic inverse kinematics effects with timesaving development features like extensible code snippets and enhanced ActionScript authoring options.

Adobe After Effects CS5
After Effects CS5 is Adobe’s powerful motion graphics software for designers and visual effects artists. The program is one of three in the new version of Adobe's Creative Suite to go 64-bit native, taking full advantage of the multicore processors and more RAM. The new version introduces some high-end features: The Roto Brush tool lets you easily isolate foreground elements in complex scenes. It also features native support for the new AVC-Intra 50 and AVC-Intra 100 codecs, as well as expanded native support for RED camera footage. It also offers an auto-keyframe mode, supports custom color lookup tables, includes an updated version of Synthetic Aperture’s Color Finesse 3 LE color correction tool, and now includes the Digieffects FreeForm plugin.

TVP Animation 9.5 Professional Edition
TVP Animation Pro is the best professional solution for the creation of 2D bitmap animation.It is nothing but the favorite tool of professionals who want the best of digital animation: an environment consisting of the traditional animation workflow combined with all the advantages of the digital world. Because artists can now paint, animate and effect in one single application, the first significant result is that you will increase your productivity like never before. And you will paint using a drawing engine that allows you to create any type of content. Your style won't be limited like it is when using a vector application; you're free to bring to life any kind of graphic content.

Toon Boom Animate Pro
Professional:- Toon Boom Animate Pro is the most complete professional animation software for cutting-edge animators. It offers award-winning state-of-the-art content creation, animation and compositing toolset for any style of animation, all within a single desktop application.

Comic Books in 3D, Holographic, Digitized

Comic Books in 3D
The thing about comic books nowadays should have a dramatic make over. High-technology evolution can make that possible. In the era of information technology, comic publishers will have the chance to come up with feasible ideas of changing the fields of comic drawing. With all the technologies springing up like mushrooms, comic book illustrations can have a major facelift. Readers cannot deny it that they are getting tired of seeing their comic books drawn in pencils and inks. It is time to make an awesome change. Comic book publishers should have to think some other ways on how to make over will result to making a valuable impact to the readers and comic book fanatics. But it is time lay down the cards and see if current and useful technologies are suitable for implementing the comic book evolution.

Holographic Comic Books
During the early 80's, hologram was a thing that anybody can find around. From bags to wallets and kitchen utensils. It was a fad among youngsters with even their pencil cases were designed with holographic images of their favorite cartoon characters or movie idols. The reason for this was the unique three dimensional or 3D effect of this optical illusion. Holograms can be done by layers of photographic images. One layer is the original photo and the other layer is the photo being diffused by light. With the combination of it, the image seems to be in 3D appearance. By that sense, comic books can also be in hologram to make it appear in 3D. Usually publishers of comic books do the hologram effects on only the front and back cover of it. Why not do it from start to end? It can be more appealing to the readers and it can certainly attract more fanatics. The reason is, it is really a one of a kind design for comic books. Right now visual entertainments are in 3D so let it go with the flow. But the text dialogue of it, should be like the way it is.

Comic Books Got Digitized
Now that Marvel Comic books have been introduced as one of the several applications available on iPad, there is a concrete reason to make it in 3D. Images on the digital comic books or also known as comic e-books can be easily converted into 3D effects. Aside from that, readers may have the comic e-books anywhere they go with their iPad and access it anytime they want to read it. One more thing that Marvel Comics should really consider is the digital audio for it. With these pieces put together, three of the five human senses can interact, the sense of sight, hear and touch, when accessing a comic e-book. Some kind of a digital experience. Visual 3D entertainment has really come to an age. It will be breath-taking to see how human artistic imagination and mastery can capture its audience. The three dimensional representation of images are advancing to give pleasure and can be almost a real life experience. Maybe give the technology a few more years then it will be totally a great digital experience for all.

Now, Books take on 3D Avatar

SEOUL: Pop-up is so passe: South Korean scientists have developed 3D technology for books that makes characters literally leap off the page. 

The popularity of 3D entertainment has been given a boost by a slew of recent films, including the sci-fi blockbuster " Avatar" and Tim Burton's " Alice in Wonderland". 

Several companies are also offering 3D televisions and a 3D video game console will be launched soon. At South Korea's Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, researchers used 3D technology to animate two children's books of Korean folk tales, complete with writhing dragons and heroes bounding over mountains. 

Pictures in the books have cues that trigger the 3D animation for readers wearing computer-screen goggles. As the reader turns and tilts the book, the three-dimensional animation moves accordingly. "It took us about three years to develop the software for this," said Kim Sang-cheol, the team leader of the project. 

Kim said the technology could be used for any type of book and sees it eventually being used for images displayed over smartphones or at museums to enhance exhibits. But those waiting for 3D books may have to wait long. "It will take a while to market this technology to the general public," Kim said. He was not sure of the eventual price but thinks it will be affordable enough to be mass marketed.

Read more: Now, books take on 3D avatar - The Times of India 

Birth of the Movie Industry

The first cinematograph screenings organized for a paying public took place in Paris on 28 December 1895 and which made an immediate attraction, showing in London's West End a few months later. Within a year, Qeen Victoria saw films made by the Uumi re brothers at Windsor Castle, which were accompanied by a full orchestra. These early films were projected at 16 frames per second and were about 50 feet in length, lasting about 50 seconds. Within a few years the average length of films had increased, together with the number of cinemas and other xhibition venues.

The movie industry was born, movies had suddenly become a form of mass Entertainment throughtout the Europe and the USA. At this time audiences saw little difference between live action (real scenes shot with a movie camera) and animation (drawn or painted images photographed frame by frame). The fact that light and shadow on a screen created scenes and people that moved was enthralling enough.

In December 1937 Disney introduced the first full-length feature animation to a marvelling audience the entirely hand-drawn, colour Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In 1998, some sixty years later, the Disney Studios, with Pixar, achieved another milestone with the first full-length feature 3D computer animation film, Toy story. This time, although the computer-generated toys looked exactly like real toys, the challenge was not so much to create the illustion of reality but to endow the 3D toys with individualistic character and personality, as was so clearly achieved with Snow white. Good characterization is often more difficult to achieve in 3D animation than in 2D work.

From 1902 to 2002 and beyond we have seen the massive growth of an industry and the growth of audience expectatons. Intitially people were enchanted just peering throught a slot and seeing a cycle of hand-drawn images moving. Then they were enthralled by the vision of real things and people moving on a large screen. Now they expect to see the impoosible happen and look utterly real.

Motion Capture Technology

Motion Capture or Motion tracking or mocap are terms used to describe the process by which movement is digitally recorded.

This technique was originally used for military tracking purposes and in sports as a tool for biomechanic research which focused on the mechanical functioning of the body, like how the heart and muscles work and move. It is also used for validation of computer vision and robotics. In the last twenty-five years, motion capture has become an essential tool in the entertainment business, giving computer animators the ability to make non-human characters more life-like. In filmmaking it refers to recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation.

Historically, motion capture in animated movies was created using an extension of the rotoscoping technique. In this technique, movements of one or more actors are sampled many times per second, while wearing markers on specific points of his or her body. Motion capture records only the movements of the actor, not his visual appearance. Each marker in each frame of film is then manually encoded into the computer algorithm and mapped to a 3D model so that the model performs the same actions as the actor. 

It is a much faster way to film than rotoscoping, and it can provide real time results. Additionally, because the process records only movement as opposed to physical features, it allows one actor to play many roles. Perhaps most importantly in terms of realism, the accuracy of the data allows complex movements to be replicated with the correct distribution of weight and exchange of forces.

Motion capture technology is a good example of how digital techniques are being applied to the movie and related industries to allow more convincing visualizations of imaginary or composite images. For motion capture you use human actors who are dressed in a leotard with integral reflective or magnetic markers. The actor performs the actions that are required, and the digital cameras - or array of cameras - capture the motion of the reflective markers. Camera movements can also be motion captured so that a virtual camera in the scene will pan, tilt, or dolly around the stage driven by a camera operator while the actor is performing, and the motion capture system can capture the camera and props as well as the actor's performance. This allows the computer-generated characters, images and sets to have the same perspective as the video images from the camera. A computer processes the data and displays the movements of the actor, providing the desired camera positions in terms of objects in the set. Retroactively obtaining camera movement data from the captured footage is known as match moving or camera tracking.

Motion capturing techniques are very effective, but the computer processing needs much human intervention, and if there is any error in the data, you can find it more effective to re-shoot the whole scene rather than correct the data. However, motion capture technology is so much more effective and realistic than traditional techniques, and ultimately less time consuming, that its future looks assured in movies and in video games.

The recorded data is sent computer alogorithm that converts this motion data into a composite figure. You then modify this composite figure by normal computer animation software and human intervention. The end product gives the effect of an animated character acting directly with human actors. Giving an absolutely life-like image of a composite character. 

It's a techonolgy used in animated films and television as well as video games.

Motion capture techniques can vary by their input methods, there are four primary input methods: 
  1. Prosthetic motion
  2. Acoustic motion
  3. Magnetic motion
  4. Optical motion

Prosthetic or mechanical motion capture uses trigonometry to input the data from mechanical devices attached to the performer’s body. Because of the inhibitive nature of the machinery, it is seldom used today.

Acoustic motion capture uses audio transmitters on the actor's body that make a clicking sound when activated by movement. Receivers measure the time it takes for the sound to reach them and triangulate the data to indicate a point on a 3D plane. While the acoustic method doesn't encounter some of the problems of the optical method since a line of sight is not an issue, it does have other potential problems including audio interference affecting the accuracy of the motion capture.

Magnetic motion capture is one of the more commonly used methods. This approach uses a central magnet and several receivers attached to the actor's body. The receivers capture and record the actors movements and save them to the computer. Magnetic motion capture can be hindered by nearby metal objects if they are large enough, and depending on the power of the magnets being used, the capture area may not be as large as one would like.

Optical motion capture is probably the most popular motion capture method. This approach uses at least three cameras and proper lighting to recreate the performer's position in a 3D space. Optical motion capture allows for a larger performance area and less inhibited movement than the other methods. Because of the cost of each camera, this approach is likely to be the most expensive of the four.

Animate Literally Means

To animate literally means “to give life to”. Animating is moving something (or making something appear to move) that cannot move itself, whether it is a puppet of King Kong, a hand-drawn image of Snow White, the hands of a watch, or a synthetic image of a wooden toy cowboy. Animation has been used to teach and entertain from the early days of puppetry and continues to be used today in film and video. It is a powerful tool to spark the imagination of the child in all of us. Animation adds the dimension of time to computer graphics. This opens up great potential for transmitting information and knowledge to the viewer while igniting the emotions. Animation also creates a whole new set of problems for those who produce the images that constitute the animated sequence. To animate something, the animator has to be able to control, either directly or indirectly, how the thing is to move through time and space as well as how it might change its own shape or appearance over time.

In computer animation, any value that can be changed can be animated. An object’s position and orientation are obvious candidates for animation, but all of the following can be animated as well: the object’s shape, its shading parameters, its texture coordinates, the light source parameters, and the camera parameters. To set the context for computer animation, it is important to understand its heritage, its history, and certain relevant concepts like motion perception, the technical evolution of animation, animation production, and notable works in computer animation. 

The fundamental objective of computer animation programming is to select techniques and design tools that are expressive enough for animators to specify what they intend, yet at the same time are powerful enough to relieve animators from specifying any details they are not interested in. Obviously, no one tool is going to be right for every animator, for every animation, or even for every scene in a single animation. The appropriateness of a particular animation tool depends on the effect desired and the control required by the animator. An artistic piece of animation will usually require tools different from those required by an animation that simulates reality or educates a patient.

Difference between Computer-Assisted Animation and Computer-Generated Animation.

Computer Assisted Animation refers to systems consisting of one or more two-dimensional planes that computerize the traditional (hand-drawn) animation process. Interpolation between key shapes is typically the only use of the computer in producing this type of animation (in addition to the non–motion control uses of the computer in tasks such as inking, shuffling paper, and managing data).

Computer Generated Animation in which the animator is typically working in a synthetic three-dimensional environment with the objective of specifying the motion of both the cameras and the 3D objects (e.g., as in Toy Story ). For discussion purposes, motion specification for computergenerated animation is divided into two broad categories, interpolation and basic techniques  and advanced algorithms. These somewhat arbitrary names have been chosen to accentuate the computational differences among approaches to motion control. The former group can be thought of as low level because the animator exercises fine control over the motion and the expectations of the animator are very precise. The latter group comprises high-level algorithms in which control is at a coarser level with less of a preconceived notion of exactly what the motion will look like. Use of the term algorithms is meant to reinforce the notion of the relative sophistication of these techniques.

The interpolation and basic technique category consists of ways in which the computer is used to fill in the details of the motion once the animator specifies the required information. Examples of techniques in this category are key framing and path following. When using these techniques, animators typically have a fairly specific idea of the exact motion they want; these techniques give animators a direct and precise way of specifying and controlling the motion, with the computer’s function limited to filling in appropriate numeric values that are required to produce the desired motion. 

High-level procedural algorithms and behavioral models generate motion using a set of rules or constraints that specify what is to be done instead of how it is to be done. The animator chooses an appropriate algorithm or sets up the rules of a model and then selects initial values or boundary conditions. The system is then set into motion, so to speak, and the objects’ motions are automatically generated by the algorithm or model. These approaches, such as particle systems and rigid body dynamics, often rely on sophisticated computations.

The motion control methods can also be discussed in terms of the level of abstraction at which the animator is working. At one extreme, at a very low level of abstraction, the animator could individually color every pixel in every frame using a paint program. At the other extreme, at a very high level of abstraction, the animator could (in an ideal world) tell a computer to “make a movie about a dog.” Presumably, the computer would whirl away while it computes such a thing. A high level of abstraction frees the animator from dealing with the myriad details required to produce a piece of animation. A low level of abstraction allows the animator to be very precise in specifying exactly what is to be displayed and when. In practice, animators want to be able to switch back and forth and to work at various levels of abstraction depending on the desired effect. Developing effective animation tools that permit animators to work at both high and low levels of abstraction is a particular challenge.

This distinction between basic techniques and advanced algorithms is made primarily for pedagogical purposes. In practice the collection of techniques and algorithms used in computer animation forms a continuum from low to high levels of abstraction. Each technique requires a certain amount of effort from the animator and from the computer. This distribution of workload between the animator and the computer is a distinguishing characteristic among animation techniques. Intuitively, low-level techniques tend to require more user input and employ fairly straightforward computation. High-level algorithms, on the other hand, require less specific information from the animator and more computation.

Categories of Animation Business

Chances are, you will succeed in any one or more of the seven basic animation categories:
  • Hollywood feature films
  • TV commercials
  • Televised entertainment
  • Games
  • Home videos
  • Business communications
  • E-media

Hollywood Feature Films : Hollywood feature films need not actually be produced in Los Angeles, California, but it really helps if you are located somewhere near this geo-creative nexus. Several excellent animation studios working on feature films exist as far away as Santa Barbara, Seattle, and even Massachusetts. Obviously, the benefit of a global Internet marketplace makes locating your animation business in Bombay, India, practical (and I would bet that the savvy Hollywood producer will one day discover the cost benefits of global sourcing). However, feature film production is still a lunchie, backslapping, meshpuka1 kind of business where personal contact represents a major part of the deal. It’s a little hard to schmooze over a T-1 line.
Cracking into a gig doing 3-D animation for feature films is kind of like cracking into feature films as a director. You have to be really persistent, concentrate exclusively on this market, and be a bit lucky. If you have a really good show reel, particularly with regard to character animation and  compositing, you might get a break.You’ll need to find a new director or producer who is looking to get some good, cheap CGI into a film and needs to find a low-budget supplier to make the budget. It’s like the music video business where you find an unsigned band and get to be their video person. They make it? So do you. Short of that leap, you can send your reel to existing shops that already work the feature film market and hope their needs and your reel match up.

TV Commercials : TV commercials are another hard market to crack, but easier than feature films. As the commercials get higher in budget, the market gets harder to crack. If you live in a second- or third-tier market (that is, a city that is not New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles), you can pitch your reel to advertising agencies and commercial producers. If your reel is a starter, you should still be able to get some work doing cable commercials, but if you have a stick of dynamite with a sizzling fuse, head for a top-tier market, hire a rep, and go for broke.
The top markets are dominated by the big advertising agencies that have an established custom of seeing new talent. You basically call producers or, better yet, their assistants, send your reel, and pester them a bit until they see it. It’s a hit or miss proposition. Having a rep with existing client contacts helps enormously. Reps come in all flavors, from the ones who have their own businesses, to reps you hire yourself on a full-time basis. Maybe, on second thought, it’s a good idea to get a start in a small town, build a good reel, and work your way to one of the three coasts.

Televised Entertainment : Televised entertainment includes TV shows that use 3-D animation and composited effects as part of their weekly fare. Again, this is primarily a Los Angeles market, but nothing is stopping you from creating your own show in Smalltown, USA, pitching it to a network, and getting a sale. Mike Judge did that with Beavis and Butt-head, although he used primitive, 2-D cell animation instead of sophisticated 3-D computer techniques.
The cost of producing a half-hour or hour-long pilot using 3-D animation is rather small compared to making a filmed presentation. You’re biggest expense will be the voices. Mike Judge did several of his own.
Cable television, especially the public access channels, is a great place to get started. You can test your production techniques, audience response, and enjoyment for the process with little risks.

Games : Game devices, from arcades to set-top boxes (and computers in between), continually increase their capabilities to emulate real 3-D, photorealistic action. The market for 3-D animation in the gaming community is always growing and highly competitive. Skills that will place you at the head of the line include character and creature development, achieving photorealistic playback with minimum memory allocation, understanding moving camera dynamics, and, of course, good teamwork.
You may consider designing your own game and using it to penetrate the market. Certain equipment requirements, such as a motion capture system, may be beyond your reach, but your creative concept, supported by less sophisticated choreography, may be adequate to earn you a significant production contract, or at least a great job.

Home Videos : Home Videos are another outlet for creative 3-D animation. If you decide to make your own televised entertainment, you can extend the selling opportunities of your work by sending it to home video distributors.
You can also go to your local video rental house, look over the special interest videos section, and collect the names of key producers. These enterprising businesspeople are always looking for a way to spice up their productions, and if you can price a package of logos, graphics, special effects, and other eye candy for their productions, you will have found a friend and a long-lasting client.

Business Communications : Business communications is the largest market for 3-D animation, especially videos and DVDs that are made to explain the arcane intricacies of medicine and high technology. Here your market is composed of producers, marketing directors, human resource managers, venture capital entrepreneurs, and training directors, all of whom have a constant need to have their communications embellished by animation and graphics.
Many of these clients have liberal criteria regarding the quality and complexity of the animations they purchase. If you are a beginner, and your reel is not yet replete with the most original, cutting-edge work, you may still be able to make sales in this category. Your client may not have had the opportunity to see some sophisticated work or does not understand the difference between the reels of a beginner and a seasoned pro. This limited window of opportunity should not be exploited by laziness. If you are lucky to get a client after only a few months’ practice in 3-D, don’t sit on your laurels and take your good fortune for granted.Keep pushing yourself and your skills.

E-Media : E-media presentations that appear over the Internet represent another large and growing market, which temporarily offers advantages to the beginner. Because most e-media is streamed to the viewer at a comparatively low bandwidth, the complexity of the animation it can play is severely limited. Beginners, whose work is limited by their level of knowledge, can exploit a medium whose resolution is limited by its bandwidth if the beginner is aware of how these two limitations overlap.
Low bandwidth means fewer colors and shading, fewer frames, simpler morphing, and less detail than full-bandwidth imagery. If you plan to get your start in this category, concentrate your initial skill set on achieving good results within the limitations of the medium and expand your skill set as the medium’s bandwidth increases. You just may get in on the ground floor of something big.