So familiar yet so intriguing, animation pops up in almost everything we see. Now, for the first time, the history, techniques, and thinking behind this medium is thoroughly explored. Full-color photos.

Animation can be used to illustrate, simplify and explain complicated subjects, as well as to transform stories into engaging, fantastical narratives. There are many types of animation, all of which can incorporate different artistic techniques such as sculpture, drawing, painting, printing and textiles. In this practical guide, animation tutor Steve Roberts explores the twelve basic principles of animation, demonstrating the different techniques available and offering helpful exercises for readers to practise in their chosen style. From pencils to pixels, flip books to feature films, and plasticine to puppets, this helpful book covers everything you need to know about how to start animating and will be of great interest for anyone looking to learn how to make their own animated films.

An exposition of state-of-the-art techniques in rendering and animation. This book provides a unique synthesis of techniques and theory. Each technique is illustrated with a series of full-color frames showing the development of the example.

Basic Animation Stand Techniques describes the use and importance of the animation stand in making animated films for the screen. The book describes the fundamental operation and construction of the animation stand where the film camera is mounted. The text explains in detail how the animation stand holds the camera, which points vertically straight down on the table containing the artwork. The selection describes the zoom movement, the light box, and the cell punch. Then the book discusses the three kinds of methods of animation, namely, modification, substitution, and mechanical movement. The book teaches some basic techniques of animation as well as the use of superimposition, image replacement, back projection, aerial image, fades, or mixes. The text explains exposures at different sized fields and camera exposure sheets, the latter containing detailed instructions on how to shoot each single frame. The book also notes the settings that can be achieved on a modern animation stand, including the counters and calibration of gears and wheels. For example, a movement can be as precise as a hundredth of an inch, while a rotation can be made in a tenth of a degree. The book also provides a fairing table, different exposures for different films, and a method to approximate the amount of film stock left in a magazine. The text is valuable for artists, animators, animation technicians, film directors, and others working in the film industry.

Driven by the demands of research and the entertainment industry, the techniques of animation are pushed to render increasingly complex objects with ever-greater life-like appearance and motion. This rapid progression of knowledge and technique impacts professional developers, as well as students. Developers must maintain their understanding of conceptual foundations, while their animation tools become ever more complex and specialized. The second edition of Rick Parent's Computer Animation is an excellent resource for the designers who must meet this challenge. The first edition established its reputation as the best technically oriented animation text. This new edition focuses on the many recent developments in animation technology, including fluid animation, human figure animation, and soft body animation. The new edition revises and expands coverage of topics such as quaternions, natural phenomenon, facial animation, and inverse kinematics. The book includes up-to-date discussions of Maya scripting and the Maya C++ API, programming on real-time 3D graphics hardware, collision detection, motion capture, and motion capture data processing. - New up-to-the-moment coverage of hot topics like real-time 3D graphics, collision detection, fluid and soft-body animation and more! - Companion site with animation clips drawn from research & entertainment and code samples - Describes the mathematical and algorithmic foundations of animation that provide the animator with a deep understanding and control of technique

Whether you're planning to rig up a camera in a back room or you're already working in a production studio, if you're eager to expand your knowledge, this book will guide you through the techniques of animation.

Apple’s Core Animation framework enables Mac OS X, iPhone, and iPod touch developers to create richer, more visual applications–more easily than ever and with far less code. Now, there’s a comprehensive, example-rich, full-color reference to Core Animation for experienced OS X and iPhone developers who want to make the most of this powerful framework. Marcus Zarra and Matt Long reveal exactly what Core Animation can and can’t do, how to use it most effectively–and how to avoid misusing it. Building on your existing knowledge of Objective-C, Cocoa, and Xcode, they present expert techniques, insights, and downloadable code for all aspects of Core Animation programming, from keyframing to movie playback. Zarra and Long thoroughly review similarities and differences between Core Animation on the Mac and iPhone, helping you write code that can easily move between platforms. They also present a full chapter of innovative techniques and proven “rules of thumb” for optimizing Core Animation’s real-world performance. Coverage includes: Taking full advantage of Core Animation’s lightweight layers and views Using keyframes to gain complete control over your animations Creating startling effects with Core Animation transforms Leveraging Core Image’s powerful filtering capabilities from within Core Animation Playing QuickTime movies using Core Animation’s QTMovieLayer Using the OpenGL layer to achieve greater control over movie playback Integrating advanced Quartz Composer visualizations into your user interfaces How to use helper layers to draw gradients, composite shapes, and replicate sublayers Adding mouse and keyboard user interaction points, and much more...