Production: Animation (2D, 3D and Stop Motion)

As explained in the previous blog of Keyframing, animation can now begin to happen. All three styles of animation are shown on how to animate differently. 

2D 

There are two ways to animate in 2D Flash: Frame by frame or tweening. In this example of a 2D animation, the traditional method of animation is done frame by frame starting at the first frame, drawing in the beginning and then selecting a final frame and drawing that. The animator would then go to the frame in between the two and draw that, then so on until all frames are filled. 

The other way to animate is to add tweens in and letting the computer decide how to animate that specific movement, in which case the animation frame the first frame to the last will turn into a blue segment, showing the tween. This is in the 2nd picture below the first. Once the tween has been made, the animation can be manipulated by the easing of the animation. 

3D 

3D animation is the same as the tweening animation method in 2D, where one movement will be at the first frame and the next movement at the beginning of the last frame, then the computer will then automatically tween that animation. This can be manipulated by changing the ease of the animation or making it constant (the computer automatically eases in at the beginning and eases out towards the end). 

Stop Motion 

For stop motion animations, the task of animating is very difficult if an animator wants smooth and precise animations. The set up is to use a camera, a scene and the models. Here is an animator steadily moving one of his models to make another movement after he captured the first. This process is very lengthy, especially if there are more than one model to animate.