Animation for Beginners

Animation is an art. No. Animation is a fun art. We can also say that animation is a technique whereby you give life to characters or objects, but the truth is, animation is much more than that... it's miracle! When we talk about animation, we should look at our start by looking at our eyes. Nothing miraculous there? Of course, there is... but, the ability to generate a sense of animation is part of our ability to see or more specifically how we see. Seeing is a science!

Imagine you have a mountain of photographs, now imagine that you begin to see them, one by one, as fast as possible. Every time you focus on a photo, your eyes capture the information and send it to your brain. Your brain in turn, converts it into the signal that you see. I see a house, I see a boat, I see my uncle!, and so on. You might think that seeing just means opening your eyes, but each time you "look" at anything it takes a great exchange of information between your eyes and your brain, to turn that into the image that you receive. This process is not easy to perceive because it comes at an extremely small space of time, fractions of a second.

Now, let's see what happens when you take the mountain of photographs and you begin to quickly view them one by one: for each image that you place before your eyes, your brain begins to make an interpretation of it, however, since each image you are replacing a new one, if you do at the right speed, your brain is unable to interpret the whole picture and yet must begin to interpret the next image. When the flow of photos is large enough and passes at high speed, your brain begins to mix the information from an image, with the following and the next, creating the sensation of movement, that's when the magic happens and we can talk about animation.

It is estimated that the human eye is capable of distinguishing up to 24 images only if you try to see one after another for a second. If the number of images is equal or greater than 24, then the eye begins to see that the elements begin to acquire motion. Wait a minute. Does this mean that a film is nothing but a huge pile of pictures that pass before my eyes at breakneck speed? The short answer is: Yes! However, we must bear in mind that a movie is something a little more complex, as is audio-visual content, which means that also includes sound and a lot of technical details that leave pending for later.

Wait a minute! Does this mean that a film is nothing but a huge pile of pictures that pass before my eyes at breakneck speed? The short answer is: Yes! However, we must bear in mind that a movie is something a little more complex, as is audio-visual content, which means that also includes sound and a lot of technical details that leave pending for later.

In the world of animation, each image that compose an animation is known as "frame", so, the speed with which projects a film is measured in frames per second (FPS) . The more frames you have an animation, the illusion of movement will be much better and the less you have, the sense of flow will erode.

Currently, we have a wide variety of animation techniques, with which we can create content as we see in film and video. Here are some techniques:

- 2D Animation: This is a technique based on planes for the creation of frames that will be part of the animation. Hey! wait a moment, what is a plane? When you think of a plane, think of it as an uniform surface, similar to a sheet of paper, a soccer field, the floor of your house or even think of a wall. I know it sounds strange, but a plane is nothing more than a flat surface. Now, in terms a little more complicated, a plane is a workspace where you have two dimensions to pan, if you wish, you can think of these two dimensions as top-down and left-right. These two dimensions are those that form the term 2D (two dimensions) that people use when talking about 2D animation, incidentally, one of the first techniques of animation history. If you look at the edges of a sheet of paper and focus on the bottom and at the left edge, you'll notice that they are like two straight lines that are in the lower left corner. These two straight lines are those that determine the level on which you can draw and technically known as axes (in mathematics, often calling them X and Y axis). In short, when you think of 2D animation, think on a flat surface made from the paths created by an artist either on paper or whether from a computer program for 2D animation. Two good examples of this technique are most TV series you can see in Cartoon Network as well as all the classics of the Walt Disney Company ®. Let's look at another example:

Fig #1. Corto Animado "Cibertito's Crash". Technique: 2D Animation

- 3D Animation: This technique is a bit like the one above, except that they no longer talk about two dimensions, but three. A simple way of thinking is to think in 3D top-down, left-right and front and rear. Therefore, we speak of three axes, in mathematics, often call the X axis, Y axis and Z axis). Unlike 2D art, animation in three dimensions can only be done through specialized computer programs in the field, which is responsible for calculating everything you need to generate each frame that makes up an animation. Under this technique, the creator is not responsible for illustrating figures, but rather to model geometric objects and then articulated structures so that they can move through each frame of the scene under construction. 3D animation is much more complex than 2D because the software focused on the subject must perform the calculations for each point in space, which is part of each image. These estimates include: color, lighting and texture, among others. All this translates into hundreds of thousands of mathematical calculations (sometimes millions!) so maaaaaaany work! Fortunately, the computer does it and not the animator. The best examples of 3D animation you can find in movies are "Toy Story", "Finding Nemo" and in shorts as "Big Buck Bunny", which we see the following scene:

Fig #2. Animated Short "Big Buck Bunny". Technique: 3D Animation

- Stop Motion: This technique is based on playing with photographs. If you have a camera, is all you need to get started! The procedure is very simple, basically involves taking a series of pictures continuously on a scene while making small changes on the elements. Complex? No, not at all... consider a simple example! Take a ball or any object you want and place it on a table. Place your camera in a fixed position in the direction of the table and make sure it can not move easily, this point is key for a successful animation effect. Note that all the pictures we take, will be captured from the same position and from the same angle. Now, take a first shot of the ball in its original position, then move in one direction, but only a little and take another photo again. Move it back a little in the same direction you started and take a picture again. Repeat this procedure several times until the last picture is that of the ball on the edge of the table. Okay, now look at the screen of your camera and begins to review all the photos from first to last according to the same rate between each photo. You'll notice how they perceived the feeling that the ball moves toward the edge. This is Stop Motion! Two very good examples of the technique of stop motion you can find in the movies "Corpse Bride" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Now let's review an image from another simple example:

Fig #3. Animated Short "El Gran Escape". Technique: Stop Motion

Okay, now that we have a little more clearly the concept of animation, we'll see what is Tupi! Well, our definition is pretty basic: it is free software for the design and creation of 2D animation. A project developed by animators, for animators and now, in this new stage lives in constant evolution.
Want to learn how to use it? What are we waiting for? Let's start!