"2D animation figures are created and/or edited on the computer using 2D bitmap graphics or created and edited using 2D vector graphics. This includes automated computerized versions of traditional animation techniques such as of, interpolated morphing, onion skinning and interpolated rotoscoping.
2D animation has many applications, including analog computer animation, Flash animation and PowerPoint animation. Cinemagraphs are still photographs in the form of an animated GIF file of which part is animated."
2D animation has been around for a long time and has evolved greatly over it because it's industry is so large and diverse trying to summarise it would be impossible instead I'm going to mention and discuss relevant and important events and information.
2D animation has existed for a lot longer than most people would assume. Earliest examples date back to cavemen who supposedly drew animals and such (Cave paintings) on the walls of caves trying to convey the perception of movement. However because there was no way to view it to make it actually seem like it was moving it technically does not class as a "true animation". With that said animations which actually looked like they were moving became popular in and around the 19th century commonly done with a technique which still exists today. Flip book animations. (Drawing an image of each page then flipping through them quickly to give the illusion of movement.)
Despite the previous paragraph many people think or related to Steam Boat Willie as the first or earliest animation. Granted it is a very famous cartoon which is also considered the debut of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Although those were not the same characters, they look similar in design. Steam Boat Willie was also the first cartoon with synchronized sound thus giving it an edge over other cartoons from the era. (Which was 1928). From then onwards Walt Disney has been a well known name within the animating industry, producing a lot of well known and famous films. Some of their earlier work based upon already existing stories such as Snow White and Robin Hood and thus they are very well known because they recreated such popular stories and tales giving them a new life and giving viewers a new perception of them from being able to see it animated and in colour.
In earlier animations like many early Disney films the animation was done frame by frame drawn by a person or team then pieced together this is known as cel animation. This is created by animators drawing out scenes on pieces of paper, each one slightly different to the last. Which are then moved onto transparent acetate sheets known as cells. These are then filled with colours onto the opposite side of the drawings. The final pieces are then photographed one by one onto a film. This technique was rendered obsolete by the 21st century with the increasing use of software and digital methods of creating animations.
Within traditional animation there is also several subcategories, one famous example of one, Space Jam being an example of Live-action and animation combined to create a seemingly real animation. Space Jam included Looney Toons characters and Michael Jordan (Famous basketball player) and combined them to create a film aimed at children with humour typical to the Looney Toons cartoons. Obviously acting within one of these would require the actor to pretend the animations are already there and that they were real to create a realistic effect for the viewers.
Due to some of the earlier films were also low budget ones, for example Disney's Robin Hood re-used footage, sound and voice actors from other films such as The Jungle Book, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Artistocats.
Limited animation is another type of animation involving less detail, famously used to create the Yellow Submarine film for the Beatles' song. it is also widely used in animation from Japan (Anime) which is still commonly used in modern times. It consists of using less detail and also reusing frames rather than redrawing them. Whereas traditional animation is time consuming and expensive because of it, limited animation is by contrast quicker and thus cheaper to produce, it was originally used to save money and still produce quality animations. Another comparison to show the difference would be that traditional animation is around 24 frames per second and limited animations are often done on 12 frames per second and anime styled animations are done on 8. Excluding scenes with a lot of movement in which there would obviously be more frames. Due to limited animations having restrictions and constraints it allowed for abstract and unique animations to be published which are now well known. (As mentioned above)
Due to animation being such a large industry it has many uses and purposes in the world and has done for awhile. Websites has cropped up to act as a meeting place for animators and to share work. Animations have commonly been used for advertising ranging from simple 2D ones to claymation, although this is not the history of 2D animation it certainly shows a trend for the near future as companies try to promote creative and different medias to try and push their brand out to a wider audience, or perhaps a company wants to appear friendlier and simpler by using an animation over a real person and or narrator. After briefing discussing the possible future of animations, it has slowly become more and more popular within advertising to use animations for reasons as mentioned before, although animations have often been used as opening sequences to programs and/or credits but they are commonly used with or without characters or lips syncing or things that would be traditionally related to animating. However because it's still animating something to then do something, it's still animating for example an old television show had an intro in which the camera would go through a keyhole and into a house and thus was animated.
When creating an animation there are obviously several different ways to do so, as mentioned earlier cell shading used to be very popular and most schools often get children to make flip book animations. However with the use of Adobe Flash animation can be done quickly and easily by almost anyone! (Not really, but it is pretty simple once you understand it).
As you can see above there is a snippet of a timeline in which you can see some frame by frame animation and tweens! Let’s revert back to basics, frame by frame animation is pretty forward. Quite simply you do something, move onto the next frame and do something else, doing this until you have a nice little sequence of something! For example the snippet is taken from an animation I recently re-did and I did some things using frame by frame animation and some I used tweens for. In this instance it was an object moving onto the stage. While a tween would have been easier by using frame by frame animation I was able to make the object do exactly what I wanted it to do. Where tweening would mean it would have to be in a straight line. Also if you want to vary speeds in a tween you can to make several littles ones and in this instance for a short tiny animation, it was easier to do frame by frame.
Then you can see the tween I have, again in this instance that is some text fading in by it’s alpha value changing between the two key frames. This could have been done frame by frame however changing and setting the alpha value over all those frames separately would have taken considerably more time and effort. Whereas a tween would automatically do it. To make a tween you first need a keyframe and something there, for example a square, now make another key frame as many frames away from the first as you wish. Then within that frame move the square you already made, you’ll notice that the first frame as stretched itself to the second you made. Right click on the first frame and select “Create classic tween” and bam! You’ve made a tween, from this example the square you made should move from where it is in frame 1 to where it is in frame 2. To change the speed you can alter how many frames apart they are or alter the documents frames per second. (The first is the better choice).
Over the ages 2D animation has been used and seen in a variety of ways. From early uses as communication and leisure to eventually ending up as advertising, the methods have changed dramatically with technology further advancing the industry in quality and creativity.
