Days of Animation

Google Engineer Matt Cutts states “30 days is enough time to build a habit.”
I will cut this idea in half. I will create one animation each day for two weeks in a row. Each with a different kind of animation technique.
To make things more consistent, I will always focus on a spherical object.

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Day One

Zoetrope

On day one I built a zoetrope. I started with an old record player to get a fast result. Instead of using a strobe, I wanted to make it look more appealing on film so I built the whole construction with the video in mind. To avoid the strobe I had to figure out a few things first. The record player (in its faster mode) rotates the disc at 45 rotations per minute. So if we divide 45 by 60 seconds we get a value of 0.75. Since I wanted to film with 24 frames per second, I had to divide the 24 fps by 0.75 to get the number of animation frames I have to make in order to match the framerate. In this case I had to make 32 frames (per object). Now to make the animation more visible to the camera you just need to increase the shutter speed and you get a fully functional zoetrope without using a strobe. Last but not least... to make things easier I built a laser-cutted disc by myself instead of using a regular one. That way the result is much more accurate.

Day Two

Scanimation

Today, on day two, I made a scanimation. To be honest I always was fascinated by these types of animations, but never had a look at how they actually work. The moving image is displayed with two layers. The top layer is a clear foil with black vertical lines. The actual image is printed on the bottom layer. The animation I made contains 6 frames. To achieve the moving effect, the black vertical lines have to be six times thicker than the clear space between each of them. For the bottom part you use this as a mask for each frame. Then you move each frame a bit to the side, depending on the width of the clear spaces between the black vertical lines.

Day Three

Digital 2D

This day I made a 2D animation in After Effects.
No chickens were harmed in making of this video.

Day Four

Chalk Animation

This time it's an animation made with chalk on a blackboard. To make one you need to draw frame by frame. After you have drawn the frame you take the picture and then erase everything before drawing the new one. The thing that I really enjoy about this type of animation technique is the look of the wiped off chalk which makes some kind of trail.

Day Five

Cutout Animation

On Day 5 it's a cutout animation. There are a lot of different styles out there for this kind of animation technique. A well known example is South Park. But I wanted to give this "silhouette look" a try.

Day Six

Sand Animation

The latest animation is made with sand. The sand is placed on a piece of glass so that the camera can shoot from below. To make it more visible, a light source from above is necessary.

Day Seven

Phenakistoscope

This early animation device uses a spinning disk of sequential images and the persistence of vision principle to create an illusion of motion.

Day Eight

Claymation

On day eight, I made a video with clay. Claymation is one of various forms of stop motion animation.

Day Nine

Flip Book

Today I made a Flip Book. Essentially, they are a primitive form of animation. Like other motion pictures, they rely on persistence of vision to create the illusion that continuous motion is being seen rather than a series of discontinuous images being exchanged in succession.

Day Ten

Squigglevision

Squigglevision is a method of computer animation in which the outlines of shapes are made to wiggle and undulate. The non-stop motion of the "squiggling" outlines reduces the need for more complex animations in order to make a scene feel dynamic. Tom Snyder, the inventor of this method, describes the result as "economy of motion".

Day Eleven

Direct Animation

Today I made a direct animation (which is also known as Drawn-on-film animation). It is an animation technique where footage is produced by creating the images directly on film stock. Since I have no access to a projector I simply used film strips. To achieve the coloured effect I shot every single color with a camera and had the films developed in a photo lab.

Day Twelve

Lightpainting

Day Twelve is Lightpainting time. To make a Lightpainting, exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph. Instead of using a torchlight I tried to experiment with a laser pointer and some abstract forms.

Day Thirteen

Digital 3D

Today I made a 3D animation. I wanted to try out a futuristic look for this one. This time the spherical object is some kind of floating turbine.

Day Fourteen - The final day

Motion Capture

Today, on the last day, I animated some things using our motion capture equipment. The lines are drawn via the movement of the mocap takes that I recorded.