What Is Cutout Animation?

Cutout animation is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: cutout shapes arranged on a flat surface, and manually moved and repositioned to simulate animation. Cutouts can be colored paper, white paper with drawings on it, even photographs, and can be completely flat or can sometimes be 3D objects, though this ventures away from cutout animation and into stop-motion animation. Many often use cutout animation to make photographs of people and animals to make it seem as if they're talking or moving, often resulting in a 2D marionette effect.

The actual step-by-step process of cutout animation is somewhat related to the process in stop-motion animation, and can be just as tedious because it requires manual intervention.

First the scene is created using cutout objects, laid out flat against the background image. This scene is created on an animation stand, with the rostrum camera positioned above the animation stand and positioned to pan or zoom over the scene. The camera is used to capture the scene created with the cutout shapes.

The scene then has to be adjusted to the next frame in the sequence, much like stop-motion animation / claymation - making it notably different from traditional animation. Rather than working between keyframes, cutout animation has to be produced from beginning to end in sequential order, with each change between frames involving minute adjustments to the assembled pieces before the next image in the sequence is captured on video. Sometimes parts of animated cutout characters need to be changed out, if the character changes the angle of their position or changes facial expressions. Facial expressions can be drawn on different heads, or the different facial features can be cutouts themselves, allowing them to be moved or swapped out with different features.

This method of animation is what creates the signature somewhat jerky style, even when animators strive to create completely smooth motion. The cutout pieces can often seem to jitter and bounce in place.

Despite the difficulty of cutout animation, it's still a relatively simple animation style that's quite popular among novices because it requires little drawing or application of complex animation principles - although in the hands of more advanced animators, the technique can produce some surprisingly spectacular results. Some also choose to add in special effects after filming, using programs like Adobe AfterEffects.

One of the best examples of cutout animation is the animated franchise South Park. When South Park was originally created, it was actually filmed using construction paper cutouts against a backdrop, with the characters pieced together from different pieces and filmed one frame at a time on an animation stand. Later the show was upgraded to computer animation techniques, using programs like Flash to simulate the cutout animation look and feel, right down to mimicking the slight hint of shadow created by the layers of thicker paper stacked atop each other. Much of the show is actually currently produced in 3D, but rendered to look like 3D while retaining the original cutout style.

Commercials often also make use of cutout animation styles, often using a more time-lapse video effect that shows the animator's hands manipulating and moving around the paper pieces, with the playback accelerated to make the animation progress more quickly. One of the most striking images of cutout commercials in advertising is the Quiznos commercials that use everything from freaky furry monsters to kitten photographs to create cutout animations.

courtesy:animation.about.com

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Too many font styles will end up making it messy. 

Pick fonts that complement each other.

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Use Onion #Skinning technique to check your arcs.

It does define your arcs & spacing, and allows you to see several frames at once.

What Animators do???

Animators create animation and visual effects for films, video games, television, mobile devices, and other forms of media using illustrations and software programs. Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Autodesk3ds Max, and Autodesk Maya are just a few leading software programs for animators. Animators also create graphics and develop storyboards, drawings and illustrations. They create, plan, and script animated narrative sequences, and assist with background design and production coordination.

Animator Jobs

The Bureau of Labor Statistics combines multimedia artists and animators into one career group. According to the Bureau, “multimedia artists and animators often work in a specific medium. Some focus on creating animated movies or video games. Others create visual effects for movies and television shows. Creating computer-generated images (CGI) may include taking images of an actor’s movements, which are then animated into three-dimensional characters. Other animators design scenery or backgrounds for locations.”

The Bureau reports that multimedia artists and animators work primarily in the following industries:

Motion Picture and Video Industries
Computer Systems Design and Related Services
Software Publishers
Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services
Specialized Design Services

The Bureau also mentions that a staggering 57 percent of animators were self-employed in 2012. This is the most current figure for self-employed animators. These professionals, not just the self-employed, often work from home. Others work at film, animation or video game production studios, cartoon networks, advertising agencies, web design firms, graphic design firms, and mobile technology companies. Some work in office settings.

Animator Salaries

At the end of 2014, the median annual wage for multimedia artists and animators was $61,370 per year. The lowest paid multimedia artists and animators earned less than $34,860. The highest paid earned $113,470 per year. At $72,680, multimedia artists and animators working in the motion picture and video industries earned the highest median annual wage of the top five industries for this profession.

It is important to keep in mind that salaries for multimedia artist and animators may vary by experience, type and size of company, and even geographic location. For example, California-based multimedia artists and animators average $88,150 per year—the nation’s highest average salary for this profession, while Arkansas-based artists average $40,890—one of the lowest.

The top five highest paying states for multimedia artists and animators were California ($88,150 per year), Washington State ($76,900), District of Columbia ($76,110), New York ($72,530), and New Mexico ($70,310).

Becoming an Animator

There are so many paths to becoming an animator today you'll lose count. Just a few options include a Bachelor of Art (BA), Bachelor of Science (BS) and/or a Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) in Animation, Animation & Digital Arts, Media Arts & Animation, Computer Animation, Computer Graphics, Media Arts & Science, Fine Art, and even Computer Science (with an Emphasis in Animation). Courses common to these degree paths and other related programs include Drawing, 2-D Animation Production, 3-D Animation Production, and Stop Motion. Animators also study anatomy to study how animals and humans move in order to make character movements more realistic.

In addition to a 4-year degree, many employers look for at least two years’ experience in the industry, and advanced technology skills. Entry-level positions may require only a degree and experience through an internship or other support position. Senior level positions may require at least five to seven years’ professional experience in the industry and possibly an advanced degree. In fact, more schools than ever before now offer Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degrees in Animation, Animation & Visual Effects, Animation & Digital Arts, and more. Some schools in the U.S. (and many in Europe and Asia) even offer PhD programs in Digital Arts & Animation, Multimedia & Animation, Computer Science with an Animation Emphasis and more.

Job Trends for Animators

Employment for this group is expected to grow six percent from 2012 to 2022. Projected employment growth for animators and multimedia artists will be the result of increased demand for animation and more realistic visual effects in video games, films, and television. However, job growth may be slowed by companies hiring artists and animators who work overseas for lower wages. The increasing demand for computer graphics for mobile devices may counter slow growth by creating more job opportunities in the massive mobile industry.

Despite slow job growth, competition for job opportunities in animation will remain strong. The Bureau says, “Opportunities should be best for those who have a wide range of skills or who specialize in a highly specific type of animation or effect.” Still, in 2014, the U.S. was home to an impressive population of 68,900 multimedia artists and animators, making it the third largest career field in the world of Art and Design. At 259,500, graphic designers represent the largest group.

Job opportunities for animators and multimedia artists can be found all over the U.S. However, five states have the highest employment levels. California has the highest, followed by New York, Washington, Texas, and Illinois.

Awesome Animation Fact: Animation has been around for a lot longer than you think. According to Computer Science for Fun (published by Queen Mary, University of London), a 5,200-year old bowl found in Iran features an early precursor of animation. Along the bowl's side are five drawings that, when viewed in a sequence, depict a wild goat leaping up to eat leaves off a tree.

An Introduction To After Effects

Animation, Polishing and Compositing with After Effects

 After Effects is an incredibly powerful and versatile program that keeps gaining momentum in the industry. If you are new to the program, it may seem daunting to get into with the sheer amount of flexibility the program has in it's uses. If you're interested in After Effects you can download a free trial of it here, or through the link in the “Useful Links” section. After Effects main uses usually fall to three categories: Animating, Polishing, and Compositing.

The biggest thing about animating using the program is that After Effects lives in a world between 3D animation and 2D animation. In After Effects “2.5D” world there is depth to the stage you're animating on, but all your pieces are flat. It's a lot like animating with paper cut outs, you can move the paper forwards and backwards in space, but it itself has no real depth to it. That's how After Effects treats it's 3D space. Things are changing slightly with integration of Cinema4D, but that's using another program to achieve the true 3D elements.

A great example of After Effects' 2.5D animation style is Run Wrake's short film “Rabbit.” It's a great example of animating in After Effects and really capitalizing on it's 2.5D style.
Now not all animation in After Effects has to look like cut out puppets, but that is kind of it's default style. This is where After Effects is great at polishing.  After Effects works amazingly well with integration from Flash, Photoshop and Cinema4D.

The last area that the industry is really using After Effects is compositing, a lot like what Alex Horan did in Wolf Within, but it can be extended to live action as well. Green screening, masking and compositing are all things After Effects does very well with ease. After Effects compositing skills is something it has a distinct advantage of over other animation programs, it's masking ability is incredibly versatile. Here's a fun, fourth wall breaking, music video from the directing duo Daniels for Tenacious D that uses lots of compositing, in various stages of finish.

All in all After Effects is a very powerful and very versatile program which can bend and twist to whatever function you may have in mind for it.While Adobe does have a fairly high cost entrance, if you are serious about pursuing a professional career in any form of animation After Effects is an essential tool. And if you're just curious about it, Adobe's free trial is a great way to get your feet wet without having to shell out a bunch of cash.

courtesy:animation.about.com

830 VFX Shots Delivered By Fluiidmask Studios for 'Baar Baar Dekho'

With a simple concept in mind, to deliver the message that one should live in present and not be always chasing the future, Baar Baar Dekho hit the screens on 9 September 2016. Though the film met with mixed reviews for its storyline, visually it was spot on. The film’s story moved back and forth in time and showcased various futuristic devices and set-ups. And providing visual effects for these sequences was Mumbai’s Fluiidmask Studios.

With about 830 shots delivered, Fluiidmask, founder and creative director who was also the VFX supervisor  for the film, Viral Thakkar was roped in right from the scripting stage of the film by director Nitya Mehra to come up with the concept arts. Being involved in the story, he helped in developing the script on the basis of how the future would look and feel like. From the various phases in the movie to the costume, gadgets, looks Thakkar completely worked on it.

“We imagined future to be simplistic. Nitya used to constantly keep a tab on everything and restricted us in case we went overboard with the designs. She wanted things to be as real as possible since the movie wasn’t a sci-fi film,” explains Thakkar. “Based on human behaviour and how we might be few years down the line, the whole futuristic era was conceptualised. Since people are lonely nowadays, we thought that maybe in future there will be smart homes which will talk to the owner and fill in the void.”

A considerable amount of work went in creating the year 2048 section as it was the most complex year and required a lot of imagery and VFX. In the film, a BMW car could be observed and to give it a futuristic feel, Thakkar required the blueprints of the vehicle. “As the filmmakers had official tie-up with BMW, we got hold of the blueprints of BMW I3 from the design team in Switzerland. We worked closely with them and stuck to recreating the interiors of the car. Inspiration was also taken from the BMW 7 series which has 360 degree collision avoidance. The dashboard, steering wheels, side windows were worked upon wherein the car could detect the weather outside, select music according to the mood of the driver. We envisioned the future to be glass and hence you will witness glass in most of the devices.”

Apart from this, a crematorium sequence could also be observed in the film in which a lotus shaped glass rolls up around the body and then the body is burnt. Over here, keeping the architecture behind the scene in mind, the studio had to work on the lotus glass and the fire particles were nicely choreographed. While shooting in Glasgow, the skyline wasn’t what was required so it had to be reworked upon and cranes had to be removed from the background.

Apart from these sequences, the studio worked on creating the snowfall. The windshield wipers and snow on various actors were CGI. In some portion, they also had to work on the prosthetics as it had to be reshaped and remodelled. Necklines had to be recreated and wrinkles had to added or removed according to the year the characters were in. A lot of chroma removal shots were also there and VFX work was also carried out in the bus sequence.

With the VFX team being present during the shoot, it eased up the studio’s task on working on the shots and the project was delivered within two months. It’s heartening to see that directors are slowly understanding the importance of involving the VFX supervisors right from the scripting stage of a film as it not just eases out their work but also saves the VFX studio’s time in delivering the project.

Courtesy:Animation Express

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How Is Animation Timed To Music?

When you're watching an animated feature, often it's the music that helps to set the tone of the scene. It tells you if you should laugh, if you should gasp, if you should feel sad or horrified or frightened. It pulls you into the building tension of action scenes, gets you wound up, then crashes into a breathless crescendo at the scene's climax. It even punctuates actions to give them impact, above even the sound effects.

A hard roll of drums as soldiers march, blending into the chant of determined voices. A heavy bass thump right when the hero hits the edge of a precipice and his stomach drops along with the sound, even as a counterpoint shrill sends a thrill up the spine. It's all so perfectly timed, but how? How does the music match the animation so precisely?

Usually, the final music is composed after the animation is completed - but a rough soundtrack, known as a "scratch track," is created before the animation begins. A composer will work with the production team to discuss the tone the music needs to take, the length of the individual scores, and other audio needs, including working with voice actors and vocalists (for musical / singing numbers like the ones so popular in Disney films) to come up with a scratch track. This is often timed to what's called an animatic or story reel, which is a mock-up animation that uses still images from storyboarding and planning to help time the soundtrack properly.

The animation is timed and planned according to that soundtrack, to synchronize the motions and mouth movements with the voices and the background score.

A notable example of an animated feature film specifically composed to music is Fantasia, where the entire point of the film was to create an animation that reflected the story the music told.

Later the final score is added in, and the animation can be edited in post-production to make sure everything fits together properly and ensure the timing lines up perfectly; it's easier to edit the animation (both in post-production and during the actual animation process) to better fit the music than it is to completely re-compose a track to fit a change in the animation.

Sound effects are also added later, and aren't part of the scratch track; while with full-length scores it's easier to plan the animation to match the music, with quick sound effects it's much easier to add the sound effects in final editing. Those are just quick sound bytes that can be moved around.

You may have done something similar when creating your animations, even if you're working rough without a dope sheet and not pre-planning. If you've chosen to animate something to a specific song, and have imported that song into your 2D or 3D animation program, as you work you'll find yourself tweaking the timing and motions in your animation to better match the music. You can also see examples of animations timed to music with fan-created AMVs, where fans will pick a song and use clips from their favorite animations to create a new animation that matches the rhythm and beats of the chosen song. Even though they aren't creating the animation themselves or composing the music, the heart of the process isn't all that different.

Although post-production synching is the typical method, that wasn't always the case (and there are still rare exceptions now). Before the 1930s, usually animations were made without the soundtrack, and the soundtrack was composed afterwards. This includes recording voices, which is why in older cartoons, at times the voices don't seem to quite match the animated mouth movements.

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