What is Computer Animation?
Computer animation can be described as an art form that involves bringing still images to life using computer technology. Animation in this form can apply to images on a computer or to those in film. When computer animation is used for movies, it is often called computer-generated imagery (CGI). To create computer animation, a still, or non-moving image, is first displayed. With speed in mind, this image is then replaced with another image. The new image is very similar to the first, but has been changed in some small way. Each subsequent image is changed slightly. This combination of rapid image replacement and slight alteration of images creates the illusion of movement. Though computer technology is used for computer animation, the technique of creating the look of movement is the same as that used for television and movie animation. To understand how movement is created with computer animation, consider a blank screen. Now imagine a person drawn on the left side of the screen. Then
How is it done? And what’s next for this merger of high technology with cartooning? These are the questions that are bugging the Why Files. So let’s wave all four arms — like the insects in the movie — and poke our bug eyes into the odd world of computer animation. Three major techniques The boffo box office of A Bug’s Life leaves us no choice: It’s time to figure out how this stuff is made. Computer animation builds on the techniques pioneered by Walt Disney. Walt bought his prosperous Land and World with Donald Duckian sagas that fooled the eye with a rapid series of ever-changing, hand-drawn still pictures. The newer technique substitutes powerful digital graphics for the artist’s hand. Instead of drawing pictures, animators use software to create various kinds of models, then endlessly manipulates them with software. Eventually, a scene is rendered, or drawn, taking hours or even days on the kind of jump-start computer most people only dream about. (For a discussion of animation
