Literature Review

Literature Review

Traditional Animation Techniques
2D Animation
Cels
Keyframes
Inbetweens
Acetate sheet
Dope sheet
Rostrum table


In consideration of the hypothesis question “Will traditional 2D cel animation techniques remain in the world of 3D CGI” it is necessary to overview the process of traditional 2D cel animation techniques.

Taylor (1996, p52 ) describes the cel as “ a thin , transparent acetate, is an unresponsive substance on which to draw, but it is essential to drawn animation as a means of avoiding unnecessary labour. Early in the history of cartoon films ,various attempts were made to avoid the tedious labour of redrawing the entire scene for every movement drawing. With the advent of transparent celluloid (hence “cel”) the problem was solved. A single background could be used with all the movement drawings of a scene”. Appendix A

The use of backgrounds is further described as Taylor (1996, p46) outlines “the background is the element which is most like a conventional picture. Stylistically, the main consideration is to achieve a marriage of technique between background and character”.

Animations begin with the initial line drawing of the character provided by the original animator and this provides the keyframe. The subsequent frames would be draw by people known as “Inbetweeners” who would fill in the detail until the next keyframe. For example, a character that is walking would start from the keyframe were the foot is initially on the ground and 12 frames later the foot would again be replaced in a forward location on the ground. The “Inbetweeners” would fill in the movement detail between the two keyframes. Appendix B

The character(s) are then traced, from the original animators drawings, onto transparent acetate sheet(s) and must be kept Laybourne (1998, p175) “in accurate alignment so that the projected image won't be jerky”. This alignment is achieved through the use of a registration system by means of a peg bar. Acetate sheets have holes accurately punched in them that register with the peg bar, thereby keeping each drawn frame in positional relationship with the next frame. Appendix C

Production of the animation continues with the colouring of the animation character(s)and background using either acrylic paint or spirit based markers.
The acetate sheets or cels must then be placed into order, with the background at the bottom and the other scenes or characters placed above. Taylor (1996, p53) describes the necessity to use a dope sheet to organise the layout of the frames as “without a dope sheet the cels, no matter how carefully numbered, would be a meaningless heap. On the dope sheet they are organised frame by frame in the correct relationship with each other to create the action as planned”. Appendix D

A camera mounted on a rostrum, outlined by Taylor (1996, p26) as “a film (or video) camera fixed on a stand which varies in complexity, giving movement to the camera and the table on which the drawings are laid”.
The rostrum table also enables the background imagery to be moved, creating the illusion that the character is travelling across the screen. In reality, the character remains in the same position on the rostrum table. Appendix E

Computers in Animation
Using Computers for ~
2D Animation
Photoshop
Flash

Computers are now used in many aspects of 2D animation and as outlined by Taylor(1996, p71) “these programs eliminate many of the production stages and assist greatly with others. Even where the original animation drawing is hand -done and scanned into the the computer's system , all manual tracing and colouring is eliminated”.

The production of an animation begins with the initial pencil line drawing of the character(s), which are then scanned into the computer, where a typical software package such as photoshop is used.

Photoshop enables the character drawing to be placed initially on a transparent layer. Colour is then applied to the character and through the process of reducing/resizing, cutting and pasting, the selected parts of the image are placed on individual transparent layers. The parts of the character that are to be animated are then on their own separate transparent layers within one photoshop psd file.

The Flash software program enables the photoshop psd file to be imported into a library and this then contains all the 'asset' parts of the character animation.
These 'asset' parts then appear on individual timelines, where each part may be controlled in relation to time using keyframes to denote the starting position of the character and motion with the use of motion tweens. The positional order that characters appear on the stage may also be controlled by the relationship of the layers and this enables the characters to appear in front of a static or moving background image.

CGI versus Traditional Animation Techniques

The impact and relationship of 3D CGI / 2D cel animation hybrids
From a Research Report for the MA in History of Film and Visual Media, 2002. The future of the cartoon feature film. Available at :
http://www.zenonic.demon.co.uk/zenofilm.htm

outlines that “As well as competing, CGI has also been used with cel animation in a co-operative manner. In the late 1930s, Disney developed the 'multiplane' camera system, an elaborate animation stand that allowed several separated cel layers (foreground characters and background sets), to be moved independently frame by frame, giving a powerful illusion of three-dimensional space. An updated version of this technique uses CGI to replace the background layers”. Appendix F

“One advantage of this approach (which it shares with 3D CGI) is that it makes it simple to adjust the position of the camera and even move it during a shot. While the 'multiplane' system allowed the camera to perform tracking and zooming shots, it could not cope with a true pan because rotating a constant background image introduces unacceptable perspective distortion. CGI offers much more freedom because the background is redrawn in the proper perspective for each frame”.

“Films produced using this approach are sometimes called 2D/3D hybrids. In such films the foreground characters are handled in a conventional 2D manner (though often using computers to assist the animators to do tweening) but background scenery - buildings and trees for example as well as features such as crowds - are modelled using 3D CGI. This is becoming an increasingly popular way of producing 'traditional style' cartoons”.

“Those within the industry seem convinced that although 2D cel animation will survive, it will be largely in the form of hybrid 2D/3D cartoons. As well as reducing costs, using CGI for backgrounds allows for a more dynamic camera, matching the increased demand for thrills and excitement. In any case, the training offered to would-be animators these days is heavily biased in favour of CGI, so young artists with traditional 2D cel skills are becoming harder to find”.

Jonathan Ross, 'Interview with John Lasseter
“In about 2 years there will be a series of two to three computer animated films that will not do well at the box office and a hand-drawn film that is great and will rake it in. The headlines will be 'The Resurrection of Hand Drawn Animation. Computer Animation is Dead'. It is in the hands of the artist, and animation is a wonderful thing. I actually think it can do far more than we've ever seen. Both puppet, computer and hand-drawn will co-exist well. Basically what makes money is entertaining films. If it entertains, it fundamentally has the best chance of making money at the box office”.