PUBLIC LIBRARY

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Kit Laybourne
Preface by George Griffin introduction by John Canemaker
N E W Lele ae EDITION
DATE DUE

MAR 0 8 2003
MAY 15 2006

A complete guide (o anim:

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Kit Laybou ne
Preface by George Griffin Introduction by John Canemaker

Tce 1 THREE RIVERS PRESS

* NEW YORK
Nees
Copyright © 1998 by Kit Laybourne
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permis-
sion in writing from the publisher.
Published by Three Rivers Press, New York, New York.
Member of the Crown Publishing Group.

Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland

www.randomhouse.com

THREE RIVERS PRESS is a registered trademark and the Three Rivers Press
colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Original edition published by Crown Publishers in 1979. First revised paperback
edition printed in 1988.

Printed in the United States of America

Design by June Bennett-Tantillo

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Laybourne, Kit.
The animation book : a complete guide to animated filmmaking—from flip-
books to sound cartoons to 3-D animation / by Kit Laybourne.—Rev. ed.
Includes index.
1. Animation (Cinematography). |. Title.
TR897.5.L39 1998
778.5'347—dc21 97-32774
ISBN 0-517-88602-2

10° 59587556
 kr

San Rafael Public Library

1100 E Street -
San Rafael, CA 94901
Acknowledgments vi 10 Motion Graphics 127
Preface by George Griffin xi 11 Sand and Paint-on-Glass
Introduction by John Canemaker xili Animation 142
Welcome to a Spanking New 12 Clay, Puppet, and Stop-
Edition XV Motion Animation 150
13 Rotoscoping 162
14 Line and Cel Animation 171
I= Fundamentals 15 Digital Ink and Paint 216
16 3-D Animation 234
Introduction,
17 Animation Frontiers 250
4 Basic Skills
18 Production Planning 278
2 Cameraless Animation
3 Tooling Up

Ill = Tools 297

Il» Techniques Introduction 298

19 Film Cameras and
Introduction
Accessories 301
4 Animating Objects
Animation Stands 312
5 Cutout Animation
Registration Devices 321
6 Time Lapse and
Filmmaking Gear 326
Pixilation
Computer Software 344
7 Working with Sound
Computer Hardware 374
8 Storyboarding and
Resources 401
Animatics 100
9 Kinestasis and Collage 114 Index 420
During the 1995-1996 academic year, | sat in for my friend John Canemaker, teaching his Advanced
Animation seminar at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. It would be a pathetic understatement to
say that | learned more than | taught that year. There was no way | could stay ahead of that particular under-
graduate/ graduate class. Everyone seemed to have some sort of computer competency, and we collectively
pooled our knowledge in what became a joint exploration of how the new digital tools and techniques served
the traditional ones of film animation. No fewer than five of my students that year have contributed to this vol-
ume. We are colleagues.
Others have played large roles in the seat-of-the-pants education that has issued this digital edition of
The Animation Book. | am particularly grateful to a number of visionaries at NYU’s Center for Advanced Tech-
nology who worked with me on a CD-ROM about animation. This volume owes a large debt to Jack Schwartz,
Cynthia Allen, Ken Perlin, Daniel Russo, Clilly Casteglia, Dan Moss, and Dan Schrecker.
| have always been a sucker for new technologies. For just over a year, starting in early 1996, | took a job
as head of the Digital Production Studio at Tele-TV Media, a company set up by three of the Bell systems to
explore the fusion of TV, telephones, gaming, and the Internet. | am particularly indebted to Japhet Asher,
George Escobar, Jane Buckwalter, Mike Lasky, and the studio’s team of interactive designers, artists, and soft-
ware engineers.
A very special thanks to Michael Dougherty, who was one of my students at NYU and then joined my
staff at Tele-TV. Michael is the embodiment of the kind of reader whom | hope this book will nourish—a multi-
media animator par excellence, equally at home with a down-shooter or a hard drive.
It was at Tele-TV that | started working with Trista Gladden. She and | retreated into the Hollywood Hills
for the six months in which text and pictures came together. | could not have completed this project without
Trista’s intelligence, tenacity, and good company.
The twenty years between the first edition and the current one | spent as a producer, writer, and director
of animation and live-action productions. My treasured partner was Eli Noyes, who has indelibly shaped my cre-
ative understanding of animation. Together we built Noyes and Laybourne Enterprises, an independent anima-
tion studio in a loft that occupied two floors of a TriBeCa building in downtown New York City. Eli and | found
opportunities to explore virtually every tool and form of animation, thanks to great gigs in broadcast graphics,

vi
advertising, and TV programming. Some of our best projects are sampled in these pages, and we herewith
salute the staff members who created them with us: Kathy Minton, ChiChi Pierce, Brian O’Connell, Stuart
Dworeck, Diane Fazio, Shawn Cuddy, Jeff Schon, Adam Bernstine, and others. As | look back, | am proud at
how we pushed our collective envelopes —along with those of many independent animator friends—through
Liquid Television, a TV series developed in the early 1990s for MTV. Thanks to Judy McGrath, Abby Terkuhle,
and John Payson at MTV and to our soul mates at San Francisco's (Colossal) Pictures, including Japhet Asher,
Prudence Fenton, Drew Takahashi, and Lawrence Wilkinson .
Rounding up production stills and film-grabs is a huge task in a book like this. Here is a long list of folks
who went out of their way to locate visual references or to help in other ways: Joe Ahlbum, Kim Arnold, Doug
Aberle, Valeska Bailey, Sarah Baisley, Dave Bastian, Alison Brown, Carlos Casso, Brad deGraf, Patric DuGuette,
Tony Eastman, George Evelyn, Jeff Fino, Prudence Fenton, Steve Gold, John Hays, Traci Johnson, Todd Kessler,
George Lacroix, Dave Masters, Brian O’Connell, George O'Dwyer, Darwin Peachey, Jeff Schon, Robert Scull,
Henry Selick, Sandy Serling, Carl Stavens, Cricket Stettinius, Drew Takahashi, Abby Terkuhle, Terry Thoren,
Susan Trembley, Mike Turoff, Peter Wallach, Chris Wedge, Mark Welch, and Gunnar Wille. All were generous in
wanting to excite and inform the next generation of animators.
Thanks to Patrick Sheehan, my editor at Crown Publishers, who provided as much help as Jake Goldberg
did for the original edition. Thanks also to June Bennett-Tantillo for her design and production efforts for this
book.
On the following pages, | have packed together short bios of all those who collaborated with me in writ-
ing chapters and case studies. | am hugely indebted to each of them. As you work through the volume, return
here to see who did what. You'll find they are an amazingly diverse group.
While | delight in the good company of those who are acknowledged here (and in all those independent
animators whose work remains from the first edition), I'm afraid | alone must take the heat for any mistakes,
inaccuracies, omissions, and other grievous faults.

Art Bell was a cofounder of Alias Research, a 3-D com- commercials. His writing has included six critically ac-
puter graphics software firm, where he was responsible claimed books on animation and over a hundred articles
for product design and development of 3-D software used for periodicals such as The New York Times, Time, and Film
in numerous motion pictures, including Terminator 2, The Comment. Currently, Canemaker is a tenured Associate
Abyss, The Lion King, Jurassic Park, and Beauty and The Professor and Chair of the Animation Program at New
Beast, as well as for use in automotive design at most car York University Tisch School of the Arts.
companies, including Honda, Porsche, General Motors,
Jan Cox is Director of International Animation at Manga
Ford, Volvo, and BMW. Currently, Art lives in Vermont,
Entertainment, Inc., and compiles several annual ani-
mixing hockey with furniture restoration and software
mated short film festivals that tour the world. Her early
design at American Happware, a start-up focused on mak-
animation influences are Beany and Cecil, Rocky and
ing insanely easy, cool software.
Bullwinkle, and Mighty Mouse. Jan worked in advertis-
John Canemaker became a professional animator in ing for nine years before becoming solely devoted to
1973 after acquiring a Master of Fine Arts degree in film animation in 1992, when she joined Mellow Manor Pro-
from New York University, and has been the head of his ductions in San Diego. She also pursues an interest and
own production company since 1981. He has designed and lifelong love of fine art, which she feels animation to be
directed a variety of award-winning animated films and a part of.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vil
Michael Dougherty created two animated short films, 3-D environments. He has presented this work in a num-
Crayons and Season’s Greetings, while a student at NYU's ber of published papers and demonstrations at numerous
Animation Program. These works have gone on to tour conferences and symposia, including ACM SIGGRAPH and
the festival circuit and win awards from the Academy of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence. Before
Television Arts and Sciences, the Hamptons International coming to the Media Research Lab, Athomas spent several
Film Festival, the Chicago Underground Film Festival, the years as an illustrator, theatrical lighting and set designer,
Annecy Animation Festival, and the Academy of Motion and performance artist, after studying film production at
Picture Arts and Sciences. In addition to his personal work, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
he has also created animation for MTV, the Cartoon Net-
George Griffin studied political science at Dartmouth
work, and Tele-TV. Michael currently works as an animator
and has been doing animation in New York City since the
for Nickelodeon's Blue’s Clues.
late 1960s. His diverse work includes abstract musical stud-
Dsquared, Inc., is a New York City-based multimedia stu- ies, reflective essays on process, cartoon narratives, televi-
dio specializing in animation and other “time-based sion commercials, and flip-books. His latest film, A Little
design.” The history of the company’s founders, Dan Routine, illustrating an extended dialogue with his six-
Schrecker and Daniel Moss, makes Dsquared perfectly year-old daughter, won the Unicef Award at the 1995
suited to write this book’s chapter on 3-D computer ani- Ottawa Animation Festival.
mation. Schrecker’s predigital animation experience,
Derek Lamb, born in the U.K., made his first films with
which included the use of clay, cels, time lapse, and line
the National Film Board of Canada during the early 1960s.
drawings, combined with Moss’s background in archi-
He has worked extensively in commercial, educational,
tecture, sculpture, and 3-D design, allows Dsquared to
and experimental production in the United States,
approach computer animation with a firm grasp on classic
Canada, and Europe. For several years he taught anima-
technique as well as a solid technical understanding,
tion and screenwriting at Harvard and McGill Universities.
partly gained from NYU's Interactive Telecommunications
He was Executive Director of Animation, National Film
Program.
Board of Canada, from 1976 to 1981. His work has re-
George D. Escobar pursues a dual career in technology ceived numerous international prizes, including a 1980
and entertainment. He has developed interactive TV and Academy Award for Every Child, as writer and producer.
Internet products as vice president of Product Technolo- Recent productions include codirector and writer on
gies for Tele-TV and Bell Atlantic. Escobar has also worked Meena, a television series on the rights of girls, through
in Hollywood as a creative executive, an assistant to the UNICEF South Asia, and writer-producer for PEEP, a televi-
director, story analyst, and producing intern for several sion series for preschool, in collaboration with Kai Pindal
networks and production companies. Currently, George is * and Jeffrey Schon.
producing an independent animated feature and devel-
Randy Lowenstein is an independent animator and film-
oping an Intranet animation support system. He has writ-
maker. He received his MFA in film at New York University,
ten five feature screenplays and is a graduate of the where he specialized in traditional as well as 2-D com-
American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film and
puter animation. In 1996, he joined Jennifer Taylor to
Television Studies.
form a commercial production company that specializes in
Trista Gladden graduated from Cornell University with a combining traditional and computer animation.
B.A. in English and traveled abroad to assist in developing Eli Noyes has been making moving images of one sort or
a junior high school English language curriculum for the another since he was in his teens, many decades ago. He
Department of Education in Nagano, Japan. Following has worked as an animator, designer, documentary film-
this, she moved to L.A. and began working at Direct Cin- maker, cameraman, art director, director of commercials,
ema Ltd., a documentary and short film distributor, where principal in several production companies, executive pro-
she first became interested in animation after screening ducer, and creative director. He has always experimented
Pixar’s Tin Toy, Red’s Dream, and Luxo, Jr. Trista then with new kinds of production: animation of all sorts,
moved to Tele-TV Media, where she was wrangled into blends of live action and animation, bluescreen, video,
working on The Animation Book with Kit Laybourne. Cur- and computer graphics. Eli has studied architecture, act-
rently, Trista is assistant producer for Hank the Cowdog, a ing, directing, drawing, screenwriting, and dance. He is
project in development for Nickelodeon. married with two children and is currently developing
Athomas Goldberg is a research scientist at New York programs for Disney/ABC Cable Networks that anticipate
University’s Media Research Laboratory, where, along the eventual fusion of the television with the computer.
with Professor Ken Perlin and others, he is developing Greg Pair works at AMPnyc Deluxe Animation, the cre-
IMPROV, a system for authoring real-time behavior-based ative triumvirate of the dashing Michael Adams, street-

viii Fachaiotadieradl Gate

smart Ted Minoff, and techno-wiz Greg Pair. This new pro- Jason Porter does not have a computer science or art
duction studio on the New York City scene has received degree. It has even been rumored that he has only fifteen
praise and won awards for its animated work since its first units of college. What he always has had is an interest in
year in business. Together with their fearless consortium visual aesthetics and an aptitude for technology. That and
of freelancing friends, the members of AMPnyc are pre- the willingness to work 100 hour weeks has vaulted him
pared to run the gauntlet toward the goal of creating to the lofty position of head of digital media at Wild
outstanding commercial animation as well as originating Brain, Inc., where he oversees digital production for televi-
fresh concepts for animated series. sion, feature films, commercials, and new media projects.
Jason was born and raised in San Francisco and thinks L.A.
Dave Palmer, the animation director of Nickelodeon’s
is a quaint little town.
Blue’s Clues, co-designed Blue and developed the show's
method of animation combining traditional forms, Photo- Jennifer Taylor is a twenty-six-year-old independent film-
shop, and After Effects. He received his master’s degree in maker who employs experimental animation and motion
film animation from NYU and got his undergraduate graphic techniques in her films. She produces a large por-
degree, a B.F.A. in film, photography, and visual arts, from tion of her personal and commercial work on a high-end
Ithaca College. Dave began his relationship with Blue’s Macintosh workstation, using Adobe After Effects, Photo-
Clues as a freelance animator after getting an opportunity shop, and Premiere. Jennifer received a B.A. in film from
to work on the pilot episode. Bard College, and an M.F.A. in film from New York Univer-
sity. She currently lives and works in New York City.
John Payson drew cartoons for the Harvard Lampoon in
college. After graduating, he worked at MTV: Music Tele- Jane White joined Protozoa in November of 1996 as the
vision for over twelve years. John produced many of director of development and an executive producer. She
MTV's animated IDs and wrote and directed many promos has been working in the area of new media and enter-
and short films for the channel, including the original tainment since 1987 when she was a cofounder of ABC
short Joe’s Apartment. He was also supervising producer News Interactive. After leaving ABC in 1992, she was exec-
for the first two seasons of MTV's animated series Liquid utive director of children’s products for Paramount Inter-
Television. In 1996, John wrote and directed a full-length active. Before returning to the Bay Area in 1996 she was
version of Joe’s Apartment, his first feature film. John lives director of development at Viacom New Media. In this
in a cockroach-infested apartment in New York City. capacity she identified appropriate CD-ROM development
for Nickelodeon.

Muybridge meets Wild Brain: Back when photography was in its infancy, an American scientist named Eadweard Muy-
bridge harnessed the new medium’s ability to “freeze” motion. Rigging multiple still cameras to shoot a sequence of pho-
tos at precise intervals, Muybridge conducted a multiyear investigation into the nature of movement itself. His seminal
volumes, Animal Locomotion (1887), The Human Figure in Motion (1899), and Animals in Motion (1901) have been trea-
sured resources since the birth of animation and have since been republished by Dover Books.
In the cover for the digital revision of The Animation Book, animators and designers at Wild Brain, a top San Francisco ani-
mation studio, took successive frames from a few of Muybridge’s studies and rendered them using the range of anima-
tion techniques discussed in this volume. President and cofounder John Hays directed the design efforts with coordination
by Jeff Fino, Sarah Shen, and Diane Tateishi. The photography was done by Carter Tomassi, and all the stylistic variations
sampled in the cover art were created by Wild Brain staffers, including Chris Carter, Roger Dondis, Lee Hong, Amber
MacLean, JT O'Neal, Cindy Ng, Jason Porter, Vaughn Ross, Robin Steele, and Dave Thomas.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix
 suggests a certain art-worker heroism, somewhat like that
Eakins painting of steelworkers outside their factory. Who
was it said freedom of the press belongs to those who
own the press?
“But like all myths, that image also distills and filters
George Griffin stands out among a handful of people out certain important truths, e.g., you don’t really need
who have built and sustained a robust tradition within :that monstrous iron contraption to make a film (a Bolex
American Independent Animation. Portrait (A) shows on a copy stand works fine) and, in fact, it may inhibit
George circa 1979, about the time he wrote the original your experimental energies by making everything too
Preface for this book. Portrait (B), circa 1997, was taken smooth or predictable. This is probably the main reason |
for this new edition, and was submitted with a wry note resisted a ‘George in 1997’ in front of my Mac monitor,
that displays the wonderful way George can “read” an preferring instead to reference the sketches on the bul-
image. Here’s a snippet: “What to say about that first letin board.”
photo (with the distance and alleged wisdom afforded by Three frames from Griffin films: (©), Flying Fur, 1981;
time)? | think it captures the myth of the independent (D), New Fangled, 1991; and (E), A Little Routine, 1994. A
filmmaker who has wrested an artifact of the industrial videotape collection of George Griffin's films and digital
age from the assembly-line studio and tamed it into pro- projects is available under the title “Griffiti,” available for
ducing quirky, personal films. It also emphasizes the tech- $40 (prepaid) from Metropolis Graphics at 349 West 4th
nical, artisanal nature of animation. And maybe it Street, New York, NY 10014.
A new method of making animated films has surfaced in the last decade and with it a new generation of artists
who use the medium primarily for self-expression. The new animators assume direct responsibility for nearly
every aspect of the filmmaking process: concept, drawing, shooting, even camera stand construction. This recla-
mation of creative authority contrasts sharply with the impersonal assembly-line production system of the studio
cartoon industry and returns animation to its original experimental impulse as embodied in the work of Windsor
McCay, Emile Cohl, Hans Richter, and Oskar Fischinger.

GEORGE GRIFFIN
NEW YORK CITY, 1978

A lol has happened in the twenty years since the appearance of Kit Laybourne’s The Animation Book.
The cartoon feature boom, witty and satirical TV series, edgy television graphics and advertising, even the Inter-
net's current jerky-mation—all indicate a major resurgence of graphic expression. For those of us genetically
disposed to creating alternate worlds of unreal moving pictures, these are interesting times.
As with any artistic explosion, there are inevitable gains, losses, and realignments. Consider the expan-
sion of the animator’s task from marking and scoring on paper to directly manipulating a wide variety of mate-
rial (clay, sand, puppets) to complex digital layering, impossible before computer technology. The dream of
melding the spontaneous twitch of design with the methodical flow of choreography now seems a reality: Dig-
ital charcoal will smudge only when and where you want. Animators can manipulate time and space before
choosing a delivery medium (film, video, CD-ROM, flip-book), thereby freeing animation from a particular
medium’s limitations. But this brave new world isn’t without troubling side effects (eyestrain, repetitive stress
syndrome, problems associated with being sedentary, expensive-obsessive-upgraditis), and you may miss those
charcoal-smudged hands.
Despite the enormous upheavals in technology, the independent animator’s artistic role remains essen-
tially the same: to draw time, to construct a model of ideas and emotions, using any means available. Whether
you draw a sequence of abstract doodles or construct a cartoon narrative, your chief goal should be to resist
the conventional formulas by seeking your own voice and style.
Animators are drawn to this art by the wide range of pleasures it offers. For some it's the complete sense
of control, down to the very elemental interval of frame or pixel. Others love the ability to mime and act through
a character, make a story, put on a grandiose show. Yet others are attracted to the meditative processes, akin to
those involved in cooking and pottery making, that will ultimately yield a performance of kinetic art.
The book you are now holding is a versatile tool. It can act as compass, road map, and manual; if you are
lucky, you might actually get lost, and invent or discover a new route. Use it to learn how to make things move.
Then whatever movies now dancing in your head can find expression for the rest of us.

GEORGE GRIFFIN
NEW YORK CITY, 1998

xi
 THE TWISTED TALE.
OF THE WORLD'S

John Canemaker writes with great insight and warmth

about the art of animation and the artistry of great ani-
mators. Here are covers from four of his books: (A), Felix—
The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat (Da -
Capo, 1991); (B), Before the Animation Begins (Hyperion,
1996); (C), Windsor McCay—His Life and Art (Abbeville,
1987); and (D), Tex Avery (Turner, 1996). Images courtesy
John Canemaker.

JOHN CANEMAKER
FOREWORD BY WILLIAM HANNA
INTRODUCTION BY CHUCK JONES
for close Onl twenty years, Kit Laybourne’s The Animation Book has been the animation book: the
most engaging, fun, and informative guide to self-expression through moving-image making ever published.
Two generations of students, as well as countless teachers, professionals, and fans of animation—the
twentieth century's most significant new art form—have found Kit’s book an essential source of encourage-
ment, stimulation, and inspiration. Now comes the updated edition, which is welcome indeed, and timely, to
say the least.
As ever, the book bursts with essential information regarding traditional methods of ‘’making ‘em
move”: cels, stop-motion puppets, clay, pixilation, flip-books, paint-on-glass, sand, cutouts, and drawing
directly onto film, among other techniques. The multitude of processes and theories are again profusely illus-
trated (a distinctive feature of the original book) using production stills, original art, frame blowups, and now
screen-grabs off computer monitors. The new material—about a third of the book—covers the hows and whys
of emerging computer-based tools and techniques.
Whether discussing the new, old, or hybrid worlds of animation, The Animation Book remains a vehicle
to broaden knowledge, sharpen perceptions, and stimulate the imagination. Its text continues to be playful,
user-friendly, and accessible: a guiding voice rather than a dictating one. As
such, it aptly reflects the personality and educational values of the book's
author.
It has been my pleasure to call Kit Laybourne a friend and colleague for
over twenty years. In observing his impressive career as teacher, producer,
director, and author, | have come to think of him primarily as a teacher on a
grand scale. In his television productions, CD-ROM projects, writings, work-
shops, lectures, and the classes he has conducted from New York to Singapore
(and points in between), Kit always seeks to inform, guide, and raise artistic
consciousness. His enthusiasm for learning and encouraging the human spirit
to fulfill its artistic potential shines through, whatever the medium.

xiii
 The heart and soul of The Animation Book remains Kit’s
passion for animation as a form of personal expression. It is an
ideal that he and | share, and one that | try to instill in my stu-
dents as chair of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts
Animation Program.
It was, therefore, lucky for both me and my students
when Kit agreed to teach my Advanced Animation production
class for one year while | was on a recent sabbatical. | was more
than a little relieved; Kit's presence and our mutual belief that
animation—whether you use pencils or pixels—is a great and
unique medium through which artists can express something
personal and meaningful ensured that there would be a conti-
nuity of philosophy in the classroom.
My students were delighted. They found in Kit personally
the qualities he has put in his book: accessibility, friendliness,
inspiration. In turn, Kit’s year at NYU Tisch influenced his think-
ing about animation and the new technology, and he noted he
was “wonderfully pushed by our students, who've grown up
with computers in the way we grew up with TV.” | was pleased
and proud to learn that several of the Advanced Animation
students contributed to the updated sections of The Animation
Book.
The book arrives at exactly the right moment to intro-
duce and/or explore with readers old and new the brave new
world of digital animation and how it fits with traditional ani-
mation. In the last decade, the merging of old and new meth-
ods of creating moving imagery has profoundly affected the
medium as both industry and art. Thus, happily, the life of The
John Canemaker is also an independent
Animation Book has been extended, and its valuable informa-
animator whose work includes (E), PBS's
What Do Children Think of When They tion, wonderful can-do spirit, and love of all kinds of animation
Think of the Bomb? © The Icarus Company, will survive into the new millennium to challenge and influence
1983; (F), feature animation in The World animators yet to be born.
According to Garp © Warner Bros., 1981;
and (G), a personal film entitled Bottom’s
JOHN CANEMAKER
Dream © John Canemaker, 1983. Images
ANIMATOR, AUTHOR, TEACHER
courtesy John Canemaker.
NEW YORK, 1998

XiV Didi on wich ie

 ,
You ve ol your hands on the first book that covers two generations of animation. There is ani-
mated filmmaking—a venerable art form that can trace its origins back to the birth of movies. And now there
is digital animation—an energizing hybrid that applies new computer technology to the same fundamental
process of creating movement from a series of motionless images.
This edition of The Animation Book represents a major makeover. There are over eighty pages of new
text, with hundreds of illustrations and frame-grabs. Seven chapters are wholly new and cover topics that didn’t
even exist when the book was first published in 1979. Only three of the technique chapters remain untouched
by computers. Everywhere you'll find images that represent new sets of tools and new creative domains we've
barely discovered.
Yet—as you shall see—the old and the new worlds of animation exist quite comfortably together. This is
because the prodigious strength of computers has been successfully engineered to support the traditional aes-
thetic and production tasks that reside in making any piece of animation. Thus you will find comments about
digital approaches side by side with traditional topics such as storyboarding, pixilation, and ink and paint.
Wherever one looks in the world of animation, the lines between old and new are blurry. The data that
make up movies and TV increasingly come to us encoded as a bunch of zeros and ones. Computers can read and
rearrange these signals with blistering speed. Everything meets and mixes in a digital pot. Drawings that have
been shot onto a piece of celluloid motion picture film are seamlessly composited with drawings that have been
fashioned on a computer, pixel by pixel. And the stew gets richer yet with the digital mixing of images from a
number of sources including new-generation videocams, old movies, and electronic character generators.
This volume will help you sort out what parts of animation are best done on film and what parts are best
done on computers. As often as not, either choice will work—although the artistic vision of the piece is inevitably
affected by that choice. The overlap of traditional and digital is less confusing than you might expect. Many ani-
mators switch easily from sheets of paper and pencils to computers and digital drawing tablets. So integrated are
the new forms of animation with the old that the phrases used to describe them are often used interchangeably.
By learning about the venerable film technology, you won't be wasting time. In fact, the animator always gains

WELCOME TO A SPANKING NEW EDITION XV

NOU TISGH SCHOOL OF THE ADTs 199C FESTIVAL OF NYU TISGH SCHOOL OF THE ARTS 1900 FESTIVAL OF NITUMINCTISCCCLIMTOE THE ARTS 1900 FESTIVAL OF

FRIDAY APRIL 19TH 8 PMTISHMA MAN (ALL 40WASHINGTON SQ. SOUTH

S6GENERAL ADMISSION $3. WIM H FILM & TELEVISION STUDENTS.
‘CALL (2120998-1781 FOR MORE INF IND.CS.NYU.EDU/ANIMATION

Kit Laybourne (A), critiquing a storyboard in a class at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
Although Kit taught for almost ten years early in his career, the recent year at NYU was a
one-time gig. He took over the Advanced Animation Seminar during the 1995-1996
school year when John Canemaker was on sabbatical. Kit is an independent producer with
a special interest in animation. He is currently working on a project, Hank the Cowdog,
that combines animated characters within a live-action world that has been digitally
manipulated. Photo by Karl Staven.
In (B), (C), and (D), students in the NYU animation program promoted their annual
screening of undergraduate and graduate animation with posters.

xvi Fema TO A SPANKING NEW EDITION

in understanding and control when he or she explores both traditional and digital alternatives. And this dual
exploration is exactly what you will find throughout this new edition of The Animation Book.

SAME OLD HIDDEN AGENDAS

Like the first and second editions, this book aims to do more than provide you with a comprehensive, up-to-
date introduction to the world of animation. Be warned that it will try to coax you into becoming an animator.
Sometimes you will be asked to grab a pencil and work right within these pages. At various places, you'll find
“projects” —short assignments for animated pieces you can undertake on your own. Everywhere, you'll find
plenty of examples and case studies.

In preparing materials to explain about computer animation, | made the conscious choice to stick with a
focus on animation with an independent spirit—by which | mean works that are made by artists. These works
range from personal shorts to creator-driven films and television series like Toy Story and Rugrats. Each of these
were made not strictly for commerce, but in order to convey someone's vision. It’s my deep conviction that
when learning about an art form, one should keep as close as possible to the vitality, vision, and passion of the
individual artist. You get good taste by tasting good things.

HOW TO WORK THE BOOK

The volume is divided into three sections. It begins with Part |: Fundamentals. The purpose here is to give you a
warm-up. You'll find activities in drawing, generating ideas, and playing with various animation toys and prin-
ciples. These early pages also provide a quick preview of the equipment you will be using when you produce
your own films and computer-generated animations.
Part Il: Techniques is about production. Here you will find an amazing spectrum of distinct categories of
animation. Each technique is unique. Each is discussed thoroughly. Each teaches something about the cate-
gories that follow it. This section of the book also contains information about basic production steps that are
common to all the different techniques: working with sound, storyboarding, and production planning.
Part Ill: Tools is.a catalogue. It describes and gives rough costs for all the equipment you will need to
undertake your own work—be it film- or computer-based. In this new edition of The Animation Book, empha-
sis is given to the “low end” of computer technology. This is in keeping with my not-so-secret agenda of
encouraging readers to make their own animations. For those who already know how to animate in film and
video formats, this section should expand creative choices using computer tools. You'll probably want to con-
sult the hardware and software chapters while you are working through Part Il. For those who are familiar with
digital animation but know squat about traditional film tools, Part Ill will yield a quick and indispensable
overview. The last chapter carries annotated listings of many places where you can get additional helo—from
books, periodicals, and Web sites to professional associations, festivals, and training programs.
Within all three parts, examples and case studies attempt to break down the overall material into man-
ageable pieces. | hope the extensive use of cross-references will increase your tendency to browse and to use
the book in a circular, self-programmed way. Please be encouraged to move through these pages freely, even
impulsively.

WELCOME TO A SPANKING NEW EDITION Xvii

KIT’S CHICKEN SOUP

Before you launch into this new edition, | want to offer some psychological nourishment. Hear me out as | sug-
gest a single destination and some strategies to get you there.
Style is the ultimate achievement. | don't think there can be a more difficult goal or a more rewarding one
than developing a unique vision through an art form like animation. We're not talking here about a quick trip
to the corner store. Finding your style is a cross-country trip. It’s a protracted journey into the self. Some survival
tips:

™ Start from Strength. The best place to begin is where your interest is strongest. Read along until you
come to something you find yourself eager to try, and then do it. But when you begin to lose interest,
move on. Don’t agonize when you want to quit a particular project. Move from strength to strength,
cranking up your momentum and self-confidence.
H Build a “Studio.” Claim a space that can become the symbolic home for your work as an animator.
There is no need to be fancy. When | started my own work | allocated a single drawer to the new
enterprise. It was a modest studio, to be sure. But it gave me an important “psychological space.” For
many today, a computer hard disk is a good place to build your own studio. Commit to it a specific
amount of energy, time, and money.
@ Develop a Project Mentality. Imagine you were setting out to be an oil painter. No one could expect a
masterpiece on your first canvas. Making film or digital animation is every bit as difficult to master as
oil painting. So give yourself a break. Just as a painter begins with a sketch pad, allow yourself the
psychic freedom to develop your skills at a reasonable pace. This book suggests different “projects”
that have been carefully formulated. Try as many of them as you can. But don’t be overly self-critical.
Don’t judge yourself by first efforts. Remember, it's not the product of your work that counts as much
as the process of your learning.
B® Keep an Animator’s Diary. | strongly recommend that you consistently keep track of what you are
learning and how you are feeling. Any system will do. An easy one is to designate a special notebook
as the place to keep a running record of your pro-
jects and ideas. There are lots of technical notes
and lots of sketches that you will want to
preserve.
H Take the Long View. Gauging your abilities
as an independent animator ought to be a very
long-term goal. This book will identify all the indi-
vidual skills that comprise the art and craft of ani-
mation. There are lots of things to master and no one
has ever been able to do all of them. Walt Disney didn’t.
None of the independent animators mentioned in this book would say
that they have total facility and mastery. | certainly don't have them. You
won't either.

Xvill Pvaceunk TO A SPANKING NEW EDITION

 And it’s not important that you do. What is important, however, is for you to make ongoing assessments
of areas where you are strong and areas where your skills are less developed. This is critical because it will allow
you to guide your own development, to explore widely, and to innovate. You must be able to gauge your own
skills, interests, goals, and talents if you are to realize the ultimate goal of finding your own Style.

KIT LAYBOURNE
JANUARY 1998

J y oO Mobius interface: Kit Laybourne

is a sucker for new technology. In
collaboration with the Voyager
Company and then the Center for
Digital Multimedia at NYU, he com-
pleted a full working prototype for a
game-based CD-ROM about anima-
tion. Titled The Animation Kit, this pro-
ject had four goals: (1) to develop a
new genre of digital publishing that
grabs the attention of computer-
gaming young people and moves
them toward material of substance
in the arts and humanities; (2) to
explore the history, as well as the
aesthetic and creative processes, of
animation; (3) to provide access to
the works and personalities of out-
standing independent animators; and
(4) to challenge interactive and multi-
media publishers by setting new standards for
the pedagogy of computer-based learning.
Like lots of visionary projects, this one has never quite gotten off the
ground. Yet.
The Mobius strip pictured here is the main interface for The Animation
Kit.
Figure (A) shows the “Gulag” of marching stick figures, who tread slowly
on both the inside and the outside of this infinite Mobius surface.
(B) shows the home page for the CD-ROM. By clicking on one of the stick fig-
ures, the user is taken to sections on flip books, time-lapse animation, motion graph-
ics, rotoscoping (the drawing was to be replaced by a photo of Kit in his shorts), cutout
animation, cameraless techniques, and character animation. Each section would provide a
simple animation engine to let users create their own works and send them to friends via
the Web. (When we undertook the demo on flip-books, the “simple” engine proved very
expensive to create, because there was no standard application we could plug into.)
In any event, the tribe of stick figures created for the CD-ROM project have found life in
these pages. Although extremely simple, the drawings display the structural elements of
human anatomy and they also show how just a few expressive lines can suggest the broad
range of human activities and emotions.

WELCOME TO A SPANKING NEW EDITION xix

Viewmaster: The cover of the original edition of The Animation Book was adapted from a
work titled Viewmaster, created by George Griffin. The original film is composed of eight disks,
including the one seen here. With the camera framed tight on one of the images, the cycle of
runners was shot two frames at a time on the animation stand, with each disk carefully reposi-
tioned around the same center point in successive frames. The resulting illusion became that of
watching as a parade of eclectic runners—of different scales and different styles—moved
across the frame. Only at the end of the film was there a pull-back that revealed that what one
had been watching was, in fact, a form of the familiar toy, the Viewmaster disk that fascinated
an earlier generation of children.
The new cover for this digital edition echoes the same subject matter—people in motion
and, in a different way, samples the range of expressive techniques available for today's gener-
ation of animators. Courtesy George Griffin and Metropolis Graphics.
 @
| ,
i oF,
re LL A,Rant “ee
me ®. byt ote!
Fs . M

The joal of this Hook is to help you discover your own unique style as an independent
animator. That’s a lofty objective but an achievable one. It requires work. It requires experimentation. In
the long run, finding a style means understanding a lot about yourself as well as about the thing you've
set out to accomplish. This makes it worth doing well. And it makes it fun.
Animation requires a few innate skills and talents. Without these you might as well close the book
right now. As it turns out, however, the essential skills are not the ones you'd expect.
An animator must be fascinated with the way things move. He or she must be a keen observer of
the world. An animator must be something of an actor. The ability to give a cartoon figure character
depends on the ability to feel a character within yourself. If a film is to work, what happens must happen
with purpose. Actions must be motivated. So every animator has to be an actor, even if it’s just a
closet actor.
Like designers, fine artists, and inventors, animators need to enjoy the process of identifying
a problem and then working out its solution. Sloppy thinking and lazy execution guarantee failure. An
animator has got to know how to think.
Finally, everyone who has ever done it will agree that the art of animation requires liberal
measures of patience, precision, perseverance, and pride. Please note, however, that these are not innate
skills as much as they are personality traits, or elements of character.
It’s all in the head. If you want to animate, if you've always been fascinated by cartoons and
cameras and computers, if you like making things move, then you've got all the requisite talents. Don’t
just take my word for it. Make up your own mind about what it takes by exploring the notions and the
problems that follow.
The biggest single misconception about anima-
tion is that you need to be an artist to do it, that you need to
know how to draw. To disprove this, just skim through the pages
of this book and you'll find frame enlargements from many films
that don't have a single drawn line in them. You can be a
prizewinning animator and never touch a pencil or paintbrush.
For some people, the ability to express themselves in
visual terms, in images, has been blocked. Most usually this is
expressed as “But | can’t draw.” It’s an all-too-familiar phrase.
It's also a self-defeating phrase, for it shuts down an individ-
ual’s innate impulse to draw. Worse, a fear of drawing sepa-
rates a person from that special kind of thinking that involves
making marks—a kind of thinking that is commonly acknowl-
edged as among the.most creative known to man. I'm refer-
ring to visual thinking—a form of problem solving and
communication that is quite different from verbal thinking, the
mental process most valued within formal education.
Please stop reading and find a pencil. Locate the illustra-
tions in this chapter that are referenced as Figures 1.1 through
1.4. Read their captions and do as they say, making pencil
marks right on these pages.

1.1 Improvise: Add a quick line or two to

VISUAL THINKING each of the circles as fast as you can so that
they become different things. If you can get
Whether or not you feel that your artistic impulse has atro- through this set in two minutes, try twenty
phied or even that it has never existed, these exercises are more.
 intended to pump new energy and awareness into your use of
eye and hand and imagination. As their caption titles will tell
you, each of the four exercises asks you to perform a specific
mental process—but to do it entirely through images, not
words. As you tackle these problems (and others like them that
appear later in this chapter), | hope you will notice that what
you are actually doing is not “drawing” per se, but rather a
form of thinking that takes place through the dialogue
between hand and eye, between pencil and paper. In visual
thinking it is the process of working graphically that counts,
rather than the product of that thinking. In fact, it’s very impor-
tant not to confuse drawing to extend your thinking with
drawing to communicate a well-formed idea. As you'll experi-
ence, visual thinking also has to do with the working out of
ideas, with idea generation.

DRAWING AND ART

So much for calisthenics. | do hope you plunged right into the

activities associated with Figures 1.1 to 1.4. If not, | recom-
mend you do so now. They'll warm up your eye and limber up
your fingers. And by doing them you'll show yourself how
visual thinking—like thinking through words, writing, or other
symbolic code systems—is a skill that one acquires, a skill that
requires constant practice if you want to stay in peak form.
As we now move into a discussion on drawing tech-
nique, it may be important to step back for a moment and note
that the most distinctive thing about our species is that we are
symbol makers. Just as each human being is born with the
impulse to speak, so each of us is also wired to create images.
While it is true, of course, that some people are endowed with
unique gifts or abilities for verbal or graphic expression, it is
also true that a facility in any expressive mode is something
that must be developed. In other words, you can learn to draw.
1.2 Recycle: With just a few quick pencil Artistic ability is not some mystical God-given gift. As with any
strokes, try to copy each of these items in
type of expression, there are some skills that must be acquired
corresponding frames on the opposite page.
It is important to work very fast in this exer- through practice and by studying the basic principles and con-
cise. When you've finished, study the visual ventions of each form.
style of the resulting sketches. How would | grant that even the greatest self-discipline and tireless
you characterize the kind of markings
you've made (light, exact, cluttered, bold,
instruction won't equip you to sketch like Michelangelo or
loose, free, strong, delicate)? Leonardo, but a few exercises and tips can definitely improve

4 nr THE ANIMATION BooK

the look and the impact of your drawings. Just as important,
self-instruction may also give you more self-confidence.
Creative Clichés. A basic trick in drawing is to select and
use just those details most often associated with what you are
drawing. A simple box, for example, is immediately recognized
as a house if it has a chimney belching smoke. But with a
rounded rectangle drawn on one of its sides, the box becomes
a television set. Similarly, suppose you want a character to look
old. What clichés convey old age? A cane? A stooped walk?
What else? White hair and old-fashioned spectacles? Symbols
or attributes of old age are, by definition, all clichés, but used
effectively in drawings, they can communicate quickly, directly,
and clearly. As you try the problem in Figure 1.4, keep in mind
that the special art of caricature depends entirely on the artist's
ability to determine which details make a particular individual
recognizable.
Deep Structure. Probably the best way to make a quan-
tum jump in your drawing abilities is to look past or beneath
the visual detail of any image to those basic geometric forms
that constitute its structure. Because simple geometric shapes
are easy to create, they become ideal building blocks in the

ie
act of drawing. Figure 1.5 features some examples taken from
Preston Blair’s book Animation—How to Draw Animated
Cartoons. What holds for Pluto can easily be integrated into
your own character design and drawing.
After you study the “deep structure” of the examples,
try to construct your own character using just spheres. Note
that spheres are the easiest of all shapes to draw because they
don’t change shape when viewed from different angles.
“Less Is More.” What the architect Mies van der Rohe
said about buildings is true also about drawing for animation.
Simplify. Cut out all nonessential details. Simplify still more. As
you watch animated films on television or as you study the
individual frames reproduced in these pages, note how much is
left out. See how simple and lean the drawings are, how
uncluttered and unfussy the graphic techniques.
Graphic Styling. Just as there is more than one way of
seeking knowledge and skinning a cat, so there is more than
one way of representing the same thing in graphic terms. As
an animator, you will prefer some drawing styles and you will
dislike others. Some graphic modes will be beyond your reach
and you'll have no feeling for others. Be that as it may, you

BASIC SKILLS vi
 should consciously explore new approaches. You should try to
extend your repertoire for creating images. In fact, much of
your eventual success and satisfaction will come from being
able to exercise different options in selecting a graphic idiom.
The case study in Figure 1.7 takes a familiar household object
and shows just a few of the different ways it can be styled.
Line and Body Languages. The quality of a line—its
thickness, its precision, its tension, its relationship to other lines
—should be examined, evaluated, and controlled in your draw-
ing. Here is a sampling of “rules” that cartoonists and anima-
tors often employ: heavier lines attract our attention; angular
lines suggest a feeling of tension; smooth and free lines create
a peaceful, happy feeling. As with lines, so with bodies. A
closed figure is “tight” or “angry.” An open gesture or posi-
tion is “friendly” or “relaxed.” Frame enlargements through-
out the book will suggest the range oflines that can be used
and their various impacts.
Framing and Composition. Animation, like most graphic
art forms, takes place within a frame. The changing composi-
tion within this rectangle is a factor continually affecting the
impact of one’s drawing. The most important tip about good
composition is this: Avoid the center. It is a dead center. Posi-
tioning something in the middle of the frame creates a feeling
of total stasis. Similarly, stay away from an even division of the
frame or a composition that is too balanced. Sometimes, of
course, you'll want your images to be centered and stable.
1.3 Explore: What objects can you find Importance of Background. Man is a pattern-seeking
inside these scribbles? Use a marker to add
animal. We all search for meaning in all things. Context (back-
details and emphasize form. When you’ve
worked awhile with this one, explore your ground and surroundings) can be used to relay much informa-
own random scribbling. tion about the “subject” of a drawing. Almost any frame from
a good animated film will make this clear, and this book is filled
with them. While it’s true that backgrounds should be simple
and never detract the viewer's attention from the main com-
ponent of the drawing, be cagey in the selection of objects and
details you place in the background in order to convey a strong
feeling of place and atmosphere.
Color Psychology. Try in your drawing to exploit those
standard conventions and cultural assumptions that your audi-
ence will share with you. For example, warm colors (reds and
oranges) are perceived as active and they tend to come
forward in a drawing or painting (at least in our culture
they do). Cool colors, on the other hand, tend to recede into

6 wy THe ANIMATION Book

the background and are perceived as inactive. Everyone
knows that a red face is angry, a blue face sad, and a green
face sick. Incorporate such shorthand symbols into your draw-
ing and coloring. But don’t neglect to consider colors that do
not conform to our cultural expectations. The best animated
films use color as an equally powerful graphic element to line,
shape, and even movement itself. The use of color is very, very
important.
Depth Cues. Here’s a quick but by no means complete
list of visual cues that will create an impression of spatial depth
within a drawing: heavier lines come forward and stand out;
foot placement indicates the ground; place the horizon line
high in the frame; use more detail in the foreground; employ
perspective lines to indicate the relationship of the subject to
the background; place shadows underneath people. Figure 1.6
provides a simple drawing that incorporates some of these
cues. Can you find each of them?

DIGITAL DRAWING

Drawing on a computer is hard. It feels awkward. It takes

longer. It requires hard thinking. The learning comes slowly.
Okay. Let’s deal at the outset with these unhappy facts.
Let’s start with a step back. Consider how difficult it is to attain
real mastery of the traditional elements of drawing—the ones
we've been considering thus far in this chapter. Hard enough,
right? First there were years of scribbling and coloring with
blunt crayons. Later came writing. Year after year of schooling
drilled us in how to hold a pencil and master penmanship well
enough so that others could decipher our markings and read
what we had written. Seen from this perspective, even though
we've all been making marks on paper since we were toddlers,
and even though few of us claim to be great artists, you can 1.4 Visual clichés: Add whatever details
you wish to transform the same basic body
still bet that every single person who has the skills to read this form into these different characters: a
book possesses the mastery required to put a line onto paper pirate, a hippie, an old woman, a creature
exactly where he or she wants it. from outer space, a monster. A few extra
outlines are provided so you can try differ-
You can forget any such degree of instant facility when
ent solutions and create new characters.
it comes to drawing on a computer screen. It’s almost like
being a toddler again. The very meaning of the words drawing
and paint must be relearned because they take on special
nuances when you begin working on a computer.

BASIC SKILLS 7
1.5 Deep structure: A valuable So where do you begin with digital drawing? For open-
approach to drawing cartoon characters is ers, you need to understand that there are three fundamental
to begin with circular and rounded forms.
These examples were created by one of the
modes of computer image making or computer graphics.
masters of character animation, and are Bit-map Images. You probably know that the computer
reproduced from Animation—How to Draw screen is actually composed of tiny dots called pixels. There are
Animated Cartoons by Preston Blair, pub-
exactly seventy-two pixels in a square inch of computer screen
lished by Walter Foster. This modest book is
extremely useful for analyzing animated resolution. One way to create an image is by delineating a
drawings. Mr. Blair provides a step-by-step patch of pixels—maybe a thin line or maybe a solid shape of
approach to designing and drawing
colors—that is known as a bit map. If you want to move a bit-
cartoons.
mapped image, you have to encircle all the dots that make it
up and select them as a group. Bit-mapped images are ren-
dered (and saved) by a group of computer software applica-
tions that are called paint programs. Although the act of
creating a bit-map image is much like painting on paper, prob-
lems come when you try to move or resize the image: In the
former case you can leave a gaping “white hole” on the com-
puter screen and in the latter case you can find your enlarged
bit map has the dreaded “jaggies.” The benefit of paint pro-
grams is that you can edit and draw pixel by pixel. The anima-
tor has great control andflexibility.
Vector Images. Another way to create a computer
graphic is by treating it as a discrete object that the computer
generates from data stored as a mathematical equation. Vector
images (also known as object-oriented graphics) are created
with what are called draw programs. The benefits of working
with vector images is that criso appearance is retained if one
changes the object's size. Also, draw programs make it easy to
move images around independently. The downside is that you
can’t fine-tune an object, adding a pixel here or changing the
color of a pixel there.
Three-dimensional Images. The most radically innovative
form of computer graphicsis 3-D. Here the animator uses
“wire frame” constructions to simulate a three-dimensional
image on the two-dimensional computer screen, making an
animation more realistic. After the basic shape is constructed,
3-D software programs allow you to fillin the surfaces with
colors and textures. Once the complicated basic image has
been laboriously entered into computer memory, it serves as
an object that can be manipulated with a flexibility that
matches the most positive aspects of both bit-map and vector
graphics. During frame-by-frame creation of an animated
sequence, the 3-D image can be turned, rotated, repositioned,

8 wy THe ANIMATION BooK

and even given subtle changes in reflection and lighting
effects. It is this addition of lighting and shadows that gives
3-D animation its true-to-life look.
| lied when | said that there are only three types of
graphics programs. In fact, there are another two—although |
think of themas hybrids of the basic kinds described above.
Paint/draw programs do as their title suggests—they create
both bit-mapped and object-oriented images, placing them on
different levels that work like the clear acetate sheets or “cels”
of traditional animation, letting the artist see and manipulate
1.6 Suggesting depth: This very simple
digital drawings on each level. PostScript-based illustration pro- drawing was done using Painter, a software
grams create a special kind of digital file that scales perfectly to program that mimics many of the tradi-
all sizes. This type of graphics application was created to help tional techniques used by artists. The image
incorporates a number of the conventions
computers work with letter shapes and type fonts. | suspect commonly used to convey the dimension
that readers who have worked only with computer word- of depth.
processing programs have marveled at how easy it is to swap
type fonts. You can also enlarge or reduce something that has
been typed onto the screen. A simple click of the mouse can
blow up a letter form to huge scale. Another click and a word
or phrase is reduced to miniature size, perfectly proportioned.
You'll be pleased to know PostScript graphics programs can
also be used to create animation.
But how do you actually make a digital drawing?
Regardless of the type of graphics program, computer
images share a common pool of input devices and imaging
tools. You can certainly use a mouse to scribe a digital graphic
in bit-map, vector, or 3-D form. But for most people it is a lot
easier to use a digital drawing tablet that has a pen you hold
the same way you hold a pencil or paintbrush.
Figure 1.9 provides a helpful catalogue of the imaging
tools that have become standard in computer graphics. There
is not space in this volume to describe and provide an example
of how each of these tools is operated with either mouse or
tablet. Nor, fortunately, is there such a need. All graphics appli-
cations come with computer-based tutorials and program
manuals that will give you a comprehensive, item-by-item
introduction to each tool. Digital drawing is hard but it is not
counterintuitive. The hard part comes in gaining the same level
of control and dexterity that we are all accustomed to when
we take pencil to paper. It just takes time, that’s all. Just about
any computer you can get your hands on will have a graphics
program of one kind or another. And just about anyone who

BASIC SKILLS 9
CASE STUDY CASE hI UCASE*STUDY:(Thé
Rahgé Gf Rendering!
OY CASE STUDY CASE *

Here is a jumbo project that deserves as much time as you can

give it. The assignment is to choose a single object and explore
the range of ways you can render it using “old” media and
“new media.” The goal is not to create a series of master-
pieces. Instead, your goal is to make many, many different
images of the same thing.

On the left page are five examples of traditional approaches. (A)

shows a photo of a normal telephone. Variations shown include a
pencil drawing, (B), a still life made by ripping (not cutting) basic
shapes from a sheet of construction paper, (C), a rendering formed
by building up density with a rubber stamp, and (D), a bas-relief
version created by building up layers of masking tape, (E). Here are
some other approaches for you to try: Draw the shadows cast by
your object, but not the object itself; draw a huge enlargement of

one detail; make a pointillist version by tapping dots with a

Magic Marker; do a high-contrast version that eliminates all
gray tones and emphasizes zones that are either black or white
(no single lines); experiment with renderings of the object
done with colored pencils, crayons, watercolors, and ink.
On the right page are digital ways of making images. The
source photo, (F), was made with a Sony digital still camera
(DSC-F1) that can store up to fifty-eight images when working
in its “standard” mode of image quality that yields a 640 x 480
image compressed in JPEG at 64 KB (if this is all “geek” to you,
the hardware and software chapters should provide assistance).
“e

10 se THE ANIMATION BooK

The four variations here were all created using the standard image
processing software called Photoshop. Image (G) shows the image
with a “Trace Contour.” Image (H) samples “Crystallize.” Image (I)
is the “Wave” effect. And image (J) uses Photoshop's multiple lay-
ers of alpha channels to combine “Blur” and “Hi-Contrast” effects.
All of these digital treatments come from a standard roster that
appears when one pulls down the “Filters” menu within Photo-
shop. Not once was a mouse used (much less a graphics tablet) in
creating the variations sampled above.
There are plenty of other filters and effects one can explore
with a program like Photoshop. Try “Gaussian Blur,” “Spherize,”
“Mezzotint,” “Lens Flare,” “Emboss,” “Twirl,” “Add Noise,”
“Solarize,” or “Find Edges” — among many, many more. The pos-
sibilities will become mind-numbing — yet creatively stimulating
— as you experiment by pushing the same basic image through
some of the different drawing, painting, and 3-D software pack-
ages discussed throughout the book.

BASIC SKILLS Ori

1.8 Three modes of digital draw- has worked on a computer will be able to give you a quick
img: This simple little bug is shown as ren-
introduction to the basic operational techniques that allow one
dered by wholly different types of graphics
programs. The Bit-Mapped Bug, (A), was to start making images.
done in a program called Painter. Pixel-by- Doing your own computer graphics gets easier and easier
pixel manipulation gives the artist a hand- with each new generation of computer and each fresh version
drawn sensibility, complete with lines that
vary in thickness and different tonal ranges,
of computer applications. Over the past few years, the design-
corresponding to the pressure put upon the ers of the major graphics programs—regardless of type—have
drawing stylus. The Vector rendering, (B), come to adopt a uniform language of shortcuts and procedures
was done in Adobe Illustrator. Here the Ben-
for making and manipulating computer graphics. This is great
zier handles are shown. These are the control
points that the artist manipulates in shaping for the animator and digital artist because it means that once
(or reshaping) the mechanical-looking lines you have put in the time and self-schooling to function reason-
of consistent weight. Finally, there is a full
ably well in one program (be that Illustrator, Painter, FreeHand,
3-D rendering done in a program called Ray
Dream Studio, (C), complete with texture- or any other major application), you are not going back to
mapped surfaces and lighting. Chapter 23: square one when you need to work in another kind of program.
Computer Software describes in more detail Before moving on to the next topic under Basic Skills, let
the different approaches to digital drawing.
Courtesy George Escobar.
me reassure those readers who know zero about computers
that Chapter 23 provides a ground-up introduction to com-
puter software and that Chapter 24 does the same thing for
computer hardware. If you scoot ahead to these chapters now,
you will find text and illustrations that provide greater detail
about the three basic modes of computer graphics. As for the
varied and different techniques of bringing such images to life,
almost every chapter between here and there will chart differ-
ent areas of the digital domain.

ART IN MOVEMENT

Animation is art in movement. More, it is the art of movement.

In an animated film, drawings are not static, as they must be in
these pages. Whether it’s on a movie screen, TV set, or com-
puter monitor, the drawings come alive, and it is the quality of
that life that matters, not the quality of a particular image or
frame of film. Whether it is a drawing or a lump of clay or a
puppet or a collage or whatever, the animator places life and
meaning into his or her material by making it move.
Movement within animation is something that simulta-
neously exists on many levels and speaks in many ways. Move-
ment conveys story, character, and theme. It creates tension
through the development of expectation and its release,
through the arousal of curiosity and its resolution. Movement
creates a structure for the passage of time. It is also intimately

12 A THe ANIMATION BooK

related to music, dialogue, and other elements of the audio
- (one pixel) <4
portion of the film or video project. Movement is the essential » [four pixels)
magic of cartoons. Why else did the first people to see motion
pictures spontaneously label the experience “movies”? Move-
ment is the beginning and the end
If you've tried the various problems contained in this a
chapter's illustrations, I’m hoping you'll have experienced the
following three truths: that visual thinking is different from
Oo
other kinds of thinking, that drawing skills are acquired as well
as inborn, and that animation is art in movement.
These truisms form a security blanket. You should never
again feel terror when asked to pick up a pencil. But don’t
worry if you're still not quite convinced that you, a klutzy
drawer, can still create magnificent and powerful animated
films. Against a lifetime of being told that “art” is based on the
ability to draw with representational precision, these few pages (i) 614
of encouragement and exercise can only begin to make you “waiting” icon
comfortable with whatever abilities you possess and can
develop further. But keep at it. Here are four commonsense 1.9 Generic graphics tools: Although
today’s sophisticated graphics packages dis-
strategies that can help you solidify and extend your acquisi-
play a bewildering range of tools, protocols,
tion of greater drawing skills: and custom controls, the basic tool set is
Planned Doodling. For a week or two carry around with represented in the menu of on-screen icons
you a cheap pad of paper and a pencil. Whenever you can, shown here, which Kit Laybourne designed
for use in a CD-ROM project. From top to
make doodles. It doesn’t matter what you draw. It matters only bottom in the center column: a pencil to sig-
that you draw. So do as much as you can and don’t worry nify drawing freehand; a straight line
about saving the sketches. There will be time enough for that. maker; an eraser; a paintbrush; a box to
select a screen area (for moving or dele-
Sketch File. Find an old box, envelope, drawer, or file
tion); a color “fill” tool; a color “picker”; an
folder. Every time you make a drawing that interests you in undo button; and a pair of boxes that show
some way, Slip it into the file. If you are a computer jock, make foreground and background colors.
Each tool can be modified in various
a digital file of drawings you made, clip art, and images that
ways. To the right of the central column of
you can scan into the sketch file. Note that a drawing doesn’t icons are “pop-out” submenus that the user
have to please you. It should just be interesting to you in some employs to modify the corresponding tool.
To the left are cursor icons that show how
way. And don’t worry about using the file. Just keep it.
the mouse’s screen marker will appear,
Self-inventory. Systematically study how you go about depending on which variation of the tool
drawing. Keep track of the way you seem to prefer working. has been selected. The “waiting icon”
Here are some questions you can ask yourself: Do you like to suggests a three-image cycle that would
show a stick figure scratching its head. This
work with large or small formats? Which drawing implements would appear on-screen while the computer
do you prefer? Do you draw quickly or slowly? Do you like to is processing information. Like the spinning
try copying what others have drawn? Do you like to draw peo- wheel or clock icons you are familiar with,
the purpose here is to assure the user that
ple or objects? What kinds? | encourage you to think up other
although nothing may be happening on the
questions and generally search for patterns among your atti- screen, the computer has received its orders
tudes, preferences, beliefs, and of course, your artwork itself. and is busy “thinking.”

BASIC SKILLS 13
1.10 The atoms of computer Favorite Things. Don't waste time trying to draw things
graphics: So, you wanna get up close and that don’t interest you. Work only with stuff that is exciting to
personal with a pixel? Here’s a huge magni-
fication of two icons shown in the preced- you. Take notes (literally) of what you are drawn to. Then draw
ing illustration. The word pixel comes from it. Such a “passion list” can be immensely helpful in locating
“picture element.” You should be able to themes, characters, settings, effects, and other elements you
make out individual pixels (the smallest
square unit) and you can probably even get
can incorporate into layer productions.
a sense of different colors — shown by the
various gray scales on the paintbrush tip, for
example. All desktop computers share the
same resolution of 72 dots per inch GETTING IDEAS
(dpi) — which is also the number of pixels
per inch. If your screen has a measurement Is the creative process really a mystery? Many would say so.
of 8” by 10”, you'll be looking at exactly They view inspiration as a divine gift; invention as a form of
472,320 pixels. It’s good to know that any
graphics program will let you zoom in to
genius; insight as something you luck into; and original think-
the “atomic” structure of pixels. Go ahead, ing in general as a mystical experience. Creativity, most people
cruise in as close as you can. Maybe, like the would agree, is something you are born with. Either you've got
author, you'll find it is totally engrossing to
it or you don’t.
design images, working at this most minute
of levels. Dr. Abraham Maslow, a pioneer in the field of humanis-
tic psychology, spent much of his life studying how creative
individuals manage to function as they do. According to
Maslow, primary creativity “is very probably a heritage of every
human being and is found in all healthy children.” So how
come there's so little real creativity surrounding us? Thomas
Edison offered this quantification of the creative process he so
regularly seemed to experience: “Invention,” he said, “is 1 per-
cent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” This entire vol-
ume is based upon the axiom that everyone is creative and that
with hard work and encouragement, everyone can come up
with good ideas.
Insight and creativity happen when one is playing around.
This doesn’t mean goofing off, however. Getting ideas requires
a delicate and determined playfulness—one that encompasses a
variety of approaches, demands all the discipline you can man-
age, and usually ends up requiring plenty of sheer faith.
Because visual design is so essential to animation, it is
likely that if you’re already interested in animation; you will
already have a built-in mechanism for finding new ideas. It is
your own taste for graphics combined with your own abilities
in drawing and image making that will lead you in idea hunt-
ing. You'll probably get a lot of help in tracking down good
ideas from a set of latent tendencies most animators have
toward being gag writers, mimes, shrinks, junk collectors,
long-distance swimmers, jewelers, magicians, and all-around

14 A THE ANIMATION BooK

nonconformists. Here are ten strategies that can help you
locate and stockpile good ideas.
Idea Book. Purchase a large-format (at least 11 by 14
inches) spiral-bound sketchbook with sheets of quality white
drawing paper. This book will become a home for your ideas.
Use it freely. Jot down anything that strikes you as even
remotely relevant as a film or part of a film you might one day
make. Plunk into your book images or quotations or recollec-
tions of any kind.
The large size of the pages is important because it will
promote a comparison of different ideas and visual elements.
The absence of ruled lines forces you to write out ideas in unfa-
miliar ways. The wire binding allows you to lay the book flat for
drawing. This kind of book also encourages the addition of odd
materials—clippings, postcards, doodles, collages, and so on.
Weird Combinations. Search for comparisons and analo-
gies in all things. You might carry around with you each day
some sort of provocative idea and try to combine it with expe-
riences and observations you make as your day proceeds. Pick
just one object for, say, five minutes and see how, if, why, and
with what effect it does or does not combine with any other
object or environment or whatever. How does a toothbrush
relate to the morning newspaper? What is a toothache like?
Dream Diary. Maslow said that creativeness emerges
from our unconscious. “In our dreams,” he wrote, “we can
be . more clever, and wittier, and bolder and more origi-
nal. . . With the lid taken off, with the controls taken off, the
repressions and defenses taken off, we find generally more
creativeness than appears to the naked eye.”
Write down your dreams just after you've awakened.
You will find that your own unconscious communication sys-
tem is a terrific source of good ideas. With practice you'll have
no trouble remembering dreams in rich and fruitful detail. Try
it. You'll like it. And it works.
Recycling Ideas. There isn’t a new idea under the sun.
Sometime before—someplace—someone must have come up
with every possible combination of ideas. But this fact should
only serve as an encouragement for copying ideas, borrowing
them, refining them, making them your own. Go about this
purposefully. When you come across an idea that is really
attractive to you, jot it down. As you later work over these
ideas you will select further and invariably infuse and alter

BASIC SKILLS 15
 what you like in your own way. The process of editing and
transforming makes a found idea your idea—to the limited
extent that any idea can ever belong to anyone.
You might even begin with this book. Draw a big arrow
to notions or images or techniques that catch your interest.
Better, write them on the inside of the covers, where other
ideas can join them. Better still, put them into your idea book.
Brainstorming. Here is a creative problem-solving tech-
nique that requires a group of people. The object of brain-
storming is for the group to come up with as many alternative
solutions to a problem as they can. Quantity is valued but qual-
ity is not judged. To brainstorm well, everyone participating
must spontaneously call out every idea that enters into their
heads. Allow no self-censorship. You don’t say to yourself or to
others, “Gee, I’m not sure if this is off-the-wall but...”
Instead, you immediately spit out the idea. You free-associate.
Brainstorming works on the theory that the spontaneous
generation of ideas will produce novel and valuable solutions
and that a group will come up with a large number of better
ideas than will the same number of people working individu-
ally. The first part of a brainstorming session is given over to
generating ideas. This is usually given a time limit—perhaps
five minutes. Then there is a second part in which the ideas are
evaluated. This can be a creative step too. Ideas can combine in
interesting ways; discussion can lead to refinements or new
directions that the shout-out speed of the first part of the ses-
sion does not encourage.
The Back Burner. Sometimes the best way to solve a
problem is to forget it. The mind’s subconscious will keep work-
ing at a problem even after the conscious portion of the mind
has gone on to other concerns. This incubation period is essen-
tial to creativity and it is the major reason why working under
too tight a deadline will be unproductive if original thinking is
required. So as a conscious strategy, allow yourself time for
ideas to simmer and perk on the back burners of your mind.
Mixing Media. As media theorist Marshall McLuhan
pointed out, a tremendous release of raw energy occurs when
information that is packaged in one medium is translated into
another medium. A good place to look for ideas is within the
other arts. This process of cross-fertilization has been long val-
ued and used by artists of all forms: dance, theater, writing,
mime, music, sculpture, painting, and so on.

16 wy THe ANIMATION Book

 The Composite Medium. All films, videos, and computer-
based motion graphics are made up of other expressive forms
that combine the performing arts and the plastic arts, that
unite the world of science and technology with the world of
arts and letters.
Just one ingredient of these media’s composite forms
can fire your imagination. For example, “sound” is made up of
music, dialogue, narration, and sound effects. Any one of
these can provide the source of a new idea on which to base
your own project. Each element is important. And all parts
work together, even as they are bound together physically on
the screen's surface and bound together in the intellects and
emotions of those who perceive them.
Materials. For animators, one of the richest sources of
ideas comes from the material of animation itself. This will
become evident as you study and try your hand at the tech-
niques discussed in this book. You will discover, for example,
that the character of sand being moved across a sheet of white
Plexiglas will produce its own ideas. And so it will be as you
animate other objects, work in clay, draw on registered paper
sheets, combine collage imagery, or design a cutout character.
In animation, every material must be used differently. Every
material has its unique characteristics and potentials and these
must be exploited fully by the artist.
Hanging Tough. When nothing else seems to work, try
brute force. Muscle your way to a good idea. Let inspiration
come out of perspiration. The very discipline of work—of
spending time at it even when it feels unproductive—will
often yield a sudden breakthrough. If you spend twenty min-
utes every day, seven days a week, working in your idea book,
then | promise that the discipline of doing this alone will get
you through. Something worth pursuing will emerge. And
eventually, a pursuit of one kind or another will get you
somewhere.
You must trust yourself. All great artists have counted on
such faith to get them through the “dry spells.” Virtue is its
own reward. Keep working.

BASIC SKILLS 17
 The ancestors Of animated films were a series of
nineteenth-century mechanical toys that created the illusion of
movement. None of these gadgets had any direct application
within the worlds of commerce and science. Their existence
was based solely on their ability to delight. They were toys in
the real and best sense.
Over a hundred-year period, inventor after inventor fur-
ther refined these optical devices. Along the way, machines
combined with the emerging technology of photography to
create yet another entertainment, the movies. Mechanical toys
were wedded to celluloid and gave birth to cartoons.
It is both interesting and instructive to retrace the
genealogy of animation and to study some of those crazy gad-
gets that led to contemporary animation techniques. If you try
your hand at making some of these machines, not only will
your appreciation of them be enhanced, but you'll pick up
some valuable information and experience concerning the per-
ceptual and mechanical foundations of animation, the tech-
niques of designing pictures that move, and the process of
spontaneous invention itself. As a bonus, you'll be creating
2.1 A thaumatrope: This 1826 French materials that can be used later in making real cartoons.
engraving shows how to spin a thaumatrope
and it also suggests the device’s effect. In
this case, one side of the disc bears the
image of a bird and the other side carries
that of an empty cage. The superimposed THE THAUMATROPE
image is created, of course, only when the
device is being spun between fingertips. Animation prehistory begins with a simple device named the
Courtesy Stanford University Art Museum. thaumatrope. This optical toy was in wide circulation in the

18
early nineteenth century, and it may have been known far ear-
lier than that.
Yy
The toy is simplicity itself: a disc that is attached to two WA
:
pieces of string. When the disc is twirled by the operator's
=
hands, images placed on either side of the disc are perceived
together as a single image (Figure 2.1). Twirling the disc super-
imposes images upon each other by means of a perceptual
phenomenon known as the persistence of vision. Our eyes
hold on to images for a split second longer than they are actu-
ally projected, so that a series of quick flashes is perceived as
one continuous picture.
Using a piece of heavy cardboard and some string, you
can re-create the bird-and-cage effect or try out some-
thing more personal.
Project: Plastic Surgery. Locate a black-and-white
photograph of yourself, not more than a couple of
inches in length and width, in which your head is fairly
large within the frame. Center your image and then cut
this out and mount it on a piece of round cardboard.
Punch two small holes at the opposite edges of the disc
and attach a string to each. Design a number of alter-
native images to be attached to the reverse side of your
thaumatrope: a beard, a scar, a hat, a mask, a missing
tooth, or whatever else you'd like to superimpose on
your own face. Try different effects using colors. See
what happens when you place the photograph of a
movie star on the opposite side. Twirl up a storm.

THE PHENAKISTOSCOPE 2.2 Discs for Plateau’s phenakisto-

scope: A simple wooden handle was used
In 1832 a native of Belgium named Joseph Plateau invented to hold these discs as the viewer spun the
the first machine that really created the illusion of sustained wheel while facing a mirror and sighting
through the slits in the disc’s surface. The
movement. His invention, the phenakistoscope, is a spinning old etching, (A), shows a variation of the
wheel that bears a series of drawn images and viewing gates phenakistoscope. To operate this device cor-
that frame the viewer’s vision of the drawings (Figure 2.2). rectly, the viewer positions an eye close to
the surface with slits. As the disc is spun, the
Project: Mirror Movies. In Figure 2.3 you'll find a one-
animated movement is perceived by sight-
quarter-size pattern for creating your own phenakistoscope. ing through the series of slits to the series of
Reproduce a full-size version, 9 inches in diameter, and attach drawings beyond. Plateau’s fascination with
mechanical movement is apparent in that
it to a backing surface. After cutting viewing slits at the indi-
moving machines provide the “content”
cated places, draw something in the twelve frames outlined on within two of his discs, (B). Courtesy Stan-
the surface of the stylus. Note that you can actually try two dif- ford University Art Museum.

CAMERALESS ANIMATION 19
 ferent movements on a single sheet of paper by using the out-
side zone—x—for one set of drawings and the inside zone—
2.3 Phenakistoscope stylus: This par- y—for another set.
ticular configuration of twelve wedges
seems to work well, but you are encouraged
to experiment with other formats. Use the
sections marked x for one set of drawings
THE ZOETROPE AND
and the sections marked y for the second
set. Beside the stylus (which has been PRAXINOSCOPE
reduced in scale) are three possible draw-
ings you might want to try: a sports car that It wasn't long before a new generation of inventors refined
zooms through the frame; an airplane that and extended Mr. Plateau’s device. Among the most ingenious
flies directly at you; and an exotic plant that of the new toys were the zoetrope and the praxinoscope. Both
you can make grow. The finished phena-
kistoscope (cut from cardboard or another machines provided more convenient projection devices for
heavy paper stock) can be mounted onto a their drawings. Both extended the number of drawings that
pencil by securing its center to the pencil’s could be used—and hence the duration of movement itself.
eraser with a pushpin. Go to the mirror and
watch the drawings come alive and move at
The zoetrope is a revolving drum that has slits in the
various speeds. sides, spaced equally. By looking through these slits as the

20 g THE ANIMATION BooK

drum is spun, the viewer is able to catch glimpses of a series of 2.4 A zoetrope: The photograph of early
drawings that have been created on a strip of paper and then motion equipment, (A), shows the circular
eh : Ae ; metal drum and wooden base of a
placed inside the drum (Figure 2.4). The larger the drum’s zoetrope. To the:left of the zoetrope is a
diameter, the longer the “movie,” and, of course, the same thaumatrope disc and behind thata device
drum could present different strips of drawings. Incidentally, that was cranked rapidly to animate a series
the machine’s name means “wheel of life.” It was so titled by a Sie goon cords: The tong mnie
, oreground is the artwork that is placed
Pierre Devignes in the year 1860, although earlier versions of inside the zoetrope’s drum. Photograph (B)
the same basic device had been developed in England by shows four nineteenth-century British
zoetrope strips. (A), courtesy Museum of
William Horner around 1834.
Modern Art/Film Stills Archives; (B), courtesy
The praxinoscope represents a refinement on the Stanford University Art Museum.
zoetrope. The slits are replaced by a set of mir-
rors that spin in the center of the drum. You
can try to make your own version of the prism
device by using a shiny plastic material, which
is available in art stores. The finished mirror
structure is placed over the spindle of a record
player. When the machine is turned on, the
outside band of images is animated as one
looks into the revolving mirrors. The same
drawings you have made for the zoetrope can
be modified for use in a model praxinoscope.
The inventor of the praxinoscope was
Emile Reynaud, and in 1892 he opened the
world’s first movie theater in Paris. Reynaud’s
Théatre Optique projected a “movie” that was

CAMERALESS ANIMATION 21
 made of individual drawings on a long piece of paper. The
show lasted just a few minutes. In many ways, Reynaud’s
invention parallels the modern film projector.

FLIP-BOOKS

Remember those animated drawings you did as a kid on the

dog-eared edges of a textbook? By flipping through the pages,
you could make the characters or the design move. Sometimes
you could buy a small flip-book at the local novelty store, or
2.5 Reynaud’s praxinoscope the- you'd discover one already created in a comic book, or get one
ater: By the turn of the century, this rela- as a Cracker Jack prize.
tively sophisticated device was being
commercially distributed in Europe and
Flip-books also invite comparison with the technique of
North America. Emile Reynaud combined cel animation, one of the most sophisticated of all animation
this invention with a magic lantern to create techniques. Each page in the flip-book corresponds to an indi-
his famous Théater Optique. Located in
vidual piece of artwork that, along with all the other drawings,
Paris and operating between 1892 and
1900, the Théater Optique entertained siz- makes up a movie when it’s filmed by an animation camera.
able audiences by projecting an extended The binding of the pad or flip-book acts as a registration system
series of animated drawings that had been
—a way of keeping things precisely sequenced and lined up.
made on long strips of translucent paper.
Courtesy Stanford University Art Museum. The act of thumbing through the pages of the flip-book is the
act performed first by the camera and then by
the projector, if working in film, or by the scan-
ner and then the computer, if working digitally.
The quickest and easiest way to make
your own flip-book is to purchase a small,
unruled pad of white paper. A convenient size
is 5 by 7 inches, although smaller 3- by 5-inch
books also work. You'll find these pads in any
good stationery store. With one of these pads
and a pencil, you're ready to start.
The first drawing is made on the last
page of the pad. When the next page is per-
mitted to fall forward and cover the page
you've just drawn, you will be able to see
through the new sheet well enough to make
out the preceding drawing. You may now
redraw or trace the first drawing, but not
exactly. In order to create movement, you must
alter each successive drawing in some minor
way. These minute changes accumulate or
build up to produce the illusion of movement.

22 ~<THE ANIMATION BOOK

 The process of completing a drawing, covering it with a
new sheet, redrawing, recovering, and so forth is continued
until you work your way to the first page of the pad. To see the
results of your labor, hold the book in one hand so that you
can flip through the pages, back to front, with the other hand.
Standard index cards provide a superior alternative to
the bound pages of a small notepad. The drawing technique is
similar. With index cards a registration system is achieved by
lining up the cards as you draw, one on top of the other. Index
cards are thicker than regular paper. This makes them flip more
efficiently, but it also makes them more difficult to see through
as you draw one image on top of the preceding one. To rem-
edy this you may want to make yourself a light table. This con-
sists, very simply, of a piece of transparent or translucent glass
or Plexiglas on which you draw, with a bright light projecting
2.6 Previewing a flip-book: Afin-
upward from beneath this surface, making it easy to see ished flip-book with many pages is being
through a number of index cards or pages of regular paper. flipped by its creator, George Griffin. This
Chapter 20 provides more information on making or purchas- way of holding and fanning the pages will
work with almost any kind of flip-book.
ing a light table.
Index cards provide greater flexibility than notepads. For
one thing, you can easily throw away a particular drawing
without weakening the binding. Similarly, you can insert one

y
or more cards should you determine that you need more draw-

<I
ings to smooth out a particular movement. Most important,
index cards allow you to reorder the sequence of a finished
flip-book. This means that you can rearrange a finished flip-
book so that it is viewed from front to back. Between showings
a strong rubber band will easily hold the cards together.
With either pads or index cards, you have some options
on just where to draw whatever it is you want to put on the
paper. Figure 2.7 Shows two common placement systems.
Technically and aesthetically, there seems to be very little dif-
ference between the two. However, if you think you may even-
tually want to film one of your flip-books, you should work in
an area with a width-to-height ratio of 4 to 3. This is the stan- 2.7 Two flip-book formats: The scale
dard ratio for most movie, television, and computer screens. and dimensions here are highly arbitrary.
Flip-book (A) uses a #20 (small) binder clip
Project: Circle Boogie. Using either a pad or index cards, to hold its pages firmly. One’s hand can per-
try to solve the following problem. Your first drawing is to be a form the same function. Flip-book (B) is sta-
circle, roughly 11% inches in diameter. In the following twelve pled in the center. This arrangement creates
two drawable, flippable surfaces on the
pages, transform the circle into another object—for example, same set of stapled pages. Select a paper
the circle could evolve into a set of lips. And in the following stock and a size of drawing that will suit
twelve sheets, try to get back to the original circle. But as you your preferences and resources.

CAMERALESS ANIMATION 23
 do this, follow a different route from the one you took in the
first twelve drawings. You might, for example, have the lips
blow out a bubble-gum bubble that grows until it hides the lips
and becomes the same size as the original circle.
If you follow these directions, you will have a movement
in twenty-four drawings, from a circle to something else to a
circle again. Now repeat this process a second time, going to a
different shape or object before returning on sheet 48 to the
original circle. When you flip the completed book, you should
see a movie that, while it lasts just a few seconds, creates a
clear visual “beat.” Do other variations within this basic struc-
ture and add these to your flip-book. Vary the amounts of
movement between drawings and the degree of complexity of
the transformations. Add color. Try having a number of things
happening at once.
2.8 Flip-book as film and publica-
tion: These drawings represent part of the
Sneak Preview. Save these first flip-books. Later, with an
actual layout prepared by independent ani- animation camera or with a computer and scanner, you will be
mator George Griffin for formal publication able to turn them into movies. Instead of appearing as
of one of his flip-books.

GEORGE
GRIFFIN
1976

24 ..~THe ANIMATION BooK

cramped drawings on small pages that are flipped with
unavoidably irregular speed, these flip-books can be produced
into real movies, huge in scope, gracious in form, unfettered in
presentation.

--+[e----2e]/e—

CAMERALESS FILMS

You can make your own animated films without a camera and --|e----
3 /e—

without photographically developing the film itself. This is the —>|e----4--

technique of cameraless animation often called “scratch the —y [e-----|--

doodle” filmmaking. It’s a good place to begin your explo-

—— »le---- --
ration of animation. It is cheap and fast. Few tools are required
and you can see the results of your work immediately.
But there are more important reasons why cameraless
animation is the best place to start working with actual film.
First, the technique allows you to get to know the size and
characteristics of the celluloid strips that comprise the physical 2.9 Frame lines: The frame lines are
indicated by the arrows and dotted lines.
material known as film. Second, drawing on film gives you a They go straight across the film. Sometimes
good area for experimentation with the perceptual phenomena you may be working with leader that has
that allow the movies to “move.” Finally, cameraless animation only one set of sprocket holes. Location of
the frame remains the same.
is relatively simple. You don’t need any previous experience or
knowledge to create your very first world premiere.
A friendly warning: Although cameraless animation is
direct and simple, the technique is deceptively difficult to mas-
ter. If you want to fashion a film that really works, you will
need to do a lot of experimentation and try a number of differ-
ent ways of working.
Clear leader is the term given to a strip of celluloid film
that has no photographic image on it. Lay the clear leader out
on a flat surface, draw directly on it and, presto, you've made
an animated film. Most often, 16mm film is used for camera-
less animation. It is easily available, inexpensive, and the sur-
face is wide enough to permit control.
Sixteen-millimeter clear leader comes with either one or
two sets of sprocket holes running along its outside edges.
These are termed single-perforated and double-perforated
clear leader respectively. The single-perforated type is recom-
mended because it makes it easier to determine on which side
of the film to work. If you draw on the “wrong” side, your
image will be projected in reverse.
There are two important facts that you need to know

CAMERALESS ANIMATION 25
 before attempting your first film. The first has to do with pro-
jection speed. At normal sound projection speed, 16mm film is
projected at a rate of 24 frames per second (fps). The standard
projection speed for super 8mm film is 78 frames per second.
In the discussions that follow, I'll be talking about 16mm leader
2.10 Time/frame chart: A sheet of and the normal 24-fps speed.
white paper or any flat surface can be used Frame lines are another important concept. You will
to make a chart that indicates what number need to know where a single image or frame is placed on a
of frames will equal what duration of time
when the leader is projected at the standard strip of clear 16mm leader. The frame lines that mark off the
sound speed of 24 frames per second. You area of the film that is actually projected are to be found cross-
may, of course, modify the chart to indicate ing the width of the film opposite each sprocket hole.
those time intervals that you'll be using fre-
quently in your movie. Remember that a
Among the drawing materials that work well for mark-
recruiting visual “beat” will make almost ing on the acetate surface are fel/t-tipped pens. Make sure your
any film more exciting to watch. Leave a markers adhere to the acetate base of 16mm clear leader.
few feet of blank film at the head of your
Many of those that promise to write on “anything” don’t.
strip. This is required in threading the
projector. Grease pencils work too. Because they are not completely
translucent, grease-pencil colors are muted when projected.
There are some kinds of paints that will work well on acetate.
But you will have to do a test or two to determine how these
paints hold up. On drying, some paints crack and flake off the
film. This can clog the gate of the film projector and necessi-
tate careful cleaning after every use. There are also special inks
that can be applied to the leader with either brush or pen.
Check with your local art supply store.

PERSISTENCE OF VISION

One of the first things you will need to know as an animator

is, quite simply, what the human eye is capable of seeing.
Quite obviously, everything in animation depends upon the
viewer's recognition of an image and his ability to follow its
movement.
The moving pictures of film don’t actually move. All you
have to do is look at a piece of film and you'll be reminded
that, in fact, the medium is made up of a series of still images.
It is the human eye and brain that make movies move. More
accurately, the illusion of movement on film is created by a
physiological phenomenon called the persistence of vision, as
mentioned earlier. When a single image is flashed at the eye,
the brain retains that image longer than it is actually registered
on the retina. So when a series of images is flashed in rapid

26 w=-<cTHE ANIMATION Book

order, as a movie projector does, and when the images them-
selves are only slightly changed, one to the next, the effect is
that of continuous motion. This very remarkable illusion is the
perceptual foundation of film and television.
Project: Charting Visual Thresholds. How little can the
eye actually see? If twenty-four individual images are projected
during one second of film, can the eye see just one of these?
Do different people have different perceptual thresholds?
Can the viewer's eye be trained to see with new perceptual
sensitivity?
2.11 Work on 16mm leader: From left
You can conduct some experiments to answer such
to right, the samples show: two abstract
questions. Holding a length of clear leader against a white ways of drawing on clear leader without
sheet of paper, create a time/frame chart like that shown in reference to frame lines; an abstract tech-
Figure 2.10. nique that uses a stamp cut into a pencil
eraser; an abstract treatment in which the
entire surface is colored and then deco-
rated; a carefully registered sequence in
which a star grows larger and smaller; a rep-
FRAMELESS STYLE resentational narrative (a speedboat pulling
a water skier); a registered series of abstract
A distinctive kind of cameraless animation is achieved by graphic forms that are scratched from black
marking on the film’s surface without reference to the individ- leader; two more examples of black leader
with abstract patterns scratched onto the
ual frames that comprise a length of film. Markers, paints,
emulsion; and, finally, a piece of clear
or other media are applied to the clear leader in broad pat- leader with the word end.

CAMERALESS ANIMATION 27
 terns that cross frame-line boundaries at will. The results are
striking, unlike anything that a camera can record. And they
are impossible to describe in words. Mixtures of color, move-
ment, and shape bounce off the movie screen with psy-
chedelic effect. This is not to say, however, that the frameless
style of drawing on the leader always achieves a pleasing and
provocative viewing experience. Quite the contrary. As an
animator you will have to purposefully create a changing
set of carefully fashioned markings if you want to come up
with a film that is interesting to watch. A series of tests is the
only way you can identify styles or effects that work for you;
take the best of these and integrate them into a unified
expression. Include in your experimentation the study of what
effects are produced by different sorts of drawing and color-
ing styles and by various drawing materials. Experiment with
different printing techniques—for example, the use of a
sponge and ink, or an eraser used as a stamp, or your finger-
tips as printing tools. When you've completed some experi-
ments on your own, | recommend that you see some
cameraless films by Norman McLaren and other animators.

FRAME-BY-FRAME STYLE

The second general style of marking on clear leader is centered

upon using the frame lines. By modifying the shapes or the
positions of images that are repeated on subsequent frames,
the illusion of motion is created when the film is projected.
2.12 Drawn-on-plus-some: This photo-
graph shows 414 frames from Uncle Sugar’s
Some samples are provided in Figure 2.11.
Flying Circus, a 2Y2-minute film produced An important point to remember when you are drawing
without a camera by independent film- in this manner is that the individual frames are very small. Your
maker Warren Bass. In addition to drawing
working surface is much smaller than the smallest postage
with markers directly on clear leader, the
techniques employed include hole punches, stamp. Its actual dimensions are six sixteenths of an inch wide
transfer-type printing black-and-white and five sixteenths of an inch high. Remember these four ele-
images onto color film stock using color fil-
ments as you try to create a recognizable image and then
ters, alternating black and clear frames, and
punching images out of a 35mm slide and repeat it, with slight variations, frame after frame:
taping them with Mylar into holes punched Simplicity. Reduce whatever it is you are drawing to its
in the 16mm leader. Courtesy Warren Bass. absolute minimum of details.
Tools. lf you're working representationally you will need
drawing implements with fine points. A pen that leaves ink
drops, for instance, is useless. A good magnifying glass can
help control your marking tool.

28 .o-C. THE ANIMATION Book

 Motor Skills. To a large extent, success in working repre-
sentationally depends upon your own personal abilities as a
draftsman. Physical control must be very exact.
Registration. In order to have the drawings appear to
move consistently and somewhat smoothly, it is important to ®
devise a system that gives you the ability to place each individ- ®
ual drawing in just the right place on each frame. @
e
eal
Se
See
SEES
REGISTRATION DEVICES i=
ap
ics.
This last item may very well be the most important. Fortu- —

nately, you can create a device that will help you achieve some
measure of accuracy in placing one drawing in the proper rela-
tionship to the drawings preceding and following it. The need
for registration is basic to all kinds of animation. Different tech-
niques require different ways of registering the positions of
camera and object. For cameraless animation, there are a vari-
ety of registration systems that can be used.
Graph Paper. Place your clear leader on a piece of graph
paper and use the existing grid lines to help match specific
places on one frame with those on the following frame. The
sprocket holes are used to establish standard reference points
to the graph paper beneath the film.
2.13 Work on black leader: Two film
Discarded Film. Place the clear leader on top of a piece of clips from Pierre Herbert’s Op Hop suggests
discarded 16mm film that has been photographically exposed the strong shapes and sharp edges that can
and developed in the normal way—that Is, “used” film. Line be explored through scraping off the emul-
sion on black leader. This film was done in
up the sprocket holes as you begin working. You'll discover 35mm format, allowing the artist a larger
that the “old” image gives adequate reference between one of working surface and therefore greater con-
your doodles and those preceding and following it. trol. Courtesy National Film Board of
Canada.
Hand-Drawn ‘Registration Chart. Before you start work-
ing, place a short length of 16mm clear leader on a piece of
white paper. With a pencil or pen, trace the outline of the
film's edges and sprocket holes. Remove the leader. Draw a
series of horizontal lines to show the frame lines crossing the
film's surface at each sprocket hole. Draw one or two vertical
lines down the length of the film tracing parallel to both edges
of film. Finally, you can make two diagonal lines that intersect
each frame. The result of all this measuring should be a series
of frames that are exactly like each other. You place your
leader over this chart as you draw, successively moving the film
up onto the chart as the work continues.

CAMERALESS ANIMATION 29
 SCRATCHING ON BLACK LEADER

Using the same general techniques and knowing the same basic
facts, you can create a different kind of cameraless animation
by using black leader instead of clear leader. Black leader (often
called camera leader or opaque leader) is readily available from
film laboratories or equipment sales/rental outlets.
It is easy to get a sharp, clean, thin line by scraping off
the black emulsion (Figure 2.13). The resulting white lines
(when projected) can be easily colored with felt-tipped pens
and many people find that the results are the most pleasing
form of cameraless film. In “scratch” films, the screen is black
except for the images that have been etched onto the surface
of the leader. The problem, of course, is that it’s far more diffi-
cult to get accurate registration with black leader than with
clear leader.
Scissors, straight pins, or any other sharp, pointed object
is good for scraping off the emulsion. The first time you try this
technique, be sure to test both sides of the leader to determine
which has the emulsion coating. Otherwise you can scrape and
scratch all day without producing any clear space through
which the projector’s light will pass. The most effective tool for
scratching on black leader is a si/k-screen line cutter, a sharp
metal loop attached to the stem of a paintbrush.

PROJECTING CAMERALESS
ANIMATION

Cameraless animation requires a lot of working time and yields

relatively little viewing time. Here are some hints on how to
stretch out the screening of your films and, in the process,
extend their impact upon an audience.
Loops. If your piece of finished film is not too long
(between 5 and 15 feet), you can thread it through the projec-

2.14 35mm cameraless animation: The size of a 35mm

frame allows one to work with more detail than could be under-
taken in 16mm format. Here are some samples of experiments by
the author. The clips include a 16mm reduction print taken from the
same series of 35mm hand-drawn films; a cartoon sequence drawn
onto clear leader; a series of tracings from small photographs; draw-
ings added to a “found” piece of film from a 35mm television commer-
| cial; abstract series of circular shapes on clear leader; and designs
scraped into the emulsion on black leader.

30 —“* THE ANIMATION Book

 31
ANIMATION
CAMERALESS
iaaciiiaiaiaiiiiiad Paks a7 645

%
eye ° pp Se }
ae
 tor in a way that allows it to repeat itself continuously without
rethreading. First thread the film normally and allow the front
end to run out of the machine for 3 or 4 feet. Stop the projec-
tor. Take the front end (the “head”) and splice it to the rear
end of your movie (the “tail”). You will have to manually feed
the film out the rear of the 16mm projector and into the front
so that the film doesn’t snarl up or touch the floor.
Silent Speed. The universal speed for 16mm sound films
is 24 frames per second. This is an international standard. It is
the slowest speed at which a film’s sound track can move and
still generate reproducible sound through the projector's
amplification system. But many 16mm projectors are equipped
with a switch that allows them to operate at a silent speed of
18 frames per second. At this slower speed our persistence of
vision still works, so that visual continuity is maintained. When
you project your cameraless film at silent speed, it takes longer
going through the machine and hence it takes longer to see.

32 —“ THE ANIMATION Book

The difference between 18 and 24 frames per second may not
seem significant, but it is. This reduction in projection speed
will add one fourth more time to a film’s running time. A 15-
second film at sound speed will run 20 seconds at silent speed.
The difference is significant, at least to the artist.
Forward/Backward. Another way to extend the viewing
experience is by projecting film in reverse. Most 16mm projec-
tors have this capability. Simply thread and run the projector
normally and then, when the last frame of your work has been

tie,
RESTS Cys:

2.15 Norman McLaren’s work:

Although other artists had worked directly
on film before him, Norman McLaren is rec-
ognized as the primary explorer, refiner,
and popularizer of cameraless animation
techniques. This series of stills shows his
work and that of Evelyn Lambert, a col-
league at the National Film Board of
Canada. (A) shows McLaren painting directly
onto a strip of 35mm clear leader; (B) shows
Lambert applying patterns to the film’s sur-
face with ink and roller; (C) and (D) show
frame enlargements from Begon Dull Care,
a clear and opaque frame respectively.
Courtesy National Film Board of Canada.

CAMERALESS ANIMATION 33
 BOOK
ANIMATION
SPIIOL Fidd!S ANY

THE
‘wadud NI F7BWISSY
“BIv7E ONY FIN ¥
HiIM SBNI7 NO 12

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ANGE) IE)
Yy CEN! Fe
FEW? Fore Stes

34
exposed, shut off the projector, put it into reverse mode and 2.16 A Tony Eastman workout: On
see the entire film again, back to front, You will need at least a the facing page is a do-it-yourself project
designed by New York character animator
3-foot tail on your film so that it doesn’t come undone or pass Tony Eastman. Here Tony helps us see what
through the projection gate before you reverse the projector. a mistake it is to think that a progression of
Musical Accompaniment. Whenever you can, play music animated images must evolve gradually.
Although the thirty poses in Slippin’ and a
as you screen your cameraless animation. It’s weird to discover
Slidin’ may seem pretty disconnected, the
that no matter what kind or what tempo of music you select, it human eye has a powerful ability to merge
always somehow seems to work with the visual segment. And them into a single swift action. To prove this
if you experiment with enough different music tracks, you'll is so, you've got to follow the directions and
turn the page into a flip-book. If you can,
come upon one that will appear to have been made just for try to output this full-page image onto a
your film. Prerecorded audio may be the easiest way to provide paper stock that has more than the ordinary
musical accompaniment to your movies. But it is also valuable thickness (you can use old-fashioned copier
technology or you can scan the image and
to try creating your own original tracks to go with these print it out on a computer printer). After
movies. you have studied the flipbook forward and
backward, you might even want to try
adding some “in-betweens.” Chapter 14:
Line and Cel Animation, will give you a
structured introduction to the not-so-
35MM CAMERALESS FILMMAKING
mysterious techniques of character anima-
tion. Reproduced with the permission of
Take a look at the pieces of 35mm film printed in Figure 2.14.
author Tony Eastman and Metropolis
Next to all those 16mm frames you've been studying and Graphics. Originally appears as one of a
working with, it will look pretty big. A gracious landscape series of flip-books published by Metropolis
indeed. Because it’s so gloriously large (to the animator, at Graphics.

least) 35mm clear leader is the most effective and luxurious

medium for creating drawn-on-film images and sound tracks.
Anything that can be done on 16mm leader can be done bet-
ter on 35mm leader because the larger size affords greater
control, greater detail, and greater ease in drawing.
The primary developer and popularizer of hand-drawn
films is the Canadian filmmaker Norman McLaren, who has
worked for more than thirty years at the National Film Board of
Canada. McLaren’s wonderful movies are now commercially
available, and prints of them exist in most school and public
library film collections.
Because of the size of 35mm film, it is helpful to use an
accurate registration system when you want to repeat or vary
slightly an image from one frame to the next. Working care-
fully, you can draw a registration strip by hand, making a series
of frames carry the same visual patterns and then placing a
piece of fresh leader on top of the grid system as you work. A
better system is to get hold of a piece of 35mm film on which
a grid has been filmed. You can use any piece of used 35mm
film with whatever image exists as a registration guide.

CAMERALESS ANIMATION 35
 The use of 35mm clear leader makes it far easier to cre-
ate and control a handmade sound track. Here is Norman
McLaren’s own description of the technique he invented:
“| draw a lot of little lines on the sound-track area of the
35mm film. Maybe fifty to sixty lines for every musical note.
The number of strokes to the inch controls the pitch of the
note: the more, the higher the pitch; the fewer, the lower is
the pitch. The size of the stroke controls the loudness: a big
stroke will go ‘boom,’ a smaller stroke will give a quieter
sound, and the faintest stroke will be just a little ‘m-m-m.' A
black ink is another way of making a loud sound, a mid-gray
ink will make a medium sound, and a very pale ink will make a
very quiet sound. The tone quality, which is the most difficult
element to control, is made by the shape of the strokes. Well-
rounded forms give smooth sounds; sharper or angular forms
give harder, harsher sounds. Sometimes | use a brush instead
of a pen to get very soft sound. By drawing or exposing two or
more patterns on the same bit of film, | can create harmony
and textural effects.”
In order to project cameraless 35mm film it is necessary
to have it optically reduced by a laboratory to a 16mm format.
And 16mm can even be reduced to a super 8mm format,
assuming, of course, that you don’t have access to a 35mm
projector—the kind of jumbo machine that you see in com-
mercial movie theaters.
Reducing the film is a relatively simple process but
requires a laboratory with special facilities. Be certain to check
with your lab before you undertake a 35mm project. You may
need to send your finished film to a lab that specializes in such
work.

36 ~+THE ANIMATION Book

A jeneral introduction to filmmaking and
computer tools is all that remains before you're ready to begin
making animated movies, videos, and computer creations. This
chapter will do just that, and quickly.
To get things under way, |'ll
first preview the basic film hardware
you'll need to be familiar with. Then
I'll go over the basic computer hard-
ware. Between the two you will get a
useful introduction to the various
pieces of gear required for almost all
of the techniques described in the
chapters to come. The goal here,
however, is only to orient the reader.
A far more comprehensive and de-
tailed description of equipment will
be found in the seven chapters of
Part Ill: Tools. Let me say again that |
strongly encourage you to flip forward whenever you have a 3.1 The basic camera: Whether you
film with super 8mm or with 16mm equip-
specific technical question, need further information about a
ment, the features indicated here are all
particular tool, or are just plain curious to know more. basic to animated filmmaking.

THE BASIC FILMMAKING SETUP

Camera. A motion picture camera must have two features

before you can animate with it. First, it must have the capabil-

37
 ity to make single-frame exposures, usually done by means of a
cable release, a device that screws into the camera’s trigger
and allows the operator to release one frame at a time, as
opposed to shooting the camera at full, live-action speed. An
animation camera must also have a lens that can be focused on
a relatively small field; 8% by 10 inches is a working minimum,
although some techniques will not require a field this small.
Usually all motion picture camera lenses will take an auxiliary
close-up lens or a diopter. These gadgets screw into place in
front of the standard lens and act as magnifying agents. Figure
3.1 identifies these and other features of the basic camera.
Whether you work in super 8mm or 16mm format (see
the Film Formats section of this chapter), your motion picture
camera should have dn exposure setting, worked either manu-
ally with the assistance of a light meter or by means of an auto-
matic, built-in exposure metering system. Most super 8mm
cameras have the automatic system. It’s also helpful if the cam-
era you use has a manual override, which allows you to set the
lens opening or aperture by yourself. Other common features
are a footage counter, a drive mechanism with a spring- or
battery-powered motor, and a variable speed setting.
Zoom lenses are almost standard on today’s inexpensive
movie cameras. Having one built in or being able to mount a
zoom on your camera will be helpful for various techniques in
animation, although it’s not essential. There are other special
features and accessories, such as intervalometers, fade and dis-
solve mechanisms, variable shutters, frame counters, and back-
wind mechanisms that are nice to have, but they’re gravy.
Tripods and Animation Stands. Common to every tech-
nique of animation is this inflexible requirement: The camera
must be held in exactly the same position throughout the film-
ing of a sequence. Great energy and endless gadgetry have
gone into designing ways to hold a camera steady.
The simplest way of securing a camera is with a tripod.
3.2 Tripod capabilities and stan- Generally, the bigger and stronger (and more expensive), the
dard positions: The only absolute better. A good tripod will get you through every single filming
hequirement Ota WOpOe strat TtDE-aule t0 requirement in this book. Beyond its requisite firmness, a tri-
hold the camera absolutely motionless dur- : Bae ee: ‘
ing and between exposures. Line drawing pod’s best feature is its flexibility. Figure 3.2 shows three of the
(A) shows the directions in which a good tri- many positions in which a tripod holds an animation camera.
pod head should be adjustable. Drawings Animation stands are actually just sophisticated and spe-
(B) and (C) suggest very different but com-
monly used positions for the camera- cialized variations of tripods. Stands are less flexible but allow
mounted tripod during filming. more precision and control in what is the most common camera

38--tT THe ANIMATION Book

position, pointing down onto a surface. Chapter 20 contains
information on animation stands and their various features.
Lighting and Film. Animation almost always takes place
indoors and thus requires artificial lighting. The precise kind of
lighting depends on the kind of film stock that is being used.
Most animators choose to use color film that is formulated for
“indoor” or “tungsten” lighting conditions. There are many
types of color (and black-and-white) films and each will require
different degrees of brightness and different measurements of
what is called color temperature. More on all this later.
3.3 Basic lighting: For even illumina-
Other Paraphernalia. To see what you've filmed, a few tion when shooting indoors, a pair of lights
additional items are required. Most important (and expensive) are mounted at a 45-degree angle to the
camera’s axis and to the surface being
of these is a motion picture projector. It’s nice, of course, if you
filmed. Pictured in this sketch are two
are able to project the completed film onto a screen, but this photoflood bulbs that have been mounte d
isn't really necessary; a white wall will do. It’s also nice, but not in standard metal reflectors.
essential, to record and then play back a sound track that
accompanies the animated film. If you want to edit your film or
join two rolls of processed film onto a single reel, then a viewer
and a splicer are required.

FILM FORMATS

As an independent animator, you have a choice of two pro-

duction formats: 16mm and super 8mm. The following is a
basic analysis of the similarities and differences between them.
Incidentally, the word format is given a broad meaning here. It
includes the film stock, film equipment, and even the process
of filmmaking. In other words, format is an entire system for
filmmaking. Selecting one of these two production systems is
one of the most important decisions you will have to make.
Film Gauge. This refers to the actual physical makeup of
what goes through the camera—the film stock. Paragraphs of
discursive prose won't provide as clear a definition as you'll get
by a quick look at Figure 3.4. Study the differences in width,
perforations, and image area. :
Image Area. The actual projected image area on 16mm
film has three and a half times as much area within a single
frame as that of the super 8mm image. The proportions of the
frame’s rectangle are the same in both gauges—horizontal to
vertical dimensions form a proportion of roughly 4 to 3. This is
called the aspect ratio and it is usually written 1.33:1.

TOOLING UP 39
 Cost. Sixteen-millimeter stock is three to four times more
expensive than the same screen time of super 8mm stock. In
IG NN animation, however, the cost of film stock is less significant in
CAMERA KREe TURE overall budget terms than in live-action forms of filmmaking.
Even the most prolific animator shoots a lot less film than his or
Do her live-action counterpart. A standard shooting ratio of
exposed footage to footage in a final edited film is roughly
15:1 or 20:1 for documentary films and closer to 2:1 for
Pt animation.
<— (Gut ( Quality. It's not easy to compare the quality of super
/ 8mm and 16mm gauges because it's not easy to decide exactly
FRAME Nicnsions what quality is. According to technical definitions that measure
,aR4 x 1380 Wichas grain, sharpness, and color accuracy, 16mm is always of a bet-
ter quality than its super 8mm equivalent. But to the naked
eye, the quality of gauges is very difficult to distinguish. A well-
projected and well-exposed super 8mm sequence is virtually
indistinguishable from a 16mm image.
Selection of Films. In general, there is little difference
between super 8mm and 16mm formats. The high-resolution
and low-speed stocks that are best for animated filmmaking
are available in both formats.
Equipment Systems. Up until the mid-1970s, it would
have been easy to claim that the 16mm format had a clear
SUPER. & MM advantage over super 8mm in terms of sophistication and the
CAMERA ARCE TURE technical quality of production tools. This is no longer true. By
: the mid-1990s, the design, workmanship, and reliability of the
=. best super 8mm filmmaking systems had become equivalent to
a that of the 16mm systems. This goes right down the line, from
& fur cameras to tripods to editors to sound systems to projectors to
laboratory services.
Femme NNESIONS
(66 k 1 934 Welwey
THE BASIC COMPUTER SETUP

While a lot of the animation and special effects you see in fea-
ture films are done using high-end computer systems that cost
hundreds of thousands of dollars, the average computer user
3.4 Film gauge: The relative sizes of can still create beautiful animation using cheaper hardware
16mm and super 8mm film are easily com- and software. It may surprise some people that a large portion
pared by lining up a strip of each format. of computer graphics you see on TV shows and advertising—
The line drawings suggest the detail of the : : : q
formats and give precise measurements for and in movies too—is made with the very same computer gear
each. that might be sitting on your desk at home.

40 —t THe ANIMATION BooK

 Choosing a Computer Platform. Picking a computer is a CDROM RUtuer CENTRAL ProcessiNG Yer
difficult choice, even for the most techno-sawvy buyer. Advice
from friends and coworkers can help, but every computer is
different from the next, and everyone has their personal
favorites. The first big choice is deciding on a platform. For the
average user, the two major platforms in the computer indus-
try are the Apple Macintosh (Mac for short) and the PC (stand-
ing for personal computer). Both platforms are capable of
producing wonderful animation since they often share the very
same software packages. Yet each has its own set of advan- KeyRoAR

tages and disadvantages, including speed, disk storage space,

3.5 The basic desktop rig: The com-
price, and ease of use.
ponents of a generic computer setup are
Macintosh Computers. When Macs were first introduced shown here. There are lots of accessories
in 1984, they broke new ground by being extremely user- that you will want to consider as you get
friendly. The icon-based interface (which revolutionized the into digital aa drawing fas
‘ i = cameras, portable storage units, scanners,
industry by using the familiar metaphor of an office and desk- and more. Chapter 24 will give you the run-
top) empowered even the most computer-illiterate. Since then, down on all the goodies. And Chapter 23
Macs have managed to lead the pack when it comes to ease of goes
ae over the software you will want to put
inside the box.
use and they have a brand loyalty rarely seen in the consumer
market. They are often described as the “creative person’s
computer” since it’s often a stereotype that creative people are
technically handicapped, and because Macs are famous for
their powerful graphic design and desktop publishing capabili-
ties. Macs typically come with everything you need to get
started, including software, hardware, and especially sound
and video capabilities. There are multitudes of models to
choose from, each one having its own set of advantages.
PCs or “Windows” Computers. PCs are by far the most
common kind of desktop computer. They are sometimes
referred to as DOS computers—a reference to the Desktop
Operating System that was created way back when by a fledg-
ling company called Microsoft and was subsequently adopted
by IBM for its early home computers. The terms Windows and
Windows NT are sometimes used as well to refer to the PC uni-
verse because Windows is used on virtually all PCs. These are,
of course, references to the operating systems created by Bill
Gates’s Microsoft Corporation and the terms have become
synonymous with the desktop computer industry.
PCs are actually made by a wide range of companies—
Compaq, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Canon, Toshiba, Epson,
Hitachi, and Sharp, just to name a few. Because of their broad
adoption in corporate and technological America, PCs have

TOOLING UP 41
 been generally classified as computers for businesspeople since
they were relatively difficult to use unless you had some train-
ing or an innate skill at working with them. More and more,
however, the use of Microsoft products has changed all that,
providing PCs with an interface eerily similar to that of Macs,
thus making them almost as easy to set up and use.
If you plan on teaming up with other animators who
already have computers, it might be a good idea to buy the
same platform they currently use. That way files and peripheral
devices such as scanners or external hard drives can be easily
shared and there won't be any conflicts between software. If
you are a student studying animation, you will probably want
to invest in the platform used in your school’s program.
There are many other things to consider before buying a
computer, no matter which platform you decide on. Animation
isn’t like writing reports or term papers. The software used, the
storage space needed, and the file types involved in producing
even the simplest animation demand a lot from a computer.

FILM AND DIGITAL DEPENDENCY

The farmers and the cowboys should be friends.

The time of rivalry and mutual skepticism between ani-
mators working in film and television and those working with
: computers is quickly passing, | am glad to report. For a while it
j seemed that differing attitudes, aesthetics, and working tech-
; niques formed a gulf between animators working in the various
media formats. But that phase is history. The reason? Everything
has gone digital. Feature films that are shot in the traditional
35mm format are today routinely transferred into a digital for-
mat—the language of computers—where they are edited and
scored. It is exclusively within the digital domain that contem-
porary moviemakers concoct those dazzling special effects.
Television has gone digital, too. Cameras record onto digital
tape decks operating on international D-2 (the D is for “digi-
tal”) and Beta SP standards. Virtually all film and TV editing—
plus compositing of live-action with graphic materials—is
migrating toward what are termed nonlinear, digital systems.
They are so called because changes can be made in the edit list
at any place, and opticals such as dissolves and freeze-frames
can be instantly previewed. In the future, television broadcast,

42 —-tT THe ANIMATION BooK

cablecast, and switched broadband networks will all operate
exclusively in digital formats that can speak with each other.
And, of course, computer animation is flourishing at both the
low end (treated in this book) and with more expensive digital
platforms provided by companies such as Silicon Graphics.
Because everything has gone digital, everything can mix.
Footage shot on a 16mm animation stand can be seamlessly
wedded to a music track lifted off a CD recording. A three- a
dimensional character generated on the computer screen can
be transported onto the television screen or transferred onto
film stock and projected onto a movie screen. The future is
clearly one in which computer, TV, and film technology are
going to operate codependently. In the process, each media
form will be freed to do what it does best. And new tools and
techniques for image building will lead to new levels of story-
telling. All of us who delight in animation are in for some > )
mighty fine times.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s spend a
moment considering the fundamental relationship that has
already emerged between film and digital animation.
Computers Are Good at Familiar Things. The next part of
this book will prove, beyond a doubt, that digital tools and
processes have made themselves indispensable in many of the
traditional techniques of film animation. As it turns out, com-
puters are very, very useful in at least three broad tasks that
accompany any form of animation: storyboarding, making
audio tracks, and production management. You will see in fol-
lowing chapters how off-the-shelf desktop animation tools and
software packages provide alternatives to many animation tech-
niques that, until a few years ago, seemed like they could only
be done in the photographic realm of film. The chapters on
cutout and stop motion will show, for example, that both tech-
niques can be done on a computer. Digital methods have made
it much easier and much more effective to create stunning ani-
mation from still images. The venerable (but really awkward)
technique of rotoscoping has been born again through the
computer. There are lots of steps within the traditional
processes of character and cel animation where digital tools can
help and sometimes replace cumbersome filmmaking gear.
Computers Are Creating New Ground. It won't take you
long to appreciate how computers are helping traditional ani-
mators by taking away some of the drudgery often associated

TOOLING UP 43
 with hand-drawn animation. But computers are also
the tools that help create groundbreaking forms of ani-
mation, the likes of which couldn’t exist without the aid
of microchips. A large chunk of this new aesthetic turf
can be found in computer-generated images (CGI, for
short) such as the 3-D animated characters in Toy Story,
and the special effects combined with live action in
Jurassic Park, Space Jam, and Terminator 2—Judgment
Day. Computer technology has propelled visual effects
to a whole new level, making once-impossible effects
commonplace.
This level of animation may seem overwhelming
and out of reach to a computer novice at first. Yet the
uncharted visual world of three-dimensional images,
morphing, and composited effects can be explored on
home computers. Many of the people working in Holly-
woods visual effects industry got their start in computer
animation at home, using average Macs and PCs.
Nor is the revolution over. Chapter 17: Animation
Frontiers will introduce developments from the cutting
(bleeding!) edge of computer animation, where the
processes of technical innovation and creative explo-
ration are just gearing up. As exciting as the new tools
are, far more exciting and far more important is their
potential power to create groundbreaking genres of
animation that can stir the human imagination and
speak to us in that deep way in which any genuine
piece of art touches us.
It's easy to be rah-rah about digital animation.
But this isn’t to say that computers will turn everyone
into master animators. Nor is it safe to think that ani-
mation will suddenly transform the entertainment

3.6 The digital high end: Although this book is about accessible and relatively inexpensive or “low-end” tools for
digital animation, it’s a good idea to know something about the top-of-the-line tool sets. This seems a good place to do
just that. This series of photographs was taken in Austin, Texas, at a top creative facility called 501 Group. Together they
give an image of the professional-level tool set that is routinely used by animators who are putting together projects for
corporate and television clients.
(A) shows a standard Power Macintosh workstation that is connected via ethernet and by T1 Internet connection to
other tools in the 501 facility. In (B) you look over the shoulder of a graphics designer working on an SGI (Silicon Graphics)
platform that can do 2-D animation, compositing, rotoscoping, and 3-D animation. (C) gives you a look into the videotape
room where racks of multiformat machines connect and store the various production suites. Final output (and initial input)
can accommodate any combination of digital tape formats that are used in professional TV production: Digital Betacam,
D5, D2, 1”, U-Matic, VHS, S-VHS, HI-8, and Sony DV. Photos courtesy of 501 Group.

44 ~—~+ THe ANIMATION BooK

industry. Computers are still just tools—machines that will only
help a talented beginning animator to become more efficient
and more creative. Digital animation has a long way to go
before it can boast a classic body of work that matches that of
traditional film animation, yet those of us who have followed
the birth of digital animation can get pretty fired up about all
the changes in technology and all the opportunities computers
have created!

HOW TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FORMATS

If all beginning animators were forced to select between super

8mm and 16mm production, or between a full-blown Mac and
a PC workstation, they'd face a confusing barrage of offsetting
factors and conflicting recommendations. For digital ani-
mators, arriving at the computer store with a fat bankroll
wouldn't help either, because that just increases the bewilder-
ing array of choices.
Fortunately, few neophyte animators ever face such
decisions. For most of us, it’s not which format to go with but
rather how to get going at all. Polemics are replaced with prag-
matics. You use what you can afford and what you can get
your hands on.
If you are faced with the decision of whether to work in
film or digital format, trust your own common sense. Ask your-
self the following questions:
What Is Available? |f you already have a computer, check
out what it will take to purchase the software and hardware
required to start animating. If you can get your hands on some
filmmaking equipment, you should certainly try to build your
exploration of animation around that equipment—regardless
of it being 16mm or super 8mm format. Snoop around to see
what tools are available. Can you con someone into letting you
borrow their gear?
How Much Do You Want to Spend? Money matters.
Take a cold, hard look at what you can comfortably invest in
your passion to animate. Chapter 24: Computer Hardware
should help you develop a rough working budget for whatever
kind of film or computer project you have in mind. And there
is more instruction on budgeting in Chapter 18: Production
Planning.

TOOLING UP 45
 What Kind of Animation Will You Be Doing? Sometimes
a decision on format can be made by choosing the sort of car-
_ toon you want to make. If it’s frame-by-frame drawing tech-
niques that hold your fascination, then filmmaking techniques
are the way to go. On the other hand, if you want to use still
photographs to weave a montage with rich effects and dense
visuals, then you will want to move directly to the computer.
Who Will Be Seeing Your Work? The advent of home
video and computer technology has provided exciting new dis-
3.7 Splicing: A long shutter speed suggests
the flurry of activity in preparing 16mm camera
tribution potential. Now almost anyone can;
produce cartoons
hs
original and magnetic recording stock for subse- and share them with others, either on videotape or as digital
quent printing at a film laboratory. Pictured area files sent between computers. The future seems to hold great
portable hot splicer and a four-gang synchronizer
with sound head. Photo by Elissa Teany. possibilities for compressing cartoons and sending them over
the Internet. CD-ROMs—and their next DVD generation—will
help expand your audience. Unless you are satisfied screening
your work for a limited number of people (fellow students, for
example), film technology can no longer be looked to as a
good distribution medium. The 16mm film distributors who
flourished when this book was first written have mostly gone
out of business and few institutions or individuals own and
operate super 8mm or 16mm film projectors. Certainly the
most universal way to circulate your work is by transferring it
from either film or computer to VHS video.

STARTING OUT

| am a strong believer in inductive learning. | trust experience.

All the questions and decisions that will face you as an anima-
tor are best taken on at that precise moment when the ques-
tions spontaneously present themselves, and not before. What
is important is to get yourself under way, to begin working in
animation. After that, matters take care of themselves as one
tool or technique leads to another and as there is a comfort-
able back-and-forth between the film and digital worlds.
Whether your next step is to scrounge or borrow a basic
animation setup or you already have all the equipment you
need to get started, it’s my hope that you are now prepared to
actually make some animation, to explore various techniques,
to get deeper into this great art form. Your orientation is com-
plete. The following fifteen chapters stand ready to help you
on your way.

46 ~~-THe ANIMATION Booxk

Here Come fifieen chapters about the nitty-gritty of creating your own animation.
There are two megacepts you should know. What's a megacept? It’s an idea or perspective that Is
so broad it applies to ai fields of information. Megacepts are so encompassing that they are often hard
to see. (Does a fish know it lives in water?) That’s why | want to offer two such large perspectives to intro-
duce Part Il: Techniques.

DIGITAL IS DIFFERENT

This new volume of The Animation Book introduces the convention of case studies. Just about every time
the discussion turns to digital animation techniques, you will find an extended example that offers the
opportunity to look over someone's shoulder as he or she shows you, step by step, how a particular scene
was built using a particular software program.
Such case studies weren't needed when this book focused solely on film technology because film-
making tools are pretty much the same, regardless of whether one is working in super 8mm, 16mm, or
35mm format. In the digital world, this is not so. Specific software applications have distinct techniques
and significantly different on-screen interfaces and tools. To know the nitty-gritty about computer ani-
mation you have to get much more specific than was necessary with filmmaking.
But there are hundreds of software applications. Which “app” warrants its own case study? | have
chosen ten. In my judgment these are the established leaders in their categories. They come from
respected publishers, are widely available off-the-shelf, and operate on the standard configurations of
desktop computing hardware.
Learning digital techniques requires a hands-on approach. Learning film-based techniques can be
more conceptual. Bouncing between the two will require you to be conscious of switching gears. To help

48
you keep a pragmatic scale of reference, | try to anchor coverage of digital techniques (
by making the case studies highly personal. You'll meet an eclectic bunch of smart ani-
mators working on a broad range of nifty projects.

BOUNDARIES ARE ARBITRARY

Classification can be a pretty dubious undertaking. Most of the techniques that follow are
well-established ones that take their categorization from materials such as clay, 3-D, cutouts,
and line and cel animation. Other techniques are singled out for the tools and processes they
use, such as digital ink and paint and rotoscoping, for example. Three of the fifteen chapters
are cross-technique: Working with Sound, Storyboarding and Animatics, and Production
Planning each deal with a set of problems encountered in any animation project. The
sequence of chapters has been loosely structured so that a beginner will quickly gain animation’s basic
precepts and concepts (yeah, maybe even a few megacepts too) that will be useful in understanding later,
more complicated topics. Under the catch-all title of Animation Frontiers, Chapter 17 highlights a hand-
ful of areas that will one day warrant treatment as chapters in their own right.
The point here is that our art form is very much alive and growing. As you study the various ani-
mation techniques in the following chapters, | hope you will appreciate that the boundaries between
these genres are simply conventions. In moving toward your own work, disregard all such schemata.
Plunge in where you want. Experiment freely. It’s in the breaking out from and cross-fertilization of estab-
lished techniques that the best new forms of expression are found.

49
 Ahove all, animation is the art of movement.
The accomplished animator can bring to life just about any-
thing—a series of drawings or a tin can. Unfortunately, there
are no prescriptions or formulas for animating an object. You
just have to develop a feel for movement—what animators call
“touch.” It can be learned only through experience, though
there are some general guidelines that will help you along. One
of the quickest and easiest ways to develop your understand-
ing of the nature of animated movement is to experiment by
animating a series of small objects.

MATERIALS

It is an indication of the medium’s power that even the most

prosaic and ubiquitous of household items can be used to cre-
ate interesting animation, pieces that move an audience in
4.1 Materials: That just about anything
emotional and conceptual terms. And you can do this with
can be animated is illustrated by these two
frame enlargements. In Bags, by Tadeusz anything—with pipe cleaners, pennies, pop-tops, pajamas,
Wilkosz, simple household objects plus a plates, penknives, pansies, peas, pills, and pins. As long as you
bag create a drama of aggression, (A). Sim- can lift it and move it, it’s possible to animate it. You can make
ple cookies with drawn heads constitute all
the players in Frenc Varsanyi’s Honeyma-
a group of pencils roll themselves across your desk, have some
tion, (B). The films were produced in the salt and pepper shakers do a jig, or even make a roomful of
former Czechoslovakia and Hungary, respec- chairs and tables play at bumper cars. For the beginner, it’s a
tively. Eastern European animators have
good idea to start off with smaller items to get the hang of
developed strong traditions in animating
objects and puppets. Courtesy Pyramid things, and when you're a little more experienced maybe then
Films. you can try bringing your living room couch to life.

50
 Before discussing how animators treat such objects, |
want to offer you a view of a distant summit and point out two
trails for your ascent.
If object animation seems awfully simple, let me assure
you that it is the very direct first step toward one of the anima-
tion art form's loftiest peaks. Stop-motion animation is the
name of the technique that was used to create such movies as
The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant
Peach, and the wonderful Wallace and Gromit feature and
series of shorts by British animator Nick Park. Here, simple 4.2 Diorama setup: The illustration sug-
objects are replaced by fully articulated puppetlike characters gests a common setup for animating small
or by a series of slightly modified 3-D models. A stationary objects. Many lighting combinations are
possible. Here a key light focuses on the
camera is replaced by a motion-contro/ camera rig: a 35mm objects while two filllights illuminate the
camera mounted on a computer-controlled arm that plots its background. The use of seamless art paper,
way, millimeter by millimeter, through a landscape of stop- available at art stores, creates the illusion
' . fa “limitless” ;
motion elements with an accuracy that can be repeated exactly CP aS HON ess abel aaue
in successive takes.
Object animation is an excellent place to begin one’s
apprenticeship because it can be so easily undertaken with
both filmmaking and digital tools. The two creative pathways
start out with equipment configurations that are both relatively
fast and cheap.

THE SETUP

Figure 4.2 shows a typical arrangement for animating objects.

Until recently, the camera was always a film camera—super
8mm or 16mm formats being most common. But, as noted on
page 52, today you can shoot by hooking up a computer to
video cameras—Hi-8or VHS formats being most common.
Whichever recording device you employ, it is the objects you've
chosen to animate that will dictate the setup required in shoot-
ing them.
The heart of the animation, as we've been saying, is
movement. Anything that detracts the viewer's attention from
what is being animated works against the movie. For this rea-
son, backgrounds in all forms of animation tend to be simple,
nondistracting, and absolutely rock steady. Certainly this is true
in animating objects. If the placement of the camera is to be
vertical, that is, pointing straight down at the surface to be
photographed, then a solid-colored piece of paper can rest

ANIMATING OBJECTS 51
 underneath the objects themselves. Naturally, the color of this
background should help emphasize the objects on top of it.
Often the camera will be mounted in a horizontal position and
pointed toward what amounts to a small stage with both floor
and backdrop. In this case, seamless art paper forms an effec-
tive background material that has no edges or structural details
that can detract attention from the animation. Such back-
grounds appear to recede into a depthless void. This kind of
setup is called a diorama.
As for lighting, although different objects will present
unique lighting problems, generally a form of “flat” lighting is
used that minimizes the existence of strong shadows that over-
power the movement of the object being animated. This is
achieved by the use of at least two light sources, three if possi-
ble. The illumination of one tends to eliminate the shadows
caused by the other. However, sometimes lighting must be
used more dramatically. For instance, it may be important to
create a bright background against which the objects will
stand out clearly. A controlled absence of lighting can create a
similar effect. In this case the lights are focused only on the
objects being filmed, while a black background, unlit, provides
contrast for the animation itself. Lighting is a creative universe
unto itself. Try out different lighting schemes that experiment
with mood. For example, you can animate shadows themselves
by moving your lights around while shooting. One of the ben-
efits of shooting your animation digitally is that what you see
on your computer screen is what you get. It’s impossible to
overexpose or underexpose your image, a frequent problem
for beginning animators who use film.
4.3 Overhead setup: Canadian Laurent
Coderre is shown working with tiny chips of
wood in his film Zikkaron, (A). Note the sim-
plicity of the setup: a motionless camera
held over a sheet of black matte board, (B). THE VIDEO/COMPUTER TOOL SET
Courtesy National Film Board of Canada.
Due to the recent growth of digital technology, there are now
many kinds of electronic cameras that make it easy to shoot
object animation. Not only can you hook up a standard VHS
camcorder to your computer for video input, but there are also
dozens of digital cameras made especially for capturing images
for the computer, all of which vary in features and price.
The Connectix Quickcam is an extremely cool-looking
digital camera. Once hooked up to your computer, it’s easy to
use the eyeball-shaped gizmo to take still photos of your family

52 aS THE ANIMATION BooK

and friends, to do videoconferencing over the Internet, or—for
our purposes here—to record bits of video. When the signals
from the camera are routed through a digital video application
such as Adobe Premiere, the Quickcam can create video clips
frame by frame. There are currently two models on the market.
Both are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. When
placed in their plastic holder, Quickcams are easy to move
around, rotate, and tilt up and down. There is also a threaded
mount on the bottom of each camera, so that you can mount
one on a tripod. The gray-scale model was the first one avail- 4.4 Animated beads: Four frames from
able and if you're on a slim budget, it’s the perfect item to start Ishu Patel’s Beadgame suggest a more
off with. If color is a must, Connectix also has a full-color Quick- sophisticated style of animating small
objects. Here tiny plastic beads, the kind
cam available, which provides crisper photos and better video. used in beaded belts and costumes, become
While a Quickcam is great way to get a taste of object the medium creating complex transforma-
animation, there are multitudes of consumer-level video cam- tions of line and color. The “ray” effect in
photos B and C was created with a com-
eras that perform at a higher grade, and that cost more. A Hi-
puter-controlled movement of the camera
8 video camera or a standard VHS camcorder can be hooked while the shutter is opened on successive
up to the computer using the proper cables and the video-in single-frame exposures. Beadgame is the
product of a highly sophisticated camera
jacks. All such cameras can be mounted easily onto a tripod
and stand, in the hands of a highly experi-
and come with zoom lenses and a tiny viewfinder monitor that enced animator. Courtesy National Film
is useful for composing shots before the frame-at-a-time Board of Canada.
recording begins.

ANIMATING OBJECTS 53
 4.5 CASE STUDY: Desktop Stop Motion with Premiere

Kit Laybourne’s office in New York City became an impromptu studio for producing an example of Digital
Object Animation. Kit and colleague Michael Dougherty thought a coyote skull and some cattle bones might
make an interesting and eerie composition, and one that would be
easy to animate. Figure (A) shows samples of the finished piece, which
was ultimately turned into a QuickTime screensaver. The action con-
sisted of the coyote scull spinning around and then attacking the
viewer.

Setting Up
The setup was extremely simple, with source materials captured directly onto
Kit’s Mac 8100. In (B) you can see that we created the diorama using a table-
top as the surface and a black sheet as a backdrop to nicely emphasize the
stark white of the skull and bones. We used both natural sunlight and house-
hold lamps to light the scene. The hardware setup is a multimedia-configured
Mac running Premiere video software and a QuickCam from Connectix posi-
tioned at the same height as the bones. The QuickCam can create QuickTime
movies in either black-and-white or color, depending on what model you
choose, and can create movies
at 160 x 120, 320 x 240 (half File Edit Project Make Clip Windows Stop Motion

size), or 640 x 480 (full size)

screen resolutions. We used the
black-and-white QuickCam.

Composing the Frame and Animating

Before beginning the animation, the frame was composed and lights were
positioned to create the best-looking frame, (C). We rehearsed the move-
ment of the skull, playing out different actions and their corresponding
impact. Previewing is easy to
do, since Premiere gives you a
display of exactly what the
QuickCam sees and what will
be recorded in the animation.
With the setup and composition fixed, it was time to bring the dead
back to life. The skull was moved ever so slightly and then a new frame was
taken using Premiere’s stop-motion feature. This move, click-a-picture,
move-again process was repeated until the scene was completed. (D) is a
production still of the final frame in the sequence, which corresponds to
the last frame of the piece, as shown in (A).

54 i THE ANIMATION BooK

 Premiere Interface
The stop-motion feature
in Premiere, (E), allows
you to create animation
frame-by-frame using
the video signal from a
QuickCam or other
video source hooked up
to your computer.
Note that the “Step”
button captures the cur-
rent frame, and even
makes a click noise simi-
lar to traditional film
cameras.

Once completed, the animation was saved as a QuickTime movie

and labeled “Clip: skull movie,” as seen along the top of the file, (F).
There’s no trip to the lab. You can play back the object animation as
soon as it’s done and look for mistakes. Those are the playback con-
trols at the bottom of (F).

Clip: skull movie [1] This little piece of

animation, (G), was
quite short — about
two seconds long —
and took about a half
hour to complete,
including setup and
animation. It was cre-
ated at 320 x 240 (half size) resolution and is small enough to export
and fit on a floppy disk. Perhaps we'll send it out next Halloween.

No animals were harmed in the making of this QuickTime clip.

ANIMATING OBJECTS 55
 Along with a computer and a camera, you need a soft-
ware program such as Premiere from Adobe. Premiere has an
excellent stop-motion recording feature that can use the cam-
era’s video signal as the source. When recording in Premiere’s
stop-motion mode, a window pops up showing you what the
camera sees so that you can compose your image, and when
you shoot a frame it even makes a nifty click noise that mimics
an old film camera. The case study on the previous pages gives
you a step-by-step introduction to animating objects with a
computer setup.

GIVING THE OBJECTS LIFE

Let's say that you've got a camera and a handful of loose

change in your pocket. Hook the camera up to your computer,
4.6 Distance/speed relationships: place it on a tripod, surround it with lights, and point it down
This series of photographs tries to suggest at the surface of a table.
two aspects of relative movement upon the
How can you make the money move? When is some-
screen. Moving the same real distance, the
pawn appears to move more quickly when thing moving too fast for the eye to follow? Is it possible to
it is passing a stationary castle, (A), than imbue objects with recognizably human kinds of movement?
when it passes a castle that is also moving, You'll have to find out the answers to such questions by your
although not at the same rate, (B). The
proximity of the pawn to the camera in the
own experimentation. Here are some general parameters.
third series, (C), will cause it to appear to be How Many Frames? The most thorough way of animat-
moving faster than in the first series, despite ing an object is to shoot one frame of it, alter the object’s posi-
the fact that in both the pawn is covering
tion slightly, and then shoot another frame. The camera and
an identical distance in real space.
background must not move during this frame-by-frame shoot-
ing process. It is the absolute steadiness of the background and
camera angle that permits us to perceive the illusion of move-
ment brought about by incremental changes in the object's
position. During the projection of the film or the playback of
the video, the tiny incremental changes pile on top of each
other and the persistence-of-vision phenomenon lets us experi-
ence the illusion of movement on the screen. Changing the
position of an object before each exposure requires shooting
twenty-four separate movements in order to make one second
of film or thirty separate movements per second of video.
Fortunately, “smooth” movement can still be perceived
when two exposures are snapped before changing the position
of the object. This lets the animator create the same quality of
movement in the same amount of screen time by making half
the number of changes to the object’s position. This process is

56 g THE ANIMATION Book

called shooting on twos or simply shooting twos. It is a basic
element of animation technique. Unless there is a special rea-
son why single exposures must be made, animators will usually
photograph two frames before altering an object being ani-
mated. After all, this saves half the work, and the visual results
of shooting on twos and shooting on ones, as seen in the fin-
ished animation, are not significantly different. So unless other-
wise stated, it is always assumed that shooting in either film or
digital formats will always be done by shooting on twos. This
holds for nearly every animation technique. The habit of click-
ing two frames at a time will become second nature.
Sometimes, however, it is possible and desirable to shoot
on threes, fours, or even fives. Extending the number of expo-
sures for each position causes a flickering or jumpy quality to
the movement. The larger the number of exposures between
movements, the greater the “visual stutter.” But smoothness is
not always appropriate. You may want to have objects moving
in a jerky, high-energy fashion. There is only one way to learn
the different effects caused by exposing a different number of
frames: You must experiment. And if you’re shooting your
-
object animation digitally, you'll discover that experimentation
4.7 Flutter: A photograph shot with a
is easier and results are instantaneous since you don’t have to long exposure time, (A), suggests a very
process any film. As. you begin to know applications like Pre- small change between an initial and a final
miere inside and out, you will also find that digital tools allow position. If the first and last positions were
shot on an animation camera (one wouldn't
you to fix a broad spectrum of problems. Whereas the film ani- see the hand moving the piece), the move-
mator must reshoot an entire scene, the digital animator can ment would appear very smooth and very
manipulate single frames, saving time, energy, and moola. slow. Photograph (B) suggests a larger
change in position. This would be perceived
What Distance? What Speed? Because projection and
as a faster movement if the first and second
playback speed is usually a constant (24 fps in film and 30 fps positions were filmed with an animation
in video), the greater the physical distance you move an object camera. Note the overlap of position—the
dark area. Because of this overlap, the
between exposures, the faster it will appear to move, assuming
motion on the screen will appear smooth.
the same lens and camera location. The closer you space its Two stationary pawns, (C), suggest a degree
positions, the more slowly and smoothly an object will appear of change between the first and second
positions that would create a “flutter,” or
to move in the finished animation. Note that movement is
“strobe,” effect.
always perceived relative to something else—usually the back-
ground or the frame of the image itself. “Relative” or “appar-
ent” speed is worth elaboration. Figure 4.6 illustrates how to
make an object move quickly or slowly.
There is no limit to how smoothly or slowly you can ani-
mate an object. There is, however, a perceptual limitation on
the maximum rate of movement you can use. If the object is
placed in a position that does not permit it to at least partially

ANIMATING OBJECTS 57
 overlap or touch its preceding position, its motion may appear
to “flutter” when played back. Figure 4.7 shows the problem
of visual continuity.
Movement and Style. Here’s where the real fun begins. In
the final analysis, the effectiveness of animation is not simply a
4.8 Animating blocks: Tchou-Tchou is
matter of how far a movement goes or what number of frames
a fourteen-minute adventure story featur- it commands. What's more important by far is the way it moves
ing five characters that are created from and the feelings that this movement evokes. Animation is really
children’s blocks and inhabit a block world.
the art of making things move with style, and the common gift
In the film’s climax, the hero and heroine,
(A), and a friendly bug, (B), outsmart a fero- of all great animators is an ability to observe and then re-create
cious dragon composed of a long row of movement in ways that resonate deeply within all of us. To the
blocks, (C). Animator Co Hoedeman and a
good animator, movement becomes a concrete material that
colleague help indicate the scale and
complexity of this production’s set, (D). has color, portrays mood and motivation, and is textured in
Courtesy National Film Board of Canada. overtones of human passion and human meaning.

58 ¢ THE ANIMATION BooK

WRITTEN WITH DAVE PALMER

Animation excels al telling stories, especially

the kinds of stories that are impossible to put on film using
real actors and real locations. Fantasy landscapes and fantasy
characters have dominated the growth of animation from its
earliest days. Unfortunately, the full-cel techniques most often
used by professional animators and commercial studios in
developing such narrative films are time-consuming and diffi- —
-

cult for an individual animator to undertake. So independent

animators have invented cutout animation, a simplified form

—-
of cartooning that lets them work effectively with characters
and stories.
Something is always lost when a simple technique re-
places a complex one. So it is with cutouts. As you will see, the
movements of the characters are restricted. Stories tend to be
more concrete and simpler with this technique than with its full- 5.1 Standard setup: The camera is posi-
animation counterpart. But the benefits outweigh the disadvan- tioned directly above the background on
tages. Cutout animation in film and digital formats makes which the cutout characters will be ani-
mated. A simple copy stand (as illustrated)
accessible to the individual artist a broad and rich universe of or a tripod can easily hold the camera, and
creative possibilities. Just in case you think of cutouts as being a lights are mounted at both sides to provide
“simple” technique—like training wheels for the real stuff—flip even illumination.

ahead to the case study at the end of this chapter.

STORIES

Cutouts work best with plots featuring lots of physical action

that takes place on a broad scale. Conversely, it’s difficult with

59
 cutouts to deal effectively with the nuances of story as revealed
through the detailed movement of figures and backgrounds.
Here’s an example that will make the distinction clear. Say you
have a story in which a character gets very angry at his parked
car when a wheel falls off. In cutouts, the anger would have to
be shown, for example, by having the character leap to the
roof of the car and start jumping up and down on it. Cutout
techniques would not be effective, for instance, in showing a
slow flush building in the character's face or in catching a sub-
tle kind of rage that builds in the character as he glares at his
vehicle.
The natural bias of cutout techniques is toward broad
action. Keep this in mind when selecting stories to work with.
As with all kinds of animation, the limits and the unique char-
acteristics of a particular technique are most often bound up in
the materials that are used. This will become clearer as you
begin to prepare the characters and background of your first
cutout film.

CHARACTERS

As its name suggests, cutout animation is achieved by moving

figures that have been drawn on a piece of paper and then cut
out. The force of gravity (and a glass pressure plate, or platen)
holds these figures flat against the background or “scene.”
The animator’s own hand moves the cutout pieces across the
scene. Positioned overhead, the animation camera clicks off
two exposures between each movement. A typical cutout ani-
mation setup is illustrated in Figure 5.1.
Quite obviously, this technique saves the animator a
=9 great deal of work, since he or she can use one drawing again
5.2 Jointing: As this character walks, its and again. But this also means that the figures themselves can-
arms and legs will move. The composite fig-
ure (A) is actually composed of four sepa-
not be changed. This apparent dilemma is solved by the
rate cutouts, as indicated in (B). These process of jointing. Depending on what a character will be
movable parts can be fastened to the body doing in the story (and depending on the animator’s patience),
by means of a piece of thread sewn through
each cutout is designed so that it has some movable parts:
the cutout’s body. The ends of the thread
are then anchored with masking tape at the arms, legs, hands, a head, and even some facial expressions.
appropriate places on the reverse sides of There are three common ways of connecting the moving
both jointed elements, (C). Another joining
parts of a cutout character or object:
technique uses metal fasteners that are
punched through the cutouts and opened Thread and Tape. A piece of thread is attached with
on the back side of the body section, (D).

60 & THE ANIMATION Booxk

masking tape to the reverse side of each separate piece of
paper. The thread keeps the pieces aligned and still allows
them to move. The thread works as a hinge. The shorter it is,
the easier you'll find it is to work the characters under the
camera.
Metal Fasteners. A small metal fastener can be used to
connect various portions of a character. Such clips are very
effective and hold up well in use. But the connecting mecha-
nism can be seen by the camera. In some films this matters, in
some It does not. The choice is aesthetic.
Gravity. Plain old gravity can be used to keep one part of
a figure aligned with another part. This is the easiest way to
design characters, but you may find them difficult to manipu-
late because each part hasto be moved individually during
shooting and it’s all too easy to inadvertently move one piece
when you only intended to move its neighbor.
There are times when the gravity method is the only
way to go.It makes no sense, for example,to connect an
eyeball with the eye socket in which it rests. Overlay is a
generic term that refers to a series of separate cutouts that are
used at different times within the same character or object
(see Figure 5.3).
Even in cutout animation you'll encounter situations
where you will need to create a different version of the same
character. Such moments occur when a character’s physical
appearance must change drastically for dramatic effect, like
when zapped by a bolt of electricity, or when it is impossible
for your cutout to accommodate a new body position that a
characteris forced to assume, like when a character stops
walking across the scene and turns to face the camera. 5.3 Overlays: This lopsided and toothy
Sometimes, too, you will need to draw and cut out a collection of mouths would give the crea-
ture in (A) a very wicked style of speaking.
detail of your character that will subsequently be filmed as
By placing the “explosion” overlay over the
a close-up shot: for example, when it is necessary to show an magician’s hand in scene (B), taking it out
extreme close-up of a bug crawling on someone's nose, or and putting it in again on successive pairs of
frames and then overlaying the hand with
a hand holding a bottle of poison, or a foot slipping on a
the rabbit, an effective piece of magic can
banana peel. be achieved.
In designing cutout characters, always keep in mind
what your story requires a particular character to do physically.
What sort of personality do you wish to create? Your story
itself should help in determining where and how to use joint-
ings, overlays, and close-ups.

CUTOUT ANIMATION 61
 WG
Ease

AT
RAS
ies
oredr
"ji
é

5.4 Cutout styles: For every general trend that

one can observe within a particular technique,
there are always plenty of contrary examples. The
six films sampled here make this point quite elo-
quently. All employ cutout techniques but each has
a distinctive graphic style, and the last two don’t
have the kind of narrative structure that I've associ-
ated with cutout animation. The films cited are: (A),
Cecily by Paula Reznickova—courtesy Learning Cor-
poration of America; (B), Crocus by Suzan Pitt Kran-
ing—courtesy Serious Business Company; (C), My
Financial Career by Grant Munro and Gerald Potter-
son—courtesy National Film Board of Canada; (D),
Our Lady of the Spheres by Larry Jordan—courtesy
Serious Business Company; and (E), Shout It Out
Alphabet Film by Lynn Smith—courtesy Phoenix
Films.

62 Su THe ANIMATION BooK

FILM TECHNIQUES

Working Scale and Paper Stock. Cutouts,should always be

made to a relatively large physical scale. By using a 12- by 16-
inch field, or larger, you can make characters about 4 to 6
inches tall, with plenty of detail, and their moving parts will be
easy to manipulate during filming. Furthermore, if you are film- 5.5 A cutout production: These three
ing with a camera that has a zoom lens, large-size artwork photographs show the working scale, (A),
the cutouts, (B), and a sample frame, (CO),
allows you to zoom in for close-ups instead of having to create
from Evelyn Lambert's Fine Feathers. The
new drawings. Another tip: Stick with the same scale through- animator herself is seen at work. A camera
out your film. This way you can use the same characters within is positioned over her head and is activated
different scenes. It makes things easier, too, if you draw your by a foot switch. Courtesy National Film
Board of Canada.
characters and overlays on heavyweight paper stock. This
keeps the edges from curling, and the movable figures will last
longer.
Backgrounds. While the location of a story is often an
important element in a cartoon, it is best to wait until you have
designed your characters and central props before you fashion
the background on which they will move. One reason for this
procedure is to ensure that you end up with a background that
is big enough for the cutouts you’ve made. But a more impor-
tant reason has to do with design. You don’t want to create a
background so busy that your characters get lost in it. The
exaggerated example in Figure 5.6 will help you to remember
this point. It is important to balance all the graphic elements of
your movie. Make backgrounds simple. Use muted colors.
Keep nonessential action to a minimum. It is always better to
tend toward understatement in designing a background. Oth-
erwise you risk upstaging your characters and the story they
have to tell. %
Don’t neglect the dramatic potential of the background,

CUTOUT ANIMATION 63
 however. And don’t be afraid to cut into your background, lit-
erally. The two examples in Figure 5.7 show that sometimes
you can use a cutout within the background to relay important
information. A well-designed background can also solve key
dramatic problems.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

If necessity is the mother of invention, ingenuity is the father.

The successful invention of a new technique is one of the
greatest satisfactions an animator can have. So don’t give up
when your story calls for something to happen that seems
impossible to achieve with cutout techniques. Improvise. To
give you an idea of the difficulties that can be overcome, here
are some ingenious inventions that have been rediscovered
many times by independent animators.
The Stormy Day. Rain or snow is painted on a clear sheet
5.6 Background design: Keep it of acetate and pulled across the background and characters
Simpl: while the scene is being animated, a frame at a time. Lightning
effects can be achieved by varying the positions and brightness
of the filming lights. To show an earthquake, either the table
holding the cutouts or the camera itself is given a healthy
shake while film runs through the camera at live-action speeds.
20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea. A glass tray filled with
water is suspended between the camera and the artwork. The
water is stirred with a fingertip before the shutter is released.
You can also place a piece of blue acetate over the camera
lens. Yet another alternative is to shoot the camera through
the bottom of a colored glass jar. This has the effect of keeping
part of the scene in focus and part out of focus as the jar is
rotated during filming. A final possibility is to apply a series of
greenish and bluish washes directly to the film after it has been
shot and returned from the laboratory.
Project: A Cutout Title Sequence. Make a 15-second film
in which a single character (person, animal, object, or whatever)
enters a black field and in some appropriate way produces the
letters of your name, one at a time. This exercise will let you
experiment in fashioning a character with movable parts, as
well as teach you how to move the figure so that it has a char-
acteristic personality. You will also learn to handle a series of
nonjointed elements—in this case, the letters of your name.

64 ener ANIMATION BooK

COMPUTER TECHNIQUES

The principles and techniques of computer-based cutout ani-

mation are exactly the same as those of the traditional, under-
the-camera, film-based style. Only the tools are different.
But what a difference the digital tools make, starting with
the cutout objects themselves. Using the computer, you can
assemble a very eclectic range of elements, including shapes cut
out of textures and fabrics, drawings done on paper, and bits of
clay. Manipulating a mix of object types under the conventional
film camera presents many difficulties in lighting and back-
ground choices. Such problems vanish in a digital realm, where
every image becomes a set of pixels. Issues of scale become sim-
pler as well. Working in real space under a film or video camera,
one needs to prepare various cutout elements so that they are
sized appropriately to each other. Using a computer, it becomes
easy to scale up a dime, for example, so it appears the same size
as an apple. Digital files can be easily color-corrected, bright-
ened, distorted, cropped, rotated, or otherwise altered.
Two pieces of computer hardware are required for
cutouts: a scanner and a digitizing camera. Chapter 24: Com-
puter Hardware provides more information on these tools.
Once the cutouts are inside the computer, two pieces of
software are required: Photoshop and After Effects, both from
the Adobe Corporation. Using Photoshop, the animator can lit-
erally cut out the image from its background and place it on a
5.7 Backgrounds: Pulling down the sin-
transparent level. Here is where colors and sizes and shapes gle cutout (blind and hand) in (A) would
can be tweaked. Photoshop also has the capabilityto gather provide a simple way to end a movie. Note
that the windowpanes could be cut out so
the individual elements that make up a particular cutout char-
that the scene outside could be changed by
acter and form these into a composition that can thereafter be simply sliding a different drawing under the
operated as one object, even though it maintains all its layered window. The gumball machine background
characteristics. The Blue’s Clues case study that immediately in (B) is slotted to allow the gumballs to
tumble out of the black hole.
follows shows this very clearly.
Adobe's After Effects is a software application that
accomplishes the actual animation of the cutouts and subse-
quent output of completed scenes as QuickTime digital movies.
QuickTime has become a standard format for storing and play-
ing back digital animation files. Because After Effects is com-
patible with and accepts layered Photoshop documents, the
animator maintains minute control over all the different parts
of the characters, with all the elements grouped together and
properly registered.

CUTOUT ANIMATION 65
 So creatively rich and so powerful is After Effects that this
software has given birth to its own animation genre, called
motion graphics. Chapter 10 provides a focused exploration.
Animating on the computer will liberate you from the
danger of spending hours under the camera only to ruin a
sequence because a light moved slightly during the shoot or an
unexpected sneeze scattered your paper characters all over the
floor. Digital techniques permit one to work with finely detailed
and complex cutouts that would be way too difficult or
time-consuming to animate in traditional film tech-
niques. One wayward snip with the scissors doesn’t send
you back to the drawing board. Both software applica-
tions allow you to hit a keystroke or click on an icon to
undo an error or unwanted change and pick up where
you left off.
The tremendous benefit of digital cutout ani-
mation is its changeability. If you decide after
seeing a shot that you really want some par-
ticular action to happen slightly sooner, or
later, or not at all, you simply have to slide a
few key frames or layers to correct the prob-
5.8 Dave and Blue: The star of the lem. The traditional film methodology of reshoots, film process-
show peeks over Dave Palmer, the anima- ing times, and editing causes even the simplest of revisions to
tion director at Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues. Est: é ,
Gout aval rer ane Blue's Clues, used! take hours or days to complete. Because digital files remain
with permission of Nickelodeon. changeable or “liquid” throughout the process (in fact, digital
files within a program remain malleable forever), many prob-
lems can be changed in a few minutes and for a lot less money
than ever before. And this means that your animations aren’‘t
totally done until you’re totally happy with them.

66 £ THE ANIMATION BooK

5.9 Silhouette animation: The medieval love story
of Aucassin and Nicolette has been animated with silhou-
ette techniques by German animator Lotte Reiniger. The
delicate characters are hand-cut from black construction
paper and have intricate moving parts. The design of the
film and the construction of the cutout silhouette charac-
ters are similar to the techniques developed by Ms.
Reiniger in 1923-1926 when she created The Adventures
of Prince Achmed, the world’s first full-length animated
film. Two frames from Aucassin and Nicolette are shown
in (A) and (B). Produced at the National Film Board of
Canada, the film presents characters that are set against
backgrounds of colored-tissue paper and gels, lit from
below a glass table and filmed from above, (C). The great
asset of silhouette animation is that any jointing of the
characters is fully hidden from the viewer by the filming
process. The contrast between the black cutouts and the
brightly illuminated background easily camouflages joint-
ings. These simple techniques pioneered by Lotte Reiniger,
(D) and (E), are capable of tremendous detail and grace.
Photos (A) and (B) courtesy of the National Film Board of
Canada, and photos (C), (D), and (E) by Lois Siegel.

CUTOUT ANIMATION 67
 CASE STUDY CASE STUSIOC
CASE STUDY? Digital Cutoits: “> Y CASE STUDY CASE s

Blue’s Clues is the first television series to be animated with cutouts entirely on desktop computers. The show
is designed for two- to five-year-olds and plays daily on the Nickelodeon cable network.
There are twenty half-hour episodes in a season, each clocking in at exactly 24:30. This adds up to over
eight hours of animation, all of which is created, produced, designed, animated, and edited by a group of
about thirty people. A single show is taken from script to videotape mas-
Sea EEE eae ter in about ten weeks, and in this case study, Animation Director Dave
SCENE: 3437/4, 13 BG: 15P,iSA, IS}, ‘
FLEMENT: £246 al Palmer runs through the production cycle.
ARTIST: Yo-LyWN al

Blue’s Clues presents a mix of real objects and cutout characters that are
composited on screen with its live-action host, played by actor Steve Burns. The
four screen grabs in (A) are typical. The show follows the adventures of a car-
toon puppy named Blue and her owner, Steve, as they search throughout a sto-
rybook world for items with blue pawprints on them. These items are clues that
will reveal the answer to that particular episode’s question, such as, “What
game does Blue want to play?” or “What story does Blue want to read?”
The scene we will be following takes place at a beach, where Steve and Blue
AO meet groups of animals and play a game identifying different rhythms.
QO
eelees r/-e*
@- Jnovms

Character and Background Design

An episode begins with a script and a storyboard. Our overall goal is to create a
participatory environment in which our viewers will literally get out of their
chairs to yell out answers to Steve’s questions and play along with the games in
each show.
At Blue’s Clues, we push ourselves to surprise the kids with great characters
and unique, interesting environments. The design process begins with character
model sheets and background sketches. (B) and (C) provide examples of both.
Once a character or background has been finalized on paper, the individual e/e-
ments (or pieces that will comprise the character or background) are scanned on a flat scanner or digitized with a video
camera. The photograph in (D) shows the range of cutouts and objects we used in this
show. Blue’s Clues is based on traditional cutout animation techniques, yet has its own
distinct aesthetic. We use real objects: items made out of clay or plastic, cutout felt
pieces, textured papers and different fabrics — anything that is tactile and fun. (E) is a
sampling of fabrics and textures that we scan directly into the computer and use to
give our characters and scenes a handmade look, like a children’s storybook.
When a character or item requires a 3-D look, like the eggs in (F), the objects are
created with clay or Play-doh and digitized with a video camera, as in (G). Any video
camera you have access to can accomplish this goal if you have the software to con-

68 $ THE ANIMATION Book

 nect it to your computer. The parts that constitute the crab character from our scene,
(H), include a clay body and eyes, and cutout paper for the legs, eye stalks, and mouths.
The background drawings are scanned into the computer, imported into Photoshop,
and used as templates for the actual back-
grounds used in the show, (I). Everything created
by our digital designers is made to fit a video
frame, which is 640 pixels by 480 pixels at 72
dots per inch. Sometimes, however, we choose
to work larger. Backgrounds, for instance, can
stretch to 2,000 pixels wide by 570 high, so they
can be moved horizontally behind the footage
of Steve to create the illusion of a long pan.

Finishing and
Layering Elements & Filo fait Image Loyer Select Fitter Biew Window

All scans and digitized pic-

tures of 3-D objects are imported into Photoshop to be
refined and prepped for animation. Photoshop is an expan-
sive and versatile tool that can clean up edges of scans, cut
shapes out of large pieces of fabric or texture, add or delete
parts of a scan, or simply add highlights and shadows. At
this Digital Design stage, we often change the colors of a
particular element to brighten it up and make it fit within
the aesthetic of the whole show. (J) shows one of our
designers refining the crab elements seen on page 70 in the
screen shot, (K). Notice how a path is being made around
the element of the crab’s body. The path will be used to
remove the unwanted background information and smooth
out the shape’s edges.
Once the arms, legs, bodies, heads, mouths, eyes, and
other body parts of our crabs are finished, all the items are
placed into one Photoshop document, (L). This “layering” step allows us to keep
the different parts registered, and to add drop shadows underneath various
parts of the united object. Registering the parts of any character is important
because it ensures that every part of the character is in its proper place. This is
especially critical if you’re using replacement mouths for lip sync or if you need
to move one element around a specific point on another — like the crab’s claws,
(L), which we split into two halves and joined at the bottom. We did this so that
each claw can be opened and closed independently and yet remain connected
to the crab’s “wrist.”

CUTOUT ANIMATION 69
 5.10 CASE STUDY: Digital Cutouts (cont.)) 99 (o°" ory

Overall, there are about thirty layers to the crab. Can you imagine what
a nightmare it would be if you wanted to change the crab’s position, rota-
tion, or scale in the shot, and each eye, leg, claw, and replacement mouth
had to be moved and repositioned piece by piece? By combining all of
these parts into one layered Photoshop document, we can place the crab
over the background and move it from point to point as just one piece.

Animation and Compositing

(M) shows the crab’s finished Photoshop document just as it was imported
into After Effects as a composition. See how the Photoshop layers remain in
the same position and order, and retain the same name. The animator, (N),
can bring the creature to life, working with the familiar and universal prin
ciples of animation, like anticipation, exaggeration, and squash and stretch.
Each of the crab’s parts can be moved, flipped, rotated, scaled, or made
more or less opaque. Replacement animation, a traditional cutout tech-
nique, is easily simulated by making different layers visible or invisible via
After Effects’ opacity key frames. The lip sync for characters in B/ue’s Clues is
often done with replacement mouths. The animator creates the illusion of
talking by switching between six or so different mouth shapes, each shape
corresponding to a different sound.
When the animator receives the edited studio footage, the bluescreen
has been deleted from around Steve so that the live-action can be layered
into the scene. You can see all the pieces coming together in (O). The com-
position of the entire shot is labeled Comp 1. Steve’s footage is the layer in
Comp 1 labeled 11432 (the number of this particular shot), and the back-
ground of the shot is labeled 11415P, which means it is a long background
created for a pan in shot 11415. The rest of the layers in Comp 1 are also
compositions, either of background or foreground animations, like the rain
cloud, or of other characters in the shot, like the familiar crab character.
One of the crab compositions, labeled Crab 01, is opened here for the ani-

" Fie Edit Composition Layer Effect Window _ to:19eM

CRAB 01

mator to be able to work in both the crab com- PORTE

EA
position and the composition of the entire shot =
at the same time. ieae ee
There is a lot going on in this beach scene. Cpe.
The animator has three animated characters to oa oe
choreograph with each other, all of them having oon
to stay within boundaries set by Steve's footsteps
and eyeline. While working in such multiple com- Spe peas ere
GhubleFrame Ohentiog
9,00;26;22 fe] Enable Potion Bar
positions it is important to keep everything [OiwerNewe st Av cc Oe FrHi

clearly labeled and organized. For instance, the

three crabs are labeled Crab 01, Crab 02 and Crab
03, and any one of them can be accessed by click-
ing on its particular Composition window in the
upper right, (O). Synchronizing all of the compo-
sitions (via the Preferences menu), allows the ani-
mator to move to the same frame within all the

70 G THe ANIMATION BooK

individual compositions that are used within & file Cait composition Layer Effect window tose 2
the same scene. This makes it easier to choreo- _ RAG 5 nas
£ES5S PROS

graph scenes and to properly time reactions so ae

that characters play off each other's dialogue DED M4 remaodoay Tolter
and movements. ee cs ae
In this scene, for example, we want to syn- ere teens
pps
chronize the movements of the crabs to a beat
track included in Steve’s footage. The beats can
be located down to the frame by accessing the
waveform of the audio, and when the anima-
tor places the time marker on a beat, each of
the crab compositions will jump to the same
corresponding frame. The animator then hops
from one crab composition to the next, animat-
ing each crab, and then moves to the next beat
in the composition of the entire shot to repeat
the process.
| guess you can see how a Blue’s Clues scene
can get pretty complicated, which is why plan-
ning ahead and using as few layers as possible
is key. Some simple scenes will take a Blue’s
Clues animator half a day to animate, while more complex and longer scenes can take two weeks or more to complete.

Rendering and Editing

Our final step is to render the finished animation as a QuickTime movie. This is often a long process, and could take ten or
twenty minutes for a short scene with a few layers, or ten hours or more for a long scene with lots of layers and digital
effects.
Once a scene is rendered, the animator can watch it in “real time,” or thirty frames per second, to judge the timing
and action of the characters, and to make sure the background elements are the correct size and in the right spot. Often
at this first look we will see something in the shot that needs to be improved or changed. Each episode of Blue’s Clues is
tested with children throughout the production process to ensure that the show is working on an entertainment and edu-
cational level, and revisions based on these testing sessions are an expected and necessary part of that process. If revisions
need to be made, the animator merely opens up the saved Project file for the shot, makes the changes by moving layers
or key frames, or substituting one element for another, and re-renders the scene. The beautiful thing about working dig-
itally is that if you need to make changes, they can usually be done in a few minutes with little trouble — hence avoiding
the hours of reshooting and. added processing costs involved in traditional animation.
When all of the scenes of a particular show are completed and rendered out, the scenes are collected and the sound-
track is mixed. The show, animations and soundtrack, are then transferred from the hard drive to videotape with a
Macintosh-based digital editing system, ready for broadcast.

Photos by Dave Palmer. All materials courtesy Blue's Clues. Nickelodeon, Blue’s Clues, and all related titles, logos, and
characters are trademarks of Viacom International, Inc., and are used herein by permission. Copyright © 1997 Viacom
International, Inc. All rights reserved.

Credits: Executive Producer: Todd Kessler Producer/Head Writer: Angela Santomero Designer/Producer: Traci Paige Johnson Animation Director:
Dave Palmer Animators: Chris Boyce, Robert M. Charde, Michael Dougherty, Olexa Hewryk, Nancy Keegan, Holly Klein, Scott Klossner, Danial Nord,
Jennifer Oxley, Anne Nakasone, Trixy Wattenbarger, and Joe Silver Supervising Producer: Jennifer Twomey-Perello Research Director: Alice Wilder Art
and Animation Manager: Soo Kyung Kim Assistant Art Director: Christian Hali Art Production Assistant: lan Chernichaw Digital Designers: Yo-Lynn
Hagood, Jane Howell, Adam Osterfeld Editor: L. Mark Sorré Assistant Editor: David Burger Technical Manager: Boris Beaubian

CUTOUT ANIMATION 71
 Hur perception OF ine world and the things in it
can be vastly extended through animation. Everyday processes
that were once hidden from the naked eye are suddenly
revealed. Things that happen over long periods of time become ¥e‘4
quick events. Patterns of movement that have always been seen
at “natural” speeds become startling as film or digital animation
collapses time. In this chapter you will meet two of animation’s
most delightful perception benders: time lapse and pixilation.

TIME-LAPSE ANIMATION

In time-lapse animation, every frame is exposed at a predeter-

mined interval, which may range from a few moments to a few —
days. A familiar example will provide a handy definition to 1
technique. Out of a plot of earth we see a small green shoot
grow and reach toward the sun. Within a few seconds of view-
ing time, this shoot becomes a plant with leaves. It continues
growing. Then it buds and finally we witness the gentle explo-
sion of a flower’s blooming.
Essentially, the time-lapse technique alters our percep-
tions by collapsing time. This compression of the normal
sequence of events will usually reveal either a process of gener-
ation or one of destruction. By thinking of this kind of anima-
tion in just these terms, and by seeing beyond the growing
flower image, you will quickly find new and exciting possibili-
ties. Here are a few.

72
 Nature. The organic patterns clouds make as they sweep
across the sky, the movement of shadows on a brick wall, the
passing of a thunderstorm, the path of a snail, the arrival of a
snowfall, the development of a chick embryo.
Man. Crowds of people moving in and out of buildings,
the traffic patterns of a highway or an airport, the demolition
of a house, the construction of a skyscraper.
Art. The development of an oil painting, the erosion of a
sand sculpture, the decoration of a Christmas tree, the scrib-
bling of graffiti upon a wall.
All computer draw and paint programs will allow you to
record (Save As) successive evolutions of an image. These can
be formatted with QuickTime movies or other playback
engines that string together the series of versions into a single
animation.
Many of the phenomena cited above have already
become topics of films, and the experience of viewing any of
these movies for the first time is pure revelation. Familiar things
are discovered in startling new ways.

INTERVALS

The exact amount of time between exposures for time-lapse

photography will depend upon the nature of the subject you
select. For example, documenting the construction of a sky-
scraper might require just a few frames per day. Shooting
could go on for months. In comparison, it would take less time
and you would use smaller intervals between exposures if you 6.1 Time lapse: |n Derek Lamb’s House-
wanted to catch the drama of a melting ice-cream cone. moving, (A), a time-lapse technique records
the disassembly, transportation, and reloca-
} Here’s how to determine the interval you'll need. Begin tion of an entire colonial home. Walerian
-by ‘studying carefully the subject of your film. What is the Borowczyk’'s Renaissance shows the recon-
movement or change you want to explore? Next, determine stitution of a room filled with mementos.
The frame enlargement in (B) shows a pho-
how much “real time” it takes for the action you've selected to
tograph that is reconstructed in one
complete itself. Now decide upon the best overall duration for sequence. Oskar Fischinger’s Motion Paint-
your finished movie. This will be its “screen time.” Because the ing No. 1, (C), produced in 1949, presents
the step-by-step evolution of an abstract
projection rate is always constant (24 or 18 frames per second
painting. Photo (A) courtesy Phoenix Films,
in film, 30 frames per second in video, and between 8 and 15 (B) courtesy Pyramid Films, (C) courtesy The
frames per second on the less-constant computer), you can Museum of Modern Art Film Stills Archive.
now work out the correct interval between exposures. Multiply
the screen time in seconds by the appropriate projection
speed. The answer is the total frame count for the finished pro-

TIME LAPSE AND PIXILATION 73

 ject. Calculate the rea/ time of your subject in the smallest units
of time that are practical (generally in seconds or in minutes).
Divide the rea/ time by the frame count. The result is the inter-
val between frames.
An example will make this calculation process less daunt-
ing. Suppose you want to make a movie or tape about office
workers streaming out of a building at the end of the workday.
You visit the location and study the action (and select the best
camera position), and you determine that most of the “action”
takes place in a ten-minute period. In order to emphasize the
“flushing” effect of the spectacle, you decide that the entire
event ought to take place on the screen in just five seconds.
You know you'll be playing back at 24 fps. Here are the
computations:

Step 1: 5 seconds x 24 fps = 120 frames

Step 2: 10 minutes x 60 seconds = 600 seconds
Step 3: 600 / 120 = 5-second intervals

SETUP

Camera Mount. Like all forms of animation, time-lapse tech-

niques require a stationary camera. A solid tripod is generally
used, although it’s possible, with ingenuity, to mount a camera
just about anywhere—even on the nose of a 747 in order to let
the world experience a transcontinental trip in one minute.
Triggering Exposures. The actual exposure of each frame
can be done either manually—by a shutter release or the tap of
6.2 Weeks become seconds: This
series of key frames from Organism shows a computer key—or by a specially designed motor called an
the demolition of an entire office building. intervalometer, which is built into the software of many digital
In this film by Hilary Harris, time-lapse and
cameras. With a motor or using a computer, the camera can be
pixilated sequences compare the flow of a
city’s life with that of the human body as set to take a picture at a predetermined interval. More infor-
seen through macrocinematography. Cour- mation on traditional and digital cameras can be found in Part
tesy Phoenix Films. Ill: Tools.
Exposure Level. One of the problems of filming over a
long period of time is that the lighting of your subject is apt to
change between the individually exposed frames. A built-in,
through-the-lens light-metering system can helpein keeping a
relatively constant exposure value when filming outside. If
you're working under lights, it's possible to get a timing device
that will turn on your lights a few moments before the picture

74 G THe ANIMATION BOOK

is taken and then turn them off. If you are dealing with a com-
plicated lighting problem, be certain to do a thorough test
before undertaking the entire filming.
Other Variables. Try running your film backward or
inverting the captured frames if you are working digitally. By
reversing the usual start-to-finish order, you can heighten real-
ity: a flower can “run in terror” from an approaching blight by
appearing to pull in its petals and shoot back into the earth.
Shoot at night using a long exposure time for each frame.
Shoot with the camera mounted in an unusual position. Shoot
with decreasing time intervals between frames, so that what-
ever you play back will appear to be going faster and faster.
Project: Super Doodle. Set up your camera so that it
looks over your shoulder at a blank piece of paper. Begin doo-
dling on the paper. Using either a foot release, an intervalome-
ter, or a friend, film for a period of 10 minutes at a time
interval of 3 seconds between exposures. Pay no attention to
the clicking of the camera as you draw. Don’t worry about
arriving ata “finished” picture at the end of a given 10-minute
period.
With a 3-second interval, your finished film will take
about 8 seconds to project. Not only will you witness the evo-
lution of the drawing, but the camera will also have recorded
the motion of your hands and shoulders. With luck, you may
be able to gain a fresh perspective on the style and energy with
which you doodle.

PIXILATION es

Pixilation is a specialized technique for animating people. The

camera records occasional frames of some natural or real-time
event, but because of the intermittent filming, the effect in the
resulting film is that of an unnatural movement somewhat like
an old silent movie. What is impossible in real life becomes
commonplace with pixilation.
In Europe the common expression for a cartoon is “trick
film.” Pixilation is trick film at its trickiest. And one of its best
tricks is the way the term itself hides its own roots. I’ve been
unable to locate even an unauthoritative explanation of how
6.3 Animated face: An enlarged strip
the term originated. But whatever that may be, and although from a student’s 16mm film that includes
the technique admittedly bears a close relationship to both both time-lapse and pixilation techniques.

TIME LAPSE AND PIXILATION 75

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76 S THE ANIMATION BooKx

 6.4 Pixilatiom: Norman McLaren’s Oscar-winning film
Neighbors is credited with introducing the technique of
pixilation in 1952. Described as the most eloquent plea for
peace ever filmed, Neighbors shows how a neighborly mis-
understanding escalates into genocide. The enlarged strips
of 35mm film—(A), (B), and (Q—show the positions that
the two principal actors had to hold for the single-frame
exposures. The 360-degree sliding handshake soon turns
into the 360-degree nose-to-nose staring battle. The duel
with pieces of a picket fence, (D), marks the acceleration
of hostilities during which both actors show grimmer faces
with each sequence. (E) shows the final face worn by ani-
mator and actor Grant Munro. Interestingly, the movie's
climax (in which wives and children are slaughtered) was
cut from prints because the sequence’s effect was so
shocking to sensibilities of the time. Since then, the
National Film Board of Canada has reinserted the original
ending, (F). The production still, (G), shows the camera
setup and the highly simple and stylized set. McLaren is in
the white T-shirt. Courtesy National Film Board of Canada.

TIME LAPSE AND PIXILATION 77

 time-lapse and small-object animation, the expressive function
of pixilation is clear. The technique is almost always used for
humor. And the effects one can create with it are absolutely
astonishing.
In pixilation, a stationary camera records a stationary,
posed subject, shooting on twos. Between exposures, the
character moves to a new position. The process of taking expo-
sures is often very slow and requires great patience and con-
centration. For the performer, great physical agility is often
needed. Because the subject in pixilation is usually a living per-
son, complete control of the pose is difficult, and this forces
the animator to guesstimate much of the time. Trial and error
6.5 Pixilated heroes: Notwithstanding rules pixilation.
the serious topic and sobering impact of
Neighbors, pixilation usually lends itself to
humorous, zany animated productions. This
is evident in Blaze Glory, a parody of the EFFECTS
cowboy hero by Chuck Melville and Len
Johnson. Courtesy Pyramid Films. What the technique lacks in precision, it makes up for in its
sheer display. Here’s a beginning catalogue of characteristic
effects.
Locomotion. Pixilation permits weird ways of moving. A
person can appear to fly, which is achieved by having the sub-
ject jump into the air precisely as the camera clicks off a single
frame, over and over again. Or an individual may move like an
automobile. Here the actor moves about on the ground but
carefully assumes the same “driving” position during each
double frame exposure, with hands holding an imaginary
steering wheel and feet on an imaginary brake and an acceler-
ator. There are endless variations: skidding, bouncing, floating,
swimming, even flipping end over end.
Entrances and Exits. There are all sorts of tricks for enter-
ing or leaving the screen. People can come up out of the
ground (a hat, clothing, and other props are required for the
first few frames). They can appear through a wall. They can
flash in and out of the picture, or they can just “pop” on and
off the screen.
Speed. Pixilation gives the effect of speeding up things.
If a sidewalk crowd was filmed at 3 frames per second (instead
of the usual 24 fps), the crowd would appear to be racing
along in a jerky, old-time-movie style. The slower the rate of
exposure, the faster the crowd will begin to move.
If you want to see just how fast you can make things go,

78 A THE ANIMATION BooK

A B G

point a camera out the front window of a car and expose a

frame every couple of seconds as a friend drives you around
town. Here is another special effect you might want to try.
Have an actor walk with intentional “slow motion” within a
crowd that is walking normally. With some experimentation,
you can pixilate the scene so that the character will appear to
move almost “normally” while others will appear hyperactive.
People with Objects. Coordinate an interplay of pixila-
tion (animating people) and time-lapse or stop-motion tech-
niques (animating objects). The result will be animated bedlam:
6.6 Time lapse meets cel: In this
a vacuum cleaner swallows a housewife; a chair torments its short animated piece for Sesame Street,
owner; a necktie embarrasses an overly earnest suitor; a refrig- animator Peter Wallach worked with
erator produces the evening’s meal automatically—then serves time-lapse footage he shot of the New York
skyline. (A), (B), (C), and (D) sample some
up the owner as the entrée. hand-rendered positions of a cloud as it
transforms into the shape of a cat. Using
digital compositing technology, the time-
lapse formation of moving “real” clouds
SHOOTING was joined by the morphing “cat clouds” as
seen in (E). Images courtesy Fly Films and
Here are some pointers for filming pixilated actions. Sesame Street Productions.

Continuity. Have someone working with you who does

nothing more than make certain that each actor assumes a
pose identical to his or_her previous pose after relocating
between shots. Precise registration is always a problem in pixi-
lation. After all, it’s not easy to hold an awkward position again
and again as an animator laboriously builds a scene.
Camera Movement. The more frequently you take expo-
sures, the less rigorously you will need to control the move-
ment of the camera itself during shots, tilts, or zooms. As
always, the steadier the camera and the more accurately you
can calibrate incremental changes, the better everything will
work out. It is wise to use Camera movement very sparingly.
Exposures. Pixilation is often done outdoors and the
process of filming a scene can take long periods of time. This
raises the danger that natural lighting will change significantly
between the beginning and the end of shooting. The result can

TIME LAPSE AND PIXILATION 79

6.7 Nick at Night open: When cable be a disturbing effect of arbitrary changes in the picture quality
TV service Nick at Night was first launched, caused by uneven exposures. The best way to avoid this diffi-
its “on-air look” consisted of a series of pixi-
lated ten-second IDs. The first seven seconds culty is to shoot on a clear, sunny day. Still, the shadows will
were identical for the more than fifty change during the course of the filming.
broadcast graphics produced by indepen- Background. The camera picks up and magnifies any
dent studio Noyes & Laybourne, located in
movement in the background, so if you are planning to shoot
New York's TriBeCa district. (A), (B), (C), (D),
and (E), show key frames from the opening outside, pick a day when there Is no wind. Check your location
section in which an actor, Alan Mintz, “cre- to be certain that the background is devoid of cars, cows, or
ated” a room with a TV set in it. Alan’s
other objects that may suddenly move or disappear during
action was carefully choreographed starting
with his holding the logo, (A), and then filming.
hanging it near the background of the Project: The Skating, Snaking, and Skidding Film. Set up
limbo set, (B). Pixilated construction by our your camera in an environment that will have little background
actor produced a window frame, (C), walls,
and a floor and TV set, pulled into the movement. Find a patient friend to assist in operating the cam-
frame, (D). The final action consisted of the era. You will be out in front of the camera this time. Begin with
actor “clicking” toward the TV set with a a static frame (no camera movement or background move-
remote control in his hand, (E).
ment) through which you “skate,” even though you're travel-
The rest of the frames sample the range
of weird surprises that comprised the final ing across the earth and there is no ice. Next, try to coordinate
three seconds of each ten-second ID: mum- a camera pan that follows you “snaking” past the camera on
mies pop onto the screen, (F); a group of
your stomach. Place obstacles in your way so you can try to
MTV Network execs bow their briefcases,
like members of a string quartet, (G); a pup- smoothly pass over them as a snake might. For a grand finale,
pet hippo spins on top of the TV, (H); our you might attempt a short film in which you enter the frame in
TV watcher becomes a cop, policing a gang a live-action walk and then, through pixilation, start skidding
of Nickelodeon staffers, riding their office
chairs like bumper cars, (/); and a vacuum as you appear to be trying to stop. Direct your skid toward a
cleaner sucking our star’s pants off, (J). Pro- tree or similar obstacle. Add more and more “panic” to your
duction was wonderful lunacy. Courtesy body position as you approach the obstacle. Finish yourself off
Nick at Nite. Images used with permission
with a terrific crash—one that lifts you high into the air and
from Nickelodeon.
throws you quite some distance before landing.

80 te THE ANIMATION Book

WRITTEN WITH MICHAEL DOUGHERTY

opecial bonds connect sound with film and

video images. But in animation, these bonds are very special.
The visual elements and the audio track seem to share a more
intimate and more creative partnership than exists in any other
motion picture form. This point is proved again and again every
time you rent and then screen an animated feature. But why is
this so?
The technologyof animation—either film or digital—
encourages a higher degree of synchronization than is practical
within other forms of moviemaking. In both visual and audio
realms, the animator has total control. An image or a sound
can be placed with pinpoint accuracy down to tenths of a sec-
ond. Furthermore, what you see and what you hear share com-
mon elements of structure. A musical tune, for example, is
often characterized by a simplicity that is not unlike the sim-
plicity of personality we recognize in cartoon characters. In
many animated films musical tempo is related to the visual
“beats” of the action taking place on the screen.
Music theorists have suggested that the fundamental
power of music to move us as it does is a result of various psy-
chological states we experience in listening to the music’s
structure. Humans are pattern-seeking creatures. It is in our
deepest nature to listen for the completion of various patterns
fashioned from individual notes, intervals, instrumentations,
themes, and rhythms. We automatically anticipate how a
familiar melody will play itself out. We wait for that outcome. If

81
7.1 Great tracks: A selection of frames
from cartoons with innovative sound tracks.
In Cockaboody, (D), John and Faith Hubley
informally recorded the conversations of
their two small daughters at play and based
the entire film on an edited version of that
sound recording. Sound effects and dia-
logue by Eskimos constitute the sound track
of Carolyn Leaf’s The Owl Who Married the
Goose, (B). Highly amplified natural sounds
are featured in the track for The Animal
Movie, (C), by Grant Munro and Ron Tunis.
In Norman McLaren's Blinkity Blink, (A), the
animator hand-drew both the images and
the sound track directly onto 35mm black
leader. Courtesy of: (A), the Learning Cor-
poration of America; (B), Pyramid Films; (C),
the National Film Board of Canada; and (D),
McGraw-Hill.

82 js THE ANIMATION BooK

the composition follows the pattern we are expecting, there is
a satisfying sense of closure and “release.” If our anticipation is
thwarted, we are disturbed and our attention increases, and if
we experience a familiar pattern that is embellished in a new
and unexpected way, we are delighted. The gifted animator,
along with the music director/composer and the editor, under-
stands the psychology of musical design and seeks to trigger
the parallel responses through conscious manipulation of vari-
Ous visual patterns: repetition and rhythm; the movement of
characters and background; the predictability of a story; and
the pacing and editing of the finished work. To the degree that
animation can create a flow of patterns, the medium appears
to mirror the nature of musical expression.
Theorizing aside, there’s no doubt about the terrific
power that exists when a close synchronization of animated
images and sounds is achieved. No advanced degree is
required to appreciate just how rich the relationship is—all you
need to do is rent a copy of Walt Disney's Fantasia or George
Dunning’s Yellow Submarine. You'll hear it. You'll feel it.

THE STUFF OF SOUND TRACKS

It starts out in the quiet of your mind. The animator studies the
possibilities for a sound track. The movie's theme, style, length,
and technique are all factors in the audiovisual equation. At
this initial stage, the goal is to select those audio elements that
will best fortify and extend the visual components of the
movie. The outcome of this original design phase is a sound
treatment that identifies in detail all the parts of a film’s antici-
pated final sound track.
There is no standard format for such a treatment. It can
be written out or it can be a set of notes jotted onto a story-
board and script. It is important, however, that you consider
each of the three basic sound sources.
Music. A particular piece of music can sometimes give
birth to ideas for animation. Take yourself off to a music store
that lets you sample albums. Check out the music collection at
your public library. Allow yourself to listen to selections that
may be far outside your normal musical tastes. Choose musical
selections that you intuit as “working” with your upcoming
project.

WORKING WITH SOUND 83

 Effects. Look up from the book for a moment and listen.
Now what'd you hear? Whatever it was, whether it was birds
chirping in your backyard, a dog barking in the distance, the
hum of your computer fan, or an ambulance screeching down
the road, they can all be recorded and used in your animation.
Anything that can be recorded, or is already recorded on tape
or CD, is easily imported into your computer and used to build
a soundtrack. Later in this chapter you'll find more about gath-
ering those Ker-Plumps, Ka-Pows, Zaps, and Zowees.
Voice. In a given film, there can be character dialogue
or narration voice-over. There can be speech that is lip-
synchronous or non-lip-synchronous. Because lip sync can be
tricky when starting out in animation, you might want to look
for creative ways of avoiding those scenes that call for precise
lip synchronization.
It's important to sit down and think of what overall type
of track you want to build. Is your animation similar to the clas-
sic cartoons of yesteryear, chock-full of sight gags, exploding
dynamite, and falling anvils? Get ready to look for some com-
pact disc featuring stock sound effects. Is your piece more
abstract and trying to communicate a mood and feeling
instead of a story? Chances are you'll want to experiment with
altering everyday sounds or stock music until they fit your
needs. Write a list as long as your arm of whatever type of
sound comes to mind, no matter how small or insignificant it
might seem. Take yourself inside the project you will be mak-
ing. Imagine every little chirp, rustle, footstep, sigh, or breeze
you might hear.
Here’s a practical tip that can unleash a wealth of cre-
ativity. When thinking about your next ‘toon, think about cre-
ating a sound track that is entirely original—from voices to
sound effects to music. It’s not just that there is something nice
in the idea of using your own resources. There can be legal
complications if you don’t. You'll have no problem if you want
to use prerecorded sound for a project that will be used only
for your own personal enjoyment. But if you anticipate any
commercial use of your animation through sale, rental, or
admission charges from a public viewing, then you'll eventually
have to acquire the rights to any and all prerecorded materials
you use. And that costs money!

84 ¢ THe ANIMATION BooK

WHICH COMES FIRST?
SOUND OR PIX?

It is often debated whether the sound track or the animation

should be created first, and the truth is, there’s no real answer.
If you're working in the classic cartoon style where you
need accurate lip sync, then you'll definitely want to record a
voice track first, analyze it, and create the animation using the
voice track as reference. Many other types of projects benefit
from following one or more elements from the sound track.
For most people starting out in animation, the picture
comes first and accompanying music, sound effects, and voice
elements are usually added once the picture itself is completed
or “locked.” Starting out with a locked-down track can actu-
ally be an impediment if your project is experimental or
abstract. In such cases it’s smart to make the visuals compelling
before starting track work. If you can make your piece work
without the benefit of any audio, bank on the fact that it will
be even more powerful once your sound has been added. A
truth whispered among animators is that 70 percent of a
show’s impact comes from the sound track.
7.2 Waveforms: These two odd forms
It’s usually a good idea to take the time early in a project’s are the visual, digital expression of what
creative development to create a very rough sound track, or sound looks like when it is worked with on
a computer. (A) is a thunderclap and (B) is
scratch track. Think of this as a loose outline, a first draft. A
music. There’s not a human alive who can
scratch track is usually built at the same time the storyboard is look at one of these images and discern
completed. In fact, it’s common practice to fashion a scratch what sound it represents. However, anyone
track as the audio portion of an animatic—a piece of film, tape, can tell from the flattening down of the
spikes when a sound ends and silence
or computer animation that shows storyboard panels in begins. And that particular piece of intelli-
sequence and that runs the same length as the anticipated pro- gence proves hugely useful when you are
ject. An animatic’s track will often have large “plugs” of silence using digital tools to create sound tracks for
your animation.

WORKING WITH SOUND 85

 where music or effects will subsequently be placed. But even if
there are only a few known elements—perhaps some lines of
dialogue, a piece of music you like, a few important sound
effects (even if laid in as rough vocals)—whatever elements you
can slug into the scratch track will provide valuable guidance as
you work on the timing of scenes and go about animating
them. You'll find more about animatics and their cousin, the
Leica reel, in the following chapter on storyboarding.

TRACK BUILDING

Now let’s talk about tools and techniques that allow you to
harness all that audio. Toolwise, the major focus here will be
on digital technology, for that is the easiest and best way to
undertake the process of creating a track for your animated
movie—starting with the first scratch track and going all the
way to the final mix. At the end of this chapter you'll find some
information about the film-based technology that computers
now replace.
Here’s a breakdown of the track building process.
Separation. Each track is recorded separately and kept as
its own entity. Only at the very end of a project’s completion will
these tracks be mixed. Sometimes two or three individual tracks
are recorded, sometimes as many as ten or more. With digital
technology, the recording process is easy and it begins by using
any audio tape recorder. Even the least sophisticated personal
computers have some sort of sound-generating capability—how
else would you hear that annoying quack or beep every time you
screw something up? Playing sounds on computers has been
around for years, long before playing motion image clips be-
came an everyday feature, and as digital technology has evolved,
so have the audio editing and manipulation features. Today it’s
a common practice to completely create, mix, and output a
high-quality sound track using only a desktop computer.
Sound Effects and Music Libraries. When watching your
favorite cartoons or TV shows, chances are that what you're lis-
tening to is really a lot of the same sound effects repeated over
and over again. Think of the classic whistle you hear during
Wile E. Coyote’s plummet off a cliff, or the metallic smash of
an anvil as it lands on a character's head. This repetition of
sound effects between one show and another exists because

86 g THe ANIMATION BooK

those stock sounds were probably pulled from the same sound 7.3 Recording session: Rock star Iggy
effects library. Such commercial libraries have thousands of dif- Pop, seen in a recording session for the
Rugrats feature film, in production by Nick-
ferent selections ready for the animator and/or sound designer elodeon Features and Paramount, (A). On
to choose and lay onto a single track. Because our ears are in the other side of the glass that divides the
some ways less finely tuned than our eyes, stock audio libraries studio from the control booth, composer
Mark Mothersbaugh (foreground) works
are standard sources for everyday sounds like footsteps, wind,
with Engineer Bob Casale, (B). Photos by
rain, clocks, birds, or street traffic, and even more for not-so- Vince Gonzales. Courtesy Klasky/Csupo and
everyday sounds like explosions, gunfire, spaceships, bloodcur- Nickelodeon.

dling screams, or hippo mating calls.

There are also music libraries filled with every type of
music imaginable, from classical to hard rock. Few music
libraries provide top hits on the pop music charts since that
would involve paying the pop artists and composers some
serious cash. Instead, you will find musical “beds” and
“stings” and “bumpers” that can be purchased for a simple
charge per needle drop. This term comes from the days when
a filmmaker would pay a separate fee for each selection he or
she used from a music or sound effects library, each time he
or she used it. One didn’t pay by the length of the cuts, just by
the needle drops. More and more in today’s digital world, one
can make an outright purchase of an entire music and sound
effects library for which no royalties or needle-drop fees are
required—you’ve already paid in the purchase price. Look
carefully before you make such a purchase to be sure that the
library’s music cuts and sound effects are copyright free. One
of these collections is a solid investment. You'll have fun lis-
tening to the awesome variety of music and sound effects
and, by browsing the library, you will probably come up with
new ideas for your sound track. If you can, buy the compact
disc version (as opposed to audiocassettes) since it will make
digitizing your sound a lot easier.
Have Microphone, Will Travel. lf you don’t want to rely
on sound effects libraries, or if you need something so unique
it can’t be found anywhere, record it yourself! Grab a tape
recorder and a microphone and head outside for a day of
recording whatever neat sound you come across. If you have
access to a laptop computer, it’s also easy to hook up a micro-
phone to it and use the computer as your recording device
instead of a tape deck. Wandering the streets with your ears
doing the looking might seem a bit strange, but it’s a normal
part of the job for a sound designer. Top guys in the business
can often be found creeping through zoos, farms, and con-

WORKING WITH SOUND 87

 struction sites, trying to capture that unique grind, grunt,
or groan.
lf you choose to record your own effects, you'll have
entered a time-honored domain of animation called foley. At
the big feature animation outfits in Hollywood, there are foley
studios, where sound designers use whatever means are nec-
essary to create that perfect sound effect needed for a particu-
lar animated sequence. This often means taking everyday
objects like old pairs of shoes, metal trash cans, rocks, doors, or
even fruits and vegetables and manipulating them to create a
distinct and effective sound. Foley artists have manufactured
stabbing sounds by cutting a melon, punching noises by slap-
ping a side of beef, and the sound of a neck breaking by snap-
ping a stalk of celery. Fun, huh?
Recording Voices. |f your animation will involve voices,
whether in the form of dialogue or voice-over, you'll need to
record these as separate elements from the sound effects and
music. The best approach is to use a good-quality microphone
and hook it up to a tape recorder or your computer. Try to find
a secluded, quiet, soundproof room so that no excess or
unwanted noise pops up while recording. Many schools and
TV stations have recording booths you can borrow. The rental
fees for commercial sound studios are surprisingly modest and
these facilities always help the voice talent and director get the
best performance.

CAPTURING SOUND IN THE

COMPUTER

Once you've gathered all the sound effects, music, and voices
for your project, these elements must be “captured” into your
computer and stored as sound files. This process is sometimes
called digitizing and has become extremely easy now that
almost all computers come with multimedia features that let
you record, play back, and edit.
If you're pulling music or a series of effects off a CD, the
process is a breeze. It usually takes nothing more than putting
the disc in your CD-ROM drive and dragging over the icons for
the desired tracks from the CD to your computer's hard drive.
Or you can use special sound-handling software to record the
sound effects while you play the CD. Either way, the resulting

88 Su THe ANIMATION BooK

digital file can be named and saved for subsequent use in your
sound track.
The process is easy, too, if your source sounds have been
recorded onto audiotape. Most of today’s tape decks have
either an earphone jack or an audio-out jack in the back. These
jacks can be used to connect the tape playback machine to
your computer’s microphone jack using a standard RCA stereo
wire. Once you've hooked your tape player to the computer,
any sound played on the tape will be sent to the computer,
ready to be digitized. To capture sounds you've recorded your-
self, a sound editing or capturing application is a necessity.
Both Macs and PCs usually have a built-in sound recording pro-
gram that is crude but effective.

TRACK LAYOUT AND MIXING

Let’s say that every voice, sound, and piece of music needed
for your animation has been gathered and captured in your
computer. Now comes the task of carefully placing each clip
where it belongs and then mixing all those ingredients
together to create a beautiful and moving sound track. Thanks
to the recent evolution of desktop video and multimedia tools,
there are a number of terrific sound editing programs on the
market. These range in expense and complexity (see Chapter
23: Computer Software) and have been designed to meet the
needs of individuals at different skill levels, from fledgling ani-
mators to seasoned pros working in multitrack recording.
Simple Waveform Editors. The most basic audio editing
program should let you open up an audio file, look at its wave-
form, and do simple cut-and-paste jobs on it, moving sound
effects from one part of the track to another and pasting in
other sounds. Even these simple audio editors will usually let
you add special effects such as fade, echo, dissolve, reverse,
and amplify. The finished audio track can then be saved as a
new sound file or, better yet, as a QuickTime movie that can
later be laid down with a video track. You'll find that manipu-
lating sounds and music is great fun. Give yourself time to
experiment. Everyone gets a kick out of making their voice
sound like a chipmunk or hearing how different things sound
when played backward.
The drawback to basic audio editing software is that it

WORKING WITH SOUND 89

 rt 7.4 CASE STUDY: Digital Sound

Season’s Greetings is a 16mm cel animation film created by Michael Dougherty as a student film for the NYU
Animation Program. It tells the macabre story of a child trick-or-treating late one Halloween night. The project
was completed in just under a year and later went on to win awards from the Student Emmys, the Student
Academy Awards, and several other film festivals. The story is told with eye-catching visuals that portray a
young innocent who is being followed by a menacing stalker. The movie's track was created digitally once the
film itself had been completed in 16mm format. To emphasize the frightening story and help build the terror
and suspense that climaxes in the scene studied here, an original musical score and effects tracks were created
by Evan Chen, an NYU student studying musical composition. Ten key frames from the sequence are shown,
(A). Michael Dougherty’s comments follow:

Importing into SoundEdit 16

The audio design process began once the film had been digitized and imported into SoundEdit 16, a sound editing
application from Macromedia, (B). The 16mm work print was transferred to 3/4" format video at a postproduction
house in New York City, then digitized by playing back the tape into a Quick- SSS Season's Greetings Soundtracks S2==Hig
Time clip on a Macintosh.
The resulting QuickTime clip, (C), was imported into SoundEdit 16, but still
lacked audio. Icons representing the animation are displayed at the top, serv-
ing as a guide for where to place sounds. You can see the empty tracks, wait-
ing to be filled.

Laying Down Tracks and Scoping Waveforms

Two tracks were then added: the musical score and the sound of thunder,
which was used as ominous foreshadowing of a (mostly) off-camera fight and
murder, (D).
rmnerreseoninesnann
SS Season's Greetings / Untitled :
0:05

90 ki THE ANIMATION BooK

 More tracks were = Season's Greetings / Untitled TS
a 10:15 a ee
added, (E), to go with
the scoring and thun-
derclap sound effect.
Isolated in its own
track, the waveform
shows precisely where
the scream begins,
making it easy to
place the sound
against the animation.

= Season's Greetings / Untitled

The waveform is a visual representation of
a sound. The longer and louder the noise,
the longer and higher the peaks appear on
the waveform. If there is a moment of
silence, the waveform will appear as a
straight line. One of the great things about

Seal — a
working digitally is that it’s so easy to slide
a sound element one way or another, test-
A ill i ci mM aldalll — shitd Ki ili i ing to see where it works best against a
picture. Each track can be manipulated
independently to allow for the addition of
special effects like echoes, fades, and
changing the pitch or tone.

Tea sop ae TeUe

Mixing Down
Once all the tracks were added, ne RE OT LE ENDL IEL Z ERTIES SRT I ET TE I RTT TEEN
manipulated, and placed at proper
times, the multiple tracks (a total of
four in this project) could be mixed
down to a single sound track that is represented by one waveform, (F).
= Season's Greetings Soundtracks =====@= SoundEdit 16 displays the “stats” of the sound track in the space below
the movie’s sample frame, (G). In this case, we created a 16 bit, 44.1 MHz
mono sound track, which is close to CD sound quality and suitable for pre-
sentation on video.
Because | wanted to have a traditional 16mm film complete with an
optical track, | transferred the mixed track to Digital Audio Tape (DAT),
which was taken directly to the lab with the film negatives, turned into an
optical master, and married to the negatives to create the answer print.
After screening and approving the answer print, several release prints for
distribution were made.
Voila! A finished film with a killer track.

Credits: Directed and Animated by: Michael Dougherty Music and Sound by: Evan Chen Backgrounds Painted by: Dan M. Kanemoto Faculty
Supervisors: Kit Laybourne and John Canemaker

WORKING WITH SOUND 91

 rarely lets you mix and manipulate multiple tracks. They usually
have only the capability to edit one or two tracks of audio at a
time, which can come in handy but doesn’t allow the flexibility
of mixing larger numbers of sound effects and music together.
Multitrack Audio Editors. For ambitious sound tracks
that combine effects with music and dialogue tracks, you'll
want to use an audio editing program that can import, edit,
and mix multiple tracks and can cut, manipulate, and distort
each sound in a million different ways.
The value of control over individual tracks is obvious. If a
barking dog effect you've gotten off a sound effects CD is too
loud for your taste, you can lower its volume so it’s more of a
background noise. You could even change the pitch and tone
so a giant Rottweiler suddenly becomes a tiny yipping Chi-
huahua. Using multiple tracks also lets you control the place-
ment of your audio effects, down to a single frame. Don’t like
the thunder effect starting at the beginning of your animation?
Change the in point and it comes in at the end. Any effect
you've gathered can also be duplicated an infinite number of
times. If you've recorded the chime of a clock that rings three
times but you need it to chime for twelve midnight, the sound
of a single chime can be copied by selecting its chunk on the
waveform and pasted nine more times, all with a few clicks of
the mouse.
The case study that begins in Figure 7.4 has been
designed to introduce you to the workings of one of the major
sound editing applications serving both Windows and Mac
computers. SoundEdit 16 is a simple-to-use, midlevel piece of
software that allows you to create and edit multiple tracks,
apply a large number of special effects, and output to fourteen
different file formats. The simple, customizable interface is a
snap to learn. Each audio track can be labeled and is displayed
as a waveform that can be edited with the standard cut, copy,
and paste functions seen in almost all software packages. Cue
points and notes can be marked on the tracks for easy refer-
ence, and special effects can be added by just highlighting the
part of the waveform you want to change. One of the best fea-
tures is its ability to open up a QuickTime movie and edit the
existing sound track or create a whole new one for it. It has
become a standard software package used in the multimedia
and digital video industries for CD-ROMs, the Internet, and
video productions. The folks at Macromedia who program and

92 ie THE ANIMATION BooK

publish SoundEdit 16 have begun to employ plug-ins (like 7.5 Pull-down sound effects: These
Adobe Photoshop and After Effects) to give the software room pieces of user interface from the software
program SoundEdit 16 will show you the
to grow. path to some very cool sound effects which,
at a mouse click, you can apply to any sound
that you record or get from another source.
(A) shows the basic control panel for this
DIGITAL AUDIO EFFECTS program. Look familiar? It’s just like every
sound recorder device you've ever worked.
Applying a special effect to your audio tracks can give your The interface in (B) is our destination: a
“pull-down” array of choices that you can
sound track extra kick, taking a mundane noise and turning it
apply to any chunk of waveform that you
into something new and vibrant. It involves little more than have highlighted. (C) gives you a chance to
selecting the area on the waveform where you want the effect study the main tool bar for SoundEdit 16.
This is a very versatile program with plenty
to appear and then using a pulldown menu where all your
of creative power. A longer discussion of it
options are listed (see Figure 7.5). With such special effects is included in Chapter 23.
you can turn the voice of a sweet old lady into that of a
two-hundred-pound weight lifter or make music sound as if it
were emanating from inside a cavern. Think of effects as
the audio equivalent to image filters in Photoshop. They're a
quick, easy, and painless way of altering preexisting sounds to
create an effect that might be way, way too difficult to create
on your own.

TRACK ANALYSIS AND LIP-SYNC

Once all the audio elements have been given their own track,
you need to analyze them to see how they relate to each other
and exactly where they occur. This is not so hard with a single
sound effect that appears as a high-spike blip on its track.
Using the waveform as a guide, the animator has a visual refer-
ence to locate exactly what time a certain sound effect occurs.
Many software applications will let you place reference marks
and notes right onto the computer screen.
It’s more difficult to mark the rhythm of a piece of music.
The effort is worth it, of course, when a piece of visual action is
matched up to the cadence of music. Animators discovered the
power of synchronous sound quite early and the phrase

File Edit View Insert Modify Effects Control

WORKING WITH SOUND 93

 “Mickey Mousing” is still used to describe the effect when a
character walks along with his footsteps perfectly in sync with
a musical beat. It’s generally impossible to discern rhythm from
a waveform. Therefore, to do your own Mickey Mousing you
will need to learn how the computer program you are using
allows you to mark visual frames “on the fly,” while the sound
track is playing. If this capability doesn’t exist or you can’t fig-
ure it out, record your track and then experiment with placing
marks on individual frames. By the process of trial and error,
you will be able to find exactly which frame matches which
beat or other place in the music track where you want to
match picture and sound.
The precision with which it is possible to analyze a sound
track enables the animator to locate individual words or parts
of words. This makes it possible to create cartoon characters
who move their lips with uncanny accuracy to the words deliv-
ered in the voice track. The effect, of course, is that the charac-
ter actually talks.
In order to create lip sync, you must analyze each voice
track so that you know the location of each vowel and conso-
nant sound in a given piece of dialogue. With this information,
you will be able to match each utterance with the appropriate
mouth shape. Figure 7.6 shows six different mouth shapes and
the distinct sound each represents. Naturally, the way a charac-
ter is designed will require modifications of these basic shapes.
The way Bart Simpson speaks is far different from the lip-sync
style used for the Tick. And both of those are different from
Buzz Lightyear or the Lion King!
Both track analysis and lip-sync drawing are laborious
processes, as you can imagine. Doing it with computers is a lot
easier than doing it with film tools. Doing it right requires
patience and perseverance. A real mastery of lip-sync anima-
- tion requires control of head, neck, and body movement and
the ability to create gestures appropriate to the meaning of
individual words, to the character's distinct personality, and to
the dramatic requirements of the scene. If you are interested in
pursuing this specialized technique, obtain one of the
advanced manuals on the subject, select a software package
that deals with lip-syncing, and be prepared for an education.
It takes a lot of patience and practice to become proficient in
determining what shape of mouth goes with a particular spo-
ken sound. Animators often sit in front of mirrors in order to

94 f THe ANIMATION Book

study the shapes of their own mouths while they try to deter- 7.6 Mouth shapes: This lunatic face,
mine how to match an analyzed dialogue track. Lip sync needs created by animator Michael Dougherty,
samples six mouth shapes that correspond
to be accurate. Poor track analysis will result in mouth shapes to familiar sounds used in human speech.
not matching the voices and that will make your animation Chapter 14 shows other configurations of
look like a bad Japanese monster movie. mouth shapes that animators use in making
their characters lip-sync to spoken words
and other guttural utterances.

FIX IT IN THE MIX

The creative juice of a sound track is always

experienced as a surprising yet welcome jolt
right at the end of the animation process,
when individual tracks are mixed into a single
track that goes with the finished piece. It’s
essential, of course, that the mix be done “to
picture” —that your edited and locked visu-
als are viewed up against all the individual “¢," "d," and other consonants On
not shown below
tracks you have painstakingly digitized and
placed in their respective positions.
And the salvation! Those pieces of
visual action and character shtick that never
really worked as you hoped will suddenly live
up to your highest expectations. Sometimes
it is only in the final mix that you discover the
need for one more effect—or that a piece of
sound you've positioned now seems unnec-
essary and can be dropped.
lf you are working in the digital
domain and the final animation will live in
videotape or on a computer file, the last step
is simple. Typically your audio editing soft-
ware, whether it’s a simple waveform editor
or a multitrack editor, lets you output your
track to any number of sound file formats.
The resulting file can then be brought into a
video editing or special-effects application
like Premiere, After Effects, or an Avid system
Wey and Lyi ww" and ote
and laid down onto your digital video version
of the animation. If you’ve done everything
right, the picture and sound will match beautifully to create
your masterpiece.

WORKING WITH SOUND 95

 Computer monitor—Most studio functions ; r
are carried out through Midi interface

Remote control
for Digital Audio
| Tapes (DAT)
Mixing
console
with 56
Computer
inputs
keyboard for
Digidesign Pro
Tools Audio
Editing Software

eG

7.7 Professional recording and

mix: Here is a small — but well equipped REMEMBERING MAG STOCK
— sound recording and mixing facility
located in Amarillo, Texas. Because the This chapter would be incomplete if it didn’t provide a quick
music, radio, and television businesses all review of the film-based processes for working with sound.
require a steady stream of voice and music
Happily, the basic process is pretty similar to the one you've
recording, you can probably find a profes-
sional sound facility close to where you live. just been reading about.
The proprietors and technicians of such Source Recording onto Separate Tracks. Music, voice, and
places are often interested in the work of
sound effects are recorded onto standard '%4-inch audiotape,
animators and eager to show off their skills.
Photo courtesy Carlos Casso and The Audio recorded at a speed of 7.5 inches per second (sometimes 15 ips
Refinery. is used with music to get the highest quality of recording).
Transfer to 16mm Magnetic Recording Stock. The source
tapes are then transferred via a Magna-Sync machine onto a
form of audiotape that has the exact same physical configura-
tion as 16mm film. (All professional sound studios offer the use
of their transfer machines at minimal cost.) A similar format is
used intentionally for both movie images and sound record-
ings; 76 mag stock (as it is called) allows the filmmaker to
locate any given sound according to a specific frame on the
visual film. This way, when editing, film and sound can be

96 { THE ANIMATION Book

played simultaneously and it’s far easierto keep them in sync
than it would be if the film were one size and the audio a dif-
ferent size.
Three-Track Editing. In 16mm film production technol-
ogy, it is standard operating procedure to use three separate
tracks: one for voice, one for music, and one for special effects.
If there are many sounds and they overlap, additional tracks
can be prepared. Only in the final mix will the filmmaker hear
all the tracks being played at the same time.
Track Analysis. There is no film equivalent to the digital
waveform to serve as a visual guide for the animator to see
What sound is being played at a specific place on the sound 7.8 A horizontal editing machine:
track, so in order to mark the locations of specific sounds, a See Chapter 22 for more detail concerning
section of 16 mag stock must be analyzed on a frame-by-frame these and other editing systems that can be
used for the analysis of recorded sound-
basis. Over and over again the animator listens to the recorded
tracks in super 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm
track using special equipment that allows the sound to be formats.
played at various speeds. The exact location (found by count-
ing frames from a start mark) is determined for every single sig-
nificant piece of sound—any words, music notes, recurring
rhythms, and sound effects that the animator will want to
know the timing of as he or she creates the movie's visual
elements.
Analyzing a recorded track with precision requires two
tools. The flatbed editing machine is a costly piece of special-
ized equipment with a variable-speed motor that will simulta-
neously project the film and “read” (play back) the sound track
that has been transferred to mag stock. By playing the machine
at a slow speed and by going forward and backward over a
particular stretch of sound many times, you can identify the
ouers To
exact place where a sound begins or ends.
The other tool used to analyze a sound track is called a
gang synchronizer. |t is equipped with a magnetic soundhead
that reads the analog track and then amplifies it with a special
speaker, sometimes called a squawk box. Figure 7.9 shows
how the mag stock is run through the synchronizer. The film-
maker's control over the rewind reels allows him or her to run
the track under the soundhead many times until the precise
location of a sound is determined. 7.9 A two-gang synchronizer: This
specialized piece of equipment is available
Bar Sheets and Cue Sheets. The animator needs to keep
in two-, three-, and four-gang models. Spe-
careful and accurate track of the various elements in a film’s cialized synchronizers are also manufac-
sound tracks. A bar sheet is the standard notation system by tured that combine formats—for example,
which animators record their analysis of a sound track. The 8mm with two 16mm gangs.

WORKING WITH SOUND 97

 sample shown in Figure 7.10 provides places to log words,
sound effects, and music. There is nothing sacred about the par-
ticular bar sheet shown here. Animators will often note specific
frame locations on a cue sheet, the guide that is traditionally
used to provide directions to the animation camera operator.
The Multitrack Mix. When the film has been “locked”
after final editing, the animator traditionally makes an appoint-
ment at the sound recording/mixing studio for a monumentally
important session in which all the separate tracks of 16mm
mag stock are mixed down to a single track. After lining up the
new mixed track with the sync mark at the head of the movie
leader, the animator working in film has the experience, for the
very first time, of watching the completed film while all the
sound tracks play at the same time—a thrilling moment!
Optical Tracks. Figure 7.11 provides a sampling of all the
different soundtrack formats that exist within the world of ani-
mated filmmaking (as opposed to digital animation). Two of
these formats, you will see, have optical tracks that are “read”
7.10 A sample bar sheet: A bar sheet by the movie projector, which then plays the amplified sound
is the standard notation system by which track to the film’s audience over conventional sound speakers.
animators record the analysis of a sound-
The process of converting a mixed mag master track to an opti-
track. It has parallel lines to track dialogue
(voice), action, sound effects, and musical cal master track (which is used when printing the finished film)
score. There is nothing sacred about the is done at the film lab
particular bar sheet format sampled here.
Magnetic Tracks. Although all 16mm and 35mm distrib-
You can create a recording system of your
own design that will accommodate the spe- uted films have optical tracks, there does exist, within both
cial needs you find in a given project.

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7.11 Sound recording formats: From

left to right, these are samples of the for-
16mm and 8mm film technology, a way of playing back mixed mats and materials used in creating sound
sound tracks via a magnetic strip of audio recording material tracks for movies relative to one another:
(A), standard Y%4-inch audio recording tape;
that is placed on the edge of the celluloid film stock. With a
(B), super 8mm film with a magnetic record-
special 8mm projector that has sound recording and sound ing strip; (C), super 8mm full-coat magnetic
playback capabilities, it is possible to place a sound track recording stock; (D), 16mm film with an
optical track; (E), 16mm full coat magnetic
directly on the thin strip of magnetic recording surface. Such
recording stock; (F), 16mm optical master
projectors accept a number of different sound sources (micro- film; (G), 35mm film with an optical track;
phone, line input, etc.). (H), 35mm full-coat magnetic recording.

7.12 16mm projector with magnetic

sound: Detail of a Bell & Howell model
504 projector. This versatile piece of equip-
ment can both record and play back 16mm
magnetic stock. It can also project standard
16mm prints with optical tracks. With simple
modifications and using a special threading
technique, this model can serve as an inter-
lock projector, a specialized and expensive
piece of equipment used to simultaneously
project a 16mm print while playing a
matched magnetic track in 16mm mag stock
format. Occasionally, these classic Bell &
Howell magnetic/optical projectors can be
RECORNING CONTROL. purchased used at reasonable rates.

WORKING WITH SOUND 99

 sloryboarding iS the push that gets a piece of
animation going. And if you use a computer, this initial push
can take you a long, long way.
In this chapter you'll see that storyboards come in all
shapes and sizes, from nonlinear doodles to a wall covered
with fancy drawings. But the best part will be when you dis-
cover how storyboards absolutely thrive in a digital production
world, how a series of simple sketches can become a literal
skeleton for your movie. At the chapter’s end there is a case
study about Joe’s Apartment, a feature film that stars ani-
mated cockroaches.
ful foee cannes —_— It's extremely important to start off with a solid concept
€ ree) S
of what a storyboard is. Think of it as the outline form of a
ler nosy : Mrca.
developing film or video. Storyboards aren't just for animation:
live-action filmmakers, writers, production designers, and
special-effects designers regularly use storyboards to work out
8.1 Storyboard styles: Animators
their concepts. But the basic form is always the same: a col-
approach storyboarding with an endless
variety of styles and techniques. (A) shows a lected series of single pictures, each of which represents a dis-
working storyboard element from George tinct visual sequence or narrative element within the project
Griffin's Head, while the schematic in (B) being developed.
represents the overall structure of that fin-
ished ten-minute film. The National Film
For animators, it would be suicide not to storyboard.
Board of Canada encourages its animators Unlike live-action filmmaking, where one shoots scenes in a
to use a standard format in presenting fin- variety of ways and then finds the final form through the edit-
ished boards for approval prior to produc-
ing process, in animation you never want to execute a finished
tion. In (C) the NFBC’s template is employed
to present the beginning of Why Me?, a scene that might be discarded, because this process costs too
film by Derek Lamb and Janet Perlman. much time and money. The use of small sketches gives the ani-

100
mator a spectacularly clear and inexpensive
way to work out his or her creative visian.
Have you noticed how difficult it is to
explain the imaginative story lines that car-
toons so often follow? It can be downright
impossible to describe projects that push
into realms of the abstract and the fantastic.
A storyboard can help here. It is useful in
explaining a concept to people you are
working with (animator friends, camera-
people, writers, musicians, etc.), and be-
comes absolutely essential in explaining a
proposed project to producers and clients.

STORYBOARD STYLES

Look through the sample storyboards that accompany this

chapter. What should be immediately evident is that the act of
storyboarding can be undertaken in many different ways. This
makes sense: Each movie has its own requirements and its own Says DORM. Taxes OFF HST,
LeGkS AT PROPLE BESIDE HIM.

set of elements that the animator is working out. In addition to

the pictorial elements, boards usually include important infor-
mation about the script and dialogue, camera moves, special
— pectoR JAaces ovt Foren
effects, and sound effects. FROM PRAWEe.

Commercial animation production houses and advertis-

ing agencies have made the storyboard into a high art form.
Their renderings are done by well-paid specialists who place STUME> GAFERS AdoKR,
each color drawing on fancy, precut mounting boards. A typi- DOCTOR 1s Auanmen.
cal “show” storyboard will also display verbal notations (script
and descriptive information) that have been typed and .
mounted beneath appropriate panels. Figure 8.3 is a photo- aie Fins
graph of one such highly finished presentation storyboard.
For most independent animators, however, there is
nothing precious about a storyboard. It is a tool and an aid, not
a piece of art. Sketches are made quickly and revised often. A
standard storyboarding procedure is to create each sketch on a
different card or sheet of paper. All drawings are then tacked
up on a bulletin board. This technique makes it possible to
study the overall film-to-be. And it makes it easy to change the
order of scenes and to insert or delete an entire set of draw-
ings. At the Disney studios in Burbank, California, there are

STORYBOARDING AND ANIMATICS 101

8.2 Storyboarding as you go: In
many “direct animation” techniques that
involve image manipulation under the cam-
era, it is difficult to storyboard onto paper.
The clever designer knows, however, that it
is important to follow a plan and to work
this out in advance with sketches or pho-
tographs. Here is Caroline Leaf’s animation
setup, (A), with camera pointing down to
the rear-lit area where she works (see Chap-
ter 11: Sand and Paint-on-Glass Animation).
Note the smaller drawings on either side of
the filming area which Caroline uses to
guide her technique of painting directly
onto glass. Some of these are shown in the
enlargements, (B).

102 ae ANIMATION BooK

entire rooms with cork-lined walls where the principal anima-
tors and directors of feature films mount and study thousands
of individual sketches used in planning an animation feature.

STORYBOARD FUNCTIONS

A pair of related questions almost invariably presents itself as

you prepare a storyboard: “How many pictures should | use?”
and “How much detail should | show?” To answer these ques-
tions, it is necessary to consider the different functions that a
storyboard serves.
Conceptualization. The storyboard is a tool for working
out a project’s core idea and structure. Even when the notion
you've got in your mind seems absolutely detailed and com-
plete, getting it down on paper is always a creative step. The
process of visual thinking releases new energy, new insights,
and new ideas. Best of all, developing a storyboard lets you see
the problems and challenges of the project ahead. In fact,
many would say that the real creativity starts only after that
inner notion has had its first concrete expression on a story-
board. No matter how informal, that initial set of storyboard
panels makes the concept accessible in new ways. You are able
to step back from the idea and study it with more objective
eyes. Various component elements can now be seen indepen-
dently of the central concept.
Key Moments. The storyboard should represent all key
moments of the film, whether they be a story or an abstract
piece. The number of individual drawings needed to do this
can vary widely. If you think of a scene as screen action taking
place during one stretch of time and in one location, then
each scene should be represented by at least one drawing.
More often, each scene is made up of a number of different
shots: wide-angle “establishing” shots and various medium
shots and close-ups. There should be a separate drawing for
each of these.
Flow and Transitions. The process of storyboarding
should direct your attention to two particularly tricky structural
elements. The first of these is the order or sequence of individ-
8.3 A “show” storyboard: Drawings and dia-
ual shots and scenes. Will the viewer be able to follow the flow
logue are formally mounted on a precut storyboard
of scenes without getting confused? Is emphasis placed in the matte. This sample is from an unproduced project by
right place? Is the pacing varied enough to stimulate interest? George Griffin.

STORYBOARDING AND ANIMATICS 103

 The study of your project's visual development and
sequencing—of those building blocks of scenes and shots—
will lead to a study of the transitions between them. Here is
one of the most challenging areas of animation design.
Detail, Composition, and Aesthetics. How much detail
does there need to be in an individual drawing? The right
amount is the amount that works for you and that allows
others to understand your plans. A few very rough sketches
can do the trick. Or you may find it essential to execute ren-
derings that are every bit as finished as you can make them—
formal drawings with full color and complete detail. All draw-
ings in the same storyboard need not be drawn at the same
level. However, it’s a good idea to have at least one well-
detailed image for each new scene that shows the full back-
ground, the color palette you are using, the styling of
characters, and so on. But once that is done, action sketches
can be very schematic.
When you have a full storyboard spread out, you will dis-
cover patterns in your visualization process that you didn't
8.4 A wall as tool: The wall beside ani-
know existed. Are frames composed in too predictable a fash-
mator John Canemaker’s drawing table is
used as in impromptu (but productive) plan- ion? Is there a rich enough mix of angles and points of view?
ning/storyboarding tool. Courtesy John What balance is there among colors? Is the important informa-
Canemaker.
tion presented with emphasis? Are characters sharply por-
trayed both by how they look and the detailed action you've
given them? Are there enough close-ups? Are there enough
establishing shots?
Logistics. Look at the storyboard with a practical eye, not
just an artistic one. Does the project call for tools that you
don't have? What new techniques will you need to learn? Can
you reasonably expect to finish the project in the time you will
be able to put aside for it? What is the cost of this production?
The list can go on and on and on. Check out Chapter 18 for
more about production planning.

DIGITAL STORYBOARDING

When pencil lines on paper become pixel forms on a computer

screen, the storyboard starts to become a very different animal.
The process begins with an easy step: Drawings done on paper
are scanned into the computer or, using a digital drawing
tablet, you can draw directly into the computer. Any paint/

104 ee ANIMATION BooKk

draw software application will let you make a set of image files
that become the building blocks of the storyboard.
The next task is to bring these images into a single story-
board—most often in the form of a document that is printed
out on paper. Today, just about every motion graphics applica-
tion provides templates specifically designed for storyboarding.
You'll find it’s a snap to scale the same image file bigger or
smaller, depending on whether you want to post individual
panels onto a board or squeeze them down to standard 8%-
by 11-inch pages. If you can get your hands on the right ink-jet
printer, you can wow your colleagues, teachers, and friends
with full-color boards.
Remember that digital storyboards are working animals,
not just creatures of beauty! There are many different kinds of
hard information that should accompany the image files,
including dialogue, notes on direction, sound effects, and
questions about technique.

BOARDS TO ANIMATICS TO
LEICA REELS

Storyboard still images are adequate for discerning the visual

look and sequence of a developing project, but once they
reside in the digital domain, it becomes possible to add some-
thing else: duration. This is the great switchover that turns a
storyboard into an animatic and, in due time, into a full Leica
reel and eventually into the completed animation itself.
Let’s talk nomenclature. The term animatic is generally
used to describe a film, video, or computer-based presentation
of the still drawings that comprise a storyboard. Sometimes an
animatic will represent movement within a stationary piece of
art. For example, if the board calls for a pan across a scene, the
animatic emulates the move. Working in film or video, either
the camera pans across the single storyboard panel or, alterna-
tively, the camera is fixed and the artwork is moved in front of
it. On the computer, an animatic displays the sequence of
drawings according to timing instructions given to the clock
that hums inside every single computer. Many software pro-
grams create animations in this way. The best one of these is
After Effects, because it is so adept at adding camera moves
and transitional effects to storyboard drawings.

STORYBOARDING AND ANIMATICS 105

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8.5 The animation tribe: These six panels constitute the storyboard for the opening sequence of a CD-ROM about
animation. Each drawing represents the action for a short scene. Timings are suggested: Each scene would overlap so
that the final open remained about twenty seconds long. Note that the “frame” resides well inside each sheet, leaving
room to work out the transition. The writing consists mainly of working notes that Kit Laybourne wrote to himself.
You'll also see how ideas are worked out by quick sketches done in the margins.

106 Brn ANIMATION BooK

 The great switchover continues its march toward true
animation with something called a Leica ree/. This unusual
name comes from an early stage in the development of charac-
ter animation. In the first studios, a cheaper camera was used
to film the registered sheets of pencil drawings. The results
were called pencil tests. But when the various scenes were
edited together, the edited version became the Leica reel—
named after the German camera that filmed the pencil tests.
The process of shooting the final art (inked and opaqued cels
over watercolor backgrounds) was done by more expensive,
specialized cameras with brand names like Oxberry or Acme.
Anyway, the name Leica stuck to the aggregate of test footage
that had been edited together.
In the Leica reel rendition of the storyboard, two addi-
tional elements are added. The first is the sound track. Leica
reels are always built upon at least one of the audio tracks—
usually a voice track. But there are also enriched visual materi-
als. The Leica reel is the repository for test footage: either pen-
cil tests in 2-D cel animation, motion tests in stop-motion
techniques, or wire frame tests in 3-D. The Leica reel starts out
as an animatic but over the course of the animation testing
evolves into a full-motion version of the completed project,
albeit a visually impoverished version composed of test
footage, not final footage showing fully produced art.
The Leica reels are handled by the editor, who “drops”
the full-motion tests into the work print for film or rough
video for video versions. Eventually the editor replaces test
footage with the finished footage.
Let’s summarize the incredible metamorphosis that is
possible if you are working digitally. One begins by scanning or
drawing individual images that stand for an entire scene. The
addition of rough timings makes the board into an animatic.
The addition of a sound track and test footage (pencil tests,
wire frame tests, motion capture tests) evolve the animatic into
a Leica reel. Ongoing art production and rendering transform
the Leica into the real McCoy.
At every step in this process, the animator gains a fresh
look at the work in progress. The evolution is easy, fast, inex-
pensive, seamless, and way cool.

STORYBOARDING AND ANIMATICS 107

OS OO ©8386 CASE STUDY: Digital Storyboarding a Feature — ~~

It's almost a miracle when the spirit of Independent Animation —

provocative, original, risk-taking — makes its way undiluted into
the high-stakes world of feature films. But this is exactly what
happened when John Payson, an MTV producer/director, got a
chance to expand a short film he made for TV into a full-blown
theatrical release.
In this case study, John Payson describes the ideation and
design process through which he guided the miraculous produc-
tion of Joe’s Apartment.

A few years ago, | was sitting in my apartment in New York City,

hating life and watching cockroaches crawl over the walls. “Well,
things could be worse,” | said to myself. “At least the roaches don’t
talk.” And then | thought — wait, what if they did? That’s how the
idea for Joe’s Apartment was born.
It started out as a three-minute film that aired on MTV, and eventu-
ally became a full-length feature film for Geffen Pictures — and all that
from one lousy day hanging out in my grungy East Village apartment!
Once | had written the feature script, it was time to start working
on the storyboard. Drawing a picture is a great means of conveying an
Roach makings spread out at the workshop idea, because if you can make somebody see your idea, you don’t have
of Fly Films, in New York City. to explain it.
We had a big room in the Joe’s offices where we pasted up the sto-
ryboards as fast as we could draw them, so we could start figuring out
the best ways to turn these drawings into reality. If we thought we
could make a scene work with live bugs, we tried that first. We actually
got one of the live critters to land on someone's nose!
But when the story called for shots that the bugs just couldn't do
on their own, like swarm in very specific, controlled patterns, or act ina
recognizably human manner, we turned to animation.
Joe’s Apartment is mainly a live-action film, but within its 83 min-
utes, there are 14 minutes of animation: about 2 minutes of stop-
motion and 12 minutes of computer-generated (CG) animation on
live-action backgrounds.

D
These close-ups of roach construction show the sophisticated metal armatures around which the superrealistic characters
are built. The armatures allow animators to reshape the stop-motion actor during the filming process.

ee A THE ANIMATION Book

 Ej
eR

Here is an example of “flocking” anima-

tion. This shot shows two roaches break-
ing into Joe’s apartment, with swarms of
their fellows appearing on all sides.

Stop motion is a great technique for animating insects because bugs

move in odd, quick, jerky ways, and the crisp, no-blur movement of stop
motion can capture that really well. Since insects are too small and deli-
cate to manipulate effectively, we built realistic plastic and aluminum
models of roaches, six times normal scale. This upscaling enabled us to
get real character into the roaches, but it also made it unfeasible to
place them in normal-sized environments or interact with real humans.
For shots that had lots of roaches, or where the bugs interacted with Joe
or real objects, we' placed computer-generated roaches on real-life back-
grounds.
For the computer-generated animation, we created a “virtual” roach
Roaches on the
model in the computer. A roach is an ideal kind of object to model in a
set and as they
computer because computers are able to render something hard and
appeared in the
shiny, like an insect’s shell, much more easily than something stretchy
feature film.
like skin, or soft like fur.
We worked really hard to make the computer model realistic, re-
creating the slightly translucent quality of their legs, and the greasy
gunk they secrete all over their foul little bodies. One of the great
advantages of CG animation is that when you build one model, you can
replicate it over and over again to create scenes with hundreds of mod-
els. With stop motion, you have to build each individual model, which
becomes extremely costly and time-consuming. It’s lucky that all com-
mon household roaches (Periplaneta americanus) really do look very
similar. We were able to use just one virtual roach model for all of our
roach characters, who were individualized only by their voices and the
unique way each character was animated.
All the CG animation was composited onto real live-action back-
grounds. When we shot these background “plates,” we had to make
sure there was no unwanted movement in the camera, and that the
depth of field was great enough to minimize the movement of the ani-
mated bugs in and out of focus. Once we had shot a plate, we always
took a frame of “references” — a model roach on a stick (which we
termed an R. O. S.), along with various cubes, balls, and grids that
he

STORYBOARDING AND ANIMATICS 109

 ASE S670 8.6°CASE STUDY: Digital Storyboarding a Feature (cont.) © © >° ES

showed the animators the volume of space visible in the frame and the
direction and intensity of the light. Armed with this information, we
were able to exactly replicate these characteristics on the virtual charac-
ters. It got to be a ritual after a while: After we got the background
shot, somebody would bellow out “R. O. S.!” or “Balls and cubes!”
The CG animation in Joe’s Apartment splits primarily into two types:
character animation, where individual roaches are animated frame by
frame, and flocking or herding animation, where the computer is
allowed to program a degree of random movement to a whole bunch
of objects at once. As a rule of thumb, very human-looking action, like
when a roach scratches his head in puzzlement, is probably character
animation. Swarms, like a shot with hundreds to thousands of roaches
This shot incorporates both character ani- menacing the bad guys, tend to be rendered with flocking animation.
mation and flocking animation. The Some kinds of CG animation are so complex that they mix both types of
roaches on Joe’s chest are hand animated animation. But the only way to figure out how to approach the solution
via stop-motion techniques and are repre- is by drawing a storyboard first.
sentative of character animation, while Storyboards are really the first place where a movie comes to life.
the roaches approaching him from all They're that critical step from the written word to the visual image. And
sides is an example of flocking animation. they're fun to play around with — you can certainly indulge your cre-
ativity most freely when it’s just you and a pencil!
The board you see here is for a musical sequence, “Garbage in the
Moonlight,” where the roaches introduce themselves to Joe for the first
time. This sequence was a blast to make, because | wrote the lyrics of
the song as well as drawing the storyboard.
| wrote each line with an image in mind and then gave the lyrics to
the composer, who turned them into a song. Once a version of the song
was recorded, we fed the music and the images from my storyboard
into the computer. We were then able to make what we called a
“board-o-matic” — storyboard images edited to the song — which gave
us a rough little movie to work from even before we shot a foot of film.
It was helpful to see how each image worked with others in a given
This is an example of anamorphic behavior: sequence, and also exactly how long each image needed to last, before
One of the two roaches standing on the we started shooting.
spoon is scratching its head in a very The editor input the “board-o-matic” images into the Avid editing
humanlike manner. This is referred to as system, and as the shots were finished one by one, he replaced the still
“character animation.” images of the storyboard with moving pictures.
The “miniboard” for “Garbage in the Moonlight” follows. We called
it “mini” because the storyboard panels were small enough on the page
to leave room for other information, like the accompanying screen
direction and checklist of possible effects techniques. A box by the bot-
tom left-hand corner of each panel indicated the length of the shot in
seconds.
The checklist for techniques lists “Live” for live action (live cock-
roaches); “Rig” for a special camera rig that had to be constructed for
the shot (rig also refers to puppeted action); “CG” for computer-gener-
ated animation; “SM” for stop-motion animation; “2-D” for cel anima-
tion, matte elements, or both; and “Other” for some weird hybrid path
to achieving the shot. Image 1 shows all of this information. In the
This photo illustrates the production scale interest of space, we provide only the image and description of the
remaining panels.
of the stop-motion animation.

110 { THe ANIMATION Book

 “Garbage In the Moonlight”
CO Live
The basic set-up: five filthy § Rig
bo
Pive Roaches sequentially pop
containers of various types in rd , ‘at i — out of containers in sync to
All the roaches scram out of

and around Joe's trash can. CG ‘ leo ) y

;
\_) aN
bell chord,
Live Roaches on sticks or SM.
overlay?) Leaving
behind who BELCHES, covers his
one roach

a Y asX) CY, eye gee.

\s mouth demurely with one leg,
Panels 1), 2) and 3) depict and scrams several seconds
the action, but not SY top, etc. later
necessarily the framing. 2d
J Other... fe a (cA MUSIC: ...
TGARBAGE.
ROACH: “(BELCH) SORRY!...*
GARBAGE. . .
DONSS ™ AS, VY GapRace

Images 1-3
| wanted this scene to start out with an old barbershop “bell chord” with singers chiming in. We set up real containers in a trash can
"and popped their tops off with compressed air. Then we animated the roaches popping up inside. The tab of the beer can is virtual
» too — and it vibrates like a diving board!

Z Roach (the lead singer) leaps

into frame at head of LOW ANGLE of steaming,
five-roach “chip*, or half-eaten enchilada dripping
Whiffenpoof-style edge of Joe's
close-harmony formation. SM.
+. A Roach (Live?)
pops up and sniffs it, waving
its feelers with excitement
Split screen: Joe reacts in
surprise.
MUSIC: “THE GARBAGE IN THE Ml MUSIC: “GIVES OFP A LOVELY
MOONLIGHT* SNELL"

Images 4-5
' This shot has a live-action actor playing Joe and animated roaches in the same shot. Another
shot we did had about fifty CG roaches crawling over Joe’s body and face! Image 5 was cut
_ from the storyboard and never shot.

ILE of singing CHIP. CONTINUED The roach tray

Synchronized swaying, leg mba begins to bulge, buck and
gestures. Art-deco style roach tray. Two horny roaches spin, throwing the singing
~ silhouette (ref. John Held run inside. roaches off.
e7 x or.)
Possible 2D “hearts" overlay
“IN OUR LITTLE ROACH
MUSIC: “PLEASE DON’T TELL
MUSIC: “SIPPIN' SEWAGE WITH
MY BABY’

- Image 6 Images 7-8

This is the only image in the film that In this shot, both the roaches and the roach tray are CG objects —a real roach tray
was generated completely in a com- couldn’t bulge, hop, and spin like that!
puter, including foregrounds, back-
grounds, and lights.

A single Roach climbs onto the PULL OUT. The Roach rides up CONTINUE PULL OUT, Several
pull tab of the blinds, gives as the blind rises, revealing
it a tug, and starts to rise the brick wall inches away... rise into frame, suggesting a
out of frame.
scene. Two levels of waves
MUSIC: 4 BARS move back and forth, islands,
@ newspaper moon.
MUSIC: SOLO BASS LINE
MUSIC; 4 BARS

Image 9 Images 10-11

This was a real tab pull, but the roach that pulls | wanted to zoom from a close-up to a wide shot in this scene, but tracking live-
‘the cord (and the cord itself) are CG objects. action camera movement with a computer is a very difficult process, unless you
have a very expensive computer system called “motion control,” which we didn’t.
As a result, we shot most (but not all!) of our CG shots with a stationary camera.

STORYBOARDING AND ANIMATICS 111

 CASE S

CLOSER A carton of Chinese ANGLE of the singing roach

sesame noodles bobs across the CHIP back on the Combat tray.
frame. Two lovebird roaches Each Roach rubs a dorsal wing
(live?) sit on the stern.

aS
"ZOOM" sound in the vocal
(This shot should be accompaniment.
“i
ne *.,.cockroach I adore”
me | ona MUSIC: ‘ON A GARBAGE SHIP*
“THEN AN OCEAN TRIP* INO OY
“N

Images 12-13
| pictured this scene where the roaches put on some cheesy high-school musical pro-
duction to entertain their pal Joe, using real cast-off material. Everything in this little
diorama is real and moves except the insects. The ship was a container of sesame
noodles with chopstick masts. This shot worked so well we let it take over the time
of Image 13, which we never shot.

Joe slowly settles back on his On the makeshift ocean set: A CLOSE on Joe. Sleep is
mattress. The music is overtaking him.
soothing his jangled nerves.
Jan eyeball) splats onto the
island.
MUSIC: “WITH THE COCKROACH I FAjmusic; “THAT WASHES UP ON
ADORE” MUSIC: “WE'LL TAKE A TASTE OF SHORE*
THE MEDICAL WASTE*

Image 14 Image 15 Image 16

A reverse angle of Joe listening. Again, everything in this shot was A listening shot — Joe’s getting sleepy.
"Listening shots” are very useful — puppeted except the insects.
they're great for covering dialogue
changes or bridging difficult cuts.

CLOSE on Joe's sweaty,

steaming sock.
TILT DOWN to REVEAL:
EAS
I
MNT
fjwave to a large roach in FG,
MUSIC: “OH,
YOU LOVE ME”
SWEETHEART SAY ‘UMS which scuttles toward it.
~ Ni Possible rig (7?)
MUSIC: “AND CRAWL UNDERNEATH
MY RUG"

Images 17-18
We used a rig in this setup because we wanted Joe’s dirty sock to visibly smoke like
the cartoon image of a bad smell. Rigs can be pretty simple. In this case, it’s a burn-
ing cigarette pinned behind the sock.

CLOSE on Joe. He rests his

®,
Chip of roaches in triangle
weary hed on his pilow and formation. Their antennae
closes his eyes. Unseen hands sequentially
tuck in his blanket tonssweep upwards in

\
“ve
'V" formation:

Ly Y\Y
Ne
MUSIC: “YOU'RE ONE IN A
THOUSAND BILLION BABY MUSIC: “ON WON'T YOU BEY

Z\_NAWS

Image 19 Image 20
Live action. CG animation.

112 i rats ANIMATION Book

 ne STUDY

a Silhouette of solo roach doing = eR ter

an Al Jolson impression on the f ! iif y g\ oe
pull tab of the window shade 5 Pe Uf Joe’s light goes out.
faut >
3 iS ie
| i
K MUSIC: “MY BUG?*
; i {
Sei SS
77 <
ae
1
minh 4%
1 meres
pepper AHHL MET ZZ
OSE al! KNULUAT RT PARI
RUPL OEP D5 NF i =

Joe’s light goes out. WIDER The city skyline,

featuring Empire State, Con
Ea, Met Life, and Chrysler
buildings.

One by one, in sync with sung Wm 39. EXT NY SKYLINE - NXT

words, they turn off. MORNING
MUSIC: “PLEASE BE MY BUG" The same setting at sunrise.

Time-lapse photography

Images 21-29
This was one of the most difficult shots in the film and is a perfect example of how important storyboarding is to a project.
Because it contains CG animation, 2-D compositing, live-action camera movement, and time-lapse photography, it took an
incredible amount of coordination to pull off. A set had to be built to accommodate the one-story crane up
to Joe’s roof. Then the second part of the shot is time-lapse footage taken from the roof of my apartment building, depicting
the skyscrapers of Manhattan going out, followed by the dawn, which took months to shoot.

Both live-action shots were married together, the bug was animated in the tab pull, and the time-lapse image of the dawn
was digitally touched up. This ends the first “act,” and | think it’s one of the coolest shots in the film.
Screen-grabs, storyboards, and photos courtesy John Payson, Peter Wallach, Blue Sky Studios, Chris Wedge, Geffen
Pictures, and MTV Networks.

Credits: Writer and Director: John Payson Executive Producer: Abby Terkuhle Cockroach Wrangler: Ray Mendez MTV Short: Stop-Motion Direc-
tor: William R. Wright Feature: Storyboards: John Payson, Dan Shefelman, and Jeff Wong Visual Effects Producer: Mike Turoff Stop-Motion Anima-
tion: Peter Wallach Computer-Generated Animation: Chris Wedge Composer, Roach Songs: Kevin Weist A.C.E. Editor: Peter Frank

4% PA 8%

STORYBOARDING AND ANIMATICS 113

lon He turned off by the title of this chapter.
Don't be turned off, either, if you are a digital animator and
figure that this chapter deals with film techniques.
There are three really important reasons to read on.
First, here you will learn about the abilities of an anima-
tion stand. Every animator must have a solid grasp of the capa-
bilities, moves, and special effects that can be achieved with
the precision tools of film animation. You will need this foun-
dation when, in the next chapter, the focus turns to equivalent
techniques within computer animation.
Second, this chapter will clue you in to a very powerful
conceptual model of how to think about animation design per
se. You will discover four distinct ways to select and sequence
images and shots. You will be gaining the basic vocabulary of
an animation director.
The third payoff is the introduction you are about to
have to a little friend called the cue sheet. Read on so that you
make a good impression and establish a solid relationship with
the basic control matrix common to every single animation
technique. The term cue sheet is often used interchangeably
with exposure sheet or shooting log. You will be seeing lots
more of this device as we go deeper into both film and digital
animation.
KINESTASIS

A host of awkward names have been attached to the tech-

nique of making movies from still images: still-scan, kono-
graph, photoscan, FILMIGRAPH, photomontage, kinestasis.
We'll use the last of these, as it appears to be the most fre-
quently cited, and the word kinestasis accurately exposes the
semantic roots and essential characteristics of the technique
itself: kine = “moving,” stasis = “stillness.”
Whatever
the name,
an operational definition for this
kind of animation would be as follows: A series of still pictures
becomes animated through (a) variations of movement across
the pictures and (b) variations in the succession between them.
You may have experienced this kind of animation with-
out ever knowing it. To the casual moviegoer, kinestasis is
often considered a “normal” filmmaking technique, a fluid
flow of images that incorporates panning or zooming effects
and thus produces much the same perceptual experience as
when seeing a live-action film.
Please try the following project. Its requirements are
minimal—you’re only asked to draw a few straight lines—but
it will clearly illustrate the creative choices and the surprising
power of kinestasis.
Project: A Photograph Becomes a Movie. Imagine that
you are a live-action filmmaker standing, hidden, in a position
that allows you to see exactly the same scene as pictured in Fig-
F
ure 9.2. Imagine also that you have a camera equipped with a
zoom lens, allowing you to frame and film the smallest detail 9.1 Camera moves and effects: A
bleary-eyed Thomas Edison is repho-
or the entire scene. One small limitation: The gear you are film-
tographed in six different ways using a pro-
ing with won't let you zoom, pan, or otherwise move the cam- fessional Oxberry animation stand. Clip (A)
era while the camera is actually running, though you can shows a direct zoom into Edison’s face. Clip
recompose the image between shots. (B) is a pan—the photograph is moved
under the camera in precisely controlled
As you've noted, of course, there are two prints of the increments. Clip (C) shows a complex cam-
same photograph in Figure 9.2. This is because this project era movement in which the stand’s com-
requires you to make two different movies from the same sin- pound moves both horizontally and
vertically to produce the effect of a diago-
gle image.
nal tilt. Clip (D) is a fade-out. In clip (E), the
The first is to be a narrative film. Study the picture until series begins out of focus. An in-camera dis-
you see a story of some kind. Using a ruler and pencil, draw solve is shown in Clip (F) as Edison’s image
cross-fades into his signature. Note that the
directly on the first copy of the picture at least five separate
16mm clips are not actual size. Photo cour-
frames that capture the essence of the story or relationship you tesy Edison National Monument.
have seen. These individual frames should be sequenced and
numbered. Part of your problem here is to determine an order

KINESTASIS AND COLLAGE 115

 for the images you've selected, and part of the challenge is to
actually compose the individual frames themselves.
The second part of the project asks you to use the sec-
ond photograph in making an altogether different movie. This
film cannot be a story in any way. Rather, you should select as
your topic another kind of visual element or nondramatic qual-
ity in the photograph. Choose and arrange in sequence at least
five completely new shots. Base the selection around some-
thing like your feeling of the scene’s mood, a study of one ele-
ment in the natural environment pictured in the photograph,
or some purely intuitive connection that you can make.
In essence, the decisions you've been making are exactly
the same kinds of decisions that are made in creating a kinesta-
sis film. Were you, in fact, to actually film the individual frames
9.2 Double feature in a photo: In you've marked, you’d be producing a simple kinestasis film. In
pe and marking 2 a five aed full-scale kinestasis, there are many additional effects that could
sets of images in copy (B) and copy (C) o :
sieipnotouraphentn io use the rectangular be added to either of the oe you have selected, and
frame that is standard in all forms of film- we'll be discussing these options later in this chapter. But before
making. Note that in this project it is per- we get to the nuances of different filming techniques, before
missible to use the same area of the F : See
E i ae we become encumbered in refinements, it will be valuable to
photograph in two or more individual : ;
frames that you select. The small copy of the break down the kinds of choices that | suspect you were quite
picture, (A), illustrates these ground rules. easily able to exercise as you marked up the photographs.

mak THE ANIMATION BooK

FOUR DESIGN GENRES

When all the fuss and glamour and all the techniques and tools
are taken away, the craft of filmmaking boils down to the exe-
cution of two tasks. The first is to capture images that are
forceful. This is the task of “filming” as it occurs in live-action
production. Editing the selected images is the second task. The
filmmaker must carefully order his or her individual shots so
that they lead the viewer to see a particular relationship among
the images. Sometimes the relationship that the filmmaker
wants to show comes in the form of a story and sometimes it is
something entirely different. All this corresponds to what you
were asked to do in the preceding project.
Now, in animated filmmaking, the control of the artist is
extended far, far beyond that which is normally available in
live-action filmmaking. Consequently, animators are able to
design or structure entire sequences with a precision and purity
of concept that reveals the four basic genres of media design.
The most familiar basis for choosing and ordering
images is that of a “real-life” process or story. This is termed
the narrative genre. Decisions follow a story line. A different
kind of logic rules what has come to be termed the documen-
tary genre. Here the criteria for selecting images and sequenc-
ing them has more to do with the nature of the subject matter
than with an individual story or event. A film about a city, for
example, calls for a different approach than a film that is set in
the city. Totally different sets of criteria are at work when one
operates in a pure design genre. In this case images are cap-
tured and ordered around a formal quality that links one image 9.3 Compound moves: These drawings
place you in the camera’s perspective, look-
to the next. I’m referring here to qualities such as balance,
ing directly down onto a compound that
tone, color, shape, texture, perspective, composition, and holds the artwork. Three basic kinds of com-
graphic and photographic elements. These are elements of pound moves are suggested: vertical, hori-
“oure” design rather than elements that are generic to a story zontal, and complex. The dotted outlines
represent what the camera is framed to
or to the subject matter per se. Sometimes, however, the crite- film, the initial and final positions of each
ria for selecting and joining images reside beyond the logic of movement. Note that the entire compound
each of these genres. Sometimes it is just a gut feeling, an intu- surface can move and that the artwork itself
can be moved across a stationary surface.
ition, that guides the process of designing. A combination of
images feels “right,” it “works”—although It may be impossi-
ble to say just why. | call this the intuitive genre.
Certainly intuition plays a large role in fashioning any
powerful film sequence, be it a documentary, narrative, or
pure-design genre. In fact, all manners of design can operate

KINESTASIS AND COLLAGE 17

9.4 Themes and variations: Tokyo's Tsukjii fish market provides a rich location for testing the different crite-
ria through which images can be selected and ordered. This series of photographs was selected from color slides
photographed by independent filmmaker Michael Lemle. The first set, (A-F), shows a narrative structure. The
sequence (G-L) that follows shows a design structure, based primarily on geometric shapes, textures, and parallel

118 y* THe ANIMATION BooKk

composition in adjacent frames. The third sequence, (M-R), is structured in a documentary mode—an establishing
shot leads to close-ups of hands and then to a series of portraits of shopkeepers. The final sequence of six images,
(S—X), was selected by the photographer because it “felt right” in summarizing the Tsukjii market as he experienced
it. Courtesy Michael Lemle.

KINESTASIS AND COLLAGE

 simultaneously within one film, even within one scene. The
genres have been isolated here only because breaking things
into parts is necessary for exposition. When you lay out a
kinestasis film, these categories or “logics” are employed
simultaneously.

IMAGE SOURCES

One of the most satisfying characteristics of working with this

technique is that you have an opportunity to use some of the
most powerful images that have been created by our species.
You can, for example, make a film from reproductions of pho-
tographs made by the world’s best photographers. There are
books full of these. Old family snapshots are another good
source of material. So are drawings, paintings, and other
pieces of artwork such as watercolors, pencil sketches, pastel
and charcoal studies, silk screens, lithographs, and so on.

9.5 Kinestasis setups: A copy stand, Whether your source materials are new or old, original
tripod, or animation stand holds the cam- or borrowed, you'll discover that an enormous flexibility exists
era above the artwork. In (A), the art- in the possible ways you can alter an image before filming it,
work itself moves to create pans, tilts,
by painting on photographs, for example, or mounting two
etc. A horizontally mounted camera, (B),
allows easy panning by the camera while or more slides within one frame, or tracing a silhouette from
the artwork remains stationary. a photograph, or altering images with filters and focus
variations.
As a general rule, anything that is reasonably flat can be
used in making a kinestasis image, including three-dimensional
objects such as tapestries or wall hangings, oversized art in the
form of posters or wall murals, or specially screened pho-
tographs that have been printed on clear acetate sheets for use
in conjunction with brightly colored papers or gels.
Whatever the actual source and style of images, during
the process of designing and filming animated films, all materi-
als that go under the camera become “artwork.”

FILM MOVES AND EFFECTS

Imagine that a sophisticated super 8mm camera is fixed to a

tripod and points at an 8- by 10-inch photograph. How could
you bring movement to the photograph by moving just your
camera?

120 oh aes ANIMATION Book

 Tracking/Panning/Tilting. The camera. itself can move
toward, away from, or parallel to the artwork during the
process of filming. Figure 9.1 shows these and other camera
movements and effects. If you're using just a tripod, however,
it may be very difficult to calibrate accurately the distance and
speed of such movements. The design of copy stands or ani-
mation stands accommodates such camera movements far
more easily and accurately than a simple tripod.
Zooming. Most of today’s cameras have excellent zoom
lenses built into them. Registration of the zoom movement, in
and out, during frame-by-frame filmmaking is tricky.
Focus. Another way to alter an image and to give it life is
by selectively changing the focus on your lens. One can go in or
out of focus. This can be a good way to bring together images
that have no logical connection built into them.
Filters. In addition to the built-in filter on most super
8mm cameras, it is possible to place accessory filters or other
devices in front of the lens while filming. Special multifaceted
lenses can produce kaleidoscopic effects, for example. Shooting
through an irregular glass surface, like a Coke bottle, will pro-
duce weird forms of movement within stationary pieces of art.
In-camera Effects. Relatively sophisticated cameras pro-
duce a number of in-camera effects that can be forcefully
incorporated into kinestasis films. In a fade-out, the picture
goes to black over a specified number of frames. Or the screen
starts black and the image smoothly fades in. A fade-out that is PANTOceRPH
PowTee. CMoves)
superimposed over a fade-in gives the effect of a dissolve—one
image disappears or “melts” into a new image. Two images
can be simultaneously seen on top of each other if your camera
has the ability to expose the same piece of film twice. The tech-
nique of superimposition requires a backwinding mechanism
and a variable shutter control, both described fully in Chapter
19. Superimposition is used in creating a dissolve effect. 9.6 The pantograph: The pointer is
connected to the compound surface and is
As suggested earlier, panning or tilting the camera is positioned to indicate the center of the
particularly difficult to control with the kind of accuracy camera’s field of view. The pantograph sur-
requiredin animation. For this reason, most animation setups face generally bears a field guide onto
which a camera movement can be charted.
are designed so that the body of the camera itself is never
Note that the pantograph’s needle moves
moved. Instead, the subject or artwork moves. Incremental and the surface remains stationary. This is
movements of artwork under a fixed camera are termed com- the reverse of the stand where the camera
remains stationary and the surface moves.
pound movements—named after the movable surface of full-
This drawing suggests that the pantograph
scale animation stands. Figure 9.3 places you in the position of is to be used with an expensive animation
a camera as it points down on a compound. stand.

KINESTASIS AND COLLAGE 121

 SPECIAL EQUIPMENT

Cameras best suited for kinestasis techniques share these gen-

eral features: the ability to film extremely close up, reflex focus-
ing, a built-in light-metering system, a zoom lens, and both
single-framing and continuous-run filming speeds.
Figure 9.5 shows two standard camera mounting
arrangements. Both positions enable the camera operator to
easily and quickly focus on different-size fields or to reframe
the composition of the scene between exposures. If one wants
to use a great deal of movement within the filming of a single
image (tracking, panning, zooming, in-camera effects, and
compound moves), then it’s nice to know about two special-
ized pieces of animation equipment, the pantograph and the
viscous damped compound.
Pantograph. A key feature of an animation stand is the
control it provides the filmmaker in moving the surface
beneath the camera. This surface is called the compound or
bed of the stand. The most precise way to chart a complex
9.7 Approaches to kinestasis: The movement is by using a pantograph (Figure 9.6). The animator
first two frame enlargements, (A) and (B), draws a single line on a sheet of paper that fits a specially
sample moments from Cosmic Zoom, a film
designed platform. This line represents the path that the cam-
by Eva Szasz and Tony lanzelo. This film con-
sists of a continuous zoom from the era is to follow as it moves across a static piece of artwork.
microuniverse of a human cell to the During the process of filming, the animator simply places the
macrouniverse of galaxies. Photos (C) and sheet of paper into its special mount alongside the compound
(D) are from City of Gold, a 23-minute film
produced primarily from old photographs
itself. A special pointing needle lines up the center of the cam-
showing Dawson City and the Canadian era’s field with the starting point of the line that has been
Yukon at the height of the gold rush. drawn to guide the camera. Now, as the operator moves the
Directed by Wolf Koenig at the National
compound so that the pointer follows the line on the panto-
Film Board of Canada, City of Gold was one
of the first kinestasis films. Frame (E) is from graph, the camera can trace a complex movement over the art-
Enter Hamlet, a takeoff on the famous “To work. The operator pauses to make two exposures at points on
be or not to be...” soliloquy by Shake-
the line that have been indicated by the animator.
speare. Each word is represented by a
humorous drawing by animator Fred Viscous Damped Compound. Kinestasis filmmaking can
Mogubgub. Frame (F) is from the film be photographed in “real” time when the animator uses the
Secrets by Phillip Jones. This movie explores continuous running feature of the camera to execute pre-
the changing moods achieved through
graphic variations of the same basic image planned moves across the artwork. With the right equipment,
of a woman’s face. Photos (A), (B), (C), and a viscous damped compound, the move itself can be just as
(D) courtesy National Film Board of Canada; smooth and accurate as that achieved with a pantograph and
photos (E) and (F) courtesy Pyramid Films.
frame-by-frame shooting. Figure 9.8 illustrates how this tool is
made by mounting the flat surface of the stand in a traylike
device that contains a thick, viscous lubricant. This dense fluid
smooths out manual movements of the compound. After

as THE ANIMATION BooK

rehearsing the direction and speed that have been selected for
a particular movement, the operator, can simply turn on the
camera at full speed and proceed to reposition the artwork
while the camera is running. The damped compound facilitates
a fluidity of all movements—jerks and jumps and other incon-
sistencies of movement are eliminated.

OTHER VARIABLES

We've discussed the conceptual dimensions of choosing and

sequencing images. We've reviewed ways in which the anima-
tion camera and stand can add movement to an individual
frame and how it can join different images through in-camera
effects. We've looked also at simple camera setups and at the
sophisticated and specially designed tools required in this kind
of animation.
In planning an entire kinestasis film, there are a few
other variables that you should know about. All of these must
be employed with a purpose that matches the basic structure
of the overall film. Lest all this begin to sound vague and
abstract, here’s a quick summary of the kinds of variables | am
talking about here.
Duration is one variable, an obvious one. The camera
can film any image for any length of time, ranging from
approximately one twenty-fourth of a second (one frame) to
as long as you wish, including several full seconds or even
minutes. Because your camera will generally be able to focus
on areas that are smaller than the boundaries of the single
image you are filming, that image can suddenly become the
primary source for a number of different secondary images.
This is the process of reframing. The photograph of a land-
scape, for example, can generate additional images that
present parts of the overall picture, a tree, a road, or some
other detail.

CUE SHEETS

Your materials are assembled and the movie camera is loaded.

You've studied each image and each movement. The first

KINESTASIS AND COLLAGE 123

 sequence starts well. The process of filming is slow, of course,
because it takes time to work with precision. Unless you have a
photographic memory, however, as the shooting proceeds you
are bound to arrive at a point when suddenly you can't remem-
ber what's next or how to shoot it. You've lost your way.
That's a generous scenario. Chances are you will get lost
quickly and hopelessly in making a kinestasis film unless you
have some sort of notation system that can be used while plan-
9.8 The viscous damped com- ning the film and, more important, during the process of film-
pound: The line drawing is based on the ing itself. Otherwise you'll screw up.
Oxberry Corporation's Media Pro Animation
The way not to become lost is to make yourself a map
Stand. The compound is entirely made of
metal and resets in a metal carriage contain- that stores all the details of your film and helps you to work
ing the thick lubricating substance. fast and accurately while at the camera. Figure 9.9 shows a
portion of a handmade cue sheet (also called a shooting sheet
or exposure sheet). You can modify your own shooting sheet
to fit the capabilities of your own equipment.
The importance of the cue sheet will begin to sink in
when you realize that it tracks visual composition, duration,
and movement. As a matter of fact, the cue sheet becomes the
one place where all categories of design should be recorded,
including:

H identification (labeling) of individual pieces of artwork

sequence of images
framing or composition within each image
camera movement
compound movement
duration of each shot
in-camera special effects (dissolves, superimpositions,
filters, etc.)
HB sound track information—voice, music, and sound
effects
H anything else, including questions, that you will want
to remind yourself about when you go to shoot

9.9 Film and digital record keeping: There is simply too much detail involved in any animation technique for ani-
mators not to employ some notation system that keeps track of things. This page is a celebration of this need. Here, in (A),
is a chunk from a handmade shooting sheet that details one way the narrative images in Figure 9.4 might be animated.
Computers require exceedingly accurate and systematic records of image content, sequence, duration, frame number,
level, and effects — which can include a wide range of options. A sampling of application windows from five different
graphics programs illustrates the digital equivalent to exposure sheets: (B), Premiere; (C), After Effects; (D), Ray Dream;
(E), Director; and (F), Flash.
You can see at a glance that these recordkeeping mechanisms share the same characteristics—little boxes that indi-
cate specific frames; rows that indicate stacked levels of images that are to be seen at the same time. Each program also
has a controller (not shown here) that specifies a frames-per-second play rate.

124 4 THE ANIMATION BooK

 Project: Trapeze az

Black matte
Background Matte
LLq Duration: 0:00:02:01
ZOMMm (WW tnd 34 Geawe

AT #(,
KS Skwetroud@hve
ATERD NiSsoUVE (ND
Covee. 200M) ea

lll
“ig Duration: 0 :00:02:11
4 Cross position
i Movie
aDuration: 0:00:02:28
1 Fall Forward
Movie
VED Duration: 0:00:04 :00

= CD Enable Frame Blending

(CD Enable Motion Blur

&) 1: [water.001)
> B 2: [water.002]

S) 4: [water.004]
: [water .005]

> Universe
> Camera 2
> & Fish
> > Fish
> B Fish
> — Ground & Plants

KINESTASIS AND COLLAGE 125

 COLLAGE

Collage animation is a technique in which bits of flat objects—

photographs, newspapers, cloth, pressed flowers, postcards,
and so on—are assembled in incongruous relationships for
their symbolic or suggestive effect. The technique is much like
kinestasis in the kinds of images used and in the various ways
that they can be given movement by means of the animation
camera and setup. But the feeling that a collage film engen-
ders in the audience is distinctive. There’s often a special qual-
ity of zaniness in collage. There’s often a feeling of being inside
a visual maelstrom.
There seem to be two basic styles of making collage
films. The impressionistic style is the more familiar. A blitz of
imagery fills the screen. The effect can be likened to that of a
kaleidoscope, or we might call it an image bomb. The animator
creates a flow of images (usually a very rapid flow) through his
or her creative use of duration, association, proximity, and, of
course, the selection of the images themselves. Full-screen
images can be used for this effect or just parts of images,
image shards.
Collage techniques have also been used effectivelyin
9.10 Approaches to collage: Two what | think of as a narrative style. In these films a story is acted
frame enlargements from Frank Mouris’s out, but it’s almost always a very surreal kind of story. Terry
Frank Film. Courtesy Pyramid Films. Gilliam’s animation in the television series Monty Python’s Fly-
ing Circus provides a good example of how collage techniques
can be used in a rich narrative style. Cutout images combine to
create weird characters and weird landscapes. The movement
of the characters is often realistic, although the logic of these
changes defies description.
If you are drawn to this style of collage, | suggest that
you reread the chapter on cutouts. It will give you ideas on
how to create joined figures, how to design backgrounds, and
how to determine speed and distance as you film under the
camera.

126 ges ANIMATION BooK

WRITTEN WITH JENNIFER TAYLOR

The Superstar of animation software is After

Effects, an application published by the Adobe Corporation, a
longtime leader in computer graphics. After Effects is a powerful
creative tool that allows artists to produce professional-looking
2-D animation and special effects on a desktop computer.
In the few years of its existence, After Effects has
achieved a preeminent position within the animation industry—
from advertising commercials to broadcast graphics to title
sequences to animated shows on TV. So pervasive is the impact
of this software program that it has single-handedly relaunched
an entire animation technique: motion graphics.

10.1 35mm optical bench: One of a

number of computer-linked optical printing
machines used in the French and English
animation sections at the National Film
Board of Canada. Photo by author.

127
 The roots of motion graphics go back to the 1950s and
1960s, when Hollywood turned to a group of graphics design-
ers like the legendary Saul Bass and asked them to design title
sequences for feature films. Movie titles, of course, consist
mainly of words: the name of the film, its stars, director, pro-
ducers, and other key talent. The skill set of the graphic design
profession was new to the feature industry: typesetting exper-
tise, logo design, a layout sensibility refined in poster and mag-
azine design, and, in particular, familiarity with a wide variety
of photographic techniques such as solarization, audio screens,
kodaliths, and duotones. The enriched visual vocabulary of
graphic designers began showing up in feature film opens, and
in Hollywood a number of title houses established themselves
—postproduction labs/animation studios that specialized in
design and use of technically demanding 35mm production
tools like the optical printer shown in Figure 10.1.
In the 1980s the television industry began to develop
very expensive digital tools that made it easier and faster to do
the same kinds of animated graphics effects refined in feature
titles. Machines with exotic names like the Paintbox, the
Squeeze-Zoom, and the ADO (for Advanced Digital Opera-
tions) cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and rented out at
$500 per hour and up. In the late 1990s a new generation of
such machines (with new names like the Harry and the Flame
—and new, higher price tags!) continue to give frame-at-a-
time control over image making. With these high-end digital
tools, live action, animation, and special effects are all compos-
ited into a seamless whole. The results are found most often in
feature films, television advertising, and, more recently, high-
budget TV series.
After Effects brings to the desktop computer almost all
of what was until recently the exclusive province of those
expensive, super-high-end digital compositors. It is, in effect,
both the 35mm optical bench of film technology and the
Flame of digital compositing technology.
It's useful to think of After Effects as a place where the
basic raw materials—picture, story, and sound—are fused into
10.2 Zoom: This series of frames a final piece. You can, for example, import artwork created in
demonstrates a “zoom” or “scale up” Photoshop or Illustrator, along with sound created in
done in AfX. Taken from Where on Earth SoundEdit 16, and marry them into a single digital file that can
Are You? by Jennifer Taylor. Images in
this chapter courtesy Jennifer Taylor, become a QuickTime movie or be exported to videotape—or
unless otherwise noted. even film. Another way to look at After Effects is to see it as an

128 hoe ANIMATION BooK

all-in-one animation camera stand, nonlinear editor, and post-
production facility where you add titles, sound, and special
effects. That’s one cool package!
Because After Effects offers such a wide array of creative
possibilities, it’s impossible to cover in this volume all the differ-
ent things that animators can do with it. However, these pages
can provide a useful fly-over that looks at major components.
The case study by Jennifer Taylor (Figure 10.10) will provide a
closer look at the interface and some of the nuances of tech-
nique. Yet even as you are guided through the major land-
marks of After Effects, remain curious about the possibilities
that have yet to be charted. Think outside the box.

MOVING WITH, THROUGH, AROUND,

AND BETWEEN STILLS

It is easy to use After Effects as a virtual camera that will simu-

late complex navigation across a flat piece of artwork in a way
that mirrors the animation stand “moves” used in traditional
filmmaking. All the techniques talked about in the preceding
chapter on kinestasis and collage animation can be achieved
faster, cheaper, and with more accuracy by using After Effects.
In fact, it is easiest to explain the powers of After Effects by
referring to familiar film terminology.
Pans. When shooting film, you create pans by moving
the camera or the animation stand frame by frame to give the
feeling of moving across a still image. To create a pan in After
Effects, you simply move the artwork left, right, up, or down in
the program's composition window. You tell the computer
where you want your pan to start and stop by setting key
frames at your start and finish points.
Zooming. |n film, zooming in is achieved by changing
the distance, frame by frame, between the camera and your
artwork. In After Effects, you can simulate a zoom by scaling or
resizing your artwork over time. When you scale something up,

10.3 Character animation: These elements from Choose Your Poi-

son, by Jennifer Taylor and Randy Lowenstein, show: (A), one of the
characters as scanned into the computer; (B), the character’s alpha
channel — created in Photoshop; (C), the background; and (D), the
final scene with three characters laid on top of the background.
Stills courtesy Jennifer Taylor and Randy Lowenstein.

MOTION GRAPHICS 129

 this means you're making it larger, and when you scale some-
thing down, you are making it smaller. Hence, the effect of
zooming in toward your artwork is achieved by scaling up the
artwork. This makes sense if you think in terms of things
becoming larger as they move closer to you.
In order to fill an NTSC TV (television) screen, an image
must have the dimensions of 640 pixels width by 480 pixels
height (referred to as 640 by 480). If you want a zoom-in to
end with the screen filled (requiring a 640 by 480 image), then
the original artwork on which the zoom is planned must be
scanned in larger than 640 by 480. This is so the image doesn’t
pixilate as you scale it up. Remember, scaling up equals zoom-
ing in. If you scale something up more than 100 percent of its
original size, it will pixilate. If you are planning on zooming out
on an image, the image also needs to be larger than 640 by
480 if you want it to end up filling the screen—you just do the
“camera” move in reverse. When scanning the image into the
computer, you must look at both ends of the zoom and make
sure you have enough resolution. See Chapter 24: Computer
Hardware for more about scanning images, resolution, and
color depth.
Fades. Traditionally, in-camera fades are made by slowly
adjusting the amount of light coming through the lens aper-
ture. To fade out (to black) you close the lens down over, say,
24 successive frames. To fade in (from black) on the new piece
of artwork, that process is reversed. In After Effects you can
fade in and fade out by manipulating key frames. Think of key
frames as markers of precise moments when a selected image
will be manipulated in one way or another. When making
fades, a first key frame marks the moment when the computer
will begin to adjust the opacity levels. More on key frames will
come later.
If an image is set at an opacity of 0 percent, then it is not
10.4 Special effects at a key-
stroke: The top photo has been manipu-
opaque at all. In other words, you can see through it. If an
lated using different filters that come with image has an opacity of 100 percent, then it is fully opaque
After Effects. Because the goal here is to and can’t be seen through at all. It follows, then, that if you
illustrate the full power of such filters, their
program After Effects to slowly bring your image from 0 per-
application to the portrait of Jennifer Taylor
has been pushed to its most drastic extreme. cent opacity all the way to 100 percent opacity, the resulting
Bear in mind that you can also make subtle effect will be that of watching an image go from being per-
changes and adjustments. As a matter of
fectly transparent (clear) to being completely opaque (solid) in
interest, the original source image was
“photographed” with an inexpensive digital the amount of time you have designated by choosing two key
still camera. frames. In After Effects, 0 percent to 100 percent opacity

130 pire ANIMATION Book

appears as a fade-up from black—because the black back-
ground (a default setting) will show through your image when
it is not fully opaque. To the viewer's eye this looks exactly like
a fade-up from black in traditional filmmaking.
Dissolves. Dissolves are created on film by overlapping
the fading out of one image with the fading in of another
image. When this effect is achieved in-camera, there are three
steps: The initial image is faded from full exposure to black over,
say, 48 frames. The film is wound back within the camera, with
the aperture fully closed. A new image is next placed under the
camera and the lens is slowly opened over the same 48 frames.
The effect is a lovely two-second cross-fade or dissolve.
To dissolve two images in After Effects, simply lay one
image over another and slowly diminish the opacity of the top
layer over time. This way, instead of revealing black when the
top layer is clear, you will reveal the image layer beneath it.

LAYERING

Here is another cameralike effect. Yet it is so revolutionary—

the dense flow and overlapping of multi-image collage is so
powerful—that the layering possibilities of After Effects require
special discussion
Superimposition. To superimpose two images on film,
you must shoot one image first, rewind the film, and shoot the
second image onto the same piece of film. A superimposition is
like a dissolve where the midpoint of the transition is extended
—that is, when two images are both clearly visible. In After
Effects it is easy to layer many, many images. Four, six, ten, or
even more different visuals can coexist within the same frame,
each moving independently, fading in and out on its own
schedule with perfect control over the legibility of each image.
The effect can be breathtaking. In the traditional world of film,
such multimedia effects could only be achieved using an
expensive optical bench and many trial-and-error passes to
achieve the same thing.
Character Animation. Animators will delight in a related
capability; One can make a background and then add an
opaque character on top of your background in a way that
simulates the techniques of classic cel animation. In other
words, After Effects can serve as a pile of acetate sheets onto

MOTION GRAPHICS 134

10.5 Flying type fonts: These titles " & File Edit Composition Layer Effect Window
were created in Photoshop and then ani-
mated in After Effects. The title moves into
frame from the top, and the animator’s
name moves into the frame from the left
side. Each chunk of text has only two key
frames: a position start point and a position
end point.

Titles * Time Layout

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IL) Enable Frame Blending es
Enable Motion Blur Dor

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Name

6 Titles

FILM TITLE
Animator's Name

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[rites [Cee Syners
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10:03:00 C1 Enable Motion Blur Ost 6 =
StuAV C QEFM
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b_& Position

aa THE ANWIMATION BooK

which individual drawings have been mounted and are dis-
played, in sequence, over the same background.
The multilayered construction within After Effects uses a
computer graphics entity called the alpha channel. An alpha
channel is an “extra” channel in a color image that deals with
transparency. The closest direct parallel between traditional
animation and the alpha channel of digital animation is to
think of the latter as the clear acetate cel onto which a figure is
painted. Alpha channels can be built for each level in After
Effects and will designate certain areas within that image as
being transparent, and other areas as being opaque. Thus the
image that is paired with the alpha channel can either “float”
above the background or “ghost” with its transparency set
somewhere between 0 percent and 100 percent. In After
Effects there is no limit on the number of alpha channels you
can stack on top of the background image.

SPECIAL EFFECTS IN AFTER EFFECTS

After Effects comes complete with a host of effects that you

can apply with wild abandon to your drawings or other source
images. You can apply these effects to individual images,
entire sequences of image files, or even whole compositions.
Figure 10.4 provides a tiny sampling of such special effects
that take little effort on your part and can range from adjust-
ing the contrast of your image to swirling that same image
into a big unidentifiable smear. These nifty capabilities are
much like Photoshop filters that can be key-framed and there-
fore animated. In fact, many Photoshop filters can be
imported into After Effects. There are also third-party plug-ins 10.6 Cutouts: In this scene from an inde-
such as Final Effects that offer even more special effects for pendent production titled Choose Your
Poison, After Effects is used to animate a
After Effects.
cutout arm so that the character looks like
he is brushing his teeth. (A) and (B) show
two key extremes, or frames. (C) suggests
the motion that the audience will see when
TITLES the sequence is “framed up” correctly. Cour-
tesy Jennifer Taylor and Randy Lowenstein.
One of the instant rewards of using After Effects is that you will
have the ability to make titles for your films quickly and easily.
You can make the titles themselves in Photoshop or After
Effects. If you want a quick job, After Effects will do. For best
results, however, use Photoshop or one of the more specialized

MOTION GRAPHICS 133

 font-creation programs that are available for Mac and Win-
dows computers. Once you have the text, you can create
professional-looking scrolls or fades within minutes. Again,
using a computer rather than shooting on film takes less time,
costs less money, and allows for more experimentation. It’s so
easy to experiment that you may want to try both of the tradi-
tional methods of presenting titles: by fading them in and out
and by scrolling them, or you can get fancy and invent some-
thing brand-new!

CUTOUT ANIMATION

Using After Effects, you can create digital cutout animation

that works very much like traditional cutout animation. There is
a huge latitude in how you approach cutouts. Elements can be
very simply made and manipulated. For example, you could
scan photo head shots of yourself and your family. Bodies
could be as simple as one or two exchangeable positions,
maybe drawn directly into the computer. For a look at the
more complex end of the production spectrum, refer to the
Blue’s Clues case study in Chapter 5.

A FIVE-STEP CREATIVE PROCESS

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may have—and can certainly order for you—specially written

10.7 Collage: After Effects offers a rich design palette for com-
bining print, photographic, and handmade imagery. Here are five
stills pulled from a video piece titled Jen, Randy, Nick and Craig Go
to Howe Caverns. The piece is about four people looking for an
adventure in nature. They disobey the rules at a tourist attraction
and are turned to stone. These highly layered After Effects images
combine photos, photocopies, scanned objects, text made in Photo-
shop, artwork made in Painter, and even frames pulled from video.
Courtesy Jennifer Taylor and Randy Lowenstein.

eral THe ANIMATION BooK

texts that are devoted to After Effects or one of the other
major software tools described in this volume. Be prepared to
spend a number of days messing around with a program like
After Effects before you attempt to undertake a project with it.
All that said, it’s still true that there are really only a few
things you need to know to get started. Once you understand
how the program operates step by step, you can spend months
exploring.

CREATING AND GATHERING ELEMENTS

Before you click the After Effects logo on your hard drive, you
should create or collect all the artwork that you'll need for your
project. You can create artwork in programs such as Photo-
shop, Illustrator, and Painter. You can also scan artwork or
photographs into the computer. Don’t forget that it’s easy to
acquire images from one of many clip art collections that are
already digitized.
No matter what source materials you choose, make sure
you gather them all neatly in a folder that is clearly labeled. It is
important not to move these materials to new folders once you
begin working. This is because the first time you access a par-
ticular file, After Effects remembers the specific place or folder
where that source file was stored. The software will be con-
stantly accessing the file at this location. If you throw away one
of those files, or place it somewhere that the program cannot
find, you will wreck the animation itself.

IMPORTING ELEMENTS

When you open the After Effects program, you will be pre-
sented with an empty project window. The first thing you need
to do is import the artwork from its neatly stored folder some-

10.8 Xerography meets After Effects: These stills are

taken from Where on Earth Are You?, a personal film by Jennifer
Taylor. It’s an abstract animation that leads viewers through a
tongue-in-cheek “search” across the globe to answer the question
posed in the title. A careful dissection of maps ends up with the con-
clusion “I think I’m lost.” The animator created a hybrid animation
style using After Effects to breathe new life into her particular style
of traditional xerography animation.

MOTION GRAPHICS 135

 where on the computer’s hard drive. Simply choose Import
from the File menu. After Effects will ask you where the source
material is located, and you will direct it to your source folder.
Once an element has been imported, it appears in the project
window in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Continue
importing your artwork until all of the materials that you wish
to use in your new project are listed in the project window.

COMPOSING LAYERS

You compose your project using two production tools that come
in the form of windows or frames on the computer screen.
The composition window is the canvas where you spa-
tially compose or stage your piece, as if you were looking
through the lens of a camera. When you drag your elements
into the composition window, they become “layers” of that
composition. What you see is what you get with layers stacked
from top to bottom, as if in a pile.
The corresponding time layout window is where you
work out the timing of your film. At one end of this chartlike
window there is a list of all the elements that appear in the
screen over a chunk of time—which is stretched under the cor-
responding timeline of seconds. The time layout window pro-
vides by name, from top to bottom, the layers that appear in
the composition window.
Using these two windows in unison, you will create the
flow of images on and off the screen. For example, you can
make changes (in size, opacity, etc.) in the composition win-
dow, and dictate how long it will take these changes to occur
in the time layout window.

ANIMATING WITH KEY FRAMES

Not only is the time layout window where you order the layers
and dictate their lengths, it is also the working space where
you animate your layers and apply special effects to them. The
whole concept behind animating in After Effects lies in placing
key frames in the time layout window. A key frame is a marker
that represents any given change in the nature of a layer, such
as a change in opacity, size, or location.

136 ees ANIMATION BooK

 Key frames are often placed in sets of Output Module Settings
twos, with one key frame as a starting point
and one key frame as an endpoint of a par-
Format: | TIFF Sequeme
ticular effect or movement. For example, say Targa Sequerce
: : ; Filmstn
you want to move an object into the center ob Vide saad GIF
of the screen in one second. First you would Gaga Pr aoe
place a key frame at the start of the layer and spatialgeuickTime Movie :
set the position of your object outside the | Key frame every 10 frames Hie :
Color: | Prermultiplied (with Black) w i
composition window. Then you would place
-J Stretch
a key frame at the one-second mark in the
Rendering at:
timeline and set the location of the object at
Stretch to:
the center of the frame. Placing key frames is Stretch B:
your way of telling After Effects where you
want the object to move and how long that inal Size: 640 x 480

movement should take. If you wanted, you

could use the same key frames to instruct the -~b4 Audio Output
; 3 : ; | Forrnat Options...
computer to fade in this same object as it :
slides into its final position.
After Effects approaches key frames in ieee eee
much the same way that they are used in tra-
ditional character animation to plot out the 10.9 Exporting AfX: The Output Module
“extremes” of a particular piece of animation. Look ahead to Settings window allows you to save an After
Chapter 14 to see how an animator makes key drawings or Effects file in several different formats, so
you have flexibility and are able to distrib-
poses and then “in-betweens” the drawings that are required ute your work through different media
to flesh out the interval between poses. In After Effects, the forms, including videotape, disk, and the
computer will provide the in-betweens by taking the object at Internet. Courtesy Art Bell.

one key frame and moving it with just the right number of
incremental positions required by the number of frames play-
ing each second to the location specified by the next key
frame. This is not as complex as it may sound. Still confused?
Check out the case study!

SHOW TIME!

When you have animated the images for each scene in your
animation, the completed project can be preserved and dis-
seminated in a number of forms.
First you can save the file as a QuickTime movie. Because
the QuickTime playback module is shared by so many different
motion graphics/animation applications, you can be pretty sure
that anyone who has a computer will have a copy of Quick-

MOTION GRAPHICS 137

 Time stored away in the Systems folder of their hard disk. This
means that any person can just click on the icon representing
your completed movie and it will play on their computer
screen, with sound included.
You can also export the completed After Effects anima-
tion to a videotape. Figure 10.9 shows the pull-down menu
choices of the different ways you can save and subsequently
share your new masterpiece. Note that in order to output to
tape, you will need special hardware that allows for video
output.

THE LEARNING CURVE

One of the best things about After Effects is that once you
have begun to master the program, it can really speed up your
production rate. You simply get more done in less time. When
it takes less time to make something, you're also more willing
to go back and make changes or go out on a limb in the first
place. For that reason, After Effects creates an atmosphere that
is more conducive to experimentation than film. Also, nothing
is permanent on the computer, unlike film. You are operating
in a nonbinding, nonlinear world. After Effects can open the
door to a faster, freer, and simpler way of doing animation.
So don't be too frustrated or discouraged the first time
you get your hands on After Effects and see the complexity of
the program. Just plunge into the tutorials that come with the
program. Or simply give yourself a few days of messing around.
You will begin to figure things out. The new tools will
become familiar. And because you can work fast and try out
different possibilities, the chances are far greater that you will
concoct and refine your way toward a piece of animation that
stands out as truly excellent.

138 ore ANWIMATION Book

 oO OSS 40.10 CASE STUDY: Using After Effects

The frames above sample a ninety-second video portrait used in a play

titled The Miss Alphabet City Beauty Pageant and Spelling Bee, written
by Emmy Laybourne and performed with a five-member cast at New
York City’s Catch A Rising Star nightclub. In this tongue-in-check
video portrait, a thirteen-year-old girl introduces herself in the best
way she knows how: by showing us her favorite possessions. Anima-
tor Jen Taylor describes the step-by-step process behind one of the
scenes.

Artwork
The goal was to surprise the viewer by, first, showing what seemed like cutout fish swimming through the frame, and
then revealing these shapes to be candles, as shown in the third and fourth panels in (A).
| started off by placing the single fish shaped candle | had onto the surface of my scanner and getting a 72 dpi scan.
The inside cover of the scanner is white, so that the area around my subject matter was white on the resulting image,
although some shadowing showed up. The scan (a PICT file) was brought into Photoshop and given an Alpha Channel
by selecting “Inverse” from the Select menu, turning the “white” background that surrounded the fish-shaped candle
into the “clear” surface of the Alpha Channel. (Forming the perfect Alpha Channel required some careful tweaking.
needed to get a very clean and smooth-edged fish image that could later be placed over a background.)
As you can see in (A), this one image was reused to create additional fish of different sizes. | gave the multiple fis h
different colors too, although you can’t make this out very well in these black-and-white frame-grabs.
The background seemed a challenge, but was easy to do once | studied the problem awhile. The first step involved
using Photoshop to create a series of seven abstract “water” images that resembled each other and could be cross-
dissolved to simulate the motion of rippling water.

=== Water e Time Layout

Enable Frame Blending

LD Enable Motion Blur

vB 1: [water.001] ia
b & Opacit

b_& Opaciti toes

vB
D_S Opacit
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vB 5: [water.005]
Db & Opacit 19
vB 6: [water.006] E

vB 7: [water.007]
D © Opacity

[optiens_~] PIMSvicnes
Key Frames
A Key Frame is a marker that represents any given change in the nature of a layer, such as a change in opacity or size.
Key frames are often placed in sets of two, with one key frame as a starting point, and the other as an end point. In
this way, you can animate a change in, say, position or transparency over time.

Ye , Gy, 3

MOTION GRAPHICS 139

 “TD <9 610:10) CASE STUDY: Using After Effects (cont:)) (oo © U0
Animation
It required two different steps to build the animation of the scene where the
fish/candles are swimming through the frame.
To create the rippling background, the seven different background stills were
imported into the Project window of After Effects and placed into a composition,
which | called “Water.” Basically, all | did was use the Time Layout window to dis-
solve one water background image into the next. By experimentation, | found
that slow overlapping of fades created the effect | wanted. The dissolving back-
ground became a self-contained element that could be cycled behind the fish. (B)
shows one of the water frames and (C) is a close-up of the Time Layout window

: Scie eee == Fish in Water « Time Layout =

=

[L Enable Frame Blending

9:00:03:05 Enable Motion Blur

D Mask
wv Geometrics
© Anchor Point
b & Position
© Scale
© Rotation
© Opacii
> B10: fish “green™
b B 11: fish “red~
> B 12: fish yellow

(LD Enable Frame Blending

(C Enable Motion Blur

I= SI
be 3:
iat Polish Seen
bf 4: [Stripey Scene C..|
al Bl

that shows how | key-framed the dissolves. Their opacities are set to go from
100 percent to 0 percent, fading into each other.
A new composition, called “Fish in Water,” was opened up to hold the entire
scene. Into this | placed the completed “Water” composition and then | imported
the six fish with their Alpha Channels. The fish needed to swim across the screen,
so their positions were key-framed. This was achieved by positioning the different
fish objects within the Composition window. First | placed a key frame where the
. Intro Scene Folder
fish was to enter, then | plotted out a point-to-point path for each fish shape to
follow until it was off-screen, (D). The speed with which the fish followed their aA a on
path was set using the Time Layout window, (E). It all came together visually in Socal ci elo
the Composition window, as seen in (H). . Stripey Project Folder
. Locket Project Folder

. Candles Scene Folder

The Movie
The candle scene (which combined the animated background with the animated Final Scene Proj... Folder
foreground) was just a few seconds long. | placed this composition into its proper |> (5) sound Folder
order with the other compositions that went into the ninety-second piece, (G). (F) | [EX] Entire Piece Composition j

shows the Time Layout window for the combined piece, which was then saved j

|
140 ana ANIMATION Book
 Info Palette
| Project Window Composition Window The Info Palette displays numeric values that
Once an element has been imported, it The Composition window is the canvas where describe things such as coordinates and color
| appears in the Project window in the upper you spatially compose your piece, as if you were values.
| left-hand side of the screen. The Project win- looking through the lens of the camera. When
dow lists by name all of the artwork, compo- you drag your elements into the composition
sitions, and audio tracks in your project. window, they become “layers” of that composi- Time Controls Palette
tion that you can actually see. The layers are The Time Controls Palette allows you to
stacked from top to bottom as if in a pile. play your movie-in-progress in the Com-
position window. You operate its controls
much like a VCR’s.

@ File Edit Composition Layer Effect Window Tue 7:09 PM 2s

Z cer erererir eran zi

639
x 480
: doatan InfeGieruinir
He] Minions of Colors

cn na
fish in Water e lime Layout
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Enable Frame Blending
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SSS DTT TIT: AL AH NRE SPO aI POP ER ED TE END FO
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| Time Layout Window Tools Palette

| The Time Layout window is where you map out the timing of your film. It lists by name, The Tools Palette contains tools used in the
from top to bottom, the layers that appear in the Composition window. This is where you making of masks. It also holds tools for
order your layers, dictate their lengths, and apply special effects to them. Key frames mark rotating layers and magnifying objects.
|changes in the nature of a layer and are often placed in sets of two, marking the start and
end points, as they do here.
|

j (under File menu) as a QuickTime movie. (PS: The “reveal” shot of the burning candles was another challenge: |
ended up drawing the “flames” in Photoshop and attaching these to the scanned profiles of the candles in their
glass holders. | was lucky in that the reflection on the glass is just the way it came out in the original scan.)

MOTION GRAPHICS 141

 The brilliant work of animator Caroline Leaf
GLASS OR PLEKIGLASS created two new techniques in animation. This chapter
Se Fuust TO
Thtle TOP describes her approach and samples the extraordinary effects
of her films.

THE BASIC SETUP

ILLUMINATION
The way to animate with sand or paint is almost identical. A sta-
11.1 Basic bottomlighting setup: A tionary camera is mounted above a piece of frosted glass or Plex-
fixed camera with fixed lens over a fixed, iglas. A special light or series of lights is positioned beneath the
rear-lit surface: The sketch represents a basic
setup for doing sand or paint-on-glass
compound so that the translucent white surface is illuminated
technique. evenly. (See Chapter 22 for bottomlighting gear.) The material is
placed on the glass. In one technique a fine sand is used, and in
the other ordinary water-based inks or paints are used in com-
bination with an agent that keeps the liquid from drying out.
Because of the grueling demands of the animating process, it is
valuable for the animator to have a foot pedal or similar release
for exposing single frames of film in the overhead camera.
As you can see, there is nothing particularly special
about the tools or setup. When the camera is loaded, work can
begin. But beware the apparent straightforwardness of these
techniques. Animating sand and paint is extraordinarily
demanding. Hour after hour the animator sits at the working
surface and makes minute changes in the art, exposes a frame
or two, and then repeats this operation again hundreds and

142
even thousands of times. If there are any mistakes, an entire
sequence must be re-created from scratch.
Someone has observed that either technique requires
the precision of a watchmaker, the endurance of a long-
distance swimmer, the concentration of a mathematician, and
the vision of a great artist. Each of these qualities is evident in
Caroline Leaf's work.
11.2 Metamorphosis in sand: These
fourteen frames indicate the bold and fluid
style with which Caroline Leaf sets a scene.
DESIGNING IN SAND In this example from The Owl Who Married
a Goose, the two prime characters are intro-
Figure 11.3 carries frame enlargements from three of Caroline duced and their relationship is established.
Leaf’s films. Within these images perhaps you will be able to The seven-minute film is based on an
sense some of the special qualities that reside in animation Eskimo legend and the sound track consists
of sound effects and dialogue recorded by
with sand. Consider these elements as you study the samples. three Eskimo collaborators on the project.
Texture and Tone. Variations in the size of the sand Photos courtesy National Film Board of
Canada.

Animation and Direction:

Caroline Leaf
Advised by: Co Hoedeman
Design: Nanogak
Editing: Pierre Lemelin

An Ai
Sound: Jeela Alilkatuktuk,
Paul Anglyou, Martha
Kauki, Samonee
Rerecording: Jean-Pierre
Joutel
Production: Pierre Moretti

SAND AND PAINT-ON-GLASS ANIMATION 143

 grains or in the camera’s distance from the surface affect the
textural quality of the image. Caroline Leaf prefers to use an
extremely fine white sand. By spreading it thickly or thinly with
her fingers as she works, she can achieve a full range of gray
tones. The full black tone is created, of course, by piling sand
deep enough so that no light shines through it toward the
camera. Conversely, any area that is not covered with sand will
be photographed as pure white.
Positive/Negative Fields. The rich graphic power of sand
animation is achieved, in part, by designing characters and
objects in high contrast: white whites or black blacks. Using
this flat, sharp-edged imagery, you can manipulate the positive
and negative relationships. See, for example, how the shape of
a bird (Figure 11.3) that has been used as black on a white field
can suddenly be transformed into a white shape on a black
field. Such transitions of figure/ground relationships are pow-
erfully exploited in Caroline Leaf’s films.
Planning and Execution. It is almost impossible to previ-
sualize the form and pacing animation will follow when one is
animating with sand. Through experimentation the animator
develops a sense of the visual effects that can be achieved
through various styles of moving the sand under the camera.
Caroline Leaf works on a surface about the same dimensions
as this page. Generally she uses her fingers to manipulate the
sand, but occasionally a sharp point is employed to etch a thin
line. Informal sketches are sometimes used to plan ahead for
the next sequence or to record the appearance of an earlier
sequence (Polaroid photographs could be used in recording
what has already happened.)
But basically animation is improvised as the work pro-
ceeds. Great concentration is required, particularly in maintain-

te? a 11.3 Sand animation: Frame enlargements (A), (B), and (C) are
W ss from Caroline Leaf’s The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa. Based on a
Kafka story, the film demonstrates the animator’s abilities to achieve
a full tonal range and sharp detail with sand on a rear-lit surface.
Pig Enlargements (D), (E), and (F) are from Ms. Leaf's The Owl Who
Married a Goose. Note the positive/negative reversals of figure and
ground and note the emphasis on silhouette forms. The production
still from Sand (also titled Peter and the Wolf) (G) reveals the way
sand is piled up on the glass surface. This film was Caroline Leaf’s
first work in the sand technique. The photograph of Ms. Leaf, (H),
was taken in her office at the National Film Board of Canada’s pro-
duction headquarters near Montreal. Photos (A) through (F) courtesy
National Film Board of Canada; photo (G) courtesy Phoenix Films.

144 gh Ss ANIMATION BooK

ing a steady rate of manipulation so that there will be a consis-
tent flow in the finished sequence.
The laborious and painstaking nature of this technique
does have its dividends. In order to keep one’s mind alert, the
animator invests each image with tremendous thought and
care. He or she is absolutely conscious of every manual change,
and this attention to the expressive quality of the smallest
detail is clearly evident in the finished footage. Figure 11.2
gives you a taste of the improvisation process and of the signif-
icance that just a few details can yield.
Here is some advice that will help when you try the sand
technique. Because the bottomlighting shines so directly into
the camera, it is best to run some tests to determine the proper
exposure. Whites should be their whitest and blacks their
blackest. A sheet of clear glass can be used as the compound
surface provided you rig a system that diffuses the light evenly.
Try ordinary tracing paper to diffuse the lighting. It works best
to judge evenness by eye. Also experiment with different field
sizes until you find a scale that feels right to you.
As with all animation techniques, watch for variations
that open up new boundaries. For example, you might try sand
animation with toplighting only. Or instead of using regular
sand, try gold, silver, and multicolored glitter. Substitute other
sandlike materials: peas, seeds, rice, flour, and coffee. The
material you select will dictate much about the best way to
light and to animate.

ow

DESIGNING WITH
PAINT-ON-GLASS

On the basis of a single film, universal recognition has been

achieved for a distinct animation technique that involves work-
ing with paint on a glassy surface. Nominated for an Academy
Award in 1977, Caroline Leaf’s The Street represents in one
step the discovery, exploration, refinement, and perfection of
the technique.
The Street is actually not the first work in this mode. In
fact, Caroline Leaf herself worked with ink on a glass field in an
earlier film titled Orfeo (Figure 11.4). Other animators also
experimented with similar effects prior to the completion of
The Street. However, the scope and level of artistry within this

SAND AND PAINT-ON-GLASS ANIMATION 145

 10-minute film clearly identifies and proclaims it as the source
of a new technique.
The frames reproduced in Figure 11.5 can’t do real jus-
tice to what is going on in this film, to the magic that makes it
what it is, a masterwork. All the same, I’d like to describe a few
of the major effects that can be achieved through this tech-
nique, and the most direct way to do this is by discussing how
Ms. Leaf has designed The Street.
Caroline Leaf works small. Her painting surface is
roughly 6 by 8 inches and she uses just her fingertips in apply-
ing the paint and then reworking it, frame by frame, as a par-
ticular scene develops. Because of the relatively small scale, the
images themselves must be boldly rendered—there is not a lot
of room for detail and this seems to facilitate a visual meta-
morphosis in which one image, scene, or movement is trans-
formed into another.
Paint-on-glass animation has a distinctive look. Water-
based inks and tempera colors are animated over the bottomlit
field, and thus colors have the quality of illumination rather
than of reflection. Water-based colors present a major problem
in that the artwork dries out quickly. To keep the paint or ink
workable over extended periods, a wetting agent is required.
Caroline Leaf uses Colorflex, a medium that is commonly used
in painting animated cels.
Two additional structural elements warrant special atten-
tion: story and choreography. Both these elements may be
more particular to the personal style of Ms. Leaf than they are
generic to the basic technique of painting on glass. Be that as it
may, The Street forcefully displays these important elements.
Caroline Leaf's films depend heavily on a narrative struc-
ture. The story line is developed through the music, sound
effects, and dialogue tracks. During the year and a half that it
took to create The Street, Ms. Leaf followed a sound track that
was recorded at the outset of the production and then was
carefully analyzed before the shooting process began. For me,
a good measure of the artistry of The Street resides in the way
that dialogue and sound effects are used as primary sources for
constructing images and guiding transformations.
Caroline Leaf choreographs her films with distinctive
flair. It is astounding to most people that she animates all
“camera moves” (as they would be called in live-action film-
making). A zoom, for example, is accomplished through

146 a THE ANIMATION Book

 11.4 Ink-on-glass: Two frames from
manipulations in the artwork rather than by actually moving Orfeo, a simple and powerful telling of the
the animation camera. As a result, the movement within the myth by Caroline Leaf. Courtesy Pyramid
frame is free in a way that could never be accomplished Films.

through real camera moves. In Leaf’s work the viewer’s point

of view is totally fluid.
But the choreography goes further. As they move within
the frame, The Street's characters establish dynamic and dra-
matic spatial relationships between themselves and with their
setting. Each scene is well “blocked,” as someone in the the-
ater might describe the positioning of actors on a set. Figure
11.5 shows key frames from one sequence in The Street. |
hope that by studying it you will be able to get a sense of the
animator’s structural design. And here is an activity that will
extend that appreciation through induction.
Project: An Animated Through-Move. Create a simple
scene by employing ink or watercolors on a rear-lit back-
ground. Or work with sand. Work in just enough detail so that
the viewer can recognize the location—if the set is an exterior,
for example, show a few trees. The “problem” of this assign-
ment will be to animate the scene so that the viewer will have
the same visual effect that would be achieved if a live-action
camera mounted on a dolly was pushed through the set while
film was being exposed at normal speed.
| admire Caroline Leaf’s work. However, | want to tem-
per my celebration of her art by noting that | don’t believe that

SAND AND PAINT-ON-GLASS ANIMATION 147

11.5 Key frames: By sampling the flow of key frames
within a sequence, the complexities of choreographic
and dramatic flow are revealed. With great economy of
form and movement, see how much information, charac-
terization, and detail Caroline Leaf is able to invest in
this series of paint-on-glass images from The Street.
Courtesy National Film Board of Canada.

oo THE ANIMATION BooK

this animator’s mastery of sand and painting-on-glass tech-
niques in any way precludes or discourages the work of others
in these styles. In fact, many animators have worked with sand
and paint since Ms. Leaf pioneered this technique, and their
work shows that each animator brings his or her particular gifts
to each technique. If Ms. Leaf’s particular gift is in telling sto-
ries through brilliant choreography and metamorphoses, other
animators display different sensibilities for using sand or paint
to explore different relationships of image to sound and other
fresh dimensions of what is possible. Finding your own vision
and fresh techniques is what it’s all about. Still, | believe it is
also valuable to study others’ work. And nowhere is there
more nourishing fare for an independent animator than in the
movies and techniques of Caroline Leaf.

11.6 Caroline Leaf at work: Courtesy

National Film Board of Canada.

SAND AND PAINT-ON-GLASS ANIMATION

 Animation of three-dimensional
objects has long fascinated filmmakers and film audiences
alike. “Trick photography” in films was one of the most impor-
tant attractions for early movie audiences. When the animation
12.1 Clay animation: Independent ani-
mator Eli Noyes was one of the first to use of small objects became familiar, enterprising filmmakers
clay in animation. The four frames below found new sources of magic through allied techniques such as
and the 35mm clip on the opposite page
pixilation and time-lapse animation.
sample his stylistic range.
 The ultimate refinement of three-dimensional animation
is probably represented by puppet techniques that originated
and were refined in Eastern Europe. This chapter will introduce
puppet techniques through clay animation—a direct descen-
dant of puppet films that had its genesis in North America.

CLAY

Few animation techniques more fully exploit the medium’s

power of metamorphosis than does working with clay. A
three-dimensional object can form itself and then transform
itself through endless variations. Clay lets us witness transfor-
mations in very concrete terms. The images are palpable. They
have texture, shape, and weight.
Standard modeling clay works well. It doesn’t dry out
under hot animation lights, is easily shaped, stores well, and
comes in a variety of colors. A number of synthetic substitutes,
such as plasticine, also work well.
| recommend that you work large. It’s far, far easier to
manipulate relatively big clay models than to work with small
ones. Generous size also gives you room to establish significant
detail. Sheer bulk helps in maintaining the shape of your clay
characters or background. However, you must be careful to
design characters so that they will be able to stand indepen-
dently over long periods of time. For this reason, the legs of
animated characters are usually short and their feet large. Be
certain to check the practicality and flexibility of the clay figures
you want to use. Birds, you'll discover, are difficult to keep
together and long flower stems are simply impossible.
There are dangers in working on a large scale, however.
One is tempted to fill the entire surface of the character or the
background with too much detail. Doing this will give you two
headaches, one technical and one aesthetic. The constant
handling of the clay figures between camera exposures is
bound to flatten and obliterate fine detail. More important,
complicated detail will detract viewers from seeing the essen-
tial movement and timing by which the characters and the
story are revealed.
In shooting clay animation, mount the camera horizon-
tally, or else point it down from an angle of about 45 degrees.
Artificial lighting is required, and by using different lights at

CLAY, PUPPET, AND STOP-MOTION ANIMATION 154

 12.2 Multiplane clay production: In his award-winning inde-
pendent film The Fable of He and She, animator Eli Noyes invented a
form of multiplane production. He arranged several levels of glass
beneath his 35mm camera, (A). The top level was used for the active
character animation. It was on this level that Eli incrementally ani-
mated the simple pieces of clay that comprised his characters, (B). The
floor of Eli’s TriBeCa loft, (C), became littered with pieces of brightly
colored plasticine. Because the camera lens had a very sensitive field of
depth, the second plane is slightly out of focus while the top plane is
sharp, (D) and (E). This helps establish a dramatic sense of depth and
foreground. Eli used large sheets of precolored Pantone
paper to create a “limbo” background and sky. Photos
courtesy Isaac and Abby Noyes.

different locations, dramatic effects can be height-

“ ened. The camera can also be mounted directly above
\ A the clay, and if the lighting is strong and comes from a
4 sharp side angle, the surface can be seen in sharp
relief. With this setup, the contrast between highlights
and shadows and ridges and troughs encourages
experimentation with abstract patterns.
Each technique of animation seems to have its

eZ ; THE ANIMATION BooK

12.3 Claymation®: The Portland-based studio of Will
Vinton has made a huge contribution to the technique of
clay animation, refining their own particular aesthetic to
the point where it was appropriate to register the name
“Claymation.” (A) samples Vinton’s first major break-
through, a short film titled Closed Mondays that won an
Academy Award. Courtesy Pyramid Films. (B), (C), and (D)
sample a more recent film titled Will Vinton’s Claymation
Easter Special, which won a pair of Emmys, including one
for outstanding animation show and one for individual
achievement in animation, awarded to animator John
Ashlee Prat. The production still, (E), shows the scale and
setup. Photos © Will Vinton Studios.

CLAY, PUPPET, AND STOP-MOTION ANIMATION 153

 own distinctive style of movement. As suggested earlier, clay
techniques tend to lend themselvesto transformation; that is,
one shape turning into another. In order for the metamor-
phoses inherent in clay anirnation to be convincing, the action
needs to appear relatively smooth. Changes between one posi-
tion and the next should be very gradually revealed and, where
possible, the evolution of one shape into another should be
anticipated and exaggerated. Any extraneous source of move-
ment should be eliminated.
Project: Spontaneous Generation. Clay animation can
also be used for “character” animation—the art of creating
highly anthropomorphic, humanlike characters and stories.
This next project will help you get a feel for the tolerances of
the materials and the possibilities inherent in transformation.
Begin with a fist-sized ball of clay or plasticine. Place it on a
simple background—a tabletop will do. Animate the clay as it
rolls into the middle of the frame. Then, in exactly 10 seconds
of film (240 frames) make your lump turn into five different
objects. Plan ahead so that one shape will naturally transform
itself into another. Each transition should be as smooth as pos-
sible. Shoot on twos. At the end of the 10 seconds, have the
lump of clay leave the screen.

PUPPET ANIMATION

History’s seven leading puppet animators have been identified

as George Pal, Bretislav Pojar, Ladislas Starevitch, Jivfi Trnka,
Hermina Tyrlova, Zenon Wasilewski, and Karel Zeman. Their
names aren't exactly household words. For most of us, in fact,
the names are terrifyingly difficult to pronounce, even to read.
With the exception of George Pal, these master animators have
done their work in Eastern Europe.
Although the technique of puppet animation has been
used widely throughout Western Europe, North America, and
Japan, it is no coincidence that the major figures of the genre
are Eastern Europeans, for within these countries there is a
long-standing tradition of puppetry. National film production
centers in Eastern Europe, Central Europe, and the former
Soviet Union have produced puppet films that exhibit levels of
artistry, technical proficiency, and narrative power that are
capable of capturing the most profound human experiences.

154 eer ANIMATION Book

PUPPET CONSTRUCTION

The basic principles of single-frame movement and photogra-

phy have been discussed. So let's focus attention on the
“stars” of puppet films and study what they look like and how
they are made.
Animation puppets share certain basic features. They are
freestanding and able to support their own weight; they have
12.4 Puppet animator Co Hoede-
movable body joints that can hold any position; they are all
man: In his work at the National Film
well executed, with remarkable detail; and they can be viewed Board of Canada, Dutch animator Co
from 360 degrees. Hoedeman has experimented widely with
The anatomy of a puppet begins with an armature, an puppet techniques. In The Owl and the
Lemming, (A), simple Eskimo dolls become
inner construction that allows the puppet to be both sturdy characters in an adventure story. In a recent
and flexible. There are three basic systems for creating an film titled Sand Castle—(B), (C), and (D)—
Hoedeman combines claylike characters in
a setting of sand dunes and sand structures.
Photos courtesy National Film Board of
Canada.

CLAY, PUPPET, AND STOP-MOTION ANIMATION 155

 armature. A wooden body can be crafted that has snugly fit-
ting joints, but eventually the wood wears smooth and no
longer holds its position. Flexible wire can be folded to create a
basic body structure, though the armature must be padded
and clothed, and the wires will eventually break from constant
manipulation. Probably the best armature device is also the
most sophisticated, a series of metal joints constructed from
rods and combinations of ball joints and slip joints that are held
together under tension. Figure 12.6 shows examples of various
armature designs.
Armature systems help to define the different body types
commonly used in puppet animation. The oldest of these is a
simple wooden toy, a carved doll that can be moved with pre-
cision. Contemporary animators have used the modern equiva-
lents of traditional wooden dolls. Any toy store can provide
plastic-jointed dolls that can be used in puppet animation.
Such modern toys can be used as they are or modified in vary-
ing degrees by an ingenious animator.
Another traditional body type is made by covering an
armature with a padded and costumed body. These are often
referred to as Czech puppets because of their association with
the films of Jivff Trnka and other Czech puppet masters.
Finally, there is the molded body type. The most recent
and technically advanced of puppets, a molded body puppet is
created by placing an armature within a plaster mold, usually
made from a clay or a plasticine model, which is then filled
with a flexible rubber or plastic compound. More specifically,
foam rubber is injected into the plaster-of-Paris mold. After the
body has “cured,” the puppet is taken out of the mold and fin-
ishing touches are applied.

SET DESIGN
12.5 Puppets by Jivri Trnka: The
craft of Czech master animator Jivfi Trnka is Puppet animation techniques require special worlds for these
shown in (A). Note the original sketch, the special characters. The animator must build mini-sets that are
armature, and a finished puppet. Another
appropriate for a particular story. Like a regular theatrical set,
Trnka, (B), puppet is seen with the lighting
and set that complete the film’s scene. the stage and environment of the puppet film may need flats,
Photos collection R. Bruce Holman. backgrounds, props, and other details. Here are a few require-
ments that are unique to designing a set for puppets.
Scale. The set must match the size of the puppets. Select

156 4, THe ANIMATION Book

 12.6 Armatures: The wooden founda-
a scale in which characters and settings can be easily manipu- tion of a Trnka puppet, (A); a simple wire
lated. As a general rule, don’t try to animate a puppet that is armature, (B); and a metal armature,
much smaller than 6 inches. (C). Photo (C) courtesy The Yellow Ball
Workshop; others from collection
Stability. Not only must the construction of the sets be R. Bruce Holman.
very solid in order to stand up to prolonged use, but the set
designer should be sure that “disturbable” items are few. Here
are a few things that can provide migraine headaches because
they are so easy to move unintentionally: billowy curtains,
tables in the middle of a room, real or artificial plants, shag
rugs, or any surface that shows dust easily.
Camera Access. Before designing a set, the animator
should carefully consider what kinds of camera positions will
be used. Will a high angle show the floor? Is it possible to
shoot through a window? Can a wall be easily removed in
order to get a reverse-angle cutaway? Can the camera get
extreme close-ups? Is it possible to track within or past the set?
Lighting. Here is an opportunity to create special lighting
effects. Various combinations of color, intensity, and place-
ment can totally reshape an existing set. There should be lots
of experimentation.

CLAY, PUPPET, AND STOP-MOTION ANIMATION 157

 PLOTTING MOVEMENT

There is no really satisfactory way to plot or plan the movement

of an animated puppet. The best approach involves some care-
ful observation and simple arithmetic. If you are trying to exe-
cute a puppet’s walk, for example, time the duration of the
overall movement with a stopwatch. Measure the distance to
be covered in the walk and measure the average pace of the
character. Divide the distance by the number of steps and
determine the number of separate moves within each pace.
Figure 12.7 illustrates the procedure.
You will still have to use your intuition in applying this
system. There must be adjustments because puppet characters
will be called upon to perform moves with subtle variations of
tempo and emphasis, so that each individual puppet’s mood or
personality will be revealed through its movement.
If you can imagine the painstaking process of walking a
puppet across a set, then you'll agree that the supreme
requirement of the puppet animator is patience. But spontane-
ity is also required. The animator must have the patience to
work slowly over long hours with great concentration, and he
must have the spontaneity and ingenuity to project into the
puppet those details of movement that bring a recognizable
personality, a distinctive character to each of the handmade
movie stars.
Project: Gulliver's Desktop. As a way to explore some of
the characteristics of puppet animation, find a child with plenty
of toys and borrow a doll for a few days. If you can, get one of
those plastic dolls with full-jointed bodies—ankles, knees, hips,
waist, arms, neck, and head. Film a set of tests that shows the
doll walking, running, sitting down, and waving. Try various
physical activities so that you can find the particular capabilities
and limitations of the doll.

12.7 Plotting movement: In this example, the action calls for

the Lego character to drive through the gate, past the camera, and
out of the frame to screen right. If the real distance to be covered is
12 inches and the shot takes two seconds, then each position of the
driver would need to be 14 inch farther along the trajectory of
planned movement (24 positions divided by 12 inches—shooting on
twos). Photo (A) suggests how one would visualize the plan. To
exaggerate the drive past, however, spacing between positions
might be varied—less space at the beginning and more at the end.
(B), (©), (D), and (E) show the positions 5-8. Note how the charac-
ter’s face turns toward the camera.

158 Fey ANIMATION BooK

 Now for a short movie. Mount your camera on a tripod
so that it points at a desktop. Light the area in a dramatic way
and distribute a normal sample of desktop paraphernalia:
Scotch tape, pencils, books, a lamp, a coffee cup, whatever.
Shoot a film in which your doll awakens to find itself lost on a
giant’s desk. Have the doll explore the surface and its imple-
ments. You might end this sci-fi saga with the giant's hand
suddenly appearing and lifting up the terrified doll.

STOP-MOTION ANIMATION

Beginning in the 1970s, animators began adapting computers

so that they could provide the control mechanisms that drive
animation stands. It wasn't long before computer control, as it
was called, moved over to the high-end world of object anima-
tion, thus giving birth to a domain known as motion control
animation.
This is the technique used when you take the animation
camera off its stand and want to move it, with frame-by-frame
control, across a stage area. Sometimes the camera is mounted
on tracks. Sometimes it is attached to a long jib arm that can
move over and above the area being shot. The movement of
the camera is interrupted so that the animator can make
changes to puppets or objects in the scene before resuming
with the exposure of individual frames. When the scene is pro-
jected, the camera movement is absolutely smooth and
appears as if it were shot in one live-action move.
It takes a specially built computer (not your desktop vari-
ety!) to guide the camera’s path through space with such a 12.8 Mr. Resistor: (A) and (B) sample a
series of independent films that Will Vinton
degree of precise, minute control that an identical shot can be
Studios has produced featuring a character
achieved time and time again—even if the camera starts ten named Mr. Resistor. In this recent work
feet above the stage surface, swoops down following a wind- you can see stop-motion director Mark
ing path, and ends up panning to look back at the position Gustafson leading the Vinton Studio in new
directions. Such ceaseless exploration and
from which it started. willingness to try new forms is the hallmark
The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the of all the really great animation studios.
Giant Peach are two features directed by Henry Selick, who Mr. Resistor © Will Vinton Studios.

used the 35mm stop-motion technique. Most often, replace-

able character models were switched out from the beautifully
constructed sets and carefully repositioned between each
exposure on the motion control rig. Figure 12.9 gives you a
look inside a stop-motion studio.

CLAY, PUPPET, AND STOP-MOTION ANIMATION 159

 12.9 The world of Henry Selick: Two feature films have
taken three-dimensional stop-motion animation techniques to new
heights. Both were directed by Henry Selick. The frames from Night-
mare Before Christmas—(A), (B), and (C), © Touchstone Pictures—
suggest the rich atmosphere and dynamic camera angles that
characterize Selick’s work. Production stills from James and the
Giant Peach—(D), (E), and (F), © Disney Enterprises, Inc.—show the
detail of puppet fabrication and the scale of production sets and
characters. Photos courtesy Tim Burton, Touchstone Pictures, and
Walt Disney Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

160 bh nsite ANWIMATION Boox

 Henry Selick developed his craft, in part, through a series of
short station IDs and other broadcast graphics that he did for MTV.
Frames from three different IDs show the range of aesthetic styles
possible with stop-motion techniques: (G) is Bathtub M, (H) is Con-
tortion M, and (I) is Dollhouse M. The production still, (J), shows
Selick and co-designer Ron Davis holding up a character that
appears in Contortion M and (K) shows some of the replaceable
block M’s that were used in the piece. In (L) Henry Selick is seen ani-
mating test footage for Do//house M. Photos courtesy Henry Selick,
Twitching Image, Inc., and MTV Networks.

CLAY, PUPPET, AND STOP-MOTION ANIMATION 161

WRITTEN WITH MICHAEL DOUGHERTY

holoscoping is d form of animation that creates a

very fluid, lifelike movement because each image is traced—
frame by frame—from live-action reference footage. To some,
this animation technique is restrictive because the movement is
so closely linked to “reality” and there is not much room for
exaggeration or caricature. Yet with creativity and experimen-
tation, rotoscoping can yield animation that is breathtakingly
beautiful—and even quite abstract.
Prior to the computer, the process of rotoscoping
required a very accurate set of filmmaking tools that pretty
much limited the technique’s use to feature films and expen-
sive TV commercials. The technique originated in the 1940s as
a way to combine live action with animated images onto a sin-
gle piece of 35mm celluloid film. This old-fashioned process is
almost never used anymore. But understanding its principles
will be useful in approaching digitally based rotoscoping.
The original process involved projecting a piece of live-
action film, one frame at a time, onto a piece of glass. A sheet
of tracing paper was placed onto the glass surface and this
provided a screenlike surface onto which an animator could
draw. Sometimes the live-action footage would be used as a
source for the animator to study, for example, the precise
movements of a galloping horse. Sometimes the animator
would need to have accurate access to each frame so that he
or she could draw a character into the existing scene—for

162
example, drawing a cartoon bird that would perch on a human
actor’s outstretched finger.
In classic rotoscoping, once the drawings had been
transferred to cels, the new animation and the old live action
were combined on a single strip of film. This was done in one
of two ways. The resynthesis could be achieved by placing the
appropriate cel from the animation sequence over the rear-
projected frame of the live-action film on the animation stand’s
compound surface and then rephotographing each frame. The
alternative technique was to photograph the animation
sequence by itself and then combine it with the live-action
footage in a process involving mattes and optical printing
techniques.
Sound complicated? It was. But the resulting visual
effects were deemed worth all the labor and expense. And
because rotoscoping opened up such imagination-grabbing
vistas, independent animators working in the 1960s and 1970s
13.1 Rotoscoping steps: A section of
concocted simple, homemade alternatives to the expensive live-action footage, (A), is selected and
rotoscope gear. These animators tended not to be interested in alternating frames are traced off a rear
combining animation with live action, but rather in applying an projection of surface, (B). The animator
may make a series of tests, (C), to deter-
artist's hand to imagery that was generated from live-action mine what graphic style or styles best suit
sources. Two of the jerry-rigged approaches developed by the original material and the nature of
independent animators are shown in Figure 13.2. the film. A complete set of images is cre-
ated and filmed. The resulting footage
But it’s a new day. Inexpensive computer techniques
will bear similarities to the original
have firmly bypassed the old film technology and digital roto- footage, but it will have a distinctive, ani-
scoping now blossoms as a vital new artistic frontier. It’s a mated look, (D). The illustrations are from
Family Spots, by the author.

ROTOSCOPING 163
 wide-open horizon with plenty of room for animation home-
steaders to stake out their own claims.

SOURCE MATERIALS YOU CAN FALL

A
IN LOVE WITH
Feosreh GUNES Croe Rene
CE OR TRACING PRo\ectON lf you want to try out digital rotoscoping, the first step is the
| most important one: You must either find or create live-action
reference footage that will sustain your interest through the
long and demanding process of transforming it into animation.
4s"®
Of course, anything is possible. You can rotoscope from
a TV show or from a home video. However, we recommend
Mleeoe PRo\ecror,
CASTS A SINGLE that you look for short clips of live action that contain lots of
B FeRAM.
movement. Consider these rotoscope playgrounds: sports
13.2 Tracing setups: If rotoscoping footage, dancing, action that forms a natural cycle (like turning
from a viewer, (A), select a model with as
in a circle or swinging), or footage that incorporates sweeping
large a viewing screen as possible. Also see
if you can use a brighter light source so that camera moves and dynamic zooms. Common to these sug-
the illumination of the selected frames will gested sources is a complex physical action that is both eye-
be bright and sharp. Be careful, however, catching and really difficult to animate using traditional
that the light isn’t so hot it burns the film in
the viewing gate. Precut tracing paper to
methods.
match the dimensions of the viewer screen. The best suggestion on how to get cool source material
Setup (B) illustrates how a film projector can for rotoscoping is to simply shoot it yourself, using a digital
be used in rotoscoping. Note that one can
camera. This way you can skip the digitizing process alto-
adjust the rig to get an image of almost any
size. Old projectors can be modified for gether (see page 165). One of the cheapest and most user-
rotoscoping so that a single frame is friendly digital cameras is the Connectix QuickCam (see the
advanced and so that the image is very
case study in Chapter 4: Animating Objects). These small
bright as it appears on the drawing glass
surface. eyeball-shaped cameras hook up to the back of your com-
puter and can capture video or single images in either gray-
scale or color, depending on the model. The image and sound
quality won't be the best, but it’s good enough for the pur-
pose of rotoscoping. The only disadvantage of QuickCams or
similar cameras that sit on your desk is that they have to be
directly connected to the computer in order to be used. So
unless you have a notebook computer you can take on loca-
tion, plan on shooting source videos in the same room as your
desktop computer. Keep in mind, too, that original clips
should be short enough for both you and your computer to
handle. Three to ten seconds is an appropriate length. Don’t
plan on trying to rotoscope an entire basketball game unless
you're sitting in jail and facing a life sentence!

164 i THe ANIMATION BooK

DIGITIZING/VIDEO CAPTURE 13.3 Rotoscoped variations: Four
variations on a single frame show the cre-
Let’s assume you've got a very nifty chunk of source material. ative breadth of rotoscoping. From Odal-
The next step is to transfer the video you want to use from a isque, a film by Maureen Selwood. Stills
courtesy Maureen Selwood.
camcorder or a VCR to your computer—a process called digitiz-
ing or video capture. This can be tricky since the type of com-
puter you have will affect how well the video is digitized. Most
Power Macintosh AV (Audio-Video) computers can achieve dig-
itizing very easily by just hooking up a VCR to the proper jacks,
without adding any additional cards or parts. With Windows
computers you may have to purchase and install video cards in
order for the machine to handle the video. Such cards will also
enable you to hook up a VCR or camcorder to your computer.
Before purchasing the cards, it’s important to make sure your
computer has enough RAM, a speedy processor, and enough
hard disk space to handle the large chunks of data you'll be
using. See Chapter 24: Computer Hardware.
To capture or digitize source material, you'll also need
the right software. One of the best packages for digitizing and
editing video for both Macs and PCs is Premiere from Adobe.
Premiere has an easy-to-learn interface and lots of extra fea-
tures that, as an animator, you will enjoy. These include dis-
solves, wipes, creating titles, and editing sounds. It’s no
surprise that Premiere works extremely well with other Adobe
software packages like Photoshop and After Effects.
Before we can get on with the heart of the rotoscope
process—where one creates custom imagery with frame-by-
frame reference to the source footage—itis necessary to
quickly discuss compression. A short video clip—say, 5 seconds
long—creates a huge digital file that can easily take up 5,000
kilobytes (5 megabytes) of storage (that’s three and a half
floppy disks). You don’t need a pocket calculator to know that
these file sizes are going to hog space on your hard drive and
slow down the computer's CPU as it tries to handle such a
gigantic wad of data. To handle this problem, computer scien-
tists have invented compression algorithms—mathematical
models that reduce the size of digital files by simplifying or
eliminating some of the data. To get the idea of compression,
imagine how much smaller the black-and-white copy of this
5-second video clip will be than its color version. Similarly, a
frame size that is one quarter as large as a full 325 lines of TV
resolution is going to take up less space. And if you can take a

ROTOSCOPING 165
 range of, say, five distinct shades of gray and treat them as
one, you will reduce storage requirements of a file that started
out with 256 shades of gray.
Video compression is an ever-expanding frontier in digi-
tal animation. Or should that be ever-reducing? Technological
advancements in compression make it easier for you and your
computer, but at a price. A decision awaits you. Here you must
engage in a give-and-take proposition in which you must find
the balance between quality and size. If you want or need to
trace from a high-definition clip, you shouldn’t compress it
much, but the resulting file will take up lots of space and slow
down the rate at which images can play back. But the more
you compress the file, the grainier your image will become
(and the clip’s sound quality will become muffled). In Chapter
23: Computer Software, you'll find a discussion of different
compression schemes that can be used in making QuickTime
digital movies. Each compression program has its own set of
benefits and corresponding uses.
Rotoscoping is a technique that can take advantage of
the biggest compression factors. Since your video source
footage is only being used as a reference that you will draw
over and it won't actually appear in the final product, a grainy
or blurred image isn’t a problem. It is best to choose the com-
pressor that will give you an adequate image for your particu-
lar project, and will significantly shrink the size of the file.

TWO DIGITAL ROTOSCOPING

METHODS

Figure 13.5 provides a detailed case study of how a single

piece of live action can be used in the rotoscope technique.

13.4 Rotoscoped TV IDs: Here are five frames from a series of

ten-second rotoscoped channel IDs that Kit Laybourne and Eli Noyes
did for Nickelodeon. (A) and (B) are from a piece titled “Menagerie.”
Public domain wildlife footage was the source for silhouette tracings
that lifted animal outlines from backgrounds. The resulting sets of
imagery were then combined and colorized using high-end video
tools. The same effects could be achieved today using After Effects
or Premiere. In an ID titled “Skating,” a set of “loose” tracings was
done with crayons and colored pencils onto white sheets of anima-
tion paper—(C), (D), and (E). The images were reversed in video post-
production, resulting in some of the looks sampled here. Courtesy
Noyes & Laybourne Enterprises, Inc., and Nickelodeon.

166 ; THE ANIMATION Book

Actually, you learn about two techniques using two different
digital tools. aa
Surely one of the all-time great graphics applications is
Photoshop from Adobe. This amazing program is sometimes
billed as an image-processing application. In truth it is much,
much more. The first portion of the case study shows how one
can use Photoshop for rotoscoping.
But there is another all-time great graphics application
that can be used for rotoscoping. This is Painter from Fractal
Design. A breakthrough computer paint program in its own
right, Painter can open up a video clip and let you draw or
scribble directly onto each frame using a variety of digital
painting tools that mimic the range of visual effects one can
achieve using traditional art media such as charcoal, oil paints,
watercolors, crayons, and pastels.
Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages,
which you will best discover yourself through trial and error. By
altering each frame separately in Photoshop, you use up less
memory than attempting to alter and design around an entire
video clip as you would using Painter. However, by using
Painter’s built-in video and animation features, you can skip
the often time-consuming process of exporting a clip as indi-
vidual frames, tracing in Photoshop, and then reassembling
them again in Premiere. Whichever method you decide on—or
even if you find another hybrid of software programs—digital
rotoscoping allows you to create an almost endless variety of
animations based on a few short live-action video clips.

ROTOSCOPING 167
 Kit Laybourne and Michael Dougherty asked Sam Laybourne, Kit’s son, to
help out in creating some interesting footage for a rotoscoping case study.
The source footage was shot on Sam’s Hi-8 camcorder. We shot against a
white living room wall so that the background wouldn't be distracting
when it came time to trace over the
short video clip. But that’s getting
ahead of ourselves. Here’s how we
did it, first using Photoshop and Pre-
miere, and second, using Painter.

The Digitized Source Footage

The five frames in (A) sample the dynamic action we chose—the
full shot was two and a half seconds long. It was digitized by
hooking up a Hi-8 deck to the computer, and using Premiere to
turn it into a 320 x 240 (less than full-sized) QuickTime movie.
The QuickTime clip, (B), can be viewed frame by frame to study
the action and begin thinking about what the rotoscoped anima-
tion version might look like.
We used After Effects to export the clip frame-by-frame as a
series of sequentially numbered PICT files.

Approach I: Drawing the New Frame in Photoshop

One by one, each PICT file was opened up in Photoshop. Using
the layer function, (E), a blank
“tracing” layer was placed on top
of the source PICT and used to draw on. This is a lot like placing a ‘SOK/THA
sheet of tracing paper on an image you want to copy. We could
have used any of the brushes, pencils and colors from Photoshop's tool palette— ea
(C), (D), and (E). (F) shows a black line being traced against Sam's image.
Once the drawing/tracing was completed on the new layer, the original PICT
layer from the live-action footage was deleted, leaving only the newly sketched i
frame, (G). The new image was saved with a new name
and a corresponding frame number, i.e., Roto 00074.
The same procedure was repeated for every frame (H). Well, not quite. To
save our time and efforts, we did the process for every other frame—following
the age-old animation dictum of working “on twos.” Once all the desired live-
action frames had been traced and saved, we were ready to import all these
sequential PICT files into Premiere.

168 A THE ANIMATION Book

fy a ee ee:

Reassembling in Premiere
Name Premiere is a versatile video editing application that not only allows you to edit
sam00066/roto —*{1] 4) video and QuickTime clips, but also lets you assemble a series of still images
Still Image together to make animation. All the PICT files were dragged (as a bunch) or
Duration: 0:00:00:02 “imported” into the Project Window in Premiere, (J). A setting under Premiere’s
sam00068/roto {1 Preferences menu lets you determine the length of each imported still image. In
Still Image g this case, we chose a duration of two frames — because we had only traced
Weg Our ation: _0:00
:00:02 every other frame but wanted the final rotoscope to have the same overall
sam00070/roto a] length as the original clip.
sat 020 00-02 Next we dragged the PICT files from the Project window to the Construction
. re Lea Window, (I). This process had to be done one PICT file at a time, kind of like
sam00072/roto [1]
1
Still Image
splicing on new frames to a filmstrip one by one, or exposing a new frame if
Wy Duration: 0:00:00:02 shooting on a camera.
sam00074/roto (1) hes
Still Image = Creating the Movie
Li Ya Duration: 0:00:00:02 = Our end product, a QuickTime movie of Sam's rotoscoped cartwheel, was ren-
dered by Premiere once all the PICT files had been brought into the construction
window and placed in their proper order. Note that in order to create smaller
J file sizes, we compressed the frame size by rendering the clip at 320 x 240 screen
resolution (half-size).
35 === Clip: sam rotoscope [1] === The end result, (K), is a new QuickTime clip with drawn animation that
mirrors the same motion and timing as the original live-action video
footage.

al

ROTOSCOPING 169
 Frame 69 of 120

[eA La
ima

67 68
Frome69 of 120 tah
tf

Approach II: Rotoscoping with Painter

Here’s an alternative technique for rotoscoping, which may seem easier. To start, you import the QuickTime clip directly
into Painter, the paint/draw application from Fractal Design. We opened our video clip just as we would any other file.
Painter turned the clip into an image stack and calculated the number of frames that composed the file. We were able to
view the footage frame-by-frame via the Frame Stack window, (L).
Painter will let you draw or scribble directly onto each frame using a terrific variety of traditional art tools, including
brush strokes, marker lines, colored pencils, airbrush, pastels, and more. Or, with the tracing paper option, you can work
on a transparent level that is placed over the original. Choose MOVIE instead of IMAGE in order to create a new file in
Painter that is the same size as your original captured video, and has the same number of frames. As you can see, this
function in Painter lets you see the frame you are working on plus the four frames that come before or after it.
We used the Movie menu and selected Set Movie Clone Source so that we could view both the source frame and the
tracing layer. With the tracing layer set as Frame 1, Painter knew that we wanted to use the video frames as source and
the tracing layer as a new clip where all the changes were saved. Once this step was completed, the original footage
appeared as “ghost” images, (M), that were slightly faded but still suitable for tracing over.
We worked quickly in drawing a slightly abstract set of action lines over the figures of Sam (N). As you can see, we
took a simple design path. But we could have taken advantage of Painter's ability to mimic traditional media effects,
including smudges, smears, and splatters.
Before long we got to the final frame. The original video clip was removed and the image stack was Saved As, creat-
ing a new QuickTime clip, (P). Some weeks later, Kit imported the QuickTime clip into his After Dark screensaver pro-
gram. Now Sam cartwheels for his dad many times a day.

170 R THe ANIMATION BooK

Traditional American animation
cel animation. The technique has taken its name from the
transparent sheets of celluloid that bore the likes of Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Bambi, Pinocchio,
Peter Pan, and the special universe of Fantasia.
It is no coincidence that the classic animated feature
films are almost all the work of the great Disney studios. More
than any other individual, Walt Disney guided the development
and refinement of cel animation techniques: its recognizable
cartoon style, its perfect synchronization of movement with
music and voice (called Mickey Mousing), its assembly-line sys-
tem of production, its division of labor and massive logistics
management. The Disney features are the penultimate
achievement of cel animation techniques.
American cartoon animation, or character animation, as
it’s now called, created not only a brand-new art and industry
but also the first truly international audience for animated
films. Cartoons have entertained viewers for almost three quar-
ters of a century, and some contemporary psychologists might
argue that the fantasy world of full-cell animation has
reshaped the imaginations and the inner imagery of successive
generations of children the world over.
Walt Disney is credited, and rightly, as being the father
of classic American animation, but the body of work created
with this technique was the business of entire studios of artists,
filmmakers, businessmen, and technicians. While tributes are
being handed out, here’s just a beginning list of individual ani-

ba Aa
 mators, those facile artists and storytellers and designers who
contributed to the artistry and impact of full-cell animation:
Walter Lantz, Oskar Fischinger, Winsor McCay, Max Fleischer,
14.1 The look of line animation:
Nine frame enlargements suggest the Paul Terry, Otto Messmer, John Hubley, Ub lwerks, Art Babbitt,
breadth of drawing style and subject matter Bob Clampet, Tex Avery, Milt Kahl, Chuck Jones, Shamus Cul-
that have been used in animating with reg-
hane, Frank Thomas, Tissa David, George Dunning, Grimm
istered sheets of paper. Note that the last
three in this series are from a single film, Natwick, Preston Blair, Ollie Johnson, and many, many more.
Ryan Larkin’s Street Musique. In “big-time” Disney-type animation every movement is
conveyed through acetate cels that lie stacked on top of each
other under the animation camera. Each acetate cel has been
painted by hand. The outline of the character is applied to one
side and the interior colors to the other side. The number of
layers of cels is determined by the number of moving parts in
any particular scene. For example, if a character is motionless
on the screen for a few moments, except for his mouth, cel
techniques allow the animator to use one cel to show the body
and head, and another set of cels to animate the various posi-
tions of the moving mouth. A background scene, of course,
would rest under the stack of clear cels. In a nutshell, that’s the
Mildred Goldsholl, Up Is Down. Courtesy
Pyramid Films. cel technique.

OVERVIEW

The step from any other technique to full-cel animation is big.

It's enormous, in fact. Although | don’t want to scare you off
from this most complicated of animation techniques, | do think
it is important to point out that you are now entering a rugged
domain. It’s an area filled with as many new concepts, tools, and
techniques as have been introduced in all the preceding chap-
ters. The road beginning here is most challenging. The journey
is not a short one. To get to the highest levels it’s necessary to
begin a lot further back. In this case, you'll be starting with ordi-
nary sheets of paper instead of acetate cels and with simple
pencil lines instead of intricately drawn and painted artwork.
This chapter is complicated enough to require its own
overview. It begins with an important discussion of the surface
area on which animated characters are created. Next there is
discussion of how to control movement and timing within a
series of drawings. The problem of animating a bouncing ball is
Sally Cruikshank, Fun on Mars. Courtesy given here. It’s a classic assignment and an important building
Serious Business Company. block for technical refinements that follow. Central topics rele-

172 ae ANIMATION BooK

Marcel Jankovics. Sisyphus. Courtesy Pyramid Films. J. P. and Lillian Somersaulter. The Light Fantastic Picture
Show. Courtesy Films, Inc.

Grant Munro and Ron Tunis. The Animal Movie. Courtesy Ryan Larkin. Street Musique. Courtesy Learning
National Film Board of Canada. Corporation of America.

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 173

 vant to the aesthetics of animation follow. The terms of the
discussion are neither vague nor abstract but perfectly con-
crete. You will design a character and then make it walk across
DRAWING the movie screen.
ee
C3:4 RATO)
If you can get this far, you're practically home. Creating
your first “walk” is probably the most difficult animation prob-
lem you will ever face. Once the technique is mastered, you'll
have reached a wonderful plateau in which the refinements
come easily and the parameters of your growth become wider
than ever.

LINE ANIMATION

Line animation is the technique of using registered sheets of

paper with simple artwork to create a series of drawings that
are then photographed by the animation camera. Line anima-
tion has only recently been recognized as a distinct and identi-
fiable technique in its own right. An older cousin to this kind of
animation is the pencil test, a familiar term around classic char-
14.2 Registration devices: A wooden acter animation studios.
molding, a 90-degree metal rule, or a similar The traditional pencil tests of the great animation studios
structure is fastened to a wood or Plexiglas
were simply a stage in the development of full-cel sequences,
drawing surface, (A). You can select any cor-
ner you prefer, but note that the area used whereby the initial drawings of an animator were quickly pho-
for drawing should not come too close to tographed right off the paper sheets used in developing such
the edges of the paper sheets you use. In preliminary sketches. The pencil test was, literally, a test, a way
(B), a simple pair of “bugs” is traced on suc-
cessive sheets. These marks must be aligned
of checking the flow and style of a series of drawings before
in filming as well as drawing. Using a stan- they were laboriously (and expensively) transferred to transpar-
dard two-hole or three-hole punch (or a ent acetate sheets.
variation of your own), a sturdy registration
Today’s independent animators often go no further than
peg system can be made with dowels and
papers punched to match it. Measurements this paper stage of animation. In so doing, they design their
in (C) conform to the three-hole standard movies in ways that make it possible to redraw the entire
punch.
image (including background) on each subsequent sheet of
paper. In the /ine-animation technique, the paper drawings
aren't “rough” drafts to the final film. They are the finished
drawings—fully articulated movements through finely ren-
dered artwork in watercolors, charcoal, felt-tipped pens, or
other graphic media. As we'll see, today’s independent anima-
tors have made other modifications in paper-cel techniques
that give their drawings the maximum impact with a minimum
duplication of drawings.
The frame enlargements in Figure 14.1 and elsewhere in

174 A. THE ANIMATION Book

these pages should clearly indicate that enough significant
work has been done with simple paper sheets to justify classi-
fying line animation as a distinct technique.
INCHED
ANIMATION
PAPER Cece:
REGISTRATION
al ACME STANDARD | Osx 398
A first requirement of line and cel animation is to keep all
Na —
drawings in accurate alignment so that the projected image
fe |
won't be jerky. A registration system is a way of establishing
(es)
that the individual sheets of paper on which the drawings are l eee a
made can be easily and precisely aligned. Here are four OXBERRY sTmomen! *SCOxK 250

possibilities. 14.3 Professional peg dimensions

Ninety-degree Corners. It is possible to use the squared
corners of paper sheets or index cards in developing an accu-
rate registration system. The animator simply lines up the
edges of the sheets, which should, of course, have the same
dimensions. A corner of a wood or metal picture frame can be
used to make a bracket to assist in the alignment. If you are
using corner registration, work with the thickest paper stock
available, index cards, or heavyweight bond.
Registration Bugs. When using a light table or tracing
paper, individual pages can be lined up visually by superimpos-
ing a “bug” drawn at opposite corners of each sheet of paper.
This kind of registration system is recommended only for those
situations in which the artwork is particularly large, unwieldy,
or cannot accept a punched registration system.
Round Punch. The standard two- or three-ring punch
that is used for school loose-leaf notebooks can be adapted to
provide a serviceable and inexpensive registration system. A
peg bar must be made that holds the sheets during the draw-
ing and filming of paper cels. A simple way to do this is to glue
%-inch-diameter wooden dowels, approximately % inch long,
14.4 Standard field size and peg
to a piece of heavy cardboard (Figure 14.2). Sand the top bar arrangement
edges so that the pegs won't rip the paper sheets.
Punch the outside holes at a distance of 41% inches from
the center hole. In this way you can use standard three-ring
notebook papers, and you can always have your sheets
punched to commercial specifications should you decide to
shoot the drawings under a camera that accepts only profes-
sional registration peg systems.
Professional Peg Systems. Different standards have

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION Lge)

 evolved for the placement and specifications of professional
peg systems. The standard in widest use seems to be the
Oxberry System, named after the firm that manufactures much
of the professional-caliber animation hardware. Specifications
of the Oxberry pegs are to be found in Figure 14.3. There is
another peg system that is used commercially today, the Acme
system. Its dimensions are also given.
While these professional systems are accurate, they are
also expensive. Metal sheets with a set of mounted metal pegs
cost about $35 each. Paper has to be specially punched. Chap-
ter 21 will give you more information about registration equip-
ment and costs.

FIELD SIZE

While there’s no universally accepted standard for registration,

there is one for determining the area that lies below the cam-
era. Figure 14.4 shows how the total field area and the pegs
are placed on the compound bed of an animation stand. The
dimensions cited are standard for the industry. This means that
if you have your paper cels photographed on a professional
stand, the camera operator will always be able to line up your
artwork in the same way you've designed it.
In Chapter 25 you'll find an accurately reproduced field
guide. A field is nothing more than the standard rectangular
frame that the camera “sees.” As you'll remember, there is a
common aspect ratio for the film image. It is roughly 4:3, width
to height, unless a special “wide-screen” format such as Cine-
maScope is being used. Camera fields are sized in common
animation parlance with a simple number. A #8 field, for
example, is exactly 8 inches wide. A #5 field measures 5 inches
in width. The function of the field guide is thus to specify the
area that the camera will be set up to photograph. A greatly
reduced model of the standard field guide is shown in Figure
14.5. You may want to detach the guide in Chapter 25 and
adapt it to whatever registration system you're using. This tool
will be immediately helpful in the projects to follow.
There is a standard relationship of the field (and peg
bars) to the animation camera. The center of the field guide is
matched to the center of the camera’s frame. This means that

176 a THe ANIMATION BooK

all directions for movement from the central position can be
indicated by N (north), S (south), E (east), and W (west).
More now about the field guide itself. Its measurements
are based on width increments of 1 inch. The smallest-size field
is called a #1 field and it is 1 inch wide by slightly less than 74
of an inch high. A #12 field is the largest photographic area
that is normally used. Its dimensions are 12 inches wide by a lit-
tle less than 107% inches high. Here are a few important things 14.5 Standard field guide: In Chapter
to know about the standard field guide. 25 there is a full-scale section of the stan-
Aspect Ratio. Regardless of field size, the dimensions of ate EN Ee ee yoo Cae eeraen ie
A ; use in your own work. The circle beneath
the frame must always assume the ratio of 4 to 3 (width to these coordinates: N-2/E-3. The heavy line
height). This is roughly equivalent to the standard format used shows a #4 field (4 inches wide).

ANIMATION FIELD GUIDE-16MM

PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT SERVICE, INC. NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y.

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LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 177

 in super 8mm, 16mm, and 35mm filmmaking, except for Cine-
RECOMMENBED TI. CUT-OFF
mascope and other “wide-screen” configurations. The actual
standard aspect ratio is 1.33 to 1.
Recommended Field. Typewriter paper, tracing tablets,
quality drawing papers—almost every imaginable type and
quality of paper stock—can be purchased in the common 814-
by 11-inch format. So often do animators use this size paper
for their work that a practical field size has evolved that you
may want to incorporate in your work. It’s a #10 field, slightly
smaller than an 8'4- by 11-inch sheet, used horizontally.
Coordinates. When the standard field guide is zeroed
out, that is, when the center of the camera frame coincides
CAMERA FIELD PROCTOR with the center of the field guide, it’s possible to specify any
Cvaetes)
point within the field by stating the numerical value of its coor-
14.6 Projection and TV cutoff: The dinates. This allows animators to specify precisely and univer-
degree to which the edges of the field are
masked during film projection will vary with
sally the position of any point under the camera. For example,
the specific projector being used. Similarly, in Figure 14.5 the tiny circle would be indicated by N-2/E-3. If
television sets differ in how much of the full you wanted to begin a sequence with a small field located off
picture they cut off. This illustration sug-
center, you first mention the coordinates of the field’s center
gests rough limits for both projection and
TV cutoff. Special field guides are available and then the size of the field itself. In our example, N-2/E-3 is a
to indicate the recommended “TV safe” #4 field.
area for various field sizes. This standardized system of coordinates permits an ani-
mator to provide very exact instructions for complicated move-
ments. For example, the following would be immediately
understood by an animation cameraperson: Initial position: #8
field 0-0. Final position #4 field N-2/E-3. Track and zoom in 40
frames.
Edges. Here is a practical note that is based on painful
experience. Although super 8mm and 16mm reflex cameras
are supposed to show precisely what the camera is seeing
when you look through the viewfinder, often there is a slight
discrepancy. For most forms of filmmaking this error is insignif-
icant. But in animation it matters very much. The precise loca-
tion of frame lines is often critical. So be cautious. Always leave
a little extra room between the edges of your drawing and the
edges of the paper sheets you are using.
The Safe Area. When a film is broadcast over television,
part of the picture area is always lost. As a matter of fact, some
of the picture area is normally lost in 16mm or super 8mm pro-
jection. In any event, if you think your film might end up on
television, you should design it so that the action takes place
within the safe area.

Pres THE ANIMATION Book

THE BOUNCING BALL STEP|
It's easy to despair in the face of field guide coordinates, regis-
tration pegs, aspect ratios, and safe areas. In fact, there’s prob- 46 Feb

ably something wrong with you if you’re not inundated with 6"x th :

details. However, all this information can be effectively assimi-

lated if you put the information into real operation. Complete
the following project. The challenge is to use paper sheets to
animate a bouncing ball. This is one of the two classic exercises
in animation. The other is the walk. As best you can, try to fol-
low these instructions. You'll make mistakes—anticipate that
at the outset. But you'll be familiarizing yourself with the basic
process. And that will help you to understand the more
detailed explanations and refinements yet to come.
Step 1: Field. Using a field guide and whatever registra-
tion system you have (the edges of the sheets will do), draw
the outside perimeters of a #6 field. Center the field so that the
coordinates are 0-0.
Step 2: Path. Using either tracing paper or a light table to
help you see through more than one piece of paper, place a
fresh sheet over the one showing your field and draw a path a
bouncing ball might take if it were to enter the frame from the
left and then hit the ground twice as it moves across the field
and disappears off the right side of the frame. 14.7 The bouncing ball

Step 3: Ball Size. Select a size for the ball you will ani-
mate. Don’t make it too small or too large—something in the
area of 1 inch in diameter ought to work well in this project.
Step 4: Timing. |n this exercise you should try to pace the
drawings so that the ball will hit the ground at intervals of
exactly 1 second. You will be shooting on twos, so twelve
drawings are required to make 1 second of screen time.
Step 5: Draw It. Without further explanation, try the
problem of the bouncing ball. Use the path diagram as a guide
and use a different sheet of paper for each new position. Try to
have twelve drawings between each bounce of the ball.
Remember, there should be two bounces as the ball moves
across the screen. Number each sheet of paper in the upper-
right-hand corner. Attacking this problem will require about
thirty-six pieces of paper and several minutes of your life, but it
will prepare you for the discussions to follow and for all the
fine points of animating with line drawings and finally with
plastic cels.

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 1713

 Step 6: Preview. After you've completed the problem,
hold the stack of drawings in one hand and flip through the
pile with the other hand. This will let you preview your work.

CONTROLLING MOVEMENT
AND TIME

It is, of course, the amount of change in position between one

14.8 A mathematical bounce: A 1-
second duration means there are 24 frames drawing and the next that creates the illusion of movement,
between each contact of the bouncing ball but how can you tell how much to change each drawing from
with the ground. Shooting on twos would
the ones preceding and following it? How is it possible to plan
thus require the animator to produce 12
drawings that start with position A and end ahead so things end up where you want them and at the right
just before position B. The ball hits only
once per second and here we start each sec-
ond with that hit.

ee
Roniad’sTIME AND ne
Fila Lene et
SECOWHS

SUPER Bue — 7 FRAMES Pere Foor

(Onn — 40 FeAMESPee Foor
35 mau - 16 FRAMES POR Foor
14.9 Animation timing chart

180 — ANIMATION BooK

moment as well? Is there a way to speed up the process of
drawing? And how can you get a real feeling of character or
personality into a particular movement?
If we were to undertake a structural analysis of the
bouncing-ball problem, we would divide the distance to be
covered by the time required for a particular movement. If you
looked at a single, complete bounce of the ball, you would
have a series of drawings that were symmetrically placed. The
plotting of the balls in Figure 14.8 has been determined
through straight arithmetic.
14.10 An exaggerated bounce: Field,
In real life, a ball accelerates as it approaches the ground trajectory, and ball size are identical with
and decelerates as it reaches the top of its bounce. This change those in Figure 14.8. Note, however, the dif-
ferent placement of individual positions on
of speed has to be designed into the animation. More than
the arc. This bounce will look and feel
that, this nuance in the reality of a bouncing ball must be “right,” but even greater exaggeration
accentuated. There is a way to help decide where to place each would read correctly when filmed.
drawing of the ball. The key lies in the analysis of the time for
any given movement.
By now it should almost be second nature for you to
change time in seconds into time measured in drawings. The
process becomes almost unconscious once you've done it a
few times. The camera shoots on twos. Each drawing will
become 2 frames of film. Therefore twelve drawings are
needed for 1 second of finished film.
To always know the number of frames comprising a
given amount of “screen time,” mount a time chart close to
the work area where you draw and shoot your animation. Such
a chart is shown in Figure 14.9. If you’d like, you can cut this
out of the book, put it into an ornate rococo frame, and hang
it over your drawing table.
Back to the bouncing ball. The given time in the prob-
lem is 1 second between bounces. The second-to-drawing
computation is easy; shooting on twos, you need twelve indi-
vidual drawings to fill the 24 frames of 1 second. Figure 14.10
shows the same bounce trajectory as used in Figure 14.8.
Note, however, a different selection of positions for the
twelve individual balls. This new spacing plan takes into
account the unique way in which a ball really bounces: slower
at the top of its arc, faster as it approaches the ground. Look
at the ball’s positions on the curve. Although these points are
symmetrically placed on either side of the bounce (after all,
things go up and down with the same flow), the positions of
the six ascending and the six descending locations are asym-

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 181

 metrically arranged. This arrangement will accommodate the
varying speed of the ball.
Study Figure 14.10 carefully. The slower you want the
ball to appear to move, the closer must be the positions of con-
secutive drawings. Remember that in filming and then in pro-
jecting, these closer images will show less change over the
same period of time than would wider-spaced images. Speed is
always relative. To make the movement appear faster, the
positions are spaced farther apart.
The series of positions in the arc actually exaggerates the
positions of a real bouncing ball. In Figure 14.11 you'll see
frame enlargements of a bouncing tennis ball from an actual
film taken at live-action speed. Compare the difference in
spacing in the real version with the animated version.
The spectacular squashing of the ball as it bounces sum-
marizes the difference between an animated movement and
the real thing. As gross as the squash may appear in the spac-
ing guide (Figure 14.10), its effect will “feel” right in the
finished movie. Exaggeration is the single most important
quality in giving “personality” or “character” to an animated
movement.
Here’s another fine point that you can study through
experimentation. Movement is always perceived relative to the
size of the objects and background, as well as to the speed of
other objects. Different-size balls will seem to move at different
speeds. Smaller balls look faster than larger ones even if the
different balls are traveling the same trajectory for the same
period of time. A similar effect exists with field sizes. The same
set of drawings will be perceived differently according to the
composition and size of the field in which they are placed.

EXTREMES AND IN-BETWEENS

If you have tried to animate the bouncing ball, you have prob-
ably found yourself beginning with ball #1 and then working
14.11 A live-action bounce: This steadily through the remaining drawings in numerical order.
enlargement of a 16mm film clip shows the
Somewhere in the process, | suspect, there may have come a
positions of an actual rubber ball as it
bounces in real time. In this example, the moment when you realized that you must plan ahead so that
ball appears to be hitting at roughly a half- things would come out right. In this case, the thirteenth draw-
second interval—each 10’ frames. ing would show the ball hitting the ground as it initiates the
second bounce. Getting to the right position at the right time is

182 4 THe ANIMATION Book

a universal problem in animation. With those techniques that MID Powor
Vv Vv
demand precise timing, planning ahead is absolutely essential. M2345 627 ou ~O
ape BAL ATS
The best way to animate fluid movements that must arrive
CSnex oF 34 Fenie Acar) Csther
OF WexT BEAT)
where you want them when you want them is to employ a
process called extremes and in-betweens. The process gener-
ally begins not with one of the actual drawings but with a
schematic sketch that outlines the course of a movement and
the relative positioning of the entire set of drawings. This is
called a spacing guide. A sample has been introduced already
in Figure 14.10.
There is a second notation/planning device that anima-
14.12 Breaking down the beat
tors often use before they start drawing. It’s called a break-
down count, and it gives the animator an order in which to do
the individual drawings. In the bouncing-ball exercise, the ball
was to hit the ground at the beginning of each second. This is
called a 24 beat, one hit every 24 frames. As we've seen, the
sequence requires twelve drawings. The animator begins by
writing out the numbers of all the drawings required in the first
beat (Figure 14.12).
6S wa Bula
The numbers representing the beats are circled. In our
example, #1 and #13 represent the start of the first and second 14.13 A rear-lighted drawing table:
beats. These become a first set of extremes and should be The sketch suggests the features of an ani-
mator’s drawing table. The raised angle
drawn first. Next, the midway points between these extremes makes it easier to draw. Light tables can be
are located and drawn. In the example in Figure 14.12 this is easily jerry-rigged. For example, a sheet of
#7. The midway points between the new extremes—#4 and glass with tracing paper on its underside can
be suspended between two piles of books,
#10—are drawn next.
allowing a desk lamp to light the surface of
Whatever the length or speed or quality of a movement, the glass from underneath.
the extreme positions should always be drawn first. Because
the light table enables the animator to see through at least
three sheets of paper at the same time, extremes become very
concrete guides to where to place and how to draw the
remaining images—called in-betweens.
Only after the extremes have been drawn does the ani-
mator finish up the series by doing the remaining drawings. In
our exercise, the in-betweens are numbers 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11,
and 12. While independent animators generally draw these
themselves, in large studios the chief animator often does just
the extremes and an assistant animator finishes off a particular
movement or scene by drawing all the in-betweens. 14.14 A perspective bounce: This
Project: Bouncing Ball Revisited. To assimilate all this sketch suggests the loose working style that
many animators use in roughing out a spac-
information and master the awkward process it requires, you ing guide and in breaking down a given
should undertake another bouncing-ball problem. Use a #8 time-distance problem.

LINE AWD CEL ANIMATION 183

14.15 Kathy Rose’s rules: Lest the
process of extremes and in-betweens or the
values of motivation, anticipation, and exag-
geration become too strictly interpreted,
study this sequence of key frames from The
Doodles by Kathy Rose, (A) through (L). Ms.
Rose breaks all the rules. Some 6,000 draw-
ings comprising the movie were all drawn
upside down on paper. Voice, sound effects,
and music were added after the filming. In
all her films, Kathy Rose does the animation
“straight ahead,” very rarely using extremes
or in-betweening. Most of the work is done
using a basic storyboard, with a great deal
of improvisation. Photos courtesy Kathy Rose
and Serious Business Company.

184 A THe ANIMATION BooK

field, have the ball bounce on a “beat” of every 20 frames, and
use a very small-size ball, about half an inch in diameter.
First make a spacing guide and select a trajectory within
the field. Next, make a breakdown count in order to determine
the order for drawing extremes and in-betweens. After you've
completed the animation, film the registered sheets of paper,
shooting on twos.
If you feel up to it, try this more difficult bounce prob-
lem. Select a large field and have the ball hit three times as it
moves from deep in the distance toward the foreground. Use a
beat of 16 frames. Have the ball begin small and end up very
large in size. In fact, have it fill the screen in the last drawing.
Film this shooting on twos. Figure 14.14 provides a rough plan-
ning chart for this more difficult problem.

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 185

14.16 Animating a walk
STE To: AWALUSIS OF NoVENENT
STEP OE: Che ACTES BESON

Step one: Character design: Easily drawn circular shapes Step two: Analysis of movement: Spend
are used as the foundation of the character. All nonessential time studying how different kinds and degrees of
details should be eliminated. The rear leg is shaded to help movement will best express the distinctive personal-
distinguish right and left legs. ity you wish your walking character to exhibit. This is
a critical step.

ANTICIPATION, EXAGGERATION,
AND MOTIVATION

In reading all this, and in trying it, you may begin to feel that
the technique of animating with registered sheets has become
its own end; that figuring out and then executing a series of
drawings is the highest goal and most prized competency an
animator can attain. But in animated filmmaking, as in all other
art forms, technique is meant to serve the primary goal of
expression. How something is realized is never more important
than what is being realized. Execution should never be of more
importance than content.
As you are laboring with your spacing guides and
extremes, try to keep part of your mind focused on the follow-
ing kinds of questions. Is this movement right for the charac-
ter? Does it have the same qualities as real movement? Does
the movement reveal subtle qualities about the character or
about the story? In the final analysis, does the movement
“move” the mind and the feelings of the viewer?
Learning how to block out and animate a bouncing ball
is only a means in that by mastering the process you'll be able
to bring to life a drawing of your own design and make it move
in ways that are unique and fitting to it.
Anticipation and exaggeration have become special
concepts in character animation. Wherever and whenever
possible, the animator tries to give a character a distinct
physical movement in anticipation of what is to be a major
movement. If Porky Pig is to walk toward screen left, that

186 a THe ANIMATION Book

 STE THREE / SPACING 6LINE / RREARROWN COUNT

Step three: Spacing guide/breakdown count: A foot is to Step four: Extremes: In animating a
hit the ground each half second or every 12 frames. This happens to walk, it is necessary to simultaneously see
be the timing of a “normal” walking step. through at least three sheets of paper. Com-
mon tracing paper will allow this, or you
movement is first prefaced and anticipated by a small move- can use a simple light table like the one
shown in Figure 14.13. In drawing extremes,
ment toward screen right. You've probably noticed how car-
remember that if the character has weight,
toon characters always seem to pause miraculously in midair the position of whichever foot is on the
before they begin their fall after walking over the edge of a ground will remain fixed throughout an
entire step (in this case, for six drawings).
cliff. This pause is “anticipation.” And then the fall itself is
often exaggerated. Wile E. Coyote chasing the roadrunner
seems to fall off cliffs that are at least five miles high. And the STEP Five: IWMRETWWEENS
impact of the fall causes the poor coyote to disappear into a
deep hole. Exaggeration again.
So central is the use of extreme anticipation and exag-
geration in classic American cartoon animation that the
matched concepts have taken on more informal names. When
talking about the aesthetics of their craft, animators will speak
generically of stretch and squash. The terms are synonymous
with anticipation and exaggeration. The bouncing-ball prob-
lem should have introduced both of these quite clearly.
One of the animator’s most creative acts is the study of Step five: In-betweens: This ought to
real movement. Hours must be spent watching how a friend be an easy step. A registration system is
walks, studying the mannerisms of animals, peering with con- required, of course, in steps four and five as
well as in the eventual filming of the
centration at one’s image in a mirror. Yet understanding how drawings.
and why things move as they do is only part of the creative
process. If a movement is to work, it must be properly moti- STEP six; CLEAN- UBS
vated. The animator has to convince the audience that the only

Step six: Cleanups: Depending upon how roughly you work, it

may be important to redo each drawing quickly so that the clarity
and simplicity of the original design (step one) is maintained consis-
tently throughout the walk. This is also a good time to check the
details of movement and characterization that you've designed in
step two (anticipation, exaggeration, motivation, stretch, and
squash).

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 187

 possible kind of movement for a given situation is precisely that
movement the animator has created. Developing motivation
for a particular sequence and movement becomes another
central aesthetic concern.

THE WALK

IS Needless to say, a ball is a lot easier to draw than even the

tere, Renibe tr—BODY
TURKS To FACE FRONT simplest cartoon character. The classic bouncing-ball project is
At Swe TIME. Hop
Tres Rinse Aris — often followed by another classic, the walk. Animating a
PDD RALOON.
walking character for the first time just has to be one of the
14.17 Spacing guide for walk most difficult and challenging problems you'll ever set for
project
yourself.
The illustrations in Figure 14.16 clarify some basic princi-
ples about animating a walk. Note that the process of planning
the drawing is exactly the same as the process used in execut-
ing the bouncing-ball problem.
Project: Your Very Own First Walk. This project assigns
you the same specifications as the sample walk just presented:
a #10 field size, a 12-frame beat, and a figure of approximately
the same height and width of gait. But this time it’s your char-
acter, a creation of your own mind that will move with the style
you draw into it. The degree of exaggeration and anticipation
that you select for your walking person is for you alone to
decide. You can, if you want, even have the character look a
little like yourself.
Here’s a simple narrative framework for this walk
sequence. Your character enters the screen from the left and

ee: THE ANIMATION Book

 14.18 Ryan Larkin’s Walking: In
Ryan Larkin’s deceptively simple film, the
screen shows us beautiful studies of people
in motion. Done with sheets of paper, not
acetate cels, Walking explores different walk-
ing gaits, different kinds of walkers, different
angles of observation, different moods, and
different—boldly different—styles of anima-
tion, (A) through (N). Stills courtesy National
Film Board of Canada and Learning Corpora-
tion of America. Film strips by the author.

LiNE AND CEL ANIMATION 189

 takes two full paces (four steps) into the middle of the field.
Plan this so that when the character comes to a standstill after
the second full pace, he or she will still be within the given field
size. At this point, have your character pause for '2 second and
then, in another 1 second, turn the character so that it faces
the camera. Let there be another pause, this time for a full sec-
ond. Finally, raise your character's arms in a move that takes '4
second. In the last drawing of the sequence have a “bubble”
pop onto the screen beside your character with this written
inside: “I'm terrific.” This project should require in the neigh-
borhood of thirty-five drawings on separate sheets of paper.
Figure 14.17 gives a scaled-down suggestion of how your
spacing guide might look.

EASING IN AND EASING OUT

It’s the moment for an import digression. In animating a pan,

or any other movement, it is necessary to move gradually up to
the full speed of the movement. A character can’t suddenly
appear to walk at full speed any more than someone in real life
can suddenly jerk into full movement. A transition is required.
In animation, this transition from stasis to a steady rate
of movement is called easing in and easing out. Complex for-
mulas have been invented to help the animator chart the initial
movements in this transition. At this level of exploration, how-
ever, it is enough to improvise easing in or easing out of a pan
by gradually increasing the distance between positions during
the initial phase of filming.

CYCLES AND HOLDS

Animators love shortcuts. It’s not surprising. Shortcuts allow

one to make the longest film for the least labor. Shortcuts
stretch the impact of an animator’s art. You'll grow to love
shortcuts too!
In doing the walk problem, you can use a single drawing
for a full twenty-four frames at the pause before the character
lifts his or her arms. Such a moment is called a hold. This short-
cut enables the animator to avoid drawing the stationary figure
twelve times.

a THe ANIMATION Book

 A cycle accomplishes the same thing, increasing the num- 14.19 Cycling with paper sheets:
ber of times a single drawing can be used. But a cycle does this The sketch shows an animation disc that has
been mounted into a table and then lit
with movement. In the walk, you were asked to draw two full from beneath. In addition to the frosted
paces, which was accomplished in twenty-four drawings (the glass or Plexiglas insert in its center, the disc
“beat” was twelve, which required six drawings for every step). bears two sliding peg bars. In filming a
cycle, one set of pegs remains stationary (it
A cycle allows you to accomplish the very same visual effect with
bears the cycle of drawings) while the other
just twelve drawings, half the total number normally required. set of pegs (bearing the same background)
The principle of a cycle is based on the is moved incrementally between exposures.
ability to design a series of drawings so that the
last drawing leads smoothly back to the position
of the first drawing. This means, of course, that
the same set of drawings can be used again and
again as long as you want the sequence TOP suing
repeated. Pes wint
In order for the last drawing in the cycle
(#6) to lead smoothly into the first drawing (#1),
the drawings must be modified so that there is
no forward movement. The character's head
stays in the same position, although the legs
continue to move as before. This means that the REGistTeeeD pe
OF PAPER fey
character’s feet must “slide” somewhat be- OR CEL.
tween drawings so that the walking figure
Ss
always returns to the same initial position.
No matter what kind of character or
object you are animating (a car, an animal, a UsGkTS Wirt
BARN ILLON WOATE
spaceship) or how many drawings comprise the
cycle, the movement will appear correct if the
last position leads smoothly back to the first
position. }
To get a feeling of forward movement, a separate back-
ground is made, which will pass under the walking figure while
it remains in exactly the same place. To achieve this effect, it is
necessary to see through the top paper sheets to a background
sheet. This is most effectively done with clear acetate sheets, as
opposed to paper sheets. However, by using a rear-lighted sur-
face under the camera, it’s possible to see through more than
one page of the paper sheets (Figure 14.19).
Try to cycle the animated walk you designed in the last
project. Create the effect of forward movement by panning a
background beneath the walking figure, using rear lighting, or
by simply advancing the drawings of the cycle under the cam-
era without a background of any kind.

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 191

 MOVEMENTS OF THE TWO LEGGED FIGURE
HERE IS A COMPARISON OF THE VARIOUS TWO LEGGED FORWARD MOVEMENT CYCLES --T HAVE
DRAWN ONE-HALF OF EACH CYCLE BELOW--REVERSE HANDS +FEET FOR THE OTHER HALF---
-THESE CYCLES CAN BE USED AS "REPEATS*-CTHAT IS THE DRAWINGS MAY BE REPEATED OVER
+OVER IF THE FIGURE REMAINS CENTERED ON THE SCREEN AND THE BACKGROUND MOVES.
-seme O(a)

<7 22°7-~..
Se ON a swore sZs ZS area =
ee
eae al t) ‘S ) on LON nn -5 commener"(
RUN — OY" GON) POP a OY AD wt
e 5 “4 Ox an

192 y, THE ANIMATION Book

14.20 Cycling someone in motion: As only a master anima-
tor could do it, these variations have been created by Preston Blair.
Mr. Blair worked for many years at the Disney studios, where he
contributed to Pinocchio, Bambi, and Fantasia. (In the latter he
designed the hippos.) Later, working for MGM, Mr. Blair designed
and animated Little Red Riding Hood and directed cartoon shorts.
Material here is gratefully reproduced from Animation—How to
Draw Animated Cartoons, by Preston Blair, published by Walter
Foster.

NUMBERING

You have already discovered how important it is to consistently

number the separate sheets of paper that hold your drawings.
This is especially important when you get into cycles and holds.
The more complicated your film, the greater the need to keep
accurate records of how many times to expose a particular
drawing or how many times to repeat a particular cycle.
With the paper sheets of line animation, the numbering
system can be relatively simple. Informal notation devices can
be used. But the problem becomes much more complicated
once you start to use layers of paper cels, or when you incor-
porate a camera or compound movement with the use of
paper sheets. A sophisticated system for numbering is dis-
cussed later.

REFINEMENTS AND 14.21 Precise planning: These four

SPECIAL EFFECTS photographs show a sophisticated spacing
guide, (A), planning elements, (B) and (©),
Although we've not yet reached the use of acetate cels, |’d like and final art used in Al Jarnow’s Autosong,
(D). Courtesy Al Jarnow.
you to know that once you have mastered the walk, you've
dealt with animation in its most complete and most elegant
state. The differences between line techniques and cel tech-
niques are differences in execution, not conceptualization. In
fact, cel techniques are designed to make simpler, easier, and
faster the sort of complete animation that we've been working
through thus far.
Line techniques yield “full” animation. Each element of
the image can be modified in the twelve drawings required for
each second of screen time. Unless one chooses to film sepa-
rate drawings for each frame, there is no way to pack more

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 193

14.22 Cel/line hybrids: George Griffin
demonstrates a few innovative techniques
that combine line and cel animation. In (A)
an acetate sheet with lines and a paper
sheet with textured color are cut so that a
third level of material can show through
a Candy Machine character’s eyes. Also from
Candy Machine, (B) shows how a paper
lightning bolt has been mounted on an
acetate sheet and then placed on top of
other artwork. George Griffin stands beside
an extended pan background that combines
cel and paper levels, (C). In his hands the
animator holds cutout paper figures used in
this scene from The Club.

movement within a second of film. You've reached the satura-

tion point. Here are some quick notes on simple modifications
of line-animation technique through the use of registered
paper sheets.
Multiple Layers with a Light Box. A rear-lighted surface
allows you to see through a number of sheets of paper. This
helps in doing in-betweens once you've drawn extremes. If you
use tracing paper, you'll be able to get a clearer illumination for
more layers of paper sheets.
Die-cuts. One paper cel can be used as a “frame” for
those cels placed under it. The effect is quite pleasing—a
frame within a frame.
Cel-over. An easy way to show a very simple background

194 5 THE ANIMATION BooK

without redrawing it is to create a single acetate ce/ with a few
background lines drawn on it. This cel is placed over the sheets
of paper before each shutter release. A set of top pegs and
bottom pegs are helpful to ensure good registration.
Special Papers. Don't overlook the creative effects inher-
ent in different kinds of drawing paper. You can take good
advantage of variations in texture and color.
Graphic Media. There are also creative possibilities in
using different marking tools. Experiment with watercolors,
felt-tipped pens, pastels, crayons, colored pencils, charcoal,
acrylic paints, drawing inks, and so on. Each dictates a special
kind of drawing. Discover, if you can, which drawing media
best fortify and extend the unique character of your own per-
sonal drawing style.
Dissolve Series. lf your camera has the capability to exe-
cute in-camera dissolves, you can produce very powerful
effects by “dissolving” between drawings. When used appro-
priately, this technique can save you the work of doing in-
between drawings. For example, a 12-frame dissolve (which
lasts % second) requires only two drawings, while full anima-
tion during the same 4) second would require six drawings.
Experiment with dissolves of different lengths.
Multi-image. With registered paper sheets you can easily
create multi-image movies. For example, the camera can be
positioned so that there will be a large field that accommo-
dates two different sets of drawings. A masking device can be
used to create a regular frame for different cycle drawings.

14.23 Use of line and texture: A

sketchbook’s black pencil drawings come to
life in George Geersten’s The Men in the
CEL ANIMATION
Park. Animation is sporadic but intense.
Facial expressions change. A figure of a man
Believe it or not, cel animation was invented because it saves
rises and shambles off screen. There is a blur
work. The transparent surface of the plastic sheet makes it of nearby traffic. Note the texture of the
unnecessary to draw all the parts of a scene every time there is lines. Courtesy National Film Board of
to be a change in one of the component parts. In turn, this Canada.

means that the imagery of animation can become far more

detailed and finely rendered than would ever be possible if
every single element of the drawing had to be completely
redrawn each time a change is required, as it is in line anima-
tion. The term ce/ comes from celluloid, the chemical substance
of the early plastic sheets. Acetate is the proper chemical name
of the sheets in use today, but the old name has stuck. Today,

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 195

 the word cel refers to transparent plastic sheets, regardless of
material.
The heart of the process of working with cels has already
been introduced: registration, extremes and in-betweens, cycles
and holds, stretch and squash. The discussion that follows
deals with the unique characteristics, potentials, and problems
of using acetate sheets, and of the system of animation that
has developed around them. Let’s begin with the cel itself.
The standard animation cel is a transparent plastic sheet
that is .005 of an inch thick and measures 10% by 13 inches.
The sheet is slightly larger than a #12 field and it is usually
punched to fit one of the two standard registration systems,
Oxberry or Acme.
The surface of the cel is very soft. It scratches, bends, rips,
and smudges easily. It collects dust like a magnet. For these
reasons, cels are handled with great care and usually the ani-
mator will wear cotton gloves while painting or handling them.
If you try to remember that the function of the cel is to
save work, it becomes easy to see how the cel is used. When-
ever and wherever possible, an animator will save the labor of
redrawing. An example or two will make this clear.
Imagine that we want to animate that famous moment
in prehistory when one of our ancestors discovered fire. We'll
first create a scene, perhaps the mouth of a cave. Our charac-
ter might be sleeping when a huge lightning bolt zaps the
ground beside him. Let’s say that this dim-witted caveman fails
to stir during the first smashing bolt. He snores on. A second
blast manages to burn off his fur clothing. He continues sleep-
ing peacefully. Eventually, however, our ancestor starts shiver-
ing in his sleep from the cold. A third lightning blast awakens
him and he notices a burning branch. His curiosity is aroused.
He crawls over for a look, a very close look. He burns his nose
and discovers the meaning of fire. It’s an elevated moment—
one small sniff for man, one giant waft for mankind.
The drawings in Figure 14.24 present the opening scene
of this drama, plus quick sketches for key moments within the
story: the first zap of lightning, the burning clothes, the awak-
ening, the moment of glorious discovery.
The largest saving of work comes right at the outset.
Using cels, one never has to redraw the background. The
same drawing can be used throughout the entire sequence.
14.24 How acetate cels save work The opening moment, for example, requires just one layer of

196 $ THe ANIMATION Book

cels for our sleeping friend. If the animator wants to have him
snoring, then there might be a cycle of, say, three or four cels
that would show the body moving slightly as our caveman
sleeps. These few drawings could comprise the first five sec-
onds of the film.
But greater economies are in store thanks to cel tech-
niques. During the first strike of lightning, the animator could
use a second layer of cels to show the lightning itself as it blasts
onto the scene. No need to redraw our hero if the lightning is
carried on a second level of cels.
In the sequence where our ancient relative sleeps peace-
fully as his loincloth is burning off, the animator might use one
cel for the naked body, while a different cel level shows, in
stages, the fur being singed away. Executed as a close-up, this
sequence might bear further refinements. The great discov-
erer’s face might reveal a sensual smile as his body is warmed
for the first time by a flame. In this case another cel level could
be used to show the changing facial expression. Without the
use of cels, the entire body and background would have to be
drawn twelve times for each second of screen time. With cels,
only the burning cloth and perhaps the eyes and mouth would
need to be redrawn, for each exposure.
Skipping now to that moment of triumph, the animator
could design the sequence so that the caveman’s body remains
motionless once he has crawled over to investigate the burning
branch. Only his head and nose would actually be extended
with suspicion toward the novel sight. At this moment three
cel levels would be used: one for the body; one for the head
and nose, stretching and sniffing; and one for the burning
branch, the latter probably a cycle of three or four cels. The
original background would still be used.
A maximum of four layers of cels can be used at any
given time. The animator must study and plan the action care-
fully in order to break down the overall image into no more
than four layers.
Each acetate cel has a small degree of optical density
even though a single plastic sheet appears transparent. If you
hold one cel over a picture you may not be able to make out
the slight fading of color. But if you hold three or four cels
against a background, your eye will easily detect a major
change in color intensity and in the definition, or clarity, of the
image.

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 197

 Any change in the number of cels covering a given back-
ground will be noticed. Hence, if there is a scene in which four
cels are used—even for a short sequence—four cels will have
to be used throughout the film. In our example, three cel levels
are required for the finale. This means that two blank cells are
required for the first part of the scene in order to provide a
consistent optical density. Otherwise the background will
appear to change intensity and color.
Wherever possible, of course, the animator uses previ-

14.25 Cel levels: Two cel levels, (A) and (B), combine with a
background painted on paper, (C), to compose a frame, (D), in Janet
Perlman’s Lady Fishbourne’s Complete Guide to Better Table Man-
ners. Frame enlargements, (E) and (F), show other moments in the
film.

)
198 § THe ANIMATION BooK
ously prepared cels or opts to hold particular cels under the
camera for as long as possible. The latter is termed a held cel.
And if there’s a way, the animator will always keep one level of
cels for use with a cycle of drawings that can be repeated again
and again. When there is full movement, of course, everything
that moves must be redrawn. For such movements the anima-
tor generally consolidates all the action into one cel level. This
is simply for economy and drawing convenience
As noted before, animators usually first try out compli-
cated movements with a pencil test—a film of the first rough
sketches that have been done on paper. It is after the animator
has been able to review this rough cartoon that drawings are
transferred to transparent cels. The necessity and value of the
pencil test is easily understood when one learns how much
work goes into preparing a cel.
First, the pencil drawing is covered with a sheet of
acetate and the outline of the character is traced. At this stage
the “roughness” of the pencil drawing is cleaned up and a
smooth continuity between drawings is developed. The traced
line is usually variedin thicknessto provide emphasis to the
character it portrays. This operation is called inking. In large
animation studios there are teams of assistants called inkers
who perform only this task. It’s a demanding job and it requires
great precision.
In order to keep the lines of the drawing as strong as
possible, colors are applied to the reverse side of the acetate
sheet. This work is done by another set of assistants called opa-
quers. Their job consists of carefully painting the correct
opaque paints on the appropriate parts of the character. Figure
14.26 illustrates the processes of inking and opaquing. They
are every bit as laborious as they look. And the materials are
expensive too.
When there is no need to redraw a background for every
scene in the finished film,it becomes practical to fashion 14.26 Inking and opaquing: By flip-
detailed and delicately rendered backdrops against which the ping over a completed sheet of cel art, it is
animated action will take place. In classic American cartooning, possible to see how the process works.
Because the black outline of the character
there are individual artists, and even entire production depart-
has been inked onto the front of the cel,
ments at the larger studios, who do nothing but design and the process of opaquing on the rear side can
execute backgrounds. be somewhat imprecise. This frame is taken
from The Dog Who Said No, an animated
Backgrounds are fashioned with care. A fine-quality
segment done for Sesame Street (The Chil-
paper stock is used and art materials are also of the best qual- dren’s Television Workshop) by animator
ity. Watercolors are the medium most often used. All back- Derek Lamb.

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 199

 grounds, however, must be styled to fit the graphic quality
and look of the characters. Backgrounds must also, of course,
conform to the needs of the story. And, as pointed out earlier,
it is important that the background not be so busy as to
obscure or draw attention away from the movement of story
and characters.
One of the most interesting effects of cel animation is
experienced in traveling scenes. The use of transparent cels,
combined with the principle of a cycle, allows the animator to
create a long, exciting chase with very little work. The secret
lies in a panning background, an extra-long strip of back-
ground artwork that is moved underneath the cels and joins up
with itself so that the pan can go on forever.
Project: A Long Way to Tipperary. Using commercially
punched cels or a makeshift set of acetate sheets that have
somehow been registered, copy (ink) the outline of the walk
cycle you designed earlier. After the inking process, turn each cel
over and color in the character using paint or felt-tipped pens.
For this project you will be making a cycle of six different cels.
Design a panning background. It will be the same height
as the field on which you are working, but it will be much,
much wider (Figure 14.27). On this background draw and then
paint a road upon which your character will eventually appear
to be walking.
Once the background and cels have been completed,
place them under the camera. The cycle drawings are placed
over one set of pegs, and the background will be constantly
moving between exposures. In order to provide a smooth reg-

Cét Ob Fixed PEGS

C PART OF CYCLE)

PAD RACKGROUNR MOUNTED

14.27 A panning background On SLIDING PEG BR.

200 ATHE ANIMATION BooK

istration for this panning movement, punch the background
drawing and place over a sliding peg bar, a set of pegs that can
be moved between exposures to carefully established posi-
tions. The sliding peg bar is usually located at the bottom of
the animation disc. Chapter 21 will show such equipment in
detail. It’s possible, however, to use a common ruler in calibrat-
ing and controlling the movement of a background.
With some experimentation you'll discover how the
speed of the walk is a factor in determining how much the
background is panned between exposures. The movement of
the character’s legs must visually match the speed with which
the background passes underneath the walker.
An illusion of depth can be created with the use of a sec-
ond and closer moving background. An additional element can
be placed over the cel sequence. It is moved at a relatively
faster rate than the distant background. The combined effect
mirrors the perceptual experience of real life, in which objects
nearest one appear to pass more quickly through the field of
vision than objects in the distance.
The background you've designed can itself be a cycle. If
your drawing is long enough, you may be able to reconnect it
with itself so that the left edge of the drawing joins the right
edge.

SPECIAL PROBLEMS

Working with cels is difficult and time-consuming. It requires

special care and it is expensive. Employing cels is certainly
worth the trouble, however, when you want to present daz-
zling backgrounds and full movement of characters. There is a
lushness to cel animation that cannot be equaled by any other
technique or production shortcut. It /s rigorous, however, and
filled with special problems. Here are a few of them.
Reflection. Acetate sheets will reflect light into the cam-
era lens. You must be particularly mindful of glare from the
side lights, even if they are mounted at a 45-degree angle to
the artwork. The glass platen that holds the acetate sheets flat
on the compound should control such reflection. Problems
nonetheless persist.
Shadow Board. Even with a platen and angled lighting,
the cels can act as mirrors and reflect an image of the camera

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 201

14.28 An exposure sheet: Here is an itself from the cels back onto the film’s surface. To remedy this,
exposure sheet (also called a cue sheet, a a black, nonreflecting surface can be rigged to mask the reflec-
dope sheet, or an x sheet) from the TV series
Rugrats. Across the top, from the left: space tions of the camera body or lens metal. See Chapter 22.
where the animator and/or sheet timer Newton Rings. It is important that there be just the right
describes the action (often with a quick amount of pressure on the cels piled beneath the camera. If
sketch); A and B dialogue tracks with the
there is too little pressure, the cels will wrinkle, causing
words themselves entered under “Dial” and
the mouth action references next to the dia- ephemeral shadows that are very distracting. Too much pres-
logue — character Angelica is completing sure produces an effect known as Newton rings. This is par-
the phrase “(aniv)ersary party”; six columns
tially caused by the thickness of the paint on the cels, and
that the animator will use to note different
cel levels; and finally, a column for camera treatment of the problem may involve a very light dusting of
instructions. In Chapter 25 you will find a the cels with face powder so that they won’t adhere to each
blank, appropriately simplified exposure other under the pressure of the platen.
sheet to use in your own movies. Courtesy
Klasky/Csupo Studio and Nickelodeon. Cel Paints. As suggested earlier, there is often an appre-
ciable loss of definition and color caused by the density of the

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202 ATHE ANIMATION Book

acetate itself. This cel thickness causes a 5 percent loss of light
and this shows up most clearly with color paints. If a red is used
on the top cel and then the same red is used, say, on the fourth
cel layer, these reds will have a different hue in the final film.
This problem is solved by using special sets of commercially
prepared paints in which the same colors are supplied in four
different hues to compensate for the change in color caused by
the cels themselves.
Dust. Tiny pieces of dust will settle on the glass platen
during filming and these, unfortunately, show up as specks on
the finished film. Dirt and dust particles also tend to adhere to
the surface of cels, helped along by static electricity. Polaroid
filters can be used to optically remove the glare caused by
specks of dust and dirt (see Chapter 19).
Shooting Complexities. The more complicated the
arrangement and number of cel layers, the easier it is for the
camera operator to screw up during filming. There is simply
too much to remember, too many changes to make, and too
many variables for any individual to keep track of without
some kind of written aid. And this leads us to exposure sheets.

EXPOSURE SHEETS

Full-cel animation requires a fastidious and precise system for

recording the sequence and order of various cel layers, the
number of exposures given to these layers, and the movements
of camera, background, or compound. In practice, all this
14.29 Character design: !n a large ani-
information is written down by the animator on an exposure mation project such as a TV series or fea-
sheet. Figure 14.28 provides an example of this record-keeping ture, many different animation directors
and animators will be working on the same
device, and in Chapter 25 you'll find a full-size exposure sheet
characters. Hence “model sheets” or “char-
that you can detach and have duplicated for your own use. acter packs” are compiled and updated
Only a few comments about the exposure sheet seem neces- from time to time. Sampled here are three
sary. Dial is a special term that refers to the consecutive num- of four standard elements, all taken from
the Rugrats TV series. The size relation lay-
bering of each and every frame within the finished movie—24 out, (A), shows the relative heights of differ-
frames to the second, 40 to the foot (in 16mm), 1440 frames ent characters. Each character will be drawn
to the minute, and so on. In order to keep a running count of in a set of typical poses, (B), such as these
for Angelica. There is also a turnaround for
frames, the animator adds the appropriate prefix numbers
each character — here for the show’s pro-
before each zero. Cardinal numbers reading from left to right tagonist Tommy Pickles, (C). The other stan-
(4, 3, 2, and 1) refer to the order of cel layers. If possible, the dard element is a mouth chart — see Figure
14.31. Courtesy Klasky/Csupo Studio and
animator positions those cels that require the most frequent
Nickelodeon.
changing at the top of the pile. The background (Bkg) is usually

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 203

 given a letter reference or a short descriptive term in order to
differentiate between the various backgrounds used in a single
film and even in a single sequence.
The exact timing and position of each cel is indicated by
the individual cel’s number, and this is placed on the exposure
sheet in a box beneath its appropriate cel layer. Usually the ani-
mator employs both a letter and a number in marking individ-
ual cels. The letter is chosen to indicate the subject matter of
the cel series. H might be for head, F for feet, HA for hat, etc.
The number beside the letter indicates the order of cels for
each layer (F1, F2, F3, F4, etc.).
The exposure sheet has space for camera instructions
such as fades, dissolves, superimpositions, and for camera/
compound movements such as pans, zooms, and spins. In
addition, the animator can requisition space on the sheet to
indicate where a special sound exists on a prerecorded track or
to note for further reference any item that might easily be for-
gotten or wrongly executed.

204 A Tae ANIMATION Book

 14.30 Inside Klasky/Csupo: The Los
Angeles-based animation studio of Klasky/
Csupo has produced a string of TV hits
including Duckman, Rugrats, and Aaahh!
Real Monsters — which is also being pro-
duced as a feature film in conjunction with
Nickelodeon and Paramount Studios. Klasky/
Csupo’s next series, The Wild Thornberrys, is
scheduled to air on Nickelodeon in 1998.
The exterior walls of the company’s main
office, (A), sport some super graphics that
preview characters from their newest show.
Rugrats director Norton Virgien works on
storyboards in (B). A typical animator’s desk
and drawing disk, (C). Character Designer
Sharon Ross, (D). Sketches of backgrounds
are pushpinned to a wall, (E). Actress Cheryl
Chase records the voice of Angelica, (F).
Frames, (G), (H), and (I) are from Rugrats,
Duckman, and Aaahh! Real Monsters,
respectively. Founders Gabor Csupo, (J),
and Arlene Klasky, (K). Photos by Vince
Gonzales. Courtesy Klasky/Csupo Studio
and Nickelodeon.

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 205

 VOweELS Treat this aid informally. Modify the standard form to
suit your own particular needs, the capabilities of the produc-
tion tools that you will be using, and the particular techniques
being employed.
CONSONANTS

es a ~7~_— ao a e
C-B-G-K-N-R F-V M-B-P LC Q-W LIP SYNC
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You can create animated characters that appear to talk, whose
14.31 Common mouth shapes: This mouth movements precisely match the voice track. It’s not
simplified set of vowel and consonant easy, but you can attempt and eventually master the process if
shapes must be styled to your particular
character as well as the kind of emotional you have the required equipment for analyzing recorded voice
delivery the lines are being spoken with. tracks (see Part Ill: Tools).
Some animators like precise and fully articu- In order to create lip sync for cel animation, a bar sheet
lated lip synchronization while others feel a
“loose” technique is quite adequate. An
must be filled in with a frame-by-frame analysis of each vowel
alternative to such shape charts is for the and consonant sound in a given piece of dialogue. With this
animator to sit facing a mirror so that he or information, the animator is able to match each utterance with
she can study the visual movement of his or
the appropriate mouth shape.
her own lips in saying particular phrases
with particular inflections. Both track analysis and lip-sync drawing are laborious
processes, as you can imagine. Doing it right requires patience
and perseverance. A real mastery of lip-sync animation requires
a control of head and body movement and of gestures appro-
priate to individual words, to the character’s personality, and
to the dramatic requirements of the film as a whole. If you are
interested in pursuing this specialized technique, obtain one of
the advanced manuals on the subject and be prepared for a lot
of work.
To get you started, however, look at the chart in Figure
14.31. It has been created over the years as a standard simpli-
fied guide for animating lip movements. In application, modify
the style of each given mouth shape so that it matches the
graphic style of your cartoon character.

THE STUDIO CELL SYSTEM

Your understanding and your appreciation of the technique of

cel animation can be extended by studying the assembly-line
hierarchy developed at the large animation studios in the hey-
day of character animation in the 1940s and 1950s. Inciden-
tally, the same system, or one close to it, is being used today in
the production of most contemporary animation features and,

206 A THE ANIMATION Book

 14.32 Same sound but a different
shtick: Although all the utterances of the
English language can be simplified down to
nine or ten basic mouth shapes that humans
use in forming the sounds of our language,
animators can exhibit a broad stylistic range
in showing how a particular character enun-
ciates. Here are corresponding mouth action
poses for two of the Rugrats characters,
Angelica and Tommy Pickles. Courtesy
Klasky/Csupo Studio and Nickelodeon.

to a lesser extent, in the production of animated series and TV

spots. In doing your own independent animation, of course,
you have to cram these separate jobs into a single job—yours.
Anyway, here’s a rough breakdown of the studio system of tra-
ditional cel animation.
The producer is the individual responsible for the overall
development of the animated film. He or she selects personnel,
raises capital, manages expenditures, arranges for distribution,
and much more. The producer is everyone's boss. The writer is
assigned or chooses the subject, defines the characters, and
begins shaping story line and dialogue. The storyboard artist
breaks down the story into component scenes. The storyboard
provides a visual system for making a detailed analysis of the
film’s development. The storyboard includes a detailed study of
character appearance and movement, a detailed workup of
backgrounds, and a delineation of scenes and sequences within
scenes. The producer and all “creative” personnel (writers,
designers, animators, directors) work with the sudio’s sound
crew, the “actors,” or voices, and the musicians and composers
in recording the full sound track for the finished movie, includ-
ing music and dialogue. Special sound effects can also be
placed on the track at this point or added later in the final edit-
ing and sound-mix process. A track analysis is then made. A
specialist will make a bar sheet from the sound track. All words,
beats, and music are identified with the utmost detail and preci-
sion. Working with the bar sheets and the layout/design mod-
els, the director begins filling in an exposure sheet for every
moment of screen time. Decisions made at this point shape the
remaining work; the timing of movement, the stretch and
squash of characterization, and the amount of time devoted to

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 207

 particular bits of action. Working from the layout drawings and
in consultation with the director, the background artist creates
each background that is required in the film. When full-cel ani-
mation is being used, backgrounds are lavishly executed pieces
of art. Different animators are now assigned to different scenes
or different characters within the overall movie. If the film is
short, the animation may all be done by one individual. It’s the
animator’s job to create the extremes for the cels that make up
the film. These are drawn roughly on paper sheets. The anima-
tor is given the background against which he or she is to bring
the story to life. The assistant animators prepare the in-
betweens, also completed on paper sheets. Generally, the assis-
tant smooths out the actual drawings of the animator and
refines the animator’s working sketches. At this stage the com-
pleted paper drawings may be filmed in a pencil test.
Once the animator and director are satisfied with the
pencil test, the drawings go to the inking department, where
inkers trace the outline of every drawing onto an acetate sheet.
At this stage decisions are made on how and where to break
down the drawings in order to save work, time, and expense
by using different cel layers. Now the opaquers flip over the
acetate cels and paint in the colors of the characters. There is
always at least one checker to be sure that all the cels and lay-
ers and exposure sheets and bar sheets and backgrounds are
properly executed and marked and registered prior to the
actual filmmaking. Working from the exposure sheets, a cam-
era operator or team of operators films the entire movie. Then
a film editor cuts together the pieces of exposed film and
matches the images to the sound track. The editorial depart-
ment will also prepare the original footage for duplication and
printing at the laboratory.
That’s the general process for making a cel animation
film. But the work isn’t over once the film is made. For if every-
one involved wants to make more movies, then the finished
film must generate revenue. It’s the American Way. So there
are always a host of other people involved in the studio anima-
tion system—accountants, publicity people, film programmers,
distribution agents, and more.
Digital tools, combined with the Internet, are beginning
to change the traditional studio system. Digital ink and paint
techniques (see Chapter 15) are making it possible for a dozen
computer stations to replace rooms filled with ink and opaque

208 Sg THE ANIMATION BooK

14.33 John and Faith Hubley: Animators John and Faith Hub-
ley are designing a sequence from their independent feature, Every-
body Rides the Carousel, (A). Frames from a few of the over
twenty-five films they have conceived, directed, and produced fol-
low: (B), Adventures of an Asterisk; (C), The Hole; (D), The Hat; (E),
Cockaboooy; (F), (G), (H), and (1), Everybody Rides the Carrousel.
Photos courtesy The Hubley Studio.

desks. On a movie like Space Jam, small animation studios

across the United States collaborated with Warner Bros.’ Fea-
ture Animation group in Burbank, California.

TV AND THE LIMITED-CEL SYSTEM

The costs are tremendous for full-cel animation, and the

process is slow. It requires a lot of people, most of whom must
be highly trained and experienced. The equipment and sup-
plies are costly, too. Thus it is not difficult to understand why
the preservation of the full-cel system can be sustained only by
the vast budgets allotted to feature film production and the-
atrical release by large studios like Disney, Columbia Tri-Star,
Warner Bros., Dreamworks-SKG, Fox, Nelvana, Nickelodeon
Features, and Tooniversal.
Just as the use of cels was originated in order to save
production time (and money!), the relatively modest budgets

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 209

 of animated series for TV have forced the evolution of a distinct
genre of character animation. This is often referred to as
limited-cel animation.
To the purist, limited-cel animation is animation with
limited power and effectiveness, as well as limited technique.
In planning their films, directors of limited-cel productions try
to minimize the number of drawings that appear in a minute’s
worth of show. Typically, a character's face will be frozen while
only the mouth moves in talking, or a body will be still while an
arm performs a task. Limited animation stresses the use of
cycles, as you'd expect. Wherever possible, frames are panned
or held while the voice, music, and sound-effects tracks
attempt to drive the story forward. The storyboard artists and
layout teams are required to recycle as many library drawings
and backgrounds as possible, hence stories tend to share the
same locations, angles are consistently drawn from an identical
perspective, and close-ups are heavily featured.
What is described above is limited-cel animation at its
worst. And you won't have to flip through too many cable and
network channels to find plenty of examples. Just check out
Saturday morning programming for kids.
In recent years, however, it seems that TV animation has
come of age, with new creative juices. While production tech-
niques and production values are still “limited” vis-a-vis the-
atrical animation, there have been a number of enlivening
breakthroughs in the aesthetic realm, through shows like The
Simpsons, Liquid Television, Pinky and the Brain, Beavis and
Butt-head, Dr. Katz, King of the Hill, and of course the willfully
eclectic and groundbreaking work of Nickelodeon cable’s Nick-
toons, which are sampled in Figure 14.35. What distinguishes
the best work for TV is not necessarily the technique execution,
14.34 The look of cel animation:
Seen in proximity with each other, these but rather the concept and writing level. As new generations
nine frame enlargements indicate the wide of creators bring their own characters to TV, these animators
range of graphic styles and subject matters (individuals and small studios) innovate storytelling forms, ani-
that have been used with cel animation
mation styles, and art direction in ways that make the most of
techniques.
(A), John Leach, Evolution, courtesy Learn- the budgets available for television.
ing Corporation of America; (B), Stephen
Bosustow, The Legend of John Henry, cour-
tesy Pyramid Films; (C), Paul Driessen,
An Old Box, courtesy National Film Board
THE SIMPLIFIED CEL SYSTEM
of Canada.
The aspect of cel animation that requires the most tedious
work, takes the longest time, and is the most expensive is the

210 yA THE ANIMATION Book

(D), Vincent Collins, The Mole and the Music, courtesy Phoenix Films;
(E), Zdenck Miller, The Mole and the Music, courtesy Phoenix Films;
(F), John Halas and Joy Batchelor, Animal Farm, courtesy Phoenix Films;
(G), Walerian Borowczyk, Game of Angles, courtesy Pyramid Films;
(H), Bruno Bozzetto, Opera, courtesy Films, Inc.;
(I), Zlatko Grgic, courtesy National Film Board of Canada.

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 211

 process of inking and opaquing. In looking for ways to simplify
the cel process, some animators have simplified the graphic
quality of their animation rather than the amount or quality of
the movement itself.
The husband-and-wife team of John and Faith Hubley
have done just this and their work’s quality and integrity, as
well as its technical structure, have served as an important
model to many aspiring independent animators.
Up until John’s untimely death in 1977, the Hubleys pro-
duced films of exceptional quality at the Hubley Studio, their
New York-based production company. John Hubley was a
Disney-trained animator who went on to become a major fig-
ure at UPA Studios, where the first major reaction to and com-
petition with the Disney style of animation began in the late
1940s.
The Hubleys and other character animators since have
developed a number of techniques that produce the full-cel
look without all the full-cel work. We might call these tech-
niques “simplified” as opposed to “limited” cel animation. The
best trick of the simplified cel system is its new way of mount-
ing paper drawings on a regular acetate cel, thus eliminating
the requirements of inking and opaquing. Using standard reg-
istered paper sheets, the animator carefully draws the charac-
ter. A background is prepared as in full-cel animation. The
same coloring techniques are generally used for figure and
background. Watercolors, crayons, or felt-tipped pens can be
used. In this simplified cel technique an outlining of the charac-
ter is not required.
The paper drawings are now mounted on cels. A thin
layer of rubber cement is applied to the back of the paper
sheet. Then each paper sheet is quickly placed on top of an
acetate cel bearing identical registration holes. The paper cel is
smoothed out and allowed to dry. In the final step, the sharp
point of an X-acto knife or a similar implement cuts away the
surplus white paper from the outline of the character. The
completed cel can now be placed over its background.
Such simplified cels work well. There are some signifi-
cant limitations to the technique, however. The number of lay-
ers one can use is confined in practice to three or, better, two.
This technique, like all others, must be tailored to the style of
the individual artist. It works better for some artists than for
others. The appearance of paper figures creates its own unique

212 A THe ANIMATION Book

“feeling” and “space.” It is well suited for some stories and
types of films, but not for others.
There are many more production shortcuts that inge-
nious independent animators are developing for their work in
basic cel and character animation.
Drawing directly on the cels, as opposed to “rehearsing”
first with a drawing on paper, is one such idea. In this variation
markers or grease pencils are often used. It requires a practiced
eye and a confident hand to work this way. But the technique
may yield a spontaneous and unrehearsed quality that is often
lost as pencil drawings are transferred to cels.
Airbrush coloring and painting can speed up the process
of creating backgrounds. The airbrush has a characteristic style
that can be employed for special effects of one kind or
another. Transfer lettering, shading, and lines can all be
adapted to cel techniques.
Reframing is often employed. The same set of cels are
photographed against different backgrounds using a different
frame composition each time. Typically, the animation camera
or zoom lens is focused closer to the artwork when reframing.
Ultra close-ups are being used more and more in today’s
simplified animation. There are two reasons for this. Close-ups
require less intricate drawing, and they also work well on the
TV screen, which is the prime distribution medium for ani-
mated films.
There are other effective tricks and shortcuts for working
with cels: the use of cutaways, silhouettes, die-cuts, color
xerography, video keying, rephotography, and many, many
other special techniques. in particular, the recent innovations in
the area of digital ink and paint and digital compositing offer
today’s animators ways to harness the full creative range of
character animation, but to do so with simplified production
systems where virtually all creative steps take place in the
province of the computer.

A GRADUATION EXERCISE

As a final project, let me suggest that you use full-cel tech-

niques (or simplified techniques as described above) to reani-
mate one of the characters or stories that you developed in an
earlier project. Find a favorite, one that really interests you and

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 213

 (e

that feels within reach of your present level of skill. The reason
for suggesting that you repeat the same problem is that you'll
discover in the process things about the characteristics of either
technique. A second try at the same basic material will also give
you a chance to redesign the characters and reshape the story.
You'll be able to experiment with new variations in timing,
emphasis, dramatic flow, and plain old physical movement.
Limit this last film to a maximum length of 15 seconds. In
the process of executing the full-cel film, allow yourself to
begin sifting through all the projects you've completed. Search
for images you enjoyed or transformations that excited you or
interesting audio ideas. Begin studying the parameters of your
tools. Determine what they are capable of doing and what
their limitations exclude you from doing. And as you sift
through earlier projects on your sample reel, look for an idea or
for a technique that can become your first magnum opus.

Is

14.35 Nicktoons aesthetics: |n the 1980s the Nickelodeon cable TV programming service launched a set of “creator-
based” animation series whose source was independent artists, not existing toy lines or spin-offs from other media
forms. The Nicktoons lineup of shows displays remarkable variety. In The Ren and Stimpy Show, the two heroes, (A), dis-
play extreme “stretch-and-squash” style as sampled in Ren’s poses, (B), (C), and (D). There is an urban, hip-hop look to
Hey Arnold! (E), an animated series that has very lush backgrounds, (F), and (G). In Angry Beavers, (H), the styling is remi-
niscent of the “modern” styling of animation from the 1950s, (/)—although the characters are all '90s. Rocko’s Modern
Life is about a Wallaby and friends, (J), with aesthetics that often feature distorted angles that extend to pan back-
grounds, (K). The creators of the Nicktoons shows are John Kricfalusi (The Ren and Stimpy Show, premiering in 1991),
Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo (Rugrats, 1991, and Aaahh! Real Monsters, 1994), Joe Murray (Rocko’s Modern Life,
1993), Craig Bartlett (Hey Arno/d!, 1996), and Mitch Schauer (Angry Beavers, 1997). All images courtesy Nickelodeon.

214 A Tht ANIMATION BooK

LINE AND CEL ANIMATION 215
WRITTEN WITH GREG PAIR

The preceding Chapter’ jecises on

basics of classic character animation and the process of draw-
ing extremes and in-betweens—the unchanging process that
yields those cartoon worlds we've all come to love. This is the
domain of purest creativity: Alone with just a pencil, a stack of
blank paper, a peg bar, and a rear-lit surface to work on, the
animator brings drawings to life.
Such creativity begets drudgery. That stack of inspired
pencil drawings must now follow a rigorous journey to become
the full-color scene of a finished animation. In this chapter, the
15.1 Drawings rough, cleaned up,
focus turns to those steps that come after the inspiration
and cleanest: The same cartoon figure
seen as it might appear in an animator’s ends... and when the perspiration begins! We now enter the
rough drawing, (A), and after that rough world of inking and painting.
drawing has been given a cleanup by eras- In the early days of animation, each cartoon studio had
ing unwanted lines and making sure that
interior areas are sealed off, (B). If neces- large rooms with rows of desks at which painters (usually
sary, this could be scanned and painted for women) worked with ink pens to meticulously trace the anima-
the final production. Version (C) shows a tors’ rough drawings onto sheets of clear acetate. Such
tracing of the original, done with a black
“inked” images were allowed to dry and then taken to an even
Magic Marker. Notice the stylistic variations
in line thickness and quality that can be larger room, where more artisans turned over each cel and
done with inking. painted colors onto the back, using thick cel paints that were
Whether you are erasing the unwanted
specially formulated to stick to the slick surface of the acetate.
pencil lines on a rough drawing or tracing a
new version, the first firm rule in digital ink This step was referred to as “painting” or “opaquing.” Eventu-
and paint is to make sure that the lines of ally the ink and paint sweatshops of Los Angeles were replaced
the drawing all connect with each other. by specialized facilities. Until very recently, virtually all the ani-
You'll see why this is important as we get a
bit deeper into the process. Courtesy Greg mation on TV was “finished” in one of the Asian countries
Pair and AMPnyc Deluxe Animation Studio. using the same labor-intensive process.

216
 As you may have guessed from this chapter's title, the
traditional ink and paint process has been touched by the mir-
acle of computers. Be warned that this process of technologi-
cal innovation has barely started. You will see in the following
pages that digital animation—at least at the low end—remains
a labor-intensive and somewhat awkward procedure. Yet as
imperfect as it still may be, the digital miracle that allows
drudgery to disappear and artistry to remain is quite potent. To
fully appreciate this, let's do a little arithmetic.
Before you is a stack of sixty drawings representing a
five-second segment with one character moving against a sim-
ple background. Using traditional film techniques, a reasonable
estimate of how you might spend your time would include: 20
minutes to set up a camera stand for rear-lit pencil testing; 20
more minutes to shoot the sequence; 40 minutes to get the
exposed film to the lab and back after it’s been processed; 15
minutes to screen rushes and study the rough animation as it
appears in the pencil test; let’s say another 30 minutes to revise
and redraw portions of the scene; 30 minutes to reshoot pencil
tests; 40 minutes to make another pair of lab runs; 30 minutes
to cut the new footage into the test footage or animatic and
decide that the animation is ready to be prepared as final art;
allow 90 minutes to retrace all the drawings onto acetate cels
using a Rapidograph pen for inking (at 90 seconds per draw-
ing); 30 minutes to prep materials and work space; 180 minutes
to fill in each inked image by painting the rear side (3 minutes
per cel); 30 minutes to redraw and color the background; 20
minutes to set up the stand for final, toplit shooting; 40 min-
utes to shoot the cels after carefully checking each for dust and
smudges; and, finally, 40 minutes for a third set of lab runs.
To screen your finished five seconds of animation, you
will have spent at least eleven hours. That doesn't count time
spent waiting for cels to dry and handling them. Nor does it
count three overnights while the lab is processing your pencil
tests, revisions, and final footage. And if there are multiple lev-
els of cels (and that’s why one uses cels), the inking, painting,
and shooting stages will take even longer!
Starting with the same stack of drawings, but using dig-
ital tools instead of film tools, you could see the identical piece
of finished animation in 4 to 5 hours! The very same day!
A miracle? Not at all. Read on and you'll find out how
and why digital techniques have started to replace traditional

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 217

 film and video techniques. Read on to marvel at how these
tools will allow you to make changes in timing and framing
without ever having to reshoot (or rescan) a single one of those
sixty sheets of paper.

CLEANUP/INKING

The digital ink and paint process always begins with a cleanea-
up drawing: a sheet of white paper with a firm dark line that
outlines the character—no half erasures, smudges, or faint
sketch lines of initial placement.
A word of advice here: It is much less time-consuming
either to erase superfluous lines on the actual drawing paper
or, even better, to return to the light table and retrace the
drawing onto a fresh sheet of paper than to attempt cleanup
using a computer graphics application. Truth is, the eye and
hand are faster at spotting and eliminating unwanted marks
than a computer will ever be. The computer cannot distinguish
a faint line from a partially erased line. Another good reason
why the cleanup stage should be done the old-fashioned way
is that the animator can focus his or her attention on making
minor adjustments that keep characters “on model” and cor-
recting those unintentional variations that always creep into a
character’s appearance. And although it may feel like an
uncreative or rote activity, you'll find that inking a rough draw-
ing onto another sheet of paper provides you with an opportu-
nity to forget about what the drawing looks like and focus
solely on the characteristics of the line itself. Does the character
require a strong, solid line or a thin, delicate line? Or one that
tapers to reflect the contours and volumes of the object itself?
Figure 15.1 starts off our tour of digital ink and paint by look-
ing at the raw output of your five digits.

DIGITAL PENCIL TESTS

The pencil test gets its name, as you might expect, from the
days when pencil drawings on registered sheets of paper were
put under the camera in order to give the animator a quick
check on how well the animation was working. The technique
is still in wide use today: A light source is placed under the

218 w THe ANIMATION Book

frosted glass or milky Plexiglas surface on which the drawings
are placed. This way two or sometimes three levels of paper
can be filmed at the same time, with the bright, even light
source shining through the stack of levels.
The resulting footage is murky, because the grain of the
paper itself creates a grayed-out background against which it is
sometimes difficult to make out the pencil lines held on the dif-
ferent sheet levels. Regardless of poor image quality, pencil
testing is absolutely essential, for it gives the animator his or
her first chance to study the motion of a given scene or 15.2 Setting up your scanner: Pur-
chase an inexpensive plastic peg bar with
sequence. The pencil test can be played forward and backward
the same registration pegs as the ones on
(on film or videotape), again and again, as the animator studies your animation disc. You will tape this onto
the timing and smoothness of the action. Such careful analysis the outer casing of the scanner, as shown,
following this procedure:
usually leads to revisions and these are also pencil-tested so
1) With a field guide mounted on the
that the animator can be sure the movement is perfect before pegs, position the peg bar on the scanner’s
beginning the laborious, time-consuming, and expensive lengthwise casing so that it is roughly cen-
process of ink and paint. tered along the length of the scanning
glass. Through all four steps, make sure the
In digital character animation, pencil tests remain the field guide stays on the peg bar and is fac-
only way for creators to see whether the frame-by-frame draw- ing right side up.
ings come to life exactly the way they envisioned. When done 2) Slide the peg bar toward or away
from the center of the scanner so that the
right, digital pencil tests are far, far less murky than their film/ field guide’s #12 field (the biggest field) is
video counterparts. The case study in Figure 15.3 reconstructs centered along the width of the scanning
the pencil-testing technique. glass. If the scanner’s surface isn’t large
enough to accommodate a full #12 field,
But there’s an even bigger payoff in store. If the scanned
then note the largest field size it can fit and
rough drawings have been properly cleaned up or inked, then limit all your drawings accordingly.
the animator will only need to enter those drawings into the 3) Level out the top and bottom lines of
the #12 field so that they run parallel to the
computer that one time. The images that constitute the pencil
edges of the scanning glass.
test can undergo a digital transformation that turns them into 4) Carefully hold down the plastic peg
the images of the final cartoon itself. bar as you tape it to the scanner’s casing.
But this metamorphosis requires careful attention. It Use a strong tape rather than regular Scotch
tape. Try the simple, paper-base tape that is
starts with a stack of clean images. To get to the pencil test, available in art supply shops. Don’t use any-
those images must make their way into the computer. thing with a strong, gooey adhesive like
duct or gaffer tape. Paper tape will do just
fine. Put pieces of tape across the peg bar at
opposite ends as well as in the center. With
your fingernail, rub the tape tightly down
SCANNING
the peg bar's edges.
To ensure that the paper is lying
The drawings on paper (cleaned up or re-inked) must be
absolutely flat against the scanning glass,
scanned correctly into the computer in a way that maintains get a piece of foam rubber, about a half an
the accurate registration of one drawing to the next, so that inch thick or so, and tape it to the underside
of the scanner’s cover. Courtesy Greg Pair
when viewed in quick succession, the image “files” will fall one
and AMPnyc Deluxe Animation Studio.
on top of the other just the way they were designed. In
essence, the scanner becomes the equivalent of the animation

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 219

 15.3 CASE STUDY: Digital Pencil Testing

Many believe that pencil testing is the most critical step in animation. It is here that the movement and actions
of characters and other on-screen elements can be previewed and fixed. In this case study, Randy Lowenstein
demonstrates how he uses the well-known application Premiere, from the Adobe Corporation, to compile as a
QuickTime file the five different layers that make up a scene from his NYU thesis film titled The Rule of Whim,
frames from which are sampled in (A). Not withstanding this chapter’s strongly argued position that only
“cleaned-up” images are suitable for the digital ink and paint process, this example shows how working draw-
ings can be used effectively as final art.

At NYU we have an ancient Lyon-Lamb setup. This is a video pencil testing station that uses a video camera with
zoom lens that points down onto a light box with Peg-Board taped to the top. There is a controller that allows the cam-
era to take single frames, which are recorded onto a modified VHS videotape recorder.
| hate this machine!
It takes hours to shoot a stack of drawings. If you want to use more than three levels, the image gets so murky you
can’t get a good look at your animation. Worst of all, you are locked into the exposure sheet you follow during the
shooting process. So if you want to see how the action works on “threes” instead of “twos” — or if you want to try out
a longer hold — you have to reshoot the entire thing.
| discovered that using Premiere offers a one-step alternative for pencil testing that not only eliminates all of the
problems described above but even provides new options and increased freedom. It doesn’t actually save any time the
first time you scan in the registered sheets of paper you’ve drawn, but in the end the time you can save is immense. The
best thing about using the computer to pencil test is that once you have your drawings in the computer, you'll never
have to touch them again. You can mess around with different timings, experiment with in-camera effects like dissolves
and fades, or even play your animation backward, without ever “reshooting” your drawings. And if you want to make
changes in just one of the cel levels, you can rescan just those sheets and see how they look with the other levels. And
remember, on the computer there is no limit to how many levels you can have. After you've tested all of your scenes,
you can even string them all together to make a test of your entire film. If you get really ambitious you can even add
sound effects or music to your pencil test. Try doing that on a
Lyon-Lamb setup!

Scanning Original Drawings

| choose one “typical” drawing from each stack to adjust the
scanner’s settings for brightness and contrast. Then | lock the
settings so that these settings will not be readjusted automat-
ically for each scan. Of course, the peg bar that positions the
drawings is firmly anchored on the scanner’s copy surface.
The first image | scan is not of the first image in the pile of
drawings for that particular level, but instead, it is one that
shows my field guide, positioned on the peg bars, (B). This
way if you need to add a single drawing to a particular shot
at a later date, all you have to do is rescan your field guide,
checking to see that it matches the field guide image from

220 A THE ANIMATION Book

before. The “insert” drawing or drawings
will be perfectly registered to the ones you
did before.
Now you can proceed to scan into the
computer an entire series of drawings.

Naming Your Files and Batch

Importing
One of Premiere’s great features is that it
will display a series of drawings in sequen-
tial order. The program learns what draw-
ings live together and their order, through
the filename you give them. So it’s impor- | eee) | a e : i
tant to do this right. | like descriptive a SNe! So etme pene
names to start, such as “big,” “multi,” :
“cranky,” and “small” — the names | used
for the four stacks of drawings in this
scene. Note the underscore (_) that is used
to link the filename to the number of each
drawing in the sequence—Premiere doesn’t
like periods. | like to use three digits in case
| get really inspired and create a cel level
with more than ninety-nine drawings!
An entire folder of scanned artwork files can be imported into Premiere and
then dragged as a whole into the construction window. Premiere automatically
arranges the files in their order. (C) shows the Premiere interface, with a frame-grab |
of my whole desktop configuration. You can specify the number of frames assigned DC Lock Aspect Ratio
to each imported image in the Still Image Preferences menu. For example, if you |
want to test your animation on twos, you tell Premiere that you want each
imported still to last for two frames, as shown in the dialogue box in (D).

Working with Multiple Layers

When | do pencil tests, | simply superimpose individual levels of artwork over each other. This is a quick and dirty alter-
native to creating alpha channels in Photoshop (which float the “subject” on a clear layer). | use the “multiply” function
to create an effect similar-to that achieved by underlighting on a conventional pencil tester. Each pixel of a digital
image has a numeric value based on that pixel’s color. The
Transparency Settings = “multiply” transparency mode literally multiplies the numeric
values of the two images you are “multiplying.” When two col-
ZLff7, CO ors are multiplied the result is a darker color resembling the
yf | color you might get if you placed two sheets of colored acetate
over each other. When a color is multiplied with black, the
result is always black, and when a color is multiplied with white,
the result is always the original color. When this mode is used
: with two images that consist of dark lines on very light back-
C)Reverse Key grounds (our pencil drawings), the result is a single image with
=e IO, | dark line drawings from both images and a light background,
base Be i.e., a superimposition of sorts. In order to use the “multiply”
Smeetning:|_oee =) function in Premiere, first select the “transparency” option
from the Clip menu. Change the setting from “normal” to
Cutoff= 100
“multiply,” (E). Keep in mind that in order to use the trans-

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 221

CASE STUDY CA%5.3°CASE STUDY! Digital Pencil. Testing (cont.) ¥ ©
parency setting, artwork that is to be superimposed must be on one of
the superimposition tracks, (C), not track A or B. The result is a com-
puter-generated pencil test that looks just like a traditional pencil test,
but is actually much more flexible and efficient.

Where You Can Go from Here

Once you've finished using Premiere to test your animation, there are
many different things you can do to turn your pencil test into a com-
pleted film.
The easiest thing you can do is to simply alter your entire pencil test
in some way. You can use Photoshop or Painter to add color to your
already existing files, or you can use a Premiere filter to do anything
from “spherizing” to “solorizing” the entire movie.
In my film The Rule of Whim, | wanted certain scenes to consist of
white line drawings on a black background. To do this, | simply inverted
my pencil test. The dark pencil lines became white and the white paper
became black. (F) and (G) show the same frame that has been inverted.
Another step you can take to make your pencil test into more of a
finished film is to create alpha channels for the necessary elements. This
way your characters and props will be opaque and float above your
backgrounds.
In another film | created, Li’/ Dainty Rudy, all of the artwork was
done in charcoal. Many of the drawings | used to test the animation
ended up as final artwork in the film. After | was satisfied with my pen-
cil tests, (H), |went back and created alpha channels for each of the
drawings, (I). This way | was able to maintain a loose sketchy quality of
line and at the same time | could place my characters on top of back-
grounds. So it’s not always necessary to ink and paint a drawing for it
to be finished.
And of course you always have the option of digitally inking and
painting your pencil test. If this is the route you decide to take, pencil
testing in Premiere will give you a great head start. If you don’t change
your filenames when you ink and paint your drawings, your pencil
sketches will be automatically substituted with the new inked and
painted versions. The next case study will take up how to ink and paint
using Photoshop.

WK la

Za2 £ THe ANIMATION BooK

camera and the computer becomes the equivalent of the pro-
jector. How is all this done so precisely? Whether you're draw-
ing animation or scanning animation, you use the same
registration device: a peg bar (Figure 15.2).
Most scanners have a scanning glass for artwork as large
as 8.5 by 14 inches. With the peg bar positioned properly, you
can scan up to a #11.5 field. But to play it safe, design your lay-
outs and subsequent animation to fit into a #11 field, or smaller.
Before scanning scenes with a lot of drawings, make one
last check to be sure the peg bar is still taped securely. Test it 15.4 Registration bugs: Although it's
by trying to jiggle the peg bar at its center peg. If you feel the a tough way to go, registration during scan-
peg bar moving too easily back and forth, then the taping has ning can be achieved by using visual marks,
often called “bugs” as shown here, that are
become loose. It’s good practice to replace the taping every so
copied and used for each drawing. Don’t
often since frequent use will start to wear it down after scan- attempt to draw and redraw such markers,
ning hundreds of drawings. because it’s impossible to preserve the nec-
essary precision when tracing the registra-
Maintaining accurate registration begins with the peg
tion mark over and over again. It’s easier to
bar but also depends upon the software of the particular scan- use preprinted registration stickers or to
ner you are using. Most scanner software programs allow you make your own registration mark in a
to custom-set the size of its scanning field or scanning box, graphics application and print out hundreds
of them onto sheets of clear label stickers
which is the predetermined area of the scanning glass to be with a laser printer. Both preprinted regis-
scanned and digitized. It is important to make sure that this tration stickers and clear labels can be
custom-sized scanning box keeps the same field for each draw- found with other computer printing labels
in an office supply store.
ing scanned, since most of the common video/animation soft-
ware applications that you will be using rely on utilizing the
scanned artwork’s digital dimensions to maintain registration.
Premiere from Adobe is one such program that tracks original
scanning fields to achieve registration.
Unfortunately there are other software applications that
require you to pick a single registration or “anchor” point on
each individual image. This makes the peg bar useless and
forces you to employ an alternative, visual form of registration.
You must carefully place a registration mark (see Figure 15.4)
on each original rough animation drawing and maintain it
through to the cleanup/inking stage.
When you begin to scan a collection of drawings, start
off with a custom-drawn field guide that shows the outside
edges of the particular frame (field size) into which this partic-
ular scene has been designed. A sample is shown in Figure
15.5. Place this guide facedown on the scanner’s peg bar.
Just as there are many makes, models, and manufacturers
of scanners, there are also many versions of software that
coordinate the activity between a scanner and a computer.

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 223

File Edit Custom Tools Help However, all these programs have the same
DeskScan {1
_ basic functions.
ee By using the preview mode of the scan-
oe ning software, animators can set the scanning
field to fit the field size they have chosen for
their artwork. Previewing a scan means that
an image is scanned but not committed to the
computer’s hard drive memory storage. It is
necessary to preview each scene’s custom
field guide in order to see how it lines up, as
fon
hai
$72407
fire shown in the software’s scanning window.
Once you have adjusted the scanning
box of the software so that it lines up with
all four sides of the drawn field guide, use
the software's lock button to fix the scan-
ning box’s dimensions. Remove the field
15.5 Targeting Barry: In this chapter,
we follow the example of a single scene fea-
guide from the peg bar and pick out one of the animation
turing a character named Barry who was drawings from the particular sequence you are about to scan.
created by Greg Pair and his partners Ted You need to preview-scan this drawing in order to set the
Minoff and Michael Adams at AMPnyc Ani-
scanner’s software settings for (a) brightness, (b) contrast, (c)
mation. Note that the field guide shows
which side is “up,” centers the custom-made resolution, or how many pixels per inch (called ppi, or dpi,
field guide to the middle of the scanner, “dots per inch”), and (d) the type of image that is being
clearly labels the scene, and indicates what
scanned (black-and-white line drawing, black-and-white
field size has been used (here, a #10 field,
which measures 10 inches wide). This frame- photo, color photo, etc.).
grab shows the software interface for In choosing these settings, the goal is to create a set of
DeskScan II, the software that comes with black-and-white scans that will require very little time cleaning
the Hewlett-Packard Scanjet 4C scanner.
Courtesy Greg Pair and AMPnyc Deluxe Ani- up extraneous lines and/or unwanted paper texture. If you're
mation Studio. scanning rough animation in order to preview (pencil-test) the
action and you know you will be subsequently redrawing and
rescanning each image, then you can choose brightness and
contrast settings that allow all the pencil lines to be picked up
and easily seen, even if this means picking up paper texture as
well. The quality of the image isn’t all that important for
pencil-testing, so the ppi/dpi setting can be set to 72, keeping
each image’s file size small. Whether you're scanning for pen-
cil testing or for final coloring, the type of image setting used
should be black-and-white photo rather than black-and-white
line drawing, so that all gray-scaled pencil line nuances are
picked up.
Now let’s look at the slightly different process for scan-
ning final, cleaned-up drawings—whether they are in pencil
line or black ink. Your main objective here is to keep the lines

224 4 THE ANIMATION BooK

in the drawing from getting an aliased look. That’s when the 15.6 Scanning resolution: In a graph-
lines become “jaggy” or “blocky.” ics application, like Photoshop, you can open
the scanned artwork files in order to view
In order to avoid this, the scanner settings need to be set and paint them. It is in Photoshop that this
for scans of a much higher quality. First, the ppi/dpi should be file of “Barry Bertrum” is seen. (A) shows an
set for 288, which is four times more pixels per inch of infor- enlarged segment of Barry’s line drawing at
the “pencil test” resolution of 72 dpi. (B)
mation than 72 ppi. Of course, each image's file size will be
shows the same segment when scanned at
bigger as well. The type of image setting is still set at black- 288 dpi. Notice when you zoom in on these
and-white photo (sharp). two different images, (©), that there are
more shades of gray in the 288 dpi (right)
Here is where you must develop real finesse in playing
image, for a more gradual transition from
with brightness and contrast settings. You want to eliminate as black line to white background, making a
much of the paper texture and superfluous image information as smoother (less jaggy) line. This gives you an
antialias line. Most tools in Photoshop give
possible so that all you have to deal with in Photoshop are the
you an option to perform its function either
black lines of the drawing placed against a clean white back- alias or antialias. Courtesy Greg Pair and
ground. You'll have to play with the settings of your particular AMpPnyc Deluxe Animation Studio.
software, but what you're trying to get is this: The brightness & file folt_ image toyer Select filter view Window
Gorry/s¢7/e.09/
120p1 ©300%

should be set precisely at the point where the paper texture

drops away and is not picked up by the scanning process. Adjust
the contrast setting so that the drawing’s cleaned-up lines
become black. Be careful here. If the brightness is pushed up too
high, the whole image gets washed out: The line becomes
grayed and the contrast will have to be pushed up even higher
to blacken the line. But if the contrast level is pushed up too
high, it starts to eat into the lines and makes them aliased.
It's a good idea to try a few test scans of a single draw-
ing from the stack you are about to scan. This will give you the
chance to study the effect that different settings will have on
the quality of the line. But once you have the settings figured
out for that drawing, they should be kept constant for the
whole batch of animation drawings.

NAMING FILES [s ART SEV UB SS RUIN RAN

Remember, in digital animation you are dealing with a huge Borry/ss7/e.05/ 72091 © (600% Morry/sc7/e.05,@ 160%

number of images that will need to be placed in a certain

order. Each image must also receive a timing—whether it is at
a constant rate of, say, 12 images per second or whether the
particular image is held for five full seconds. As an animator,
you must develop and label each drawing with a predeter-
mined naming system, or code, so that the order of the draw-
ings matches the timing sheets that are used to assign
duration. An example will help to make this more clear. Teton [Ree eT |p) Taco [tee| OT E

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 225

 Written out, the drawing in Figure 15.8 would be known
as Scene 7/Level A/Drawing #5. That's a pretty long name for a
file, so it has been shortened to ScO7/A05. Such a code refer-
ence is one that different people working on the same project
can easily understand. But the designation is also useful in
organizing files on the computer. Figure 15.9 carries this
process a bit further, suggesting a folder name.
Always make sure that the drawing number is at the end
of its filename. If the drawing is between 1 and 9, put a Zero in
front of it, like 01 or 09. The filenames of all drawings in the
same scene should be similar, regardless of what level they are
on. Hence, when scanning all the animation drawings of level
A of Sc07, the only part of the filename that you must change
for each scan is the end number. Always cross check to be sure
the filename matches the drawing number you originally
placed in the lower right corner of the source drawing.
Once all the drawings of level A are scanned, then the
next level from ScO7 should be scanned, with the filename’s
level changed to correspond with the new level. Continue this
process until all of the drawings from ScO7 have been scanned.
An important note to save you some grief: All drawings
in a particular scene should be scanned in one session, without
turning off the scanning software. When you quit the software
and then go back to finish scanning that same scene later, you
must repeat the entire process of realigning the scanning box
to that scene’s specific field guide. Recalibrating leaves room
for human error in setting up the scanning box, and that, in
turn, can completely mess up your registration!

15.7 Good scan, bad scan: (A) has too

PAINTING IN PHOTOSHOP
little contrast and not enough brightness.
(B) has too high a brightness and too much
With all the animation drawings from a scene cleaned up,
contrast, which eats at the line of the draw-
ing. (C) is just right. Courtesy Greg Pair and scanned, and labeled, it’s time to “paint” them. As you will
AMPnyc Deluxe Animation Studio. see, this is a pretty complex process, but once you get your
technique down, the steps become routine and your speed
increases dramatically.
A number of computer companies have published soft-
ware programs that are specially designed to assist in coloring
the thousands and thousands of cels that are created in the
course of making a TV show or feature film. Such digital ink
and paint systems often require very high-end desktop hard-

226 Atue ANIMATION Book

ware. These are sophisticated, highly specialized packages
@ AMP"FANCY STYLE"ANIMATION| +] OAMP DRIVE
designed to function within large, complex, and well-financed
operations. Unfortunately, such specialized ink and paint pro- 4 Name of new folder:

grams are beyond the reach of all but a handful of those who H |Barry/Sc.07
@@ Barry/Sc.05
will read this book.

=
Save this document as:
What we're going to focus on instead is the digital paint Barry/sc0?7/a05
process as it can be done using one of the oldest and best- Format: [ PICT File Ra
established computer graphics programs. That program is Pho-
toshop, created and refined over the past decade by the Adobe 15.9 Nomenclature: Here are interface
Corporation. Photoshop is a multilevel, comprehensive editing windows from Photoshop. All the scanned
images from a scene are placed into their
program that is used not just by animators but also by graphic own distinct folder, which is named
designers, illustrators, photographers, and other visual artists. “Barry/Sc.07.” Courtesy Greg Pair and AMP-
Photoshop isn’t something you can learn in a day. Successfully nyc Deluxe Animation Studio.
using It as a digital planning tool will require lots of patience.
The best method of explaining painting with Photoshop
is to approach it step by step. The following case study will
demonstrate some of the depth and power of Photoshop.

15.8 Barry’s original drawing: Here is #5 in a stack of

cleaned-up drawings of Barry's head shot. In the bottom right cor-
ner, near the peg hole, you can see the number 5, preceded by the
letter A, indicating that this belongs to the A level. If the animator
had been drawing a pie that was heading towards Barry’s grin, that
set of drawings would probably be done as a B level. On the oppo-
site corner of the original drawing, the scene number has been
noted, “Sc7”. In a movie with multiple scenes involving the same
character, it is important to number all scenes. This usually takes
place at the storyboarding/layout phase. If a new scene is added, it
becomes “Sc7a” or “Sc7.1.” Courtesy Greg Pair and AMPnyc Deluxe
Animation Studio.

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 227

 > 45.10 CASE STUDY: Digital Ink and Paint with Photoshop’.

: aban = This case study puts you in the capable hands of digital anima-
Mato Sewer} Cia tor Greg Pair. Stick with him as he works his way through the
(a|Barr j/Sc.0?
al | [== * 5 ‘) . .

pele a steps he used to color a scanned black-and-white drawing.

wee WB barry/sc7/a. | = #1 Scanned black-and-white images become color images. When
(Cereate,) Lhe heh are you first open a scanned image file in Photoshop, it will appear just
(Cancel_) as it was first scanned. It’s a good idea to click on Create so that a
Format: PICT File 288K
Show Thumbnail [(] Show All Files
{open _} thumbnail picture of the file is made, (A). A couple of adjustments
will need to be made before any coloring can begin. First the
image’s Mode will need to be changed from gray scale to RGB, (B).
Note how the “channels” went from just one, “Black,” to three
channels: “Red,” “Green,” and “Blue” (often abbreviated as “RGB”).
A fourth channel, or “alpha” channel, will be added later for mat-
ting purposes.

#2: Rotating the image. The entire image needs to be rotated so

that it is right side up. That’s taken care of at Image > Rotate Canvas
> 90 CCW. (In calling out a sequence of menu selections to take
place on the computer, the “>” means “go to” and usually requires
you to move your mouse into a new portion of the menu.)

#3: Place color model adjacent to unpainted cel. Before you begin to paint a
sequence, you must have already made a co/or model of the character or object
you are working on. This planning step does more than simply allow you to
work out the aesthetics of choosing colors, although that itself is very impor-
tant. In the digital paint process, you work directly from the color model, using
eg Photoshop's color picker too! to quickly select the right colors as you need them
oars
when painting the black-and-white scan. Note that both the color model and
the black-and-white scan can be open at the same time, (C). Just resize and posi-
tion the color model's window so that
it’s still easy to work on the b&w scan.
Complete step three by using Photoshop’s color picker tool (the
eyedropper icon) to select the first of the colors that you will be
filling into the black-and-white scan.

#4: Fine-tuning the Magic Wand. Once you've chosen the color
and it is displayed in the “foreground color” box, double click on
the Magic Wand tool in order to call up its Options window, (D).
Set the Magic Wand’s tolerance level to 80. What you’re doing is
adjusting the Magic Wand tool’s selection sensitivity. The tolerance
level can be set at any number between 0 and 255. A midrange
setting, say between 75 and 100, is the most useful when dealing
with scanned drawings.

#5: Prepping a color area. On the black-and-white image, use

Photoshop’s Magic Wand tool by clicking once in the white of the
area you wish to fill with the first color you’ve chosen from the
color model. If the white area you clicked into is defined by solid
black lines surrounding and enclosing it, then the Magic Wand

228 A tue ANIMATION Booxk

 a 'sc7/0.01 © 25% (RGB)
OP

tool will only select that confined area—which is what you want! In
(E) you can see how the area of Barry’s face is highlighted by the
“marching ants” interface convention of the Magic Wand.

#6: Repairing leaks: finding the gaps. But, if there is a gap in any
of the area’s defining lines, then the Magic Wand selection will “leak”
out through that gap and into the adjacent white areas. The leak will
spread until it finds itself confined by solid black lines or by the edge
of the screen, whichever comes first. Illustration (F) shows leaks involv-
ing Barry’s right eye, two of his bottom teeth, and his shirt collar. If ‘500% [tee ree7insM [> eas
you were to try coloring Barry’s face now, your image would look like
(G). When this happens, you’ve got some line repair to do!
Chances are you will run across a leak at some point, so we'll
explain leak repair in two distinct steps in the process unfolding
here. In the black-and-white image, study the moving selection
dashes, or “marching ants” as most people call them, that have been
created by the Magic Wand. Often you can spot the leak just by
looking at the marching ants. If you need to get closer, or if the ants
are distracting, use the keyboard shortcut Command D to deselect
and employ Photoshop’s Navigator window—(h), (I), (J) and (K)—
L to zoom and pan around the image in order to hunt down the gap.

#7: Repairing leaks: filling the gap.

= = : Once you‘ve found a gap, you need to use the Paintbrush tool. Double click
: on the Paintbrush icon so that its Option window is called up, (L). Select
Opacity: Le | Paintbrush Options > Mode: Normal > Opacity > 100%, (M). Next go up to
ade: : (Transparent|~ the menu bar and select Windows > Show Brushes. Here, choose a brush size
LiFade tata oe eee that most closely matches the line thickness of the scan, (N). With the right
Stylus Pressure: i cit brush size, you can quickly fill the gap(s) in the line(s) and get back to paint-
Ee ee ae ing. Once you've chosen a brush size, then choose black as your foreground
M Liwet Edges color to paint with.

#8: Completely checking all areas to make

sure there are no leaks. Once the known
gap(s) are painted in, get the Magic Wand
tool again and systematically click once on
each of the areas that you want to fill in with
the same color. If there are no leaks, the area
you select should be ready to fill with the
color you've selected, (O). Are there any other

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 229

CASE S450 CASE STUDY: Digital Ink and Paint with Photoshop (cont-)° "OY (AS!
areas on the black-and-white image that you want to color with the same color at
the same time? You can do that by simply holding down the Shift key as you click
the Magic Wand onto each of these areas. This is handy when filling in lots of || Expand By:
polka dots, checkered squares, stripes, or anything else that’s a repeating pattern
or a predominant color on a character.

#9: Expanding color areas into surrounding lines. Once you have
selected all the areas that carry the same color, go up to the Photoshop
menu to Select > Modify > Expand. The Expand Selection window will
pop up, (P); type in “1” for number of pixels to expand by. This step
expands the selection outward from the center by one pixel, which will
push the colors of all the areas you have painted into the black line of
the drawing itself. This is necessary in order to make sure that when
these areas are filled with color, the whole area is filled right up to and
into the black line.

#10: Filling the drawing with colors. Finally! Now the selected areas
are ready to be filled with the color. Go up to the menu bar to Edit > Fill
> Opacity: 100% > Mode: Darken. With the Fill mode set at Darken, the
black pixels of the lines are protected and only the white pixels and
other shades are painted the foreground color. (Q) shows a close-up of
an inner area painted correctly. (R) shows the same inner area that was
Filter View Window
not expanded adequately,
demonstrating why Step #9
is so important. Look closely
and you will see light
gray/white pixels, which, as
you might expect, will be
visible even when one is
looking at the entire image.
This expand-by-one-pixel
technique guarantees that
the areas will be filled in
completely without any inner line aliasing or unwanted antialiasing gray
fringing inside the colored areas. (S) shows Barry colored and ready.

#11: Resaving. At this stage, with the image completely painted, it’s a
good idea to save the file, just in case some unforeseen computer foul-ups
come up. The colored image should be saved under a different filename
than the original black-and-white one (just to be safe, save that black-and-white file). Here’s a fast and simple way to
modify the name:

Barry/Sc07/a01 = the original black-and-white image

Barry/Sc07/a01c = the color version of that image

The full filename is maintained, with just a single letter added onto the end in order to denote that this file is a color
version of the original black-and-white image. The color files can be kept in the same folder as the black-and-white files
or in a new folder called Barry/Sc07 Color. It’s that simple!

230 A THE ANIMATION BooK

ec
° Masked Areas
» Selected Areas

color

i avai: [Tt]

#12: Creating the alpha channel. The color files you have made in Photoshop all show the colored image against a
white background. Now you must replace the background white with a transparent surface that is like a painted image
on a clear acetate cel. Putting it another way, you want to keep only the painted image so that it can be composited on
top of background art. The white background surrounding the painted image must be digitally cut out. This is easily
done using a special digital feature that is the equivalent of the clear celluloid sheets that give cel animation its name.
This is a fourth color channel called an alpha channel.
At this point, we've selected one of the colored Barry images, clicked on Photoshop’s Magic Wand tool, and then
clicked on the white area that surrounds the figure we've been painting. If there are any “negative spaces” that must
become transparent (for example, the inner space formed when a person’s elbows are spread and his fists remain on his
hips), then hold down the Shift key and click on those white areas as well with the Magic Wand. Your fully painted char-
acter should end up surrounded by the “marching ants,” (7).
With the white areas selected as such, go up to the menu bar and click on Windows > Show Channels. The Channels
window will pop up. Click on the Channels window’s pull-down menu and choose New Channel. In the Channel Options
window, (T), Photoshop will give you the default setting as shown.
A new, fourth channel should appear in the Channels window, (U). In this empty channel, the selected area of “march-
ing ants” should still be seen against white. Go up to the menu bar and get Image > Apply Image. The Apply Image win-
dow’s options should bé set as shown in (V). Make sure to “x” the Invert box as well. After you hit Return, the selected

* File Edit image Layer Select Filter View Window

—— Source: ( Barry/sc?/a.01c
: z
|w} ———______. 1

| Layer: [fackgreund |v)

mpeene

Target: Barry/sc?/a.01c (#4)

ecm
Opacity:
[ le as Transparency

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 231

 - $15.10 CASE STUDY: Digital ink and Paint with Photoshop (cont.)> 1)’
area will fill with black. The black represents areas of the image that will be ignored when composited with other images,
(W). With the white background area of the colored image being ignored, the painted character is now on a digital “cel.”
After completing the alpha channel, save the file. Do not save it under a new filename, but replace the old, colored file
with this new, modified one.

#13: Final image resizing. After alpha channels have been cut for each image you have painted, there is one final
step that has less to do with the look of the animation (all your cels will now appear correctly registered over the back-
ground you have selected) and more to do with file size and how efficiently your computer can play back the finished
sequence.
You finish by reducing resolution. Recall that in order to maintain good line quality, it was necessary to scan, color,
and alpha-channel the image at 288 ppi. Now that the painting stage is over, the image’s size can be reduced to a
smaller size that meets standards for television—see (T) through (W). A video image on standard broadcast television has
the image size of 640 by 480 pixels presented at the low resolution of 72 ppi.
The trick at this final stage is to make sure that the image’s new size is what you really want and need. Remember,
the image size required for standard broadcast video is 640 by 480 pixels. If you change the image’s resolution down to
72 ppi and its height and width drop below 640 and 480 respectively, then you have an image that is too small for the
television screen ratio. Sometimes you may find it helpful to “stretch” the image a small bit, say 20 to 30 pixels, in order
to bring it up to the minimum of 640 by 480. If that’s the case, go up to the menu bar at Image > Image Size to open the
Image Size window; then type 480 into the window’s Width box for pixels so that it meets the standard.
A surefire way to make sure that the line quality isn’t affected at all and to meet the 640 by 480 ratio is to change
the image’s resolution from 288 ppi to 144 ppi. The end result will mean a larger file memory size than a 72 ppi file, but
the line quality is guaranteed to be safe.

#14: Saving at playback resolution. Each colored image on its alpha channel background can now be dropped down
to this broadcast resolution by once again opening the Image Size window, (X). As before, you will see the image’s
height and width measured in pixels as well as inches (or other unit of measurement you choose). The image’s resolution
rate is also displayed. Following the paint and alpha channel process, the image is at 288 ppi. Before typing new num-
bers in any of this window’s boxes, make sure that the two options “Constrain Proportions” and “Resample Image: Bicu-
bic” are both active with an “x” in their boxes. With both checked, all that’s left to do is to change the image’s
resolution from 288 ppi to 72 ppi. The image’s height and width pixel measurements should adjust accordingly, by
shrinking down to lower numbers, as shown in (Y).

file Edit image Layer Select fitter Biew Window ® fe Edit limege Layer Select Filter We Window
Re e Barr ? t¢ #4) Serry/sctfa Bic& 2
ER

H Pinel Dimensions: 17.8Mo. tenn -. Piel Dimensions: 1.11M (was 17.8M) — (ae) '
wien: (20_](one TS} ag wiatn: [750] (pinets Tx) }@ Ceaneet) |
weight: (2131 |(omels—[w) oe ee (Auto... } iF
H
Print Size: ~Print Size: —- H
wiat: 1 Wiath: [10.135 :

© ome com)
Resolution: |%

{4 Constrain Proportions {) Constrain Proportions

Einesample tmog Enesampte imoge:(sieubie [x]
|
F2S8 ESE NEMDEME Dp]

232 4 THE ANIMATION BOOK

BARRY IN HIS MOVIE

You deserve a payoff for working your way through the digital
ink and paint process. Here it is—Big Barry Bertrum, seen in
action with a barrel of rather stinky monkeys, from a promo for
the Cartoon Network.
By knowing the basic Photoshop methodology, you will
be able to assess and master other desktop ink and paint
programs, such as Streamline, Illustrator, and Freehand, all
from Adobe Corp. Using these programs, you can turn your
originally scanned art (which is a master image, meaning the
ink lines are stored in individual pixel locations) into a vector
image, where your ink lines become real curves that you can
modify as line art based on mathematical algorithms. And this
knowledge will enable you to evaluate and conquer the next
generation of ink and paint programs.

DIGITAL INK AND PAINT 233

WRITTEN WITH DAN SCHRECKER AND DAN MOSS

Three-dimensional Computer anima-

tion (3-D for short) is probably the most prevalent form of ani-
mation seen in media today. As its popularity has skyrocketed,
3-D has forever changed the look of TV, movies, video games,
the Internet, and other forms of entertainment.
The ability to create convincing 3-D animation was once
limited to high-powered, expensive workstations, but with
computer technology on the move—always improv-
ing and always becoming more accessible—the cost
of 3-D software and the platforms to run it on has
dropped dramatically. While higher-end systems
remain the ones that are used to make the most
professional-looking imagery, it is now possible to
create quality animation on a home computer.
If you have no experience with 3-D animation, it
is helpful to think of it as a digital hybrid of classic ani-
mation techniques and live-action film. All of the basic
principles of animation still apply, and the best 3-D
animators have usually started as cel or stop-motion
16.1 Cobble street: The above image
animators. Traditional animators’ knowledge of move-
shows the level of realism possible with ment, weight, and expression of character allows their work to
even “low-end” software. This was created be far superior to the overused “flying logos” and traveling-
using Specular Infini-D, a program that sells
camera moves so typical of poor 3-D animation. A working
for about $600. Courtesy Dave Merk and Jen
Jeneral. knowledge of film production is also a key tool in creating high-
quality 3-D work. Just as a live-action director sets up cameras,
positions actors, and lights scenes, so too must a 3-D animator.

234
 Because the computer aids in the process, a common 2-dimensional space
myth is that 3-D animation is easier, faster, and even “better”
than other forms of animation. While the machine does, in
a
fact, draw every frame of the animation, the entire process is
complex and takes some getting used to. As with any form of
animation, 3-D requires liberal amounts of patience and dili-
gence, but with a home computer and software costing less
than $500, you can create amazing imagery that realistically
duplicates our own world or explores new visions limited only
by the imagination.

THAT THIRD DIMENSION

3-dimensional space
Before getting into the details of 3-D animation, a basic grasp
of “space” is required. Other forms of animation, such as cel
and line animation, generally work in two dimensions. Such
“flat” surfaces comprise the Cartesian plane, which is defined
by an x-axis and a y-axis. Any line or geometrical shape can be
defined as a series of coordinates within this grid.
Obviously, 3-D animation introduces a third dimension.
This adds a new coordinate, the z-axis, and you now have
three-dimensional space within which to work. Instead of sim-
ply drawing a square and moving it horizontally across a frame,
as you might do with cutout animation, the computer allows
you to take your square, transform it into a cube, and move it
around the camera. In traditional two-dimensional animation,
the dot on a piece of paper could always be located by a field 16.2 Space: In order to work in
three dimensions, you have to be able to
guide showing north, south, east, and west from the center of
think in three dimensions. By “extruding” a
the frame. The third dimension adds the possibility of forward square along the z-axis, a cube is created.
and back. The z access slices through the center of the frame at Images courtesy Dsquared, Inc., unless oth-
90 degrees from the xy plane. erwise noted.

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the third

dimension of space has a big impact upon the process of ani-
mation itself. Whereas in other techniques one has some free-
dom in how to attack a new project, in 3-D animation there are
five basic steps that must be followed in this order: modeling,
applying textures, building the scene, animating, and render-
ing. Although there is some overlap, this sequence is fairly rigid
in that it is necessary to complete one process before moving
on to the next.
Each step is very time-consuming and it is all too easy to

3-D ANIMATION 235

 lose track of one’s overall idea in the detail of the new creative
tools. Hence it is crucial to have a good storyboard in place
before you begin, so that you don’t end up going backward
and losing track of what is important.
In fact, each of the five steps within the creative process
16.3 Primitives: Sphere, cylinder, cube, can be so elaborate that professional 3-D animators often spe-
and cone. cialize in only one. As you explore 3-D, you may find that you
are drawn to one of these areas more than the others. Conse-
quently, you can learn to tailor your 3-D animations to high-
light your strengths and minimize those areas where you feel
less interest and/or have less skill.

MODELING

Regardless of what kind of animation you are planning, the

first thing you must do is create the objects you plan to use in
your animation. In keeping with the live-action metaphor,
objects can be thought of as anything that is in front of the
camera. This includes actors, props, and scenery. Modeling is
the process through which you build all of the objects that
appear in your scene.
The easiest way to get started modeling is by using prim-
itives, which are simple 3-D shapes that come with most
software packages. These cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones,
pyramids, and planes can be combined to create more complex
objects. This process is very much like building with blocks or
16.4 Primitive temple: This Greek Legos. You don’t actually build the pieces you use; you just put
temple was constructed with nothing but them together. Once you've built an object by combining some
cylinders and cubes. The primitives were primitives, it is likely you will want to link these together so that
stretched and squashed varying amounts.
whenever you move one piece, the rest will follow.
A second way to create a model is by starting in two
dimensions. Almost every 3-D package gives you the ability to
draw a curve or shape, manipulate it, and use it as a basis for
creating a model. The types of curves you can create vary from
program to program, and each type has its own set of charac-
teristics. In addition, most software will allow you to import 2-D
curves from some other program, such as Adobe Illustrator.
After creating a curve, there are a number of ways to
bring it into the third dimension, the simplest being revolving
and extruding. Revolving is the process of taking a 2-D curve
and rotating it around an axis so that it acquires some volume.

236 A THE ANIMATION BooK

A good example of this is the construction of a wineglass. In
order to make a wineglass, you must first draw a curve that
represents half of the silhouette of that glass. By taking this
curve and revolving it around its vertical axis, you give volume
to what was once a flat shape. When you extrude a 2-D shape,
you are taking that shape and pulling it off “flatland” into 3-D
space. For example, a cylinder is simply an extruded circle.
Shapes can be extruded along a straight line or a curved one.
Don't be too overwhelmed by modeling. It takes a lot of
time and effort to master, but wonderful results can be
achieved with even a cursory exploration. If you find that mod-
eling is not your strength, you will be relieved to know that
many software packages include a library filled with premade
objects such as cars, tables, cups, people, animals, and even
dinosaurs. In addition, companies such as Viewpoint Datalabs
have made a business of selling models to 3-D animators. It is
possible to buy models of anything from the Eiffel Tower to a
1956 Chevy Bel Air to the most intricately detailed sunflower. 16.5 Revolving: By taking a two-dimen-
Polygons Versus Curves. What is a 3-D object actually sional curve and rotating it around an axis,
you can create 3-D objects. Above, a wine-
made of? To the computer, each object is nothing more than a
glass, (A), and a chess piece, (B), were cre-
series of numbers that define the object’s boundaries. Several ated from shapes made in Adobe Illustrator.
distinct methods have been developed to define objects, and
different software packages utilize different systems. Some
programs use polygons to break up an object’s surface into
straight-edged geometric shapes, such as triangles and quadri-
laterals. The more polygons a model has, the smoother the sur-
face. Curve-based modelers define an object as a series of
curved splines. Because this type of modeling offers tremen-
dous flexibility and smoother edges, it is the method employed
16.6 Extruding: Here, a star shape was
by high-end software, such as Alias. extruded along a curved line to create a
Although different methods are employed by different tube. Note that in order to create a hollow
modeling software to create the surface of a 3-D object, all object, the star shape has to have some
thickness along its edge.
renderers tessellate, or break down, this surface into polygons.
This is done because the renderer uses the small, flat surfaces
of the polygons to mathematically compute the color and light
information of each point of the object’s surface.

TEXTURING

Once you've finished modeling, you are ready to begin the next
step in the 3-D process. If objects are your actors, then textures

3-D ANIMATION 237

 are their costumes. While modeling defines the shape of your
objects, textures define what their surfaces look like. There are
two basic types of textures: materials and image maps. You
will find that most projects require both types of textures.
Most programs come with a set of materials that you
can simply select from a menu and apply to your objects. There
is a wide variety of metal, stone, wood, skin, glass, and liquid
to choose from. As in the real world, materials differ from one
another in the way that they reflect light. The different ways in
which objects appear to the eye, say glass versus metal, is the
result of 2 combination of several different properties. These
include color, diffuse shading (how much light it reflects),
ambient shading (how dark the shadows on its surface are),
reflectivity (how much of its environment shows on its surface),
luminence (how much light it emits), and transparency (how
much you can see through it), All of the premade materials
that come with software packages have these properties
already defined. Glass is defined as transparent, partially reflec-

16.7 Enhancing realism: Toy Story was the breakthrough 3-D

computer film made by Pixar and distributed by Disney. This stun-
ning achievement did not come from nowhere. Pixar's Animation
Production Group, creatively led by writen/director/animator John
Lasseter, spent a number of years working on self-funded short
films. Four of these are sampled here. Together they demonstrate
how textures such as wood, plastic, metal, and the fabric of a couch
help 3-D artists create believable imagery and environments.
Luxo Jr, (AL broke new ground with its ability to imbue inant
mate objects with personality and emotion. The film was introduced
at the 1986 SIGGRAPH convention and went on to win over twenty
festival prizes.
Red's Dream, (8), was completed in 1987 and encompassed sev-
eral technical achievements. A number of scenes were rendered
with procedural texturing techniques, self-shadowing, and motion-
blur.
Tin Toy, (CL was Pixar's first work to feature the animation of a
human character. The baby’s face required the definition of more
than forty facia! muscles, which were grouped by function to allow
the animator better control in creating expressions. Computation of
final color images was performed using RenderMan™ from Pixar,
for 3-D scene description. This proprietary 3-D application subse-
quently wes released for desktop hardware suites. Tin Toy won an
Academy Award in 1989 for Best Short Animated Film.
Knickknack, (D), was designed in 1989 as a 3-D stereoscopic film
e iP pee to create 2 unique three-dimensional visual experience. The film can
. also be viewed as @ traditional two-dimensional work. The cartoon
NOME Sevee® NOME. A! rs features an original musical score by Bobby McFerrin. (A) through
D — aa
SST oemenre — (D) courtesy Pixer.

238 ~ATHE ANIMATION Boox

 Chateau D’squared

tive, and a little diffuse. Stainless steel is completely opaque,

very reflective, and barely diffuse. These properties can be
combined in an infinite number of ways to produce any desired
16.8 Image maps: The wine label, (A),
result. was created in Adobe Photoshop, and
Image maps are 2-D images that are “placed” on the mapped to the front of the wine bottle in
surface of an object. Think of a wine bottle to go with your Infini-D, (B). There are a number of differ-
ent ways to place flat images on a 3-D sur-
wine glass. To make the bottle appear to be made of green face. In this case, a “cylindrical” map was
glass, you could probably just select a premade material from a used. Other possible types are planar,
menu. But to put a label on the front, you need to first create a spherical, and cubical.

label in a paint program, such as Photoshop (or scan one in).

You would then import this file into your 3-D software and
place it on the front of the bottle. As with other textures, you
can define the surface attributes of your image map in order to
make it reflect light as an actual paper label would. Image
maps (and their cousins, bump maps) can also be tiled to cover
an entire object (see Figures 16.8 and 16.9). Some software
packages also allow you to apply moving images as textures,
allowing you to map, for example, a piece of video onto the
front of a television model. ©

16.9 Bump maps: A bump map is a

gray-scale image in which the lighter parts
of the image appear to be higher than the
darker parts, with all of the levels of gray in
between. Here, a bump map was used to
simulate a leather texture, (A), and then
tiled to a sphere shape, (B). (A), ©Form and
Function from the Wraptures One CD-Rom
texture library.

3-D ANIMATION 239

 BUILDING A SCENE

Now that your objects are fully textured, you are ready to build
your scene. There are actually three stages to this: Composi-
tion, camera setup, and lighting. It is at this point that any live-
action filmmaking and TV production experience you may have
had will come in handy. Just as you would place human actors,
props, and scenery in front of a camera and light them, you
now take your objects, position them in front of the camera,
and arrange a variety of lights to illuminate your scene.
The virtual camera that you will employ in 3-D animation
is very much like a real camera but is not limited by the laws of
physics. It can zoom in and out, dolly forward and back, and
vary its focal length, just like an actual movie camera. It can
also change size, fly through the air, or automatically track an
object moving through the scene. In the end, though, it
remains a camera: your eye on the world. Viewers will see only
what you show them, so it is essential to compose your frame
carefully.
For novice 3-D animators, lighting a scene can be one of
the most challenging parts of the whole process. The balance
between fully illuminating your scene while still maintaining
the proper mood comes only with practice and repeated test
renderings. Most software packages come with at least three
types of lights: spotlights, which direct a beam in a single direc-
tion from a single point; radial lights, which emit light equally
in all directions, like a bare bulb; and parallel lights, which, like
the sun, emit light equally in a single direction. Each of these
types of lights has its proper usage and own set of characteris-
tics (see Figure 16.10). As a 3-D designer, you can control the
focus, intensity, and color of each light in order to create the
16.10 Digital lighting: The drawings
right look. If you find yourself drawn to 3-D production, it is
above illustrate how the three most com-
mon types of 3-D lights affect the same probably worth it to pick up a book on film, television, or the-
scene: parallel light, (A), radial light, (B), atrical lighting.
and spotlight, (C).

ANIMATING

By modeling, applying textures to your objects, and building a

scene, you can create a very photorealistic still life. However, in
order to create an animation, you've got to introduce the ele-

240 < THE ANIMATION Book

ment of time. It’s useful to remind yourself regularly that any-
thing in your scene can be animated. Objects, cameras, lights,
and in some cases textures can all be changed over time in a
number of ways, including size, position, and rotation. Many
of the techniques utilized in nondigital animation carry over
onto the computer. As with cel animation, a 3-D animator
builds key frames that define an object's motion. Unlike cel
animation, though, no in-betweening is required, as the com-
puter computes all of the intermediate frames necessary for a
smooth animation. Objects can be animated along straight
lines or curves, and many software packages are equipped to
automate basic animation timing methods such as ease-in and
ease-out. The more knowledge you have of classic animation
techniques, the more polished your 3-D animation will look.
The concepts of stretch and squash, anticipation, and exagger-
ation are as relevant to 3-D as to any other form of animation.
Inverse kinematics is one type of 3-D animation worth
noting. IK, as it is called, is the process by which the computer
is able to animate a human figure while maintaining proper
anatomical structural relationships. If you had a human figure
you wanted to make run, it would be a nightmare to first move
a thigh, then a shin, and then a foot, all the while making sure
these body parts were still aligned properly. IK allows you to
simply move a single body part, and have all the adjoining body
parts move accordingly within a defined range of motion. It is
this type of technology that allowed for the high-quality char-
acter animation of Toy Story.
16.11 The virtuosity of Toy Story:
Both Woody and Buzz Lightyear, the central
protagonists of Toy Story, (A), incorporate
RENDERING inverse kinematics — which keeps them
behaving “naturally” across the wide gamut
Even though today’s computers are capable of doing thou- of expression that director John Lasseter
and his team at Pixar have designed and
sands, and sometimes millions, of computations every second,
programmed into this brilliant animated
most are still not fast enough to keep up with the demanding feature. Frame (B) samples the range of 3-D
mathematics required by 3-D production. Rendering is the computer characters in the groundbreaking
process through which the computer takes all of the data that movie. Each of the toys behaves consis-
tently, yet displays a custom vocabulary of
define a 3-D scene, including models, textures, lights, and
movement and gesture. Toy Story's explo-
camera, and creates a 2-D image of that scene. Depending on ration of lighting effects is suggested in (C).
how realistic the image that the computer must create, render- Courtesy Walt Disney Pictures. © Disney
Enterprises, Inc.
ing a single frame can take anywhere from a fraction of a sec-
ond to several hours, or even days.

3-D ANIMATION 241

 Although rendering is always the final stage in produc-
ing a 3-D animation, it is actually something you do constantly
throughout the production process. All software packages
allow you to view your 3-D scene in a number of ways, and
each of these rendering modes has its proper place in the
process, based on how long it takes the computer to render an
image. A wire frame rendering allows you to see the shape of
your objects and where they are in space, but without any sur-
faces. Because the computer is able to draw images very
quickly when it doesn’t have to compute lighting or textures,
this is the rendering mode commonly used for modeling, frame
composition, and animation. There are different types of shad-
ing algorithms that allow you to view images with surfaces and
lighting at varying degrees of quality. For example, flat shading
shows lower-quality images with jaggies; they are quicker to
render and can serve as a general reference for your image. On
the other hand, smooth shading eliminates these aliased lines,
making it more realistic, but taking much longer for the com-
puter to render. These modes are good for setting up lights
and checking your models for any unintended imperfections, a
process of rendering known as ray casting.
Ray tracing, so named because the computer traces
every ray of light, is the most time-intensive rendering mode.
Ray tracing allows you to see all of your textures (including
reflections, which add considerably to rendering time), lighting
effects (including fog and realistic-looking shadows), and in
some cases motion blurs. And finally, radiosity is becoming the
16.12 Rendering modes: The same most common highest-quality rendering, which provides more
scene was rendered three times, each time realistic animation than ray tracing. It is mainly used in archi-
at a different rendering mode: wire frame, tectural animation because, at least for now, this mode is too
‘A), “fast” mode, (B), and trace, (C). ; : : : : é '
tae ode Erie tay ce, 1) computationally intensive for animation in general. It is not
uncommon to set up your animation and allow the machine to
render overnight. High-end production houses often have sev-
eral machines dedicated only to rendering.

THE FUTURE

Because 3-D animation is linked so closely to technology, it

only follows that as machines become stronger and less expen-
sive and software becomes more fully featured, 3-D animators

242 THE ANIMATION Book

will have unprecedented control over their craft. In many ways,
3-D seeks to re-create the physical world as faithfully as possi-
ble. The ways in which this will be possible will continue to
grow. In the future, animators will have increased control over
all aspects of the 3-D process. Modeling will become increas-
ingly sculptural, allowing you to carve and mold objects in a
more natural way.
Perhaps the most significant improvement is something
that is already widely used by 3-D game developers and other
high-end users. Now, 3-D objects have a number of properties,
such as size, position, rotation, and texture. In the future, an
object’s properties will be more dramatic, responding not only
to an animator’s control but also to the other objects in the
scene and physical laws such as gravity and velocity. For
instance, to create an animation of a ball bouncing off a brick
wall, you would only have to create a ball and a wall (a sphere
and a cube) and “throw” the ball against the wall. When the
ball hits the wall, the computer would be able to calculate the
ball’s bounce by taking into account whether it was a tennis
ball or a baseball, how hard it was thrown, and what the wall
is made of. You will no longer need to fake the relationship.
This is not to say that the concept of stretch and squash
will no longer be relevant to 3-D animation. The timing and
feel of a piece will remain the result of the animator’s vision,
regardless of how closely it re-creates the real world. The
incredible creative powers of 3-D animation become strikingly
evident when one studies, in some detail, the creative process
that this technology requires. Toward that end, Figure 16.14
provides a detailed case study. In it, you can see the huge
amount of control that the 3-D animator can impose on every
aspect of the production sequence. This particular case study
goes even further, showing how the tools and techniques of
3-D animation can extend the way we see our world and how
a well-worn dramatic situation—almost a tired cliché—can be
given new creative force.

16.13 Cartoon rendering: Thinkfish

Productions of San Francisco has developed
a technology that allows 3-D artists to ren-
der scenes to look like illustrations. The
three images shown here show a model of a
robot rendered in wire frame, (A), in a stan-
dard renderer, (B), and using Thinkfish’s
proprietary technology, (C).

3-D ANIMATION 243

 “116.14 CASE ‘STUDY: Using Martin Hash’s 3:D Animation Program’) ©” <
LY 1. Extreme high angle of planet in
ae, space.
LR
y 2. Camera begins to move in to show
N an old western town.
Yp. ew 3. Camera eventually stops behind
LAN Cowboy 1, poised to draw.
a ee, 4. After dramatic pause, Cowboy 1
draws his guns.
5. Bang! Cowboy 2 shoots logo-shaped
hole clean through Cowboy 1.
6. Cowboy 1 wobbles and falls over,
: face first.
Z
Br yseavtll
ny
Va iN

Shootout is a ten-second motion logo that Dan Schrecker and Dan Moss created for their independent produc-
tion company, Dsquared, Inc., which specializes in 3-D animation, game design, and Internet projects. This
humorous animation, which plays on Western-movie archetypes, was created using Martin Hash’s 3D Anima-
tion (MH3D), an application that combines a powerful curve-based modeler and superior character-animation
capabilities in a relatively inexpensive package (about $600). MH3D is made up of four modules: Sculpture,
Character, Action, and Direction. Each of these modules is designed to accomplish a part of the 3-D production
process. Objects are modeled in Sculpture, assembled and assigned hierarchies and limitations in Character,
animated in Action, and composed into a scene and rendered in Direction. You can move back and forth freely
between modules, but the basic sequence of work is similar to that detailed earlier in this chapter. As with most
3-D packages, MH3D is quite complex. The following notes from the two Dans provide an abridged summary
of the creative process.

SCULPTURE
MH3D’s spline-based modeler provided us with the flexibility we needed to create all of the objects in the scene, includ-
ing organic elements such as the cowboys and cacti, as well as architectural structures, such as the storefronts. The six
frames from our original storyboard, (A), show the setup of the gag that introduces our company’s logo.

TOP
VIEW

SIDE
VIEW

1.
2 3. 4. 5.

The progression of how the cowboy hat was constructed. The first curve is not even visible from the side because
there is no surface at all, (7). As we build the hat up, it becomes visible from the side, (3). When the hat is complete,
(5), you can see from the top view that the hat is made from a series of different-sized ellipses.

244 A THE ANIMATION Book

ae

Before we begin, a note about spline-

based modelers. In a spline-based mod-
eler, the surface of an object is made up
of patches, not polygons. In MH3D, a
“legal” patch (one that renders as a
solid surface) is created by any closed
combination of three or four control
points, made up of two or more splines.
This sounds confusing, and it is. With
practice, however, you will find that
spline-based modeling is very powerful
and intuitive.

Making a hat
Here’s a step-by-step description of how
we create a cowboy hat. To save time,
we model a single, generic hat, which
we then duplicate. These two hats can
then be individually tweaked to create
two seemingly distinct cowboy hats, Before the final patch is created, there is a hole in the top of the hat, (7).
each with its own unique style. In order to fill this hole, it is necessary to create “legal” patches (2).
We begin with a single 2-D curve,
an ellipse composed of 8 points, (B7).
This curve will serve as the basis for the rest of the hat, which we will build,
one surface at a time. By extruding this curve “out,” we create our first sur-
face, the bottom of the hat’s brim, (B2). Each time we extrude a curve, a
duplicate of that curve is created. This new curve then becomes the basis for
our next extrusion. In addition, each successive curve creates a new surface
between itself and the prior curve. Basically what we are doing is tracing the
shape of the hat in three dimensions, using a two-dimensional curve as our
brush, and resizing the curve as we go along, (B5). In the end, the hat is just a
surface with no volume. This is due to the fact that the ends are still open.
This doesn’t matter on the inside because the cowboy’s head will obscure any The finished cowboy hat.
gaps. However, if we look closely at
the top of the hat there is a hole in
One feature of the Sculpture module is the
the middle, (C7). In order to “fill”
ability to glue “decals” onto individual seg-
the final curve, we must add some
ments. Decals are excellent for animation
lines to ensure a solid surface, (C2).
because they deform with the segment onto
Now we want to turn the basic
which they are mapped. Decals were used
hat into a more stylized cowboy
simply to make a sign for one of the store-
hat. By selecting individual points or
fronts. An image map and a bump map—both produced in Photoshop—were
groups of points and tweaking their
combined to turn a flat plant into a sign seemingly built from two boards.
position or rotation, we are able to
bend the brim, indent the top, and
generally give some Western flavor
to something that started out closer
to a top hat, (D). The final result is
a segment file, “hat.seg,” which
we will use in the next module,
Character.

3-D ANIMATION 245

“5416.14 CASE STUDY:
Using Martin Hash’s 3-D Animation Program (cont.)

CHARACTER
The primary purpose of the Character
module is to create what MH3D calls a
“figure.” A figure, identified by the
" fig” file extension, can be made up
of a single segment or multiple seg-
ments, depending upon the amount
and style of animation required by the
figure. Within the Character module,
ie 2. 3. 4.
figures are built by adding one seg-
ment at a time until the figure is com- Figures are built one segment at a time. Starting with the pelvis, we add
plete. In addition, constraints are one body part at a time until our cowboy is complete. This creates the
defined for segments that will later be hierarchy required by inverse kinematics.
animated.

BUILDING A COWBOY
The arm bone’s connected to the hand bone. The neck bone’s connected to the Although you can apply textures
head bone. Although we are working with segments and not bones, the same within any of MH3D’s modules,
ideas apply when constructing a human figure. After modeling the cowboy in we did most of our work in Char-
the Sculpture module, we “cut” him up into the individual segments we require acter. The Materials palette
in the Character module. For example, we modeled the entire arm at once, but allows you to select any object
instead of saving it as a single segment, we divide it up into the biceps, fore- and edit its surface attributes. In
arm, and hand in order to facilitate future animation. addition, MH3D allows us to
As we build our cowboy, one body part at a time, we create a hierarchy. combine different materials to
Whichever segment is selected when we import a new segment becomes the create new ones.
“parent” of the newly imported segment. We start with the pelvis, (F7). This

To create the logo in the cowboy’s

chest, we used what MH3D calls a
“cutter” segment or Boolean shape.
First, we modeled the logo in sculp-
ture, (7). Then, with the torso
selected, we imported it into
Character. Next, we positioned
the logo so that it cut right through the cowboy’s chest, (2). By making
the logo a cutter, its volume is subtracted from the segments it intersects
and its surface appears on the inside, (3).

246 ~2THE ANIMATION Book

will be the top of our hierarchy. Anytime we move the pelvis, the entire cow-
boy will follow. With the pelvis selected, we import the torso and thighs,
(F2). With the torso selected, we import the neck, shoulders, and vest, (F3).
We continue in this way until the entire cowboy has been assembled, from
hat down to boots, (F4). The reason for constructing the cowboy in this way
lies in MH3D’s inverse kinematics. In order for the biceps to move the fore-
arm, which in turn moves the hand, it is necessary to link the body parts and
establish this hierarchy. Another part of preparing figures for animation is
defining the proper constraints to each body part. This assures that a leg
won't bend in an unnatural position or the head spin all the way around.
Using the constraint panel, we define a range of motion for each segment.

ACTION
Here’s where the fun really starts. There are two types of motion possible
in MH3D: absolute, which determines the position and orientation of an
object in space, and relative, which determines how an object behaves,
regardless of where it is in space. A good metaphor for this is the motion of
the Earth. The Earth’s orbit around the sun is absolute motion, while its
daily rotation on its own axis is relative. In MH3D, the movement of a char-
acter’s legs and arms as they walk is relative motion, but their actual move-
ment from point a to point b is absolute. The figures constructed in
Character are brought into Action, where all relative motion is defined
(absolute motion is defined in the Direction module).
MHS3D provides three types of animation: skeletal, muscle, and spine.
Skeletal is the type of animation that affects a figure’s joints, such as bending
a knee. Muscle animation affects the position and contour of control points
ona single segment. This would be the type of animation used to lift a char-
acter’s eyebrows or move a character’s lips. Spine animation is much like
using an armature within a given segment. If you wanted to make a snake
slither along the ground, you would use spine animation.

The draw
The animation of a cowboy drawing his guns is an example of skeletal ani-
mation. Herein lies one of MH3D’s great strengths (and what truly sets it
apart from other low-cost 3-D packages). The hierarchy we built in the Char-
acter module serves asthe basis for the inverse kinematics we will use to ani-
mate the draw. In other words, because we've already established links
between the character’s biceps, forearm, and hand, we need only position
the hand where we want it, and the arm will follow.
The process of animating the draw is similar to other forms of character animation, except the computer does all of
our in-betweening. The animation of the cowboy drawing his gun was created through a sequence of key frames, much
like classic character animation. Our understanding of concepts such as anticipation and weight were extremely helpful
in creating believable motions. We define our key frames, (/), and render a series of wire-frame tests until we are satis-

3-D ANIMATION 247

25 46.14 CASE STUDY: Using Martin Hash’s 3-D Animation Program (cont.) 9) © 5% |

fied with our animation. The final product is a twelve-frame animation encapsulated within a file named “draw.act.”
When we bring this file into the Direction module, we can speed it up or slow it down as we please. In addition, MH3D
allows us to apply this action to any character that shares the proper hierarchy, thus allowing us to use it for both
cowboys.

DIRECTION
This is where it all comes together. Lights, camera, action, and fig-
ures are combined to create what MH3D calls a choreography. At
this point, the process is similar to live-action filmmaking. We build a
set, position the actors, light the scene, set up a camera move, and
roll the film, or in this case, render the animation.
A basic concept to grasp when working in Direction is that all
objects, including cameras, lights, and figures, must be attached to a
path. A path can be a single point (which will result in a stationary
object), or a curve made up of several points (which will produce an
object that moves along its path over the length of the
choreography).
This top view of our Western set shows the On the set
storefronts, the cowboys, and the camera in When we begin a new choreography it contains nothing but a
its final position. The triangle represents the default camera and default light. The first step is to put these
camera's field of view. objects on paths so we can move them around. We will eventually
add some more points to the camera’s path in order to animate its
descent. For now, however, it is easier to keep it on a single point so
that we can move it freely about the scene in order to check our composition from a variety of angles.
The first figure we add is the Earth, since it acts as the ground plane and all other objects will be positioned in rela-
tion to it. In order for us to have a round planet at the beginning and a flat horizon once the camera is finished moving,
we created an animation of the Earth squashing from a sphere into a plane, (J). We did this simply by decreasing the
Earth’s scale along the y-axis in the Action module.
Next we build our Western set by adding the store-
fronts and cacti. Finally, we add the cowboys. Because
none of these figures will move (absolute motion), they sere ses Beem)
The Attributes panel
are all positioned on single-point paths. We rotate the provides us with total
storefronts to form a street and the cowboys to face each ata} control over how a
other, and we're ready for our showdown, (K). cWreny <1 light behaves, including
With all of our objects in place, we can light the scene. ‘ 1 its color, width, inten-
This is a fairly simple process because we want to emulate : sity, whether or not it
natural light. Although MH3D allows us to use five differ- =| casts shadows, and at
ent types of light with a wide array of attributes, (L), we : yi) what distance the light
simply want a single parallel light to illuminate the whole . | i) begins to fall off. To re-
scene—i.e., the sun. We add a little bit of color so the sun- |) i) create dramatic sun-
light isn’t pure white, and render a few tests until the sun Tr light, we used a light
is positioned correctly so that our shadows are appropri- ip 7 yellow parallel light
ately dramatic. — Loree 4) that cast shadows and
It is now time to apply the animations we created in 7 ea Never dropped off.
the Action module to the proper figures. The draw anima- ~
tion is applied to both cowboys, the fall animation is
applied to the cowboy who gets shot, and the squash ani-
mation is applied to the Earth.
We are ready now to animate the camera. In order to
do this, we must first add a few points to the camera’s

248 K THE ANIMATION BooKk

 Edit
Type: [Camera ba Item: [Camera =|

: Red Background
fs
Green Background
{Blue Background

GOMEREE .
200 220 240 260 (ao)
: ee : Magones
| ee a :

Is es

path. Each point on the path is positioned individually to

create a smooth approach for our camera. To achieve the
proper camera move, we created a smooth path that
started high in the sky and ended at street level, (M7). The
timing of this move is controlled through a “channel,”
(M2). The curve here represents the camera’s “ease.” An
ease of 0% represents the beginning of a figure’s path and
100% is the end of its path. The S-shape of this curve
results in a classic ease-in/ease-out. At frame #240, the
curve levels out and the camera holds still for the rest of
the animation. Channels are very powerful and can be used
to affect every aspect of an animation, including position
and scale of figures, camera attributes such as depth of
field and focal length, ancHight attributes such as intensity
and color. To check that our path is correct, we render a
wire-frame version of the complete animation.
After.a little tweaking, we’re ready. The set is built, the
A frame from the final render.
actors are in place, the sunlight is just right, and the cam-
era is hovering a few miles above the set, ready to swoop down into its final position. We make sure our rendering
options are correct (ray tracing, full screen, fifteen frames per second), press the Go button, and go home while the
machine renders the final animation.

3-D ANIMATION 249

 Animation Call be viewed as developing in three
waves. The first was based on the technology of film: an emul-
sion coating on a piece of celluloid, which is ratcheted through
a projector gate 24 times a second. Films were (and still are)
projected to large audiences using machinery invented in the
nineteenth century. The first cartoons of Disney and others built
huge popularity for 35mm theatrical shorts, then full features,
and eventually widened both audience and purpose as anima-
tion was discovered to be effective in delivering a broad range
of information. Filmmaking tools, once expensive and bulky and
therefore available only to a few, eventually became available to
everyone through 16mm and super 8mm cameras and related
paraphernalia. Toward the end of the first wave—in the 1970s
—there was a flowering of independent animation as artists
invented and refined new and simpler ways of animating.
This next evolutionary wave in animation was based in
video technology. Television became a new distribution
medium that, for the most part, delivered animation that was
still produced on film. But the needs of TV subtly altered how
animators worked. Early animated series like The Flintstones
and teaching elements on Sesame Street led to the develop-
ment of a simplified aesthetic that looked good within the
17.1 AAAAH-EEEEE-AAAAH-EEEEE-
Sleies lower resolution (and smaller budgets) of television. The Simp-
AAAAH!!!! We swing blindly into the . Peet ;
future of animation in the good company sons and Nicktoons series like Ren and Stimpy and Rugrats rep-
an Eli Noyes adventurer. Drawing courtesy resent the full flowering of film-based animation on the TV
Eli Noyes himself. screen.

250
 In the 1980s, high-budget TV commercials pushed ani-
mation techniques into new digital configurations. Very expen-
sive video tools like the Ultimatte, the Paintbox, and the Harry
permitted animators to blend together, or composite, images
from various sources onto the same screen. Cel animation, live-
action video, motion graphics, and archival film merged in a
new aesthetic that was named “Blendo” by one of the cutting-
edge studios involved in the innovations, (Colossal) Pictures in
San Francisco.
Emerging cable networks like MTV quickly adopted the
second wave of eclectic, video-based animation. The promo-
tional departments that created on-air graphics for these net-
works became showplaces for the new hybrids of merged film/
video techniques, and shows like MTV's Liquid Television, an
anthology of beyond-the-fringe, over-the-top animation,
showed some of the first stirrings of the wave we're currently
experiencing.
Now, at the turn of the century, animation has moved to
the computer. The swell of this new wave in animation’s evolu-
tion started to become clear when—quite suddenly, it seemed
—50 percent of American households had computer screens
as well as television screens. By the mid-1990s, new computers
were routinely equipped with the second or third generation of
powerful CD-ROM drives and with modems, satellites, and
high-speed telephones providing easy access to the Internet.
This newest wave is still building. Soon cable television
services will offer faster digital hookups to the World Wide
Web. The Web will respond with new forms of information
and entertainment. A new generation of digital, higher-
definition television sets (the first appearing before the year
2000) will further blur the line between computing and televi-
sion. And after that, high-bandwidth switched networks using
fiber optics will fuse the worlds of television and computers, of
entertainment and information.
But all this is about technological breakthroughs. What
about the medium of animation? Are new techniques becom-
ing available? Will there be new opportunities for independent
animators and small studios? Are new patterns yet visible?
This chapter offers a look at four frontiers of animation
at the millennium. All exemplify the transformational power of
the computer. All offer special kinds of lures to capture the
imaginations and careers of tomorrow’s fearless animators.

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 251

 oN y g ie a , <a RE ee

Written with Eli Noyes

Think of new media as that world where the viewer becomes a

user. As someone who has chosen to pick up this book, you
are undoubtedly aware that computers demand a subtle but
very profound switch from a passive to a participatory mode.
17.2 Living Books logo: This electronic
publishing outfit, a co-venture by Broder- The paradigm shift is one of interactivity.
bund and Random House, pushed the enve- You are probably also aware that there already exists a
lope for incorporating original animation robust configuration of interactive tools operating under the
within interactive properties. The vision was
simple and strong, with a format and inter-
general classifications of multimedia and new media. We pre-
action model that proved very popular with fer the latter name, partly because the rah-rah, overpromising
children and continues to be satisfying in an hype of the early 1990s has marred the term multimedia, and
age with the razzle-dazzle of complex 3-D
partly because the phrase new media seems to welcome stuff
interactive graphics. Courtesy Living Books.
that isn’t yet invented. In day-to-day, operational terms, new
media has come to mean any computer-based form in which
the user can navigate his or her way through a seamless mix of
text, TV clips, still images, audio tracks, and animations.

CD-ROMS AND DVDS

The most exciting new distribution technology to emerge from

the digital revolution is the CD-ROM (compact disc—read-only
memory). Shiny and silver, like their audio CD cousins, CD-
ROMs hold as much as 650 gigabytes of digital information.
That’s the equivalent of 450 floppy disks! CD-ROM drives that
can quickly access information (ten times faster than the first
generation) are now being routinely built into every computer
coming off the production line. Here is a delivery device that
works using off-the-shelf hardware and software and invites
the audience to interact deeply.
Production of your own CD-ROM requires the fabrica-
tion of many bits and pieces of “media,” using many of the
same digital tools that are discussed in Chapter 23 and sam-
pled in case studies throughout these pages. The full spectrum
of words, images, and sounds are assembled in a CD-ROM so
that the viewer (who is now a player) can interact auto-
nomously by clicking a mouse. The means of production is
quite artist-friendly and encourages anyone with a modicum of
equipment to make their own multimedia products.

252 VoTHeE ANIMATION BooK

 The case study for Ruff’s Bone (Figure 17.4) provides
insights into the creative turf of CD-ROM production. It also
will introduce you to a software program called Director from
Macromedia, which is a landmark software application within
the domain of new media.
By the turn of the century, a new and improved distribu-
tion medium will be in place. The DVD (digital videodisc), has
the capacity to store between 7 and 14 gigabytes. A dual-sided
DVD holds the same amount of data as almost ten CD-ROMs. Peached a cave
feo WEY
The interactive capabilities of this new medium will increase
the creative reach of designers of games and other content.
The realm of new media is destined to evolve far beyond
the technologies that exist today. High-definition TV (HDTV)
and interactive television are still a few years away for everyday
use, but you can find a preview of what is to come in the digi-
tal program guides and navigation schemes of today’s satellite,
microwave, and closed-circuit TV environments.
The medium of animation turns out to be particularly
well suited to the interactive domain. For one thing, bits of ani-
mation can “nest” within larger fields of information, coming
alive at the click of a mouse. Animated characters (including
animated logos) provide powerful proprietary identities that
bring fun and recognition to multimedia products. Because
animated characters and worlds compress better than their
live-action counterparts, animation has a natural advantage
when space and computing power is limited.
Traveling on the backs of such inherent qualities, anima-
tion has begun to leave the movie and TV screen behind, mak-
ing its way into documents, presentations, and toolbars.
Animation has jumped into the very heart of the GUI (graphical
user interface), making up the icons, windows, and desktop
environment that connect each of us to the powers of comput- % Lsaw a ladder and climbed up
through the stars. Would the
ing. If you are a young animator looking for a place that invites ladder lead to my bone?
a3
innovation and values fearlessness, head toward the interactive
frontier of new media.

17.3 Ruff’s Bone: The first product for the Living Books line of
interactive CD-Roms was Ruff’s Bone, an original creation devel-
oped by Eli Noyes in association with (Colossal) Pictures. Living
Books has gone on to develop a proprietary multimedia platform
with a full library of interactive titles. (A) sets up the story, while (E)
is the final page and the payoff. (B), (C), and (D) sample pages of
the worlds Ruff enters in his quest for the bone.

ANIMATION FRONTIERS
 WeePeeg
“47.4: CASE STUDY: Using Director” © 0 OS S= seXs eee - aeS & med

Ruff’s Bone is an original creation for Living Books, a joint venture of Broderbund (a software publisher) and
Random House (a traditional book publisher). It was illustrated and directed by Eli Noyes, who developed the
project with a group from (Colossal) Pictures in San Francisco. Ruff’s Bone was created from scratch rather than
adapted from an existing children’s book, using an early version of Director from Macromedia. Below, creator
Eli Noyes describes this process.

Writing
We had to tell a story in about twelve pages. At first |wanted each page to be more absurd than the last. But as the
story developed it became clear that a through-line would make a difference. We then tried to “shape” Ruff’s emo-
tional state so he gets discouraged before arriving at the Bone Planet. Story line and page content evolved via brain-
storming with the creative team. We had to script the opening and
closing animation for each page, and come up with “gag” ideas for RUFF BONE FINAL SCRIPT Page 3
9/8/83
objects and characters on each page. A sample chunk of the final script INTRO
‘A darkANIMATION:
hole,covered
indit.Wesoethemainchamber nthecenter,andincications ofaction! chambers
1’ WehearRutbarkoffscreen, andthenhearhimscratching. Suddenly
hecomestubing rio
trame, andfaisotthebotiom ofthehole.
is shown in (A). RUFF V.O.: C LOOKED DOWN A DARK HOLE" fp. it
In the final writing stage, we had to make sure we could tell our Ruttpickshse upendstartssnftingaround.
Sette ck
DR veccfacs Lebetes?
story using only fifteen to twenty words on each page. These words had Rutt V.0.: Cur NOSE KNEW THAT BONE WAS NEAR, BUT WHERE”

to be carefully chosen for the target audience of preschoolers. To give ANTS:

* RUFF:
{ormcontquous tnamovingthroughout kame
site ardBinks
you a sense of how concepts evolved and word count shrank, (B) pro-
QUTTONS:
AAS#achareaiscickedi becomes visibleetharbydnclearingaway,
(A
+ rte around, barksandecratches
vides an initial concept sketch and (C) shows what it evolved into. Above.
+ Aworm3 pokes above frame, 25088thewormandheadsfor They Nave
tug
ofwar. Thewormpultshareandthebirdletsgo,Rying ‘2ndlanding
onhisrear. The
orien os) ‘the Berdtheaavn,
a ;
Design and Character Development wie * (aneshol)Turnsinto8 butiertlyandfiesof

The character of Ruff evolved through a series of rough drawings that (Re (Rate
dest ees
tnt
became more and more refined as the script took shape. | wanted his
world to be rich enough in detail to hold the attention of young view-
ers, who | knew would appreciate all the little details. The drawings in
(D) sample the design process that | used with just about every charac-
ter in Ruff’s Bone.
The art director part of me wanted to use the gradated backgrounds
and the multiple color palettes possible with digital rendering. Unfortu-
nately, you cannot see the beautiful pastel tones we achieved in these
black-and-white reproductions. But to give you some sense of it, (E)
shows the background for the scene in Slim's yard, and (F), the final lay-
out populated with characters and objects. showed me stars, comets and
everything. | saw a bone planet.
= = “Take me there,” | said, and he
Layouts did.

| needed to create a layout for each “page.” | knew we would eventu-

ally place fifteen to twenty short animations on each page, and that the
layout would need many inviting things for kids to click on. My fear at
the beginning was that layouts would not be interesting enough and
that there wouldn't be enough things to point at with the mouse.
Hence the backgrounds presented an unusual design problem: They had
to tweak the curiosity of kids but they also had to avoid too much clut-
ter. The evolution of one layout is sampled here: an initial sketch, (G);
one that is closer, (H); and the final version showing the scene as the
young person first sees it, (I), and after all the implied burrows have
been clicked on, (J).
The layouts had to create a stage for the little animation scenes that
come to life when kids interact with each scene. An outline drawing of
the scene in Slim’s yard, (K), shows how | laid out the action.
BB

254 “6 fue ANIMATION BooK

 aoe SYoOy €ack &
2

Sprite and Space Allocation

We created Ruff’s Bone using the 3.0 version of Director. This version had a lim-
ited number of “cast members” or “sprites” (only 1,000) that could be used for
each Living Books page, but that
number has more than quadrupled a5 —
in current
: versions. Each frame of rsof =e NL f°
\
Looked down a dark hole.
¢ My nose knew it was near,
animation counts as a cast member. OU er eae
Each flashing word of text counts as ON AS
a cast member. Every piece of audio
counts as a cast member. We found
that it was very easy to fill up our
quota for each page, and that if we
spent a lot of frames animating one
“gag,” we would have to skimp on
the next one, possibly using audio
only to pay off the mouse click. The
screen-grab in (L) shows a few of the
sprites appearing on one of the Liv-
ing Books pages.
We also found that we were lim-
ited in the size of objects that could
move on the screen. Our rule of
thumb was that nothing larger than
a quarter of the screen could move
at a time, since most home comput-
ers do not have the horsepower to
refresh large parts of the screen at a
rapid rate.

Voice Recording
Seenteares tcaaedug’ Dewtake. 6c ss. Once the script and basic layout of
) iA each page was fixed, it was time to
record voices. It was important to
have tracks before we did the ani-
mation itself in order to make sure
gestures and mouth movements
matched the spirit and content of
Sih Cg) the track. Voices for Ruff’s Bone
Lam ee gE! sUwere drawn from the ranks of
employees at (Colossal) Pictures,
who delivered a great range of vocaleese. Oftentimes actors would impro-
vise lines that filled gaps in our script. Our sound designer enhanced the
voice track with an array of comical sound effects. Our music director/com-
poser created all the music for the CD-ROM and modemed it to us from
Minneapolis.
If you look closely at (L), you can see that some of the sprites show
mouths, which were laid onto other sprites in Director. This is how the ani-
mators created lip sync. It’s easy to move and recombine sprites in Director;
hence the process involved trial and error until the mouth synced with the
already recorded bark track. Note that sprites are not shown proportion-

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 255

 oo a °47.4 CASE STUDY: Using Director (cont.)

ally to each other. The program automatically enlarges each sprite to the degree possi-
ble in these tiny thumbnail reference images.

Animation
In the particular configuration of hardware and software version we worked with,
Director did not play animations at a full 24 frames a second. The rate varied depend-
ing on the size of the image and the speed of the computer, but tended to hover
around 8 frames a second. This meant that the animators had to rethink the way they
worked: Fewer drawings meant less work for them, but each drawing had to count,
and the motion had to be simplified and stylized for the lower frame rate. The
sprites representing the complete set of drawings for one animated moment is
shown in (M).
Animation was done in a traditional way: by hand with a pencil on bond
paper with pegs. This was pencil-tested on a frame-by-frame video recorder and,
after revisions, inked onto bond paper. Each frame was then scanned into Photo-
shop for coloring. Animator Beth Sullivan is shown at work in (N) and (O).

Color Design
It requires labor and ingenuity to establish distinct color designs of each page.
The Director software limited the palette of each page to 256 colors. This may
sound like a lot, but when colors are gradated in backgrounds and on characters,
what seems like
one color can & Fie Edit Window Cast Score Text ies]

easily eat up a
lot of different
shades. Also,
antialiased lines
are in fact com-
binations of
black and,
around the
edges, pixels of
black mixed with
whatever color it
goes against, (P).
So even black
lines ate into our
palette budget.
Our program-

256~ATHE ANIMATION Book

 mers spent hours tweaking
the color palette of each
page to get maximum
richness.

Registration, Timing,
and Scene Building in
Director
Once animated pieces are
drawn, scanned, and col-
ored, they must be entered into Director’s cast list. They must be
precisely aligned with the background so when the young user
clicks on an object, the appropriate sprites will play back and look
as if they are married to the page. Director provides the animator
with the computer equivalent of a cue sheet, where all of these
images can be entered along with the sound effects that they
trigger.
(Q) shows four of the major tools of Director: the Score; the
BRA RAB ABR Controller; the Cast; and the Stage. (R) provides a closer look at
HEGGRRERE the score for this particular screen. Don't be too overwhelmed: It
took me weeks to learn my way around Director. Happy to say, my
background as an animator (cue sheets, serial images, analyzing
audio tracks, etc.) made it much easier to learn a multimedia
application like Director.

Viability Testing and Debugging

In the good old days of movies, you shot film in either 16mm or
35mm. Projectors all over the world could show your film because
they, too, came in these two gauges. Imagine, however, creating something that must play on any number of different
computer and software configurations, and must be made compatible for Macs and PCs! In the early days of multimedia
when we put together Ruff’s Bone, we had to assume that consumers had much slower machines than are now rou-
tinely in use. An important step in the production that few people know about is called “QA.” It involves a room full of
people with every conceivable computer configuration under the sun who play and replay the CD-ROM you have cre-
ated. They are looking for “bugs,” and they find a lot of them! These need to be fixed. This is one of the final stages in
the making of a Living Book, (5).

Photos and artwork courtesy Eli Noyes, (Colossal) Pictures, and Living Books®. Ruff's Bone © 1994 Broderbund Software,
Inc. and Living Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Living Books and Broderbund are registered trademarks
of Broderbund Software, Inc.

Credits: (Colossal) Pictures’ New Media: Creative Director: Stuart Cudlitz Executive Producer: George Consagra Senior Producer: Anne Ashbey Pro-
ducer: George Consagra Director: Eli Noyes Animation Director: Catherine Margerin Technical Directors: Johnathan Levy, Dave Wise Animator: Beth
Segal Animation Assistants: Ruth Daly, Karen Heathwood, Cindy Ng, Susan Tremblay Computer Graphics Technicians: Lee Dean, Portia DiGiovanni,
Karina Jakelski, Jonathan Levy, Sara Whiteley, Dave Wise Original Music & Lyrics: Greg Hale Jones Music Production: Anderson Jones Music Sound
Designer: James LeBrecht

Living Books: Product Manager: Todd Power Sound Design: Tim Keanini, Jane Scoleri Technical Design: Donna Bonifield, Rob Bell Programmers: Matt
Siegel (Macintosh); Glen Axworthy (Windows); Misc. Tools: Dave Lucas, Mark Webster Assistant Marketing Manager: Laura Norman Director of Mar-
keting: Susan Lee-Merrow Creative Director: Mark Schlicting Executive Publisher: John Baker Package Design: Ronni Valenti, Karina Jakelski Quality
Assurance Testing: Craig Riddle (Lead QA Technician) Testers: Marcus Duerod, John Hamele, Lisa Irwin, Daniel Kelmenson, Erik Spencer, John Crowell
(Senior QA Lead), Anne Sete

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 257

 TWHen tn Agnainee rae eee

lf you are a young actor or a budding computer programmer,

an evolving field called Improvisational Animation is where you
should be heading.
Using a radical new set of computer tools, you will
someday be able to create animated characters with built-in
personalities that equip them to react spontaneously to situa-
tions, environments, and characters they are faced with. The
17.5 Simon says: |n a demonstration at software system for creating these animations is called /mprov.
SIGGRAPH 95, an interactive avatar named It involves a combination of procedural animation and behav-
Sam responded to spoken statements and ioral scripting techniques that are currently being developed at
requests from untrained participants in a
game of “Simon Says.” Sam was pro-
New York University’s Media Research Laboratory.
grammed to respond to requests that were
preceded by the words “Simon says.” In
addition, he was scripted to goof up occa-
sionally and follow requests that weren’t HOW IT WORKS
given to him. He would then act embar-
rassed at having been fooled, making him a To achieve this new form of animation, two different engines
realistic character that participants could are utilized. The animation engine provides tools to control the
interact with and relate to. Courtesy NYU’s body of an actor or character of an animation. By allowing the
Media Research Laboratory.
animator to layer and blend chunks of prebuilt animations,
realistic motions and gestures are possible. The behavior or
decision engine provides authoring tools for guiding an actor's
behavioral choices. This allows the animator to determine sets
of rules that govern character movement, including time infor-
mation used to determine when a given animation is activated,
as well as decision rules used to determine the probabilities of
actions occurring under defined circumstances. For example, a
character can be scripted to wave only when waved at and to
be only waving with that arm at that time. If this second speci-
fication was not made, a character might try to wave and
scratch his head at the same time, which would look awkward
and unrealistic.
Simply put, in Improv, characters follow scripts, sets of
author-defined rules governing their behavior, which are used
to determine the appropriate animated actions to perform at
any given time. All this comes together on the desktop of a sin-
gle artist, who can create dramatic environments featuring
complex interaction.

258 F rine ANIMATION BooK

WHERE IT’S GOING 17.6 Flying bat: A participant
appeared as a flying bat and was pre-
So now that you have a general idea of how Improv works, sented with a large rear projection of
you're probably wondering how it will be used. At NYU's Cen- a room full of characters in conversa-
tion. Her position and simple arm
ter for Advanced Technology, explorations are under way to
gestures were tracked by an over-
employ input sources ranging from the computer keyboard to head video camera. As the participant
speech to gesture recognition by computer. Figures 17.5 and walked around, the bat flew accord-
17.6 illustrate some of the simple demos that have been tried ingly. The nearest character would
stop his/her conversation and begin
out. These examples suggest much greater possibilities in the to play with the bat. When the partic-
future, including improvisational theater with 3-D characters ipant flapped her arms, the bat
where each performance is unique and unpredictable; com- would fly higher in the scene, and the
camera would follow, which gave the
puter games that are psychologically and emotionally challeng-
participant a sense of soaring higher
ing in addition to testing a player's reflexes or puzzle-solving and therefore a sense of control and
ability; and eventually fantastic, communal worlds in which a involvement in the scene. Courtesy
NYU's Media Research Laboratory.
human-controlled character (a surrogate for yourself) can inter-
act with Improv-controlled animated characters (scripted and
embedded) and with other human-directed actors. The long-
term appeal of improvisational animation is that it offers ordi-
nary individuals the chance to play on-screen roles in a variety
of virtual realms—all linked to other users in real-time environ-
ments all over the world!

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 259

 yeas
ePERFORMANCE ANIMATIONe
Written with Jane White

Performance animation (AKA motion capture) is what you get

when you hook up a 3-D character to a puppeteer so that, in
real time, how the human moves becomes how the 3-D char-
acter moves.
This high-tech form of computer animation depends, as
you might expect, on computers with large processing power.
The computer’s track sensors are attached to a human per-
former and are used to interpret the movement of the human
actor into the movement of corresponding points on a charac-
ter model that exists within the computer. As the actor moves,
so does the animated figure.
Performance animation brings the production styles and
methodologies of live action and puppeteering to all forms of
3-D animation, from low-resolution game and Internet charac-
ters to “live” performances on television to the highest-
resolution special effects of animated feature films.
Because Chapter 16 covers the process of creating 3-D
characters, the discussion here can focus on that critical part of
performance animation wherein real movement is transformed
into animated movement. Motion capture is a widely used
alternative name for this burgeoning field within animation.
That particular tag puts the emphasis right where it belongs—
on a range of devices that takes on the challenge of capturing
the full nuance and expressive power of human gesture.
And what a bunch of clever devices they are!
Figure 17.7 takes you into the computer lab/studio of
Protozoa, a San Francisco—based outfit that is a world leader in
the new medium of real-time, 3-D character animation. Using
a proprietary software system called AL/VE!, which modifies
input data to breathe life into characters, performers “work” a
series of input devices including a bodysuit, pickups, face track-
ers, data gloves, sliders, joysticks, and even a mouse. Some
performance animation systems rely upon magnetic sensors,
where several wired sensors are attached to the performer,
who gestures within a magnetic field. The sensors read the
changes in the field and feed corresponding data into the com-
puter. Other performance animation systems utilize optical

260 voTHE ANIMATION BooK

sensors—directionally reflective markers are attached to the
performer, who is then recorded with high-resolution cameras
and infrared strobes. In both cases, the computer must be able
to read the changes in location and map key points on the per-
former to corresponding points on the animated figure. There
is little doubt that pioneering done by Protozoa and other per-
formance animation shops like The Big Pixel, Mr. Film, Wind-
light Studios, InToons, TeleVirtual, Boss Film Studios, and
Turner Entertainment will eventually make its way to desktop
computer systems via off-the-shelf hardware tools and soft-
ware applications.
As fascinating as the technology may be, more interest-
ing still is the new world it opens for creative work. When
motion capture first began to evolve, its palette of characters
seemed anchored to the human figure. Maybe this was
because people were still figuring out the technology to cap-
ture the essence of a full human, including the arms, legs,
head, hands, feet, fingers, and expressions. Or maybe the com-
puter jocks hadn’t spent enough time with animators. At Pro-
tozoa, there is now just as much creative exploration as there is
technical prowess. Figure 17.8 shows a bunch of stills repre-
senting different kinds of characters that have been wiggling,
strutting, and floating their way into digital life.
Procedural animation is used to augment the performed
animation of a character. This technique, which was first intro-
duced in Improv earlier in this chapter, involves the use of pre-
17.7 Performing at Protozoa: Ona
programmed mathematical expressions to create automated barren stage at San Francisco’s Protozoa stu-
motions. These preprogrammed expressions can be tied to a dio, an actor wearing sensor devices brings
specific time or event (e.g., an eye blink that automatically Reginald, a 3-D insect who affects a Shake-
spearean twang, to life in real time—(A),
occurs every 15 seconds, or a hand's fingers opening and clos- (B), and (C). The close-up, (D), shows a digi-
ing with the rotation of the wrist by the performer). Protozoa’s tal animator at a Silicon Graphics computer
engineers build procedural animation into a character's design working both a joystick (for the eyes) and
sliders — input devices that are used to aug-
and use this technique to make the character's behavior inde-
ment the animation of the surfaces of a per-
pendent of the actor wearing the motion-capture suit or the former's face, which are difficult to pick up
puppeteer working thejoysticks. In “wiring” the character into with optical or magnetic sensors. Before
performing a character, about four weeks
ALIVE!, special consideration is given to procedural animating
are required for modeling and “wiring.”
techniques to give the character lifelike subtleties such as a Photo by Niki Haynes. Courtesy Protozoa.
springy tail, wobbly antennas, regular breathing, or other
motions that can remain consistent regardless of the performer
or the ongoing action of the scene.
Stop-motion capture animation combines traditional
stop-motion and motion-control animation techniques with

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 261

17.8 MOTION CAPTURE GALLERY:
This collection of frame-grabs shows the range of both tech-
nical and aesthetic work that has been undertaken at Proto-
zoa. Captions for the images provide a bit of detail about
each one. All pictures were provided courtesy of Protozoa,
with special permission from various clients, as noted.

A. A Protozoa group shot shows, in one crazy portrait, a

variety of character design.

B. Soulman is a digital, 3-D representation of stand-up come-

dian Sinbad. Courtesy Sinbad and Image Public Relations.

C. A scene from The Adventures of Worm and Fred, a televi-

sion show being developed by Protozoa. The Worm shows a
refreshing departure from characters that mirror the
appendages of a human actor. Fred, a Russian monkey lost
in space, has procedural animation built into his eye blinks
and some of his finger movements. The random movement
of Fred’s rocket ship also depends on procedural techniques enabled by Proto-
zoa’s proprietary software.

D. Dev Null, the world’s first cyberhost, created by Protozoa for The Site on
MSNBC. Dev is an example of live-to-tape performance animation. Courtesy of
ZDTV.

E. Moxy, the first performance animation character to appear on U.S. television,

is a virtual emcee with procedural animation built into many of his movements.
Copyright © 1997 The Cartoon
Network, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Cartoon Network name and
logo and the Moxy character are
trademarks of the Cartoon Net-
work, Inc.

F. Reginald, an interactive insect

with a British bent, features digi-
tal springs built into his eyes to emulate real-life bug behavior. His geo-
metric simplicity allows for excellent performance on less powerful
workstations.

262 eae ANIMATION BooK

 G. Saurn is a creature who speeds through the desolate world of
_ tomorrow. This character can display a wide range of expression yet
requires only the mouse to control it.

H. Dr. Finnery Dexter Klaus, a mad genetic scientist and fast-food

magnate, from Meat, a television show that Protozoa is developing.
This character is an
example of high-end
graphics paired with
face-tracking sensors.

|. Frigate and Red (with pal Flit) are a feisty VRML duo appearing in regular
episodes on the Web at www.protozoa.com. Low polygon-count in the
characters enable them to move in real time, working within the size
limitations of Web applications.

J. This close-up of a
Squeezil shows how Pro-
tozoa has designed characters with fewer polygons to make them
move faster in real-time games. The character remains highly expres-
sive despite its simple geometry. In fact, the Squeezil has the highest
score in the world on the personality-to-polygon rating scale.

K. Floops is the award-winning star of the first-ever VRML Internet

cartoon. Sponsored by Silicon Graphics, the wisecracking freak of
nature appears in twice-weekly episodes on the Web at
www.protozoa.com. =<

L. The fish is a pure exam-

ple of procedural anima-
tion. It is a mouse-driven
character and responds
with a whole range of
motions when the tidbit
of food is moved by drag-
ging it with the cursor.

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 263

 state-of-the-art technology. Like performance animation, a
character is first modeled in the computer and then wired to
magnetic sensors. In place of a bodysuit, a plastic armature
similar to those used in stop-motion animation allows frame-
by-frame capture. Many effects can be created this way,
including flying, falling, and doing a back flip, all of which
would be exceedingly difficult in a performance suit.

VRML

Protozoa’s background in performance animation has enabled

them to use VRML 2.0 (the 3-D standard) to export their wacky
sensibilities to the Web. The same procedures are used as dis-
cussed above, except that finished animations are written out
in a standard script form that can be interpreted by a Web
browser and interacted with by the user. Besides being interac-
tive, editable, and engrossing, such animation is much more
compact than video.
Something quite wonderful is emerging as the rapid pro-
duction techniques of performance animation collide with the
17.9 Stop-motion capture: |s this a immediate publishing environment of the Web. Many new
cool way to animate, or what?!! Animator
Tennessee Reid Norton, wearing goggles “stages” are evolving that require a fresh generation of ani-
that let him see the animation, positions a mated “actors” to appear as VRML characters in daily comics,
character-shaped armature with sensors as host and guide characters, as avatars, and in advertising and
attached at critical points (hands, feet,
head, tail, etc.). Each change in position
games.
generates a frame, and the resulting In fact, the functions and futures of animation on the
sequence is known as stop-motion capture Web are growing so phenomenally fast that it is almost a full-
animation.
time job to track the innovations. But if that’s a turf that calls out
your name, read on to the next (and largest) animation frontier.

264-2 THE ANIMATION Book

 Written with Art Bell

Five years ago you sent E-mail. It seemed pretty cool: You could
describe the antics of your dog, Spot. Three years ago it
became way cool to send E-mail that included a picture of
Spot. Two years ago you attached a sound file of Spot barking.
Last year you uploaded a short video clip of Spot doing his Fris-
bee jump plus you created “Spot: The Cartoon”—a roto-
scoped animation showing how your canine pal sees himself,
with long flowing hair, shimmering colors, and incredible leap-
ing panache.
Today you are working on a 3-D interactive virtual expe-
rience that will let your friends explore Spot's favorite corners
in your backyard. Your personal Web site will soon contain a
series of Spot animations. You are using virtual-reality technol-
ogy to create a library of environments, all of which offer 360-
degree views from 18 inches off the ground—Spot's eye level.
Is animation important on the Web? You bet. It grabs our
attention and allows us to share our experiences. And we ain’t
seen nothin’ yet! As the Web grows in capability, there is no
doubt that the use of animation will continue to flourish. Right
now, any piece of animation you make can be sent out via the
Web—although there are limits to image size, color depth, and
projection speed. The limits come partly from the technological
limits of desktop computing, partly from the speed of modems,
and partly because each animation file has to be created and
organized so users everywhere, regardless of their type of com-
puter, can get to and share each other’s work.

ANIMATION TOOLS FOR THE WEB

As an animator who will be designing for the Web and using

the Web as a distribution vehicle for your work, you have to
know a bit about the tools you need today and the tools you
will need in the near future.
HTML. Hypertext Markup Language is the standard for
creating and viewing pages of information on the Web. HTML
is a file format that defines the layout and content of a 2-D
page with links to more information. Web browsers such

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 265

 as Navigator from Netscape, Explorer from
17.10 internet speed
Average size of various types of data, uncompressed Microsoft, and America Online (AOL) all
depend on standards like HTML to access and
1 page of text 1kb
1 second of audio 100 kb view pages on the Internet.
1 second of video animation (30fps) 1000 kb (1 megabyte) TCP/IP. Each request you make on the
1 hour compressed video animation 500Mb (500
Web requires the use of Transmission Control
megabytes)
Protocol/internet Protocol. In fact, the Internet
Average speed of data on the Internet based on the speed of
is all the computers with access to the public
your modem
telecommunications network that are using
MODEM SPEED KILOBYTES/ SECOND FILE SIZE
14.4 Baud 1kb/sec. 60kb/min. 3 Mb/hour
TCP/IP to communicate. The TCP manages all
33.6 Baud 3kb/sec. 180kb/min. 10 Mb/hour the packets while the IP makes sure they get to
ISDN (pair) 12kb/sec. 720kb/min. 43 Mb/hour the right addresses. These packets are the tech-
T1 100kb/sec. 6000kb/min. 360 Mb/hour
nical lifestream of the Internet and regardless
Average Costs of Service and Gear of the variables—type of computer, modem,
33.6 speed ISDN T1
modem $100 $1,000-2,000 Not required
telephone line, or country—it all works
avg. charges/mo. $20 $60-$200 $600-$2,000 because of this one standard known as TCP/IP.
To understand TCP, it’s helpful to use a
NOTES:
railroad metaphor. TCP/IP packets act like train
1. Data transmission rates via cable vary but in general fall
between ISDN and T1 rates. cars on a track, the track being the Internet.
2. Real time (30 frames per second) uncompressed video oper- Different train cars head for different destina-
ates at 27 megabytes per second.
tions but temporarily share a common track.
3. “Twisted pair” and ISDN are both via your phone line.
Phone lines require only special modems, while T1, T2, etc., is Similarly, all data on the Internet move in pack-
special wiring from the pole to your box. ets. These packets are all the same size, but
with faster equipment you are able to get more
of them at the same time. The key here is that
different packets share the Internet pipe at the same time; ani-
mations you are receiving, incoming E-mail, and viewing differ-
ent Web pages can all occur simultaneously on your computer.
This “pipe” is a combination of the speed of the computer, the
speed of your modem that connects your computer to your
telephone line, the speed of the company that provides your
connection to the Internet (for example, AOL, Netcom, ATT,
etc.), and the overall speed of the Internet on any given day.
This last is referred to as the speed of the backbone, which
fluctuates according to overall load on the Internet.
This pipe operates on the weakest-link-in-the-chain the-
ory, where the speed of your connection is generally the speed
of the weakest link in this chain, which is usually your modem.
Figure 17.10 contains some information about how fast differ-
ent file sizes will travel on the Web.
QuickTime. As any good animator knows, our eyes are

266 F tas ANIMATION Book

easily fooled, but it is far harder to trick our hearing. Quick-
Time, the common (standard) file type for storing and sending
video and animation on the Web, is ideally suited for the Inter-
net because it was designed to always play audio in real time.
When QuickTime uses your computer to play audiovisual
sequences, it will sometimes skip frames, although it tries hard
to keep up with the picture as best as the speed of the com-
puter will allow.
QuickTime is a cross-platform multimedia development,
storage, and playback technology from Apple that can com-
bine sound, text, animation, and video into a single file. Using
a QuickTime player, you can view and control (brief) multime-
dia sequences. Although QuickTime files are limited by file size,
not time, it’s useful to know that 2 gigabytes is the maximum
for one file. This is 3% minutes at full-quality video or 12 min-
utes at Web quality.
File Compression Systems. There are a number of ways
to compress your data, but the common methodology of all 17.11 Throbbers: These throbbers from
Netscape, (A), and Explorer, (B), are pulsing
compression schemes involves the application of a mathemati- animations that give immediate feedback
cal formula to each frame of animation. In this process, succes- that a user’s request into the Internet queue
sive frames of digital information (remember, these are just is under way and being processed. Net-
scape’s 4.0 throbber boasts 12 frames of ani-
long strings of numbers) are compared and after the first frame mation, as opposed to only 4 available with
is sent down the pipe, only the changes from the first frame to the earlier versions.
the next are sent, greatly reducing the overall size of the ani-
mation file. That’s the basic idea, in any event. See Chapter 23:
Computer Software for more about compression.
Creating for the Web is getting easier every day, as
recent versions of all the major graphics and editing programs
have added new functionality by providing a Save As choice
that will create the format and most efficient file size appropri-
ate for use on the Web. Still, there is a long way to go in com-
pression technology, computers, and telecommunications until
real-time viewing of full-size, full-color animation via the Inter-
net is possible. The realization of this dream may well play itself
out in the fusion of television with computers. The digital TV
standards that have been mandated for early in the next cen-
tury will undoubtedly provide rich avenues for the distribution
of animation that won't need to be limited in color depth, play-
back speed, or frame size.
Animation and Multimedia Authoring Software. With
one exception, all the major animation applications are dis-

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 267

 @ File Edit Format Arrange Object View Window
HL Self Promo 18 Genesis: Struct
wa EE, % seitPromo 18 Genesis
Miniscript Modifier
[gR Self Promo Main Menu
[§R Long Trail Virtual Tour
[BR ADT Corporate Presentation
[BB Cabin Fever VideoPresentation

yv¥vvvdIdvV7797

us i
Beever > next scene

cussed or presented in case studies in this book, with Chapter

23 providing a comprehensive software overview. The excep-
tion is mTropolis, one of the just completely object-oriented
applications for multimedia authoring. It was designed largely
by artists frustrated with the complexity and steep learning
curve of Macromedia’s Director. MTropolis does seem easier
for animators and artists who are not technically inclined. Fig-
ure 17.12 gives a quick intro to this nifty piece of software.

ANIMATION LEVELS ALONG THE

INFOBAN

Let's move now from a look at basic tools to a look at the evo-
lutionary pathway by which animation has come to the Web.
Animation has had a native voice on the Web since the

268 Altus ANIMATION BooK

very beginning. The Web was born when the first
browser allowed nontechnical users to navigate the
Internet. Since that initial NCSA (National Center for
Supercomputing Applications) Mosaic browser
appeared in the mid-1990s, animation has played an
important role that began, simply enough, with a
ackground Matte
user feedback mechanism.
Invisible
Throbbers. To this day, in the upper right cor- Ghost
Blend >
ner of all Web browsers there lives a small pulsing Chameleon Light
square called a throbber, which animates in an end- Chameleon Dark
Transparent
less cycle to indicate that the browser is searching to Reverse Copy
find the location of the link the Web user has Reverse Ghost
Reverse Transparent
requested. (Folklore suggests these throbbers were
17.12 MTropolis over-
possibly created as a distraction similar to mirrors in a hallway
wiew: MTropolis is a great
that occupy us while we await the elevator.) tool for giving motion to
Such throbbers actually had their origins closer to the artists. If you're creating inter-
active animations, Web sites,
beginning of computer life. They popped up as various analog
and/or CD-ROMs, mTropolis
throbbers to show you when your computer is “thinking,” takes full advantage of the lat-
which you've undoubtedly seen. est in computing technology so
Animated GIFs and JPEGs. A second level of animation you spend more time being
artistic and less time being
on the Internet can be found in some form of advertisement or technical. mTropolis is a fully
banner where a message, often commercial, usually in the object-oriented environment,
form of logo text, has been given motion. These teasers are, of which means all objects — any
image, animation, video, text,
course, attention-getters that induce the Web surfer to go to
or sound — can be assigned properties and
another location or—more simply—to pause for a moment to inherit behaviors from other objects. For
recognize and simply think about a particular product or issue. example, if you spend time creating a fluid
motion for one object, you can reuse that
An animated G/F (graphics interchange format) is a sin-
motion in the same or any other work, with-
gle file that contains within it a set of images that are pre- out having to know computer programming.
sented in a specified order. Animated GIFs can loop endlessly Objects can also respond to external events
(and it appears as though your document never finishes arriv- and send messages to each other. New
objects can be dragged and dropped into an
ing) or they can present one or more sequences that then stop mTropolis application and they can immedi-
the animation on a single image. One particularly cool piece of ately and transparently interact with other
animation software that isn’t covered elsewhere in this volume objects.
MTropolis consists of an authoring envi-
is GIF Builder, a great shareware program from Yves Piguet. ronment (editor) and a run-time environ-
See Figure 17.13 for a quick introduction to GIF Builder, which ment (player). mTropolis is essentially a
organizes animations in an elegantly concise, high-quality for- collection of objects, assembled and inter-
connected by an author in the mTropolis
mat that is widely used.
editor for interaction by consumers via the
Along with the GIF file, JPEG (joint photographic experts player. The screen-grab, (A), shows a typical
group) is a file type supported by the Web protocol. As the screen with various windows open. (B)
shows mTropolis’s color picker—which
Internet gets faster, JPEGs, which can be higher-quality than
looks much like those of other programs. (C)
GIFs, are becoming more common. You can create a progres- provides a closer look at the menus avail-
sive JPEG that is similar to an animated GIF. Most browsers have able for different tools.

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 269

 Length: 2.50 s Size: 40x40 Loop: forever
2 D a PY 72x27 (40;5)
I Size Position Disp. Delay Transp.
wD ano se
oD ANE %29

eDanc 117x30

sDance 121x31

wDance 153x31

sDance « seas
Dance w 16384 1152) Bi eles
Dance w v6 012008 6 1
weDancew 16s 14; 8 81
19 Dancewe i6sx23c18;2) Bree A

20DanceWi 170x83 (22;3) Be tes Ft

2: Dance
wit

zz Dance wit:
23Dance wits
2 Dence with
25 Dance withs 19985 (47; 1) Bream
26 Dees with u 213x362;0) B 6 4
27 tome with @ 215xB6
cowith us” Zanes (S;
ee YS 224x382

the ability to present GIF and JPEG files automatically and to

play the animation sequence after it loads into your computer.
17.13 GIFs and GIF Builder: GIF On aesthetic grounds, these mini-animations can be
Builder is a very easy-to-use program that
obtrusive at their worst, amusing and informative at their best.
shows you each image in sequence, its size,
position, and the time you wish each frame Animated GIFs are becoming so mainstream you can now pur-
to display. All modifications to an image’s chase stock animated GIFs similar in concept to traditional
data are done directly using only these two stock photography.
windows. In (A), GIF Builder was used to set
up the animation, its pacing and timing. Browser Plug-ins. The third level of Web animation
Each individual 2-D image can be reposi- requires a plug-in to be downloaded from the Internet and
tioned within the animation, making the generally added to the Plug-in folder of your Web browser.
eye appear to move realistically. Object-
Plug-ins are available for free and came about as Web site
Dancer, (B), an example of a GIF with ani-
mated text, was made using PaceWorks’ designers figured out how to play audio, 2-D, and 3-D
(www.paceworks.com) proprietary technol- sequences on a computer via drastic compression strategies.
ogy, which provides a time-based, object-
Plug-ins extend your browser’s functionality, so you can simply
oriented environment with features to
facilitate the development of animation plug-in new functionality as it is developed without having to
effects, sharing of animation attributes install a new browser each time.
between objects, and integration of music As of June 1998 there were about 250 plug-in applica-
and rhythm characteristics in the whole ani-
mation. This technology allows one to use tions available for Netscape and Microsoft browsers. Among
simple tools to quickly develop lively ani- the most popular of these plug-ins to download are Acrobat
mated multimedia for the Web, CD titles, from Adobe, a document presentation and navigation pro-
video clips, animations, and other projects.
gram that lets you view documents just as they look in the print
medium; QTVR from Apple Computer, for real-time navigation
in QuickTime Virtual Reality scenes; and Rea/Audio's streaming
sound and video player.

270 A THe ANIMATION BooK

 Java. Java can be thought of as a cross between a plug- 17.14 Browser plug-ins: Atypical
in and an application program that is built into your browser. folder for Netscape Navigator (Microsoft
Explorer would be very similar) showing var-
Java, developed by Sun Microsystems in 1995, is a program-
ious audio, video, and QuickTime plug-ins
ming language expressly designed for use in the distributed that you download and place in your Plug-
environment of the Internet. Java applets are streamed to your ins Folder to customize your Web browsing
environment. QTVR and Acrobat could also
computer and recognized automatically by the browser
be in this folder, but don’t appear here
because the Java programming language is already contained because this particular configuration allows
in your browser. These applets are mini-applications or pro- these applications to be used both on-line
grams that can execute operations similar to any other applica- and off.

tion you already own. Java may be

a key strategic tool for the future
of the Internet, since the notion of
distributed tools allows the core “MovieStar™ Plug-in”
Bees
functionality to reside inside your
browser while you download only
the newest functionality for your
use. Java offers greater speed, flex-
ibility, and functionality over tradi-
tional plug-in technology. Using
Java, you can view an animation
similar to an animated GIF with the additional capability that
the animation can be changed and updated based on new
information.

WEB AS VIDEO STORE AND

DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
ay

As this is being written in late 1997, the quality of video and

animation you can view directly on the Web, using your
browser, is limited to 16 bits of color, or thousands of color
choices. To your computer, 8 bits of color depth allows the
computer to display a maximum of 256 colors. Note that the
spectrum of color that television delivers is hundreds of thou-
sands of colors, and for film and magazines, over 16 million
colors are delivered. The limitations of the Internet result
because, as you can easily imagine, more colors create larger
file sizes, which slow down both the downloading and viewing
of still and moving images. Thus the Web is a medium currently
limited in color spectrum, although when you work on the
same computer with files outside your browser, your limits are
only those imposed by the size of your computer hard drive

ANIMATION FRONTIERS PAT

 and your patience. If you have the horsepower, you can down-
load any file of any quality and use it on your computer. The
distinction here is the capability of today’s browsers connected
to today’s modems.
Not too long from now, however, the Internet will be a
true full-bandwidth delivery medium. It will turn today’s video
rental stores into analog antique shops. Remember that on the
Internet everything is just data. Words, pictures, sounds, ani-
mations, and films are just bits we create, scan, move, share,
and sell instantly without regard for location.
For those of us who enjoy animation, the Web will
become a place where we can download animations of any
size and color depth. Similarly, there will be no limits on
what we can upload. Because of the Web, there
can now be direct links between providers and con-
sumers of electronic art, between the artists and
their audiences.
But the Web can be so much more.
If animation is to flourish as an art form, it has
got to have legs. It has to travel. A nifty piece that
you create—a screen saver, a short movie, an ani-
mated greeting card, a cartooned gag—needs
pathways by which it can reach others who will
enjoy it. And when you've established interest in
your work, you're on your way to paying gigs! We're
talking an assignment. A sponsor. A fee. A royalty.
Distribution is key in helping the animator afford to
pursue his or her art. In addition to that, a robust
showplace for good work lifts the art form higher.
After all, we develop good taste by tasting good things.
It has always been difficult to get access to animated
movies that don’t have a commercial basis. When this book
17.15 3-D Web environments: If you
was first written, there was a healthy (not thriving) universe
visit the Protozoa web site (www.
protozoa.com) you can experience a VRML known as nontheatrical distribution. Prints of 16mm films and
based 3-D environment. The circle of videocassettes were sold and rented to public libraries, schools,
frame-grabs here tries to give a sense of
and other institutions. It wasn’t a mass market, to be sure, yet
how a visitor can “fly” himself or herself
over, under, and around the simple envi- there was a system in place that supported more than two
ronment. If you make the trip, you can also dozen self-sufficient distributors who published catalogues,
see the character Floops moving via real-
sold and rented animations to whoever would buy them
time streaming video. /mages courtesy
Protozoa.
(including television networks), and shared the revenue with
the artists. But the widespread use of VCRs and video stores
has largely made these distributors unnecessary.

2722 THE ANIMATION BooK

 17.16 QTVR panorama: This is half of
There’s good reason to be hopeful that the Internet will a 360-degree panoramic view of one of the
mature as the best distribution system yet, far surpassing the Great Barns built by the Vanderbilts in the
early 1900s at their Sherburn Farms estate
now dead channels of nontheatrical distribution and offering a in northern Vermont. When encountered
diversity of product that is much richer than what you can find on the Web, the user can experience what
in a video store or via catalogue services. The Web is naturally it’s like to stand in the middle of the barn
and look around, up, and down. Courtesy
suited for linking creators to collectors, matching those who
Art Bell.
commission animation to those who make it, and helping qual-
ity animation find its way to the niche audiences who most
value it.

VIRTUAL REALITY

Let’s redefine animation. Let’s expand the very core of what it

means.
A simple but accurate meaning of animate is to bring
motion to motionless objects. In the world evolving rapidly
around us, animate can also mean to bring ourselves into full
movement. Prepare yourself for a dive into virtual reality.
Virtual reality (VR) has been around since the 1980s, and
until recently has been a very expensive and complex process
both to create and to participate in. But with the development
of a new level of accessible technology and the Internet, it has
become possible for everyone to experience virtual-reality envi-
ronments. And to create them.
When you enter a virtual location, your actions and des-
tinations are not predetermined. In VR there is no beginning
and no end. Users of VR tend to speak as if they have the expe-
rience of being there, because they were in control. You move
from passive viewing to active doing because VR puts you in a
driver's seat that lets you animate yourself through new
worlds.
Want to be involved with this newfangled animation?
The place to start is by learning how to create a place that
exists only as digital bits, as a virtual-reality scene. Basically
there are two types of VR environments: those that are created

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 273

 using 3-D modeling tools and those that are made up of a
series of real-world photographs.
Three-D VR. To construct 3-D computer-generated
scenes you have to go through two steps. First you construct
your “world”—your environment in three dimensions—using
your favorite 3-D program. Second, you need to learn a script-
ing language called VRML. Virtual Reality Modeling Language
is similar in concept to HTML for creating Web pages, but goes
further to define the layout and content of a 3-D computer-
generated world, going beyond the interlinked pages of HTML
first-generation information. The difference results from next-
generation tool sets that provide a standard way to distribute
and a uniform way to interact, in 3-D, within the 3-D world
that has been created.
VRML is a high-level scripting language that may some-
day replace HTML to bring a complete three-dimensional
“working” environment to your computer. When you begin to
think about it some, you will see that the three-dimensional
world we live in every day can become the basis of new, pow-
erful metaphors to help us better navigate electronic spaces.
17.17 QTVR Object-o-Rama: Using
There’s no reason to limit ourselves to the accepted 2-D inter-
QTVR you can navigate 360 degrees around p
something in real time. This can be achieved faces just because we have gotten used to them. In VRML the
by aseries
of still images, properly linked. In two-dimensional monitor plane we normally operate in
the future, you will be able to go to a vir- becomes 3-D, allowing the location of information itself to tell
tual clothing store, input your height and
tailoring measurements, and see how a par- us something about that information. In other words, the data
ticular piece of clothing would fit onto a itself becomes its own interface, making much better use of
model that is your body double. The shots visual cues and feedback. VRML obliterates the limits of com-
are captured as the model rotates on a t While th | we ilabl
(evolving, platformane ienaness hotos puter space. } ile there are only so many pixels aval able on a
are scanned into the computer for process- 2-D surface, if you need more space in 3-D you simply move
ing by the QTVR software magic. Courtesy forward or turn your head. The switch to 3-D is almost
aun al alchemy: You get infinite screen real estate out of the same,
finite number of pixels on your 2-D monitor.
Photograph-based VR. You can also create a Web site
that has the VR experience through the use of photographs.
There are two types of VR you can create using photos:
panoramas and objects.
To create panorama VR scenes, the approach is easiest
to understand if you imagine shooting a series of photos that
form a 360-degree sphere, and then pasting them inside a
giant ball. Your viewers will stand at the center of this ball and
be able to turn in any direction they want.

274 XK Tue ANIMATION Boox

17.18 3-D GUI
prototype: These
three screen shots
show how three-
dimensional space
might be used to pre-
sent various locations
on the Web on differ-
ent planes—near to
far—to represent vari-
ous locations you visit often or consider
more important. The concept is meant to
provide a much more physical area in
which to interact with the Internet, but
using conventional computer monitor
technology. The idea here shares much
with an “infinite zoom” interface called
PAD that has been developed by Profes-
sor Ken Perlin at NYU’s Center for
Advanced Technology. Courtesy Art Bell.

To create an object VR scene, imagine exactly the oppo-

site: You would shoot pictures of an object from all sides, pho-
tographing it as if it were the ball and you were going to give
your audience the ability to walk around it.
After gathering photos in either panorama or object
format, the process of creating VR involves using an image
editing program such as Photoshop or more specialized
applications such as Panimation from Nodester, Spin
Panorama from Picture Works, or PhotoVista from Live
Picture to line up the photos into one large, strange-looking
file. The final digital magic takes place when you employ
Apple’s QTVR standard (QuickTime Virtual Reality) software,
which asks you to import this big file and decide if you are
making a panorama or an object scene.
Priorto 1996, creating virtual environments required
computer programming skills. QTVR allows anyone with a pho-
tographic camera and scanner or just a digital camera to pro-
duce and distribute VR scenes. Newer releases of QTVR even
allow the presentation of locational sound—sometimes
referred to as 3-D sound. This is a powerful addition to the illu-
sions of virtual reality. Locational sound mirrors the real world

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 275

Wall
Graffiti
The Wail
Graffiti
The

17.19 Shared graffiti: This is a good example of

how the Internet is a great way to electronically share
artistic experiences. The artist Gary Manacsa created a
digital graffiti wall and lets anyone add to and re-create
the piece in endless layers. The three images here repre-
Wall
Graffiti
The
sent the wall in March, (A), April, (B), and June 1997,
(C). The cat appearing in (B) in the lower left corner is
Art Bell’s cat, Walker, in her usual spot sucking heat
from his monitor. Art snapped a picture of her with his
digital camera, downloaded the wall, added the photo
and a caption, “Cat Dreams,” that referenced the Fish.
After he uploaded his contribution, Art enjoyed follow-
ing the next sets of collaborations. Gary’s wall is at:
http://members.aol.com./gmanacsa/graffiti/graffiti.html.
Courtesy Art Bell and Gary Manacsa.

so that sounds become heard as you approach certain loca-

tions and fade as you move away from them.

THE FUTURE OF WEB ANIMATION

To plan for where the Internet might go, all that’s important is
to know that in the near future the bandwidth pipe will be
wide, storage will be ubiquitous, and computation will be in
real time. Better to ask what will happen to the speed of
creativity.
Figures 17.19 and 17.20 provide two probes into possi-
ble deep futures of Web animation: the Graffiti Wall and
Screen Saver of the Day. How soon will they happen? Will they
happen at all? The tools will be there; the show is up to you.

276 voTHE ANIMATION Book

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17.20 Screensavers-of-the-week
club: How much would you be willing to
shell out for a Web service that would use
push technology to download onto your
computer, once a week, a new assortment
of screensavers that would amaze and
delight you until the next week’s batch
arrived? As a club member, you'd have a
gentle obligation to send in screensavers
and linked images that strike your fancy
and that don’t infringe on anybody’s copy-
right. So how much would it be worth to
ya? Courtesy Art Bell.

ANIMATION FRONTIERS 277

 You Call (loa short piece of animation by the seat of
your pants, but not a bigger one. What is big? What is short?
My experience as a producer puts the cutoff at thirty seconds. If
your project is relatively simple and if you are really, truly orga-
nized, then you may be able to manage in your head (and with
a few notes) all the steps involved in undertaking a limited pro-
ject. Try it on a larger scale and you are guaranteed to screw up.
This chapter should be a bit scary, for it seeks to remind
film and digital animators just how many steps there are in
completing a project. Lots of novice animators start out with
good ideas—and the talent to back them up—but find them-
selves quickly stalled out and looking at a series of uncom-
pleted projects. This doesn’t happen because they are lazy or
because they are stupid. It happens because they have under-
estimated the complexity and rigors of the overall process.
Let me offer this chapter as a producer's cram school. It
will provide an overview to the different disciplines of the pro-
ducer, with emphasis on areas that may not be particularly
“arty” but which are absolutely essential if you are to finish the
‘toons you've started.

CONCEPTUALIZATION

Without a good idea, there can’t be a worthwhile project. Pro-

duction planning begins with a thorough shakedown of your

278
basic concept. Remind yourself what is at stake: You are going
to be spending weeks and months breathing life and form into
a single idea. So you had better be working with intellectual
material that is rich enough to keep you interested and dedi-
cated when the going gets rough and that initial infatuation
FREERE AS
has worn away.
SPOON ENTES. Doctoe’s oFFicc.
The Tag. No matter how complicated your concept is, GIRL ENITTING,

you ought to be able to state it in one simple sentence. Some-

thing that sounds so easy and quickly accomplished may seem
like child’s play before you actually try it. But you'll soon find SHS Dorel, Taees OFF HAT, :
it’s not so simple. In fact, | predict you will end up telling your- LeoksS AT PEOPLE Best nim. €#

self how totally unreasonable it is to squeeze the richness of

your idea into one dumb little sentence. My response is tough
love: Stop kidding yourself! If you can’t come up with a simple
tag—the kind of one-liner you read in TV Guide or a catalogue DOCTOR TAKES OVT Foner
Faom DRAWER,
—you haven't yet really worked your way to the heart of your
idea. It’s absolutely critical for you to clearly identify and under-
stand what your animation is about. Its eventual impact as a
screened experience demands this precision.
Story Treatment. Once you've got a lock on what your STUDIES PAPERS AND X-RAY. ecar

project is about, it’s time to study the central concept and give
DecToR 1s ALARmen,
it dramatic and aesthetic form. Here is the place to elaborate
on the larger circle of concerns and interests that the basic idea
represents. Over the years there has evolved a single, basic
PRESSES INTERCOM BuoTION
written format, about two pages long, that summarizes what a
PecToR ~ NURSE, SEND IN MY
film or tape is about, whom it is for, and how it will work. This NEXT PATIENT, PLEASE .
format is called a story treatment. It traditionally starts with a
concise statement of the project’s core idea—the sort of one-
liner described above. This is followed with paragraphs that
SPOON -
provide a more thorough analysis of the film’s goals: the kind
Good AFTERNOON, Socrog,
of tone or feeling the film will convey; its major content
requirements (information it must carry, if any); the project's
function (to entertain, inform, instruct, provoke, etc.); and its.
audience. Of these elements, an analysis of your audience war-
DoctoR -
rants additional comments.
AA YES... ER... Come int,
MR.SPOON, Come IN, YES
Hwm,..€R. | zi
18.1 Production map: A well-executed storyboard is the best
of all planning devices. The sample board that starts here and runs
in succeeding pages shows the opening action from a film titled ~~ SIT Down... Please,
Why Me? that was written by Derek Lamb and animated by Janet
Perlman, when both worked at the National Film Board of Canada. SPOON - THANK You, Doctor |
The overall storyboard for this movie consisted of 128 panels. Figure (SS Down) lee |
md

18.5 provides additional materials from this production.

PRODUCTION PLANRING 279

(Doctor TAKING OUT CIGARETTE)
If your animation is to have the impact you want, it must
DectorR-
be carefully tailored to the specific audience you intend to
HUM Hin...€R... MR.SPON,
3 HAVE SomETHING \NPOR- reach. This may seem obvious enough. But many projects fall
TANT TO ...€8... To TEK
HOU ..ER...5/m AFRAIO IT's short of their potential impact just because the producer/cre-
GOING To BE SOMETHING
OF A sitock | ator never took the time or trouble to carefully consider who
CSPOON SITS FORWARD IN seAT)
the show's audience was to be and specifically what the audi-
SPOON -
4-15 someTHING weone, ence would bring to the screen in terms of taste, expectations,
DocroR?
(DOCTOR LIGHTS CIGARETTE) and prior experience.
Doctor.
+ ER... YOUVE BEEN my The most important service of a story treatment is that it
PATIENT FOR Some Time,
MR, SPOON ---- will force you to be certain that the animation technique
g te) [ S
CTV? OTHER Crommtrtes you've selected is the one best suited to the basic concept
ITS NEVER
DocToR To HAVE To TELL
EAsy FORK
you've targeted. This part of the story treatment is usually
fr PRTIENT.-€R..4 WONT
BEAT ABOUT THE BOSH...-UM.| called the approach. Give it a good description and perhaps a
vane
sketch or two. Answer these questions for yourself: Does the
style of the animation match the content? Is the length appro-
SPOON -
YOU CAN BE FRANK, priate to your goals? Will the audience be able to stick with you
PocrtoR.
and not get lost or bored? Are you sure you've figured out the
very best way to communicate the feelings and thoughts that
(POcTOR WIPiING FOREHEAD)

are bound into the project's premise?

Script and Storyboard. The treatment and tag will help
Tector -
MR. SPOON, ITS LIKE THIS—- |
you locate your next project within the world of ideas, audi-
You..-ONLY HAVE A Limited
TIME LEFT TO Live.
ence, and technique. But lots of work is left before actual pro-
Chacon. DROPS HRms, ReLEVED) duction is ready to begin. If your project is narrative in form,
then you (as producer) will want to make sure that the script is
set. No matter what kind of animation you are undertaking, it’s
critical that there be a full set of storyboards (review Chapter 8).
SPOON- LimmeD Time?

SCHEDULING

+ HOW How 10NG Do 4 Put the concepts away. Gotta deal now with resources. Let’s
HAvEe?
start with the most valuable and limited commodity. This is not
money, but time.
Figure 18.2 crams onto one page a master list of discrete
steps that you should plan for in doing your project. Don't
DOcTOR- YOU HAVE EXACTLY. panic at the small type or the length. Some steps will be unnec-
FIVE MANUTES,
essary. As you work step by step through the chronology, | sus-
(PASE) pect you will come up with items that aren’t on the list.
Force yourself to make a concrete estimate of the num-
ber of hours you will spend on each task. The schedule tem-
plate also has a blank column in which, later, you should

280 A THE ANIMATION Book

18.2 Production scheduling template

Conceptualization
Treatment write out story idea, style, tag, content, audience; start new project's production book.
Initial Storyboard develop storyline; show action lines; work out set-up/development/payoff (structure).
Script write dialogue for actors to record; describe key sound effects to come later.
Character/Art Direction do comprehensive visual studies; composite "sample" frames of key action; show all different "looks."
Animatic (film, video,digital) shoot/scan storyboard with timing for all shots/scenes; playback to gauge pacing.
Scratch Track audio mock-up of all tracks/music to length; goal is to fix the film's length; lay onto animatic.
total hours be realistic about time you can put into project; spread total hours onto weekly schedule, below.
Design & Testing
Revised Storyboard breakout all scenes; tighten story as possible; check mix of close-ups & long shots; lock script; add titles.
Model Sheets/Models simplify characters; draw model sheets to show front, back, side, key poses; estimate drawing time.
3D Modeling & Texturing design, revolving & extruding to create wire frames; texturing w/ materials & image maps.
Color Tests variations of graphic style & colorization; place characters against backgrounds; lock color choice.
Technique Run execute a “typical” scene from initial to final phases; goal here to assure command of technique.
Visual Effects Tests camera/software tests of all special techniques: matting, ultimatte; rear-light, Alpha channels, etc.
total hours fight the natural impulse to jump into project thinking "I'll figure out that part later." Testing saves time.
Audio Production
Record Music record music independent of voice & effects; get rights to any non-original music.
Record Voice get releases from performers; edit rough dialogue, leaving room for action scenes; put into Leica reel.
Record Sound Effects stock effects from "cleared" library; record on location; "foley" recording in studio to emulate sfx.
Transfer Tracks for film transfer audio tape to 16 or 35mm mag stock; for computer digitize audio into software program.
Analyze Track/Cue Sheets locate and mark (with frame accuracy) lip sync; beats within music; location of sound effects.
Preliminary Mix for use in Leica reel/rough assemblies and editing; keep separate copy all tracks for final mix.
Track Clean-up & Final Mix final adjustments in editing; this step done in postproduction phase.
16mm Optical Master film laboratory will provide from mixed master; used for striking answer & release prints
total hours | _|sound design, recording, editing & mixing can come either before or after production of picture elements.
Art Production & Prep. |
Layouts & Motion Analysis work through by "scene", draw sketch bkgs; plot action lines; breakdown timings; locate key poses.
Exposure Sheets frame-by-frame map to guide drawing or under-camera shooting; plan moves & special effects.
Serial Drawings separate drawings done on registered sheets of paper for subsequent cel/computer techniques. |
Pencil Tests shoot drawings via video set-up, film down shooter, or scan into computer w/ software compilation.
Leica Reel film/video/digital "shadow" of final film uses storyboard (later pencil test) matched to track.
Backgrounds for all layered forms (paper or digital), including cut-outs, path, line, cel & 3-D techniques.
Ink & Paint for cel projects using either film or digital platforms.
Model Making & Puppetry for stop-motion & object animation. al
Props & Costumes for pixilation & stop-motion animation.
Scene Construction/Lighting for stop-motion & object animation.
Scanning Cut-outs & Objects for cut-out, stop-motion & object animation.
Source Materials original or acquired materials for rotoscoping.
Digitization of Video for pixilation and rotoscoping techniques. |
3D Scene Building for 3-D animation; choreography, composition, camera setup & lighting. |
total hours —
Final Shooting/Animation |__|
Checker & Cleaning ae for film animation before shooting cel art. Ik
Oxberry/Downshooter key phase in stop-motion, clay, paint-on-glass, puppet & other "direct" techniques. he
Location Production shooting outside traditional animation studio for Time-Lapse, Pixilation & Object techniques.
3D Animating define key frames to define object's motion; inverse kinematics. {
Computer Rendering for computer projects in 3-D, where computational time required for each individual frame.
Compositing/Integration digital merging of elements via various software programs (2-D & 3-D).
Revisions & Redos there is always something. Count on it.
total na
Postproduction
Assemble Dailies one lite print off camera negative; digitize video sources; computer files -- all inserted into Leica reel.
Edit to Rough Cut via flatbed, video editing system or computer.
Edit to Fine Cut/Lock Pix all elements in final form, including credits.
Cut Negative A & B roll for 16mm printing; note optical track (above) needed to strike answer and release prints.
First Answer Print for film techniques; optical effects added in post will first be seen here. Color correction often follows.
Release Print after close examination and notes to film lab, a timed and perfect answer print, including optical track.
Audio Mix & Lay-back reminder that subtitle editing & re-mix of voice, music & sound effects tracks may be required.
Lay-off to Video pieces completed in computer are transferred to video format like Beta SP or VHS formats for distribution.
total aaa

Total Estimated Hours 4 time estimates should come from all individuals working on a project.
Logged Hours Be ee a running tally will show you the accuracy of your estimates.

PRODUCTION PLANNING 281

SPOON - carefully record the actual time that’s been spent. This second
DID D HEAR You cog-
REC M2 FIVE minutes? column is your early warning system. If you encounter differ-
DocToR- YES. ences between the time budgeted and the time spent, you can
SPOON -
Fiz.. YOU'RE
be sure that the project—and its budget—will not be what you
KIDDING,
intended. The larger the difference, the more you should be
CBAUSE)
prepared to replan the project and, quite possibly, cut back its
ambition and scale.
CSPOONS EVES move Back The schedule template is a handy production checklist
NO FORTH iy Toon)
(as the budget will be). Use it with flexibility. Different
computer- and film-based techniques will require a different
sequence of tasks. Note that | have broken out audio produc-
--» Bow Doc! You Now You} ~
Got A WILD SENSE OF tion as a discrete phase. This reflects my bias that no matter
Humor? HA BA HAHA HYUk
THIS (8S A SOKE, RIGHT? what the animation genre, sound is equally important as visu-
CSLAMS HAND 6m CESK,
PENCIL HoLoER) 2
pisar Pr.
e als. You will need to make an independent decision about
when to work on the audio track(s) of your own project. Before
the storyboarding starts? After the final edit has been locked?
Doctor-

DOCTORS Don’t Soke,

BUDGETING

CANNING FACE Wort Hat) Determine at the outset exactly what the project is allowed to
SPOON- cost. Few things are worse than starting an animation and then
CvowistLe) WELL, IT's GoD
M4 CONO!TION isn“7 AS being unable to finish it because you've run out of money. Fig-
SERIOUS AS IT CoULD BE
Hoh?
ure 18.3 provides a budget template that represents the com-
bined brainpower of myself and four colleagues with years of
experience in producing animation within the filmmaking,
(wHisties A FEW Mores) computer, and multimedia domains. Here’s how we
approached the problem of creating a one-size-fits-all budget-
--- FIVE MINUTES...
ing device.
First, we have assumed that the costs of labor will be
given at the standard commercial rates. Such “book” rates will
DOcToOR.
fluctuate from market to market. People working on industrial
WELL IT WAS FIVE mI- projects will often have lower fees than those working on
NUTES \1'5 Now FouR
MINUTES
SEVEN
BND
SECONDS.
THIRTY -
advertising projects. What you need to know is that all rates
are negotiable, especially as you sign up people or equipment
for longer periods of time. Don’t be scared off from making a
SOCON - cartoon because you take one look at the budget template and
NAW....NO NO No No iT
see that you can’t afford it. Learn to negotiate! Every animator
CANT Be!
we know began with projects that were done very, very
inexpensively.
Second, we decided there should be a default figure for
each line in the budget. To come up with a ballpark guess, we

282~2 THe ANIMATION Book

had to make additional assumptions. The largest of these is
that the template anticipates a finished product of between +s ™4 HOROSCOPE ship
NOTHING ABouT “THIS!
two and five minutes in length. We couldn't predict what ani-
mation technique would be used or whether production was
taking place in film, digital, or hybrid platforms. So we tried to
cover all of these, although none is listed in total detail. CHoOmsS A TONE, WALKS
In terms of equipment prices, we entered into the CAR TO Winow)

ww NICE WEATHER TODAY,

spreadsheet what we know to be reasonable rental charges. ISN'T 17?...E8...08 un.4
CANT BELIEVE IT...
Often, of course, you will purchase a particular piece of hard-
ware or software. In that case modify the budget and amortize
the cost of gear you own. We generally space them out over (stom OvTsioe)

Doctor —
three or four projects, or the same number of years, whichever
ER...MR.SCOON...,
comes first. SPooNn-
Finally, we feel obligated to point out that the budget THAT'S a, Doctor!

template is either missing or setting very low default figures for

some very significant categories that we, as professional pro-
YouoVE GoT ME MixED
ducers, plug into most of our own projects. These include: VOTH ANOTHER SROON. |
THERE'S Lots OF spoons
IN THIS TOWN.
H Payroll taxes: Obligatory payments every employer
must pay for state and local taxes, including work-
men’s compensation, which are about 10 percent to Doc TOR -
20 percent of salaries. If you work out of a studio,
\T-~OULD BE NICE To
fringe payments that accrue to each employee include BELIEVE THAT, BUT WE
MUST BE REALISTIC,
health insurance, vacation pay, sick pay, and holidays.
@ Pand W: The pension and welfare markup that
unions require for the benefit of their members—10 KHPOON PICKS VP REPORT, YopLics
DLOWLY BEHIND DESK, STYOWNG 17)
percent to 15 percent is common. Sco -

H /nsurance: For liability, for faulty equipment, for errors DAM... DAM....No No
No No!
and omissions coverage against copyright and other
suits—1 percent to 2 percent.
HH Contingency of 5 percent to 10 percent: Although it’s
most accurate to budget “tight” by specifying and WHY ME? WHATD 4 po? |?
quantifying all detail, one inevitably forgets something
or runs into unpredictable delays and additional costs.
B Marketing and press materials: You should allocate
something to the seven marketing/promotion cate-
+ WHY ME WHY ME WHY
gories listed in the template—obviously lots of money vonY WHY (sop).3 WATE |

could be spent here. You!

B A producer's fee or profit margin: A pot at the end of

the rainbow—some extra money that might help
cover the costs of developing your next project.

PRODUCTION PLANNING 283

18.3 Production budgeting template: Starting here you have a budget template that should be useful in pro-
jecting costs for your next animated project. Please remember that the default numbers used here are only representa-
tive. Be sure to research and verify each line item that accrues to your production. Note, too, that some expenses are
“real” (involving out-of-pocket expenditures) while others are “imputed” (the costs are labor or equipment access for
which you will not need to cut a check). You'll need to tally totals for each section and compile a Grand Total.

Project Personnel rate total

650 aed
gre
ore
[Technical Director______| 400 isl
[Visual EffectsSupervisor] 500 eae
omc
Animation Crew # Digital Staff
500| day |_|
[tayoutilustrator ===] day |__|
[Character Designer | 400[ day | _
350| day |_|
[Storyboard Artist (bypage) | 750[page | _
[ArtProduction Supervisor | 225] day | _
[PropandModel Artist | 400| day |_
[Animatic Operator (needs Avid] 300|day | _
TrackReader SSS «300| day |_|
Talent
[Animation Director__—_—+|| ‘| _day_| tbd
350 | day
[$5,000 flatfor30sec [5,000 B30sec
Le
275 |day
275 | day
175

Film/Video Equip. Rental

Lighting Rental
Studio Crew
Director of Photography
Camera Operator [Motion Control System Rental_|2,500
Asst Cameraperson
Motion Control Operator
7
Set Designer
Model Maker
Prop Builder
Gaffer/Electrician
(9) aanne}

284 K THE AWIMATION Book

 Stage and Studio Rental Editorial: Film
Flatbed Editing Suite Rental
Screening Room
Negative Cutting
Answer and Corrected Prints
Interpositive/Internegative
[Meals forCrew andTalent12 Optical Effects
Editing Supplies

Editorial: Videotape # unit rate total

Off-line Editing (deck-to-deck) [750 [| day [| [| |
Off-line Editing (non-linear) [150 | hr | | |
Film Cleaning (Po Ee Ss eas
Film-to-Tape Transfer (1 lite) [450 [ hr [| [|
Digital Equipment Rental # Film-to-Tape (w/color correct) {800 | hr [ [|
Paint Workstation (PC/Mac) Pin Registered FilmtoTape |950 [| hr | [| |
Digital Scanning Workstation
Digital Composite Workstation
Paint Box
Compositing (Harry &Abekas)
6c
[850
GA Ril| SEM
[ hr [| |
Video Graphics Workstation On-line Editing (D2,BetaSP) [450 [| hr | | |
input Camera
Character Generator
SL
LE Ei
Bc AG eS aa
Tape Stock r300_Jallow | [|_|
[Performance
RentalSuite | tb Window Dubs
Masters (Dub & Stock)
r150_Jallow_| |
250s ce eaael eaain| Seis
Viewing Copies: VHS 1/2” Beles Fie ae ee
es Viewing Copies: 3/4” fe PE ae a
Tape-to-Film Transfer EE ETS Eas as ah
Tape-to-Film (w/color correct) [800 | hr [|
[|

Editorial: Computer
Digital Editing Workstation
Exabyte to Video Transfer
Film Scanning Setup Charge
Film Scanning Frame Charge
Film Recording Setup Charge
Film Recording Frame Charge
Typesetting (esp. for credits) 25 Special Effects

Miscellaneous # unit rate total

Film Materials
Purchase Raw Stock (16mm) ~
#
[0.30] 0
unit
ft] |
Legal Fees
Bookkeeping/Accounting
500 Jallow [|_|
SOO AIGHOW So
oases
Developing
__——SS«dOIO| RL Location/Permits 250 fallow [| | |
[Video
___—~+ija1a
Dailies | my | Transportation 350 [allow | |__|
Transfer to Magnetic Stock Messengers r150_[allow | [|_|
Sync/Screen Dailies ; Gioia
teRt eee Telephone and Federal Express | 200 [allow [ [| |
Audiotape Stock (Mag, 1/4”) Ad eae Working Meals
Research Materials
LB a=
1150 fallow |
a NS
|: |
Digital Materials # Still Photographer/Slides ECO BCE aa Ra Eas
[Software
Applications
| 500|allow) Marketing/Promotion Materials] 500 | day | | |
300 Press Event
Talent per Diem/Air Fare
300"
thas
fallow: ||
| days] ian
ae}
ee
eas ao!
Editorial: Audio # unit rate Production Stills Photographer [350 [ day | [| |
[Sound
EffectsSearchandFees] 250] day] |__| Wrap Party fie.
1 We
[Stock MusicSearch andFees | 250] day| |_|
ote
Sound Transfers ——=s=—=«d;C«OO | est] S|
Mangsido gy iso) ht] er
Bo ere pres
FOpticalSoundNegatve [030] {| _
MtrackReader | SOU dey|
thd ees Re Contingency

PRODUCTION PLANNING
 DESIGN AND TESTING

It doesn’t matter whether you are working with a computer or

with a film camera—it’s always terribly painful to shoot an ani-
mated sequence and then find out that the equipment wasn’t
working right or that you didn’t spend enough time refining
the look for your piece.
There’s no set procedure for testing your production
equipment. Basically, what you want to do is identify all of the
possible variables at each step and then, systematically, keep
all other factors constant as you test one specific element. Take
camera tests as an example. First set up the camera, its stand,
and the lighting as you think they'll be used in the production.
Load the exact type of film you will be using. Make up a chart
that records camera model, lens, stock, lights (top and bottom,
if using both), exposure, focus, shutter, motor, and artwork.
Now comes the testing. You will be shooting a series of expo-
sures (96 frames works—that’s 4 seconds). For each of these,
put a small pad of paper under the camera, within the shoot-
ing field, that identifies what variable you are testing. So if you
were checking exposure latitudes for a specific film stock,
you'd shoot (and mark) 96 frames of each of your camera
lens’s f-stops: f/22, f/11, £/8, f/5.6, £/4, f/2.8, f/2.0, f/1.4. The
goal here is to be comprehensive. So if you are testing through
the aperture range, as above, when you subsequently project
your camera tests you will be able to see exactly what one stop
in lighting change does to your image. Be sure to shoot a sam-
ple piece of artwork, not just a sheet of paper, which can
bounce too much light back into the lens.
| hope you get the idea: Clear reasoning and patience
are required for technical testing. The same basic approach
(keeping all the variables constant except for one) holds for
animating in any film- or computer-based technique, using any
piece of hardware or software.
And what holds for gear also holds for art.You should
be sure to give yourself plenty of time, and some test
sequences, to work through as many variables as you can
imagine for your characters, how the characters move, the
range of backgrounds you will use, lighting setups, special
effects done in-camera or in postproduction, and your sound
tracks. Be sure to write down what you test.

286 THE ANIMATION Book

PRODUCTION BOOK

| want to urge you to keep a special production book for every

animation project you undertake. There are at least four com-
pelling reasons for doing this. First, a production book will facil-
itate the process of conceptualization. It should contain your
story treatment and you may want to store your storyboard
here as well. Second, a production book can provide the literal
framework from which you will organize the production. It
should contain your schedule and your budget. It can house the
letters, releases, and agreements you complete. Third, a pro-
duction book can provide you with a comprehensive and
18.4 Model sheets: One of the items to
detailed set of notes for use at a later time. Store your testing keep in a production notebook is your
data here. You want to make sure that what you discover while model sheets. Here is one for the Stick Fig-
ure Tribe that appears throughout these
making one project is not lost when you need that specific
pages. Note that the “bible” for an ani-
knowledge for a different undertaking—even after a number of mated series will have full model sheets for
years. Finally, a production book can have an important spiritual each character and each location.

ad Weippe 1ake
1 unit
arms/legs can be straight (
jae
eee

1.5 units
fast walk cycle on 5 beat

3 units
GENERAL NOTES
* no neck
© consistant line thickness
® spaces akay between j oi nts
® no gender
@ squiggly line ff scared
2 units ® thumbs only as needed

hands & feet Y pol like mittens

are 3/4 unit
head always floats 0

y eene expressive Ld

2 units

action lines okay

use alr brush silouette shows only

1 arm and 1 Jeg
eight unit figure (same proportions as humans) to show wire?

PRODUCTION PLANAWING 287

 18.5 CASE STUDY: A One-Animator Approach

With careful planning, an individual animator can create an

entire cartoon. The story line of Why Me? uses broad humor and
irony to follow the progression of the emotional state experi-
enced by someone who knows he or she is terminally ill. In the
cartoon, written by Derek Lamb and animated by Janet Perlman,
the clinically determined stages that accompany the acceptance
of one’s own death are compressed hugely, providing opportu-
nities for character animation pyrotechnics as we follow the
character “arc” of the movie’s protagonist. The photos here
were shot while the film was in production. Its finished length is
ten minutes and the film went on to win many awards, including
the Grand Prize for Animation at the New York Film Festival.

Production Map
Once the script had been storyboarded (see Figure 18.1) it was cast
and dialogue was recorded with actor Marshall Efron as the voice of
the dying man. (A) shows a chunk of the completed “dope sheet” in
which a single line of dialogue (“I’m gonna sue you black, white and
blue”) is broken down in a standard exposure sheet. Note you can see
how the animator has simplified elements so that there are only one
or two cel levels in this particular segment. The track breakdown of ee mee Sa A
dialogue against specific frames provided Janet Perlman with a pro-
duction map that took her storyboards to a far more “atomic” level. Note how the analysis even shows the animator
where the character draws a breath. Janet followed such exposure sheets as she methodically worked her way from the
first scene to the movie’s conclusion. She was the sole animator of the entire film!

Production
A simplified cel technique was developed for this project so no ink and paint would be required. After pencil-testing key
scenes, the art production process was carefully worked out with pencil drawings and watercolors done on a heavy-
weight paper stock that would be able to stand up to reuse under the camera. Production design called for some of the
drawings to be cut out so that up to two layers could be stacked up on a single background. This represents a clever
deployment of the art creation inherent with cel techniques. (B), (C), and (D) show three levels into which one of the
scenes was broken down: A small number of “rain” backgrounds, (B), was cycled to show the storm happening outside
the doctor’s office; a midground element (a single cutout showing the window frame) was used again and again, (©);
the main character, Mr. Spoon, appears as a talking head, (D), placed on the top level. Thus the scene is made up of only

288 4 THE ANIMATION Book

 three levels which, when combined and tightly framed
by the camera, (E), provide a surprisingly “full” look. The
reduced scale of the artwork itself (working in a #6 field)
saved the animator lots of time hand-coloring larger
image areas. But for this to look right, character design
had to mirror the simplicity of production technique.
Photograph (F) shows detail from preliminary charac-
ter studies. In (G), a pile of finished drawings stands
ready for filming. Here you can see that although the use of acetate cels is
avoided, full animation can require a stack of cutout frames that preserve the
original pegging system of registration and yet work in conjunction with
other cel levels. Janet Perlman, (H), who single-handedly animated the film, is
seen at work in her studio at the Film Board of Canada’s production center
outside Montreal. In (1), Derek Lamb confers about another project with ani-
mator Yossi
Abolafia. For
many years
Derek was Exec-
utive Producer
of English Ani-
mation at the
National Film
Board of
Canada. Photos
by the author.

PRODUCTION PLANNING 289

 function. Sometimes it’s important to have a place where one
can voice frustrations or expectations or any of the other emo-
tions that are encountered in the course of creating an anima-
tion. A production book should be the receptacle for all such
observations and comments. In a sense it can become a diary
through which you stay in touch with the overall process.

PRODUCTION AND POSTPRODUCTION

One of this volume’s main goals is to show that each animation

technique has its own particular production requirements and
creative nuances. Still, there exists a sequence of five major
steps that are common to all productions and that you will
hear talked about again and again:
1. Storyboarding
2. Board-o-matiC/Leica reel/animatic
3. Layouts
4. Animation and shooting
5. Postproduction
The first two items will reveal the basic form of your
piece. Layouts and animation (traditional and digital) go hand
in hand. It is here that the piece comes to full life, scene by
scene, in all its glory. Through this protracted passage you will
be up to your eyeballs with details of every imaginable kind.
Postproduction is an easier and faster step for animation
than it is for live-action projects. There are two big steps: edit-
ing and track work. Editing should go easily, especially if you
have been slugging real footage or final digital renderings into
an existing Leica reel or animatic. The ratio of created seg-
ments to final edited form should have less than 10 percent
wastage. The editing process usually includes reaching a rough
cut (when you have all your picture elements in place and try
out the basic sound track) and a fine cut (when you tweak the
pacing of scenes and “lock pix,” meaning you determine that
no further changes will be made).
If you have not already recorded your sound track, you
do so in the postproduction phase. See Chapter 7 for a review
of all the steps and elements in building and mixing a good
sound track.

290 ~2 THE ANIMATION Book

TROUBLESHOOTING

While the preceding methodology is comprehensive and logi-

cal, don’t put too much trust in it. Don’t ever assume that your
planning prowess can ensure that everything will emerge in
the right form at the right time. The unexpected is to be
expected, and troubleshooting is the job of the producer. This
is especially true if you are working as an independent anima-
tor, without a staff of specialists at your side. Each and every
phase of production is yours to manage—from the first idea to
the distribution of the completed project. While friends and
colleagues might contribute significantly, you will be the only
person who knows all the pieces. It’s your job to shepherd the
project, to make it your best work, and to ensure that anyone
you corral into helping will feel that you have given them an
opportunity to do some of their best work.

SCREENINGS, EVALUATION,
DISTRIBUTION, AND YOUR REEL

It’s a thrilling moment when you show your finished animation

for the first time. The lights are lowered. The audience
becomes quiet. The projector or video playback unit stands
ready. Your artistic vision is about to be communicated and,
believe me, it is thrilling. All your work must now pass the
scrutiny of an audience.
Somehow everyone lives through the anxieties of a first
public screening. Living through it isn't enough, however.
You've got to learn through it as well. | suggest that you
arrange some screenings for people whom you'll feel com-
fortable asking for reactions. Find out what they liked. What
did they think the animation is about? Whatever reactions
and feedback you can glean should be used in evaluating
the film in terms of its original goals. Look back at your initial
story treatment. Did the show do what you wanted it to
do? What were your project’s strengths and what were its
weaknesses?
If you like what you've made, you should think about
exhibition and distribution. One way to go about this is by
entering your pride and joy in festivals that showcase work by
independent or student filmmakers. Other options for distribu-

PRODUCTION PLANAING 291

 tion are reviewed in Chapter 25: Resources. At the very least,
you should include the finished project in your reel.
Over the course of many years and many projects, all
serious animators take the best of their completed projects
and, working from the original or first-generation copy, edit it
all together on a videotape (often called the director’s ree!)
that can easily and inexpensively be given away. Reels are
rarely longer than six or eight minutes and can contain entire
projects (which is great if they are short) or chunks from com-
pleted productions. Keep your reel short and avoid the runt-of-
the-litter syndrome, in which you keep a piece that has some
sentimental value to you but just doesn’t help the reel, which
by definition is a showpiece and sales tool. Five minutes should
be the maximum length of the reel if you are just starting out.
A good way to show off your various projects and experiments
is to create a montage of clips and great moments from differ-
ent films—including some that might never have reached a
final form—that are edited against a single piece of music. A
reel should begin or end with the animator’s name, address,
phone number, and E-mail address. You want those potential
fans and fellow artists to know how to reach you. Not to men-
tion sponsors and investors!

THE NEXT ONE

In a sense, the final step in the production of one animation is

the first step toward another animation. You should always
keep thinking of the next project. Sometimes an idea will
emerge from a test you've tried. Sometimes an idea comes
from a mistake or an accidental discovery. Sometimes a partic-
ular technique of animation will spawn the next movie. Some-
times you'll learn as you work on one project that your real
interest lies within a totally different approach.
There is no such thing as a valueless production or a
wasted film. Every sequence that you undertake teaches you
something. And this makes film production a regenerative
process. One thing always leads to the next thing, although it’s
often impossible to know what lies ahead. Animation, like any-
thing that matters, should be viewed as a dynamic process in
which the goal is excellence, not just one excellent piece of
work. The end of one project marks the beginning of the next.

292 K THE ANIMATION BooK

 In the early 1990s, MTV created a television show called Liquid Television, a half-hour show made up entirely
of short animations. The show ran for three seasons and succeeded in fulfilling its mission as a development
laboratory for new kinds of animation and new approaches to storytelling. Two MTV series that got their start
in Liquid Television were Beavis and Butt-head (by Mike Judge) and Aeon Flux (by Peter Chung). The contribu-
tors to Liquid Television included some of the most innovative directing, writing, art direction, and animation
talent working in the early 1990s.
This case study takes a look at The Blockheads, a series of three, two-
minute segments that was developed at (Colossal) and directed by Eli Noyes,
who provides the following commentary. It focuses on the forces that drive
innovation—not the least of which was a tightly constrained budget. When
one is starting out in animation, innovation is always a major component of
production planning. Hence the appropriateness of this particular case study
in this chapter.

Along with everybody

else, | was fascinated when BLAINE:
.» What is the point of
Brad deGraf set up some SGI Jearning somethisg af yc
don't do anything ith
that Kaawledge? F neve
machines with proprietary Baw you cooking any
French .. gf ees?
motion capture capabilities at
Colossal. We all wanted to see
if we could create some com-
puter graphics characters, put ~ BLAINE (shocked):
them in a story, and then =
— W-Why
the channel?!
did you chung
1 though
have actors use motion cap- you hated wrestling!

ture devices to breathe life ah a | wtattics des)

and character into their bod- ( oF ietee |
ies. Japhet Asher, executive producer and originator of the Blockheads : ais
idea, found cartoonist Peter Bagge from Seattle, and commissioned
him to write several short scripts featuring two characters in scenes
typical of Peter’s cartoons — the middle class caught in urban angst.
Brad and his crew wanted to keep costs and computing power
low by making the characters out of simple, computer-friendly poly-
gons: blocks. And so we started designing blocky characters who
would need to move, express emotions, drive blocky cars, live in
blocky rooms, and most of all, talk and relate to each other. Frames A
through E sample what emerged.

wf

PRODUCTION PLANNING 293

CA cE STUD )18/65€ASE/STCreative
UDY: Process Step-by-Step (cont.).S& STUDY CASE ¢
Script and Storyboards
We were severely limited by the crude state of motion capture in 1993. The sys-
tem we used could only record the motions of one actor at a time — therefore,
scenes where we had two characters had to be carefully storyboarded so we
knew where everybody was at every
moment, (F).

Character Design
Character design was a delightful chal-
lenge. We hired artist Dave Gordon to
help us with the characters and their
world. He helped us sculpt a female
and a male body from blocks, (G) and
(H), and to think creatively about block
cars, block furniture, block buildings,
and even block clouds in the sky.
A particular challenge was the ques-
tion of what the two characters’ faces
looked like. We knew we could “texture
map” a face on the front of the charac-
ter’s block head, but were unsure about
what kind of face it should be. After considering animated eyes and mouths, we
discarded that idea for cost reasons and started to think there might be a way to
shoot video of actors’ faces and map them onto the front of the blocks. Some
experiments we did involved cutting out eyes separately from the nose and the dl]
mouth, (J). We also experimented with different Photoshop filters to see if we
wanted scan lines, various kinds of distortions, etc., (J). In the end we did the sim-
plest: mapping of the face directly onto the front of the block, (K). The sides and
top of each head were made from freeze-frames of ears and hair texture. This
worked well, much to our collective delight.

CGI/Background World
Dave Gordon also helped to design the
world our Blockheads lived in — made
from blocks, of course. We did a layout s
of what we thought the living room
“set” should look like (L). We were
mostly concerned with furniture placement, size of the room, where the
“actors” should sit, etc. This was important to work out in advance, since we
wouldn’t have the luxury of a real set in which we could move the furniture
and block out actions on the spot. Dave then took the living room and added
his unique style to it, (M).
We used wire-frame mock-ups of the characters and inserted them into
wire-frame mock-ups of the set to see if everything worked together, (N). When
we liked how they looked, scenes were rendered, (O), before we did any actual
motion capture.
The final product was a delight. Mark Swain, our CGI wrangler, spent many
hours importing motion capture data to our Blockhead models, and bringing
in video frames of our actors’ faces through the Macintosh for texture-mapping
on the moving characters. He also built all the models and lit them for final
rendering.

294 1.2 THe ANIMATION Book

 \
Ui

Motion Capture
Although we used an optical
motion capture system, images,
(P), (Q), and (R) show a more
advanced motion capture system
that Brad deGraf's group (now
incorporated as Protozoa) is cur-
rently using. The operator wears
a bodysuit with magnetic sen-
sors on it. These sensors are con-
nected by an umbilical cord to a
central computer that can track
as many as sixteen different
points on his body simultane-
ously and use that data to drive
a CG character with similar con-
trol points on its body.
The actor must wear head-
mounted TV screens so
he can see a representa-
tion of himself at all
times, even if he is facing
away from the camera.
This system, like the one
we used, can only cap-
ture the motions of one actor at a time, making scenes with multiple play-
ers in them a challenge to organize and perform. Since the virtual character
has different proportions than the actor who performs it, the live actor may
find he must put his hands and body into strange positions to get the
motions he wants. The sign shown in (S) provides a droll reminder to the
performance animation actors.
The quick advance of animation technology will surely eliminate most
of the limits we faced in
creating The Blockheads.
But those same limits
forced us to explore
things in ways that
yielded unexpected dis-
coveries.

Credits: Photos courtesy Eli Noyes, Protozoa, (Colossal) Pictures, and MTV. Like many projects done on tight schedules and tight budgets, no one
seems to have saved the credits list, so they cannot be cited here. High-level kudos are possible: to Abby Terkuhle, who honchoed Liquid Television
through its three seasons at MTV; to Debby Beece, who green-lit the initial development deal; and to Judy McGrath, MTV's president, who has had a
career-long love affair with independent animation.

PRODUCTION PLANNING 295

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; Hl "TOOLS |
The next Sevell chapters comprise a catalogue of animation tools. Collectively they provide a
list of every type of tool you will need to work in film (a discussion of both super 8mm and 16mm for-
mats) and in the digital domain (reviews of computer hardware and software). Whether you are a
motion-picture animator or work digitally, the sampling will familiarize you with tools appropriate to dif-
ferent production levels—from the most sophisticated to the simplest. Throughout, technical prose has
been boiled down so that you can readily distinguish the major features and basic utilization of each tool.
These chapters do not reveal the Absolute Truth. When one “talks tech,” it can be like entering a
free-fall zone. The deeper one goes, the more questions, choices, and details one encounters. The array
of unknowns seems to expand and accelerate. One can tumble forever with no bottom in sight.
Because of this free-fall phenomenon, it’s prudent to introduce Part Ill: Tools with five statutes of
limitation:
Comprehensiveness. You will not find complete listings of every last piece of equipment used in
animation. Tools that are highly specialized—or really expensive—are not discussed in nearly as much
detail as the more accessible items. This revised edition has required a cutback on what had been a rather
encyclopedic coverage of film gear. Some of the least essential tools have been cut entirely.
Depth. Detailed technical specifications are left for each manufacturer's operating manual and/or
user’s guide, or for that library of specialized books that can provide step-by-step, feature-by-feature dis-
cussions of various tools and techniques. For example, there is only a superficial treatment of film and
video editing here. As you get into this area, you'll probably want to consult one of the excellent books
that are available. The same holds for computer programming, an orientation to microphones, and other
corners in the world of animation.
Timeliness. While filmmaking technology is relatively stable, computer development evolves so
quickly that the entire spectrum of graphics tools migrates through a new generation every eighteen
months—or less! The information in this book is sure to be dated and incomplete, since the research

298
stopped months before publication. It turns out, however, that this matter of cold reality is a freeing ele-
ment rather than a confining one, for it has focused the writing of these pages on the most fundamental
and immutable elements of computer hardware and software. The two chapters on digital tools have
been designed to give you the right questions to ask when it comes time to consider products that
haven't even been dreamed of at the time of this writing.
Cost. Although the information here is also sure to become dated, | feel it can be really valuable
to see the relative costs of key animation tools. The following policy applies to prices in this volume:
¢ Items costing under $50 are rounded off to the nearest $5.
e Items costing between $50 and $300 are rounded off to the nearest $10.
e Items costing over $300 are rounded off to the nearest $50.
The value of putting prices in this volume is less what the actual figures are (which march ever
upward following inflation) and more about making relative comparisons to get an overall ballpark of
potential expenditures.
Recommendations. \t would be way out of bounds for this book to offer hard-and-fast recom-
mendations for specific configurations of filming or computer hardware. There is a wealth of periodicals
that are much better equipped for this task, offering well-researched, up-to-date, and empirical bench
tests on comparative equipment. It’s slightly different for computer software. The leading animation and
graphics applications have become institutions in themselves. As the technology continually evolves, the
leading programs tend to change with them, always adding new options and greater control. The case
studies in previous chapters—plus a few more to come—single out venerable software programs there is
no risk in recommending.
Chapter 25: Resources is designed to give you recommendations on where to go for more infor-
mation. So when you come across a problem or you have a question that falls outside the parameters of
these pages, check the last chapter of the book.
—

A CAUTION FOR TECHNO FREAKS

It is very, very easy to become enamored with the tools of animation. Component parts and features, the
beauty of a well-made tool, curiosity about special effects, the pride of technical competency—each of
these honest responses can become a seductive mania that draws the animator further into hardware
and technique and further away from creativity and meaning.
I'd like to issue a warning: Check the impulse in yourself toward becoming a techno freak. It may
help to remember that no matter what tools you begin with, you will eventually outgrow your equip-
ment. The desire to purchase the next level is never satiated. There’s a/ways another level. Besides, if you
begin with the fanciest and most versatile tool set, you may find you never use some of the capabilities
you've paid the most for.

299
 So in the beginning, try to get
along without the complicated gizmos.
You'll surprise yourself by finding that a
rich source of creative energy is released
when one works with limited hardware
and is forced to explore the capabilities of
relatively simple tools.
As your interest in animation
advances and matures, you'll most likely
find yourself shopping for new tools and
making tough choices about which tech-
niques and formats are essential to the
kinds of animation that fascinate you.
Building one’s equipment base can be one of the most rewarding aspects of being an independent ani-
mator. And this is most true when the acquisition is done patiently, carefully, and with a sense of creative
as well as financial ecology.
Here are some general tips for tooling up.
New Versus Used Equipment. Serious animators take good care of their equipment. For this rea-
son it is often very wise to consider purchasing used equipment. Local stores that sell filmmaking equip-
ment will often know where you can find used equipment. As noted above, computer technology is
changing so fast that what some people have traded in will be more than ample for your needs. Look for
reconditioned computer gear from manufacturers.
Borrow or Rent. The place to sink one’s real investment is into the time that is required to learn
the craft of animation. Don’t overextend yourself so far in acquiring tools that you’re left with no
resources to do the creative work itself.
Get Warranties. Don’t purchase any piece of equipment without some kind of warranty that
allows you to return the item to the dealer if you discover a problem with it soon after purchase. Most
computer purchases can be returned after a few days if one isn’t satisfied. So once you make a purchase,
unwrap it, check it over, and dive right in!
Enough of warnings, limitations, and tips. The next six chapters ought to thoroughly orient you to
the animator’s world of tools and processes, gadgets and supplies, and hardware and software.

300
The most important tool in film animation is
the camera. Its mechanical precision and its range of image-
making capabilities set the parameters within which the anima-
tor must work.
Literally hundreds of super 8mm and 16mm cameras are
capable of animation. These vary greatly in their relative costs,
sophistication, and quality of workmanship. Yet there are cer-
tain basic elements common to all movie cameras, and there
are special features that operate much the same regardless of
camera size, format, or cost. Because of manufacturing stan-
dardization, it is possible to talk in general terms about cam-
eras and accessories. In identifying and describing the elements
that make a camera work,_I've placed emphasis on those fea-
tures that are especially critical in animated filmmaking. This
chapter also presents representative models of super 8mm
cameras and then 16mm cameras. My selections represent
simple to sophisticated models, inexpensive to costly ones, and
models that can be used for all filmmaking needs as well as
those designed only for animation.
If you can combine the data catalogued here with your
own hands-on inspection of different cameras, you'll quickly
forge a working knowledge that should get you quite far
along. When it’s useful, information becomes data. Otherwise
it’s Dada. Eventually, you are going to encounter a problem,
question, reference, or demand that forces you to expand and
refine your understanding of animation cameras. When that
happens, return to these pages.

301
 GENERAL FEATURES: CAMERAS
Fie

The movie camera is a lot like a still camera except that it takes
qe
its pictures in rapid order instead of one at a time. But the
movie cameras can expose individual frames one at a time. In
CLAW \
NessuRe fact, that’s what makes animation possible.
™User . PATE
The mechanics of the camera are relatively simple. A
LENS
claw device interacts with the perforation holes on the film sur-
AteeTVeeE face to pull successive frames into the camera gate, where the
PLATE
frame is exposed. All this happens quickly—twenty-four times
in one second when the camera is running at sound speed.
In order to use a motion picture camera for animation,
ee
the registration system that brings the film into place during
the exposure must be very accurate. In sophisticated and spe-
IG MK FI cially designed animation cameras there is a set of registration
pins that holds the film precisely in place during exposures. In
sbe Peessute '~
Se any movie camera, however, the claw device combines with
both the aperture plate and the sprocket holes to produce a
Ss ely
N fairly accurate registration system.
Apee TRE va
All movie cameras require a source of power to advance
the film. A power system is often required for other mechanical
APERTUCE
PLAT] Ficm TeAnstoer tasks—to operate a power zoom lens, for example. In most
curt)
super 8mm cameras, electric current is used to power the cam-

An eae” era. Its source is a set of alkaline batteries. Many 16mm cam-
eras are also powered by batteries of one form or another,
19.1 Camera registration: Drawing sometimes mounted in the camera and sometimes carried
(A) represents the cross section of a super independently and attached to the camera by a cord. Some
8mm camera. It shows the four elements 16mm cameras, however, are powered by spring-wind motors.
that provide registration: the aperture
plate, a channel through which film travels;
Either power system will work, yet both have liabilities. Anima-
the claw, which advances the film by pulling tion drains batteries very quickly and there is a tendency for
down on successive sprocket holes; the pres- spring motors to vary somewhat in the length of exposure time
sure plate, built into every super 8 cassette;
they provide for each frame of film. For these reasons and oth-
and the film stock itself, bearing a precise
configuration of sprocket holes. Drawing (B) ers, animation is often done with auxiliary motors that are
shows the registration system of a 16mm attached to the camera and are themselves powered by electric
motion picture camera.
current from a normal wall outlet. Auxiliary motors are dis-
cussed later.
In both 16mm and super 8mm formats, the execution of
an exposure of a single frame of film is often achieved by use
of a cable release—a cloth or plastic tube that has a metal
cable running through it and a plunger device at one end. The
plunger activates a metal pin in the other end of the cable. This
pin is inserted into the camera body and it triggers the release

302 4 THE ANIMATION BooK

of a single frame of film. The cable release usually screws into a
threaded receptacle that is located either within the camera’s
trigger or at some adjacent location on the camera body.
Some cameras employ an alternative method of execut-
ing single-frame exposures. Many cameras have a single-frame
position marked on the camera's variable speed control. With
this design, the trigger is pressed by hand (as in normal film-
ing), but the action releases just a single frame. Because even
the lightest touch of a trigger can cause a change in the rela-
tionship of camera to subject, this mode of single framing can
mess up the stable registration required in animating. Note,
however, that many of today’s super 8mm cameras have
remote contact mechanisms that allow operation without
applying any pressure to the camera body. 19.2 Variable shutter: The drawings
Movie cameras have standard filming speeds. For 16mm represent four positions of the variable
shutter on a 16mm Bolex camera. Pictured
this is 24 fps and for super 8mm it is 18 fps. Actually, the super
to the right in each drawing is the shutter
8mm format has two standard speeds. Eighteen fps is the blade and aperture hole. Drawing (A) shows
silent speed and, increasingly, 24 fps is becoming the standard the shutter in its normal position (open) and
in drawing (D) it is seen in its fully closed
for super 8mm sound filming. At the present time both 18 and
position. To the left in each of the four
24 fps are considered standard and many cameras have set- drawings is the corresponding position of
tings for both. Depending on the particular 16mm or super the variable shutter control, which is located
8mm camera, the filmmaker may be offered additional speed on the outside body of the camera.

options. The fastest speeds are generally 64 fps and the slow-
est 6 or 8 fps.
Obviously it is of absolute importance for the camera to
expose the film to just the right amount of light to get the
proper image. Achieving the correct exposure requires the con-
trol of two factors: f-stop and shutter.
The f-stop or aperture is a function of the lens, which
permits the filmmaker to control how much light will pass
through the camera onto the film. This is done by means of an
adjustable iris or diaphragm that is built into every lens. In
almost all super 8mm cameras there is an automatic metering
system that measures the light reflected from the object at
which the camera is pointing. These metering systems com-
pute and mechanically select the f-stop setting that will give
the correct exposure. In doing this, the camera automatically
makes an adjustment for whatever film stock is being used.
Different stocks require different amounts of light.
lf possible, animators always try to use a camera that has
a manual override in addition to an automatic light-metering
system. Animation techniques such as line or paint-on-glass (or

FILM CAMERAS AND ACCESSORIES 303

 anything with backlighting) require the camera operator to film
relatively thin lines and small markings against very bright
backgrounds. In this situation, an automatic exposure meter
tends to let in too much light. Most 16mm cameras used for
animation do not have automatic metering systems and
require manual light readings and manual setting
Kiso AL
COUPLING FoR Ge iunibe of the camera's f-stop.
VAfe! EGE Pwoxiciaes In animation, the f-stop
pe iaord GtOR,
Wopreye setting is an extremely im-
portant variable because it
REALE. controls depth of field, the
VIEwRINKEee amount of distance in front
of the camera lens in which
AME Cou things are sharply focused.
More about depth of field in
HAND CRANK the next chapter.
FOR SsPReinke
Noor, The shutter, a rotating metal
Msenence. Mom. disc, is the second factor controlling
the exposure of each frame of film within
the camera’s gate. The shutter is mechanically linked with
19.3 Universal 16mm camera: Fol- the claw mechanism to ensure that light passes onto the
lowing loosely the design of the Bolex film only at that moment when the film is being held motion-
16mm camera, this drawing identifies all
less in the camera’s gate.
the standard features of 16mm cameras.
This model contains elements from many A variable shutter allows the animator to use a number
different camera makes, and for conve- of in-camera effects. A fade-out is accomplished by closing the
nience all its features are located on the vis-
variable shutter gradually during a successive number of single-
ible side of the camera body.
frame exposures until there is no light hitting the film as it
passes through the gate. The reverse procedure accomplishes a
fade-in effect (Figure 19.2).
Superimposition also requires a variable shutter—a fea-
ture available on many but not all super 8mm and 16mm cam-
eras. To create a superimposition, the shutter is set so that
roughly one half the normal amount of light passes onto the film
during a first “pass” through the camera. The film is then
rewound within the camera. To get the superimposition, the film
is advanced through the camera a second time. Half the nor-
mal exposure is again used in this second pass. Many of the
more recently manufactured super 8mm cameras offer the
special feature of an automatic dissolve control. This device
enables the animator to superimpose, fade, and dissolve using
the standard super 8mm film cassette. The best dissolve con-
trols also allow manual control of the shutter. Check your

304 ® ews ANIMATION BooK

instruction booklet to find out if your camera has this feature. 19.4 Super 8mm cameras: When the
A close relative to the superimposition or “super” is the camera is running at the standard live-
action speed, the actual exposure time for a
dissolve. Here a fade-out is precisely superimposed over an
single frame is approximately one fiftieth of
equally long fade-in. If the dissolve covers a long period of time a second. For various mechanical reasons,
—say, 2 seconds (48 frames) or more—it is called a /ap dissolve. however, the exposure time for single fram-
ing is always somewhat longer. Usually the
Doing supers and dissolves requires two additional cam-
shutter is open for one thirtieth of a second
era features. Backwinding, as the name suggests, refers to the per frame. Check the operating manual of
ability to run film through the camera in reverse. In order to your camera for specific calibration data.
achieve accurate fades and dissolves the camera must be
equipped with a frame counter, a device that lets the animator
keep an accurate count of the frames as they are exposed or
backwound. Footage indicators are common to all cameras in
all formats.
And every camera must have a /ens, a combination of
glass elements that reduces the image in front of the camera to
that small, exact replica that is recorded on the emulsion of the
film stock. A more detailed discussion of various lenses follows.
It bears noting in this context, however, that some cameras are
equipped with a built-in zoom lens, some cameras have a fixed
lens, and some cameras accept interchangeable lenses. An
important requirement for most animation techniques is for
the lens to focus on objects very close to it. This is accom-
plished by means of a built-in macrofocusing capability and the
use of a special close-up lens or diopter, which can be attached
to the front of a normal lens.
The close proximity of camera to artwork makes it partic-
ularly critical in animation to have precise framing and focus-
ing. A reflex viewing system is a built-in feature of most super
8mm cameras. It allows the camera operator to view the image
exactly as it will fall on the film stock. Sharp focusing and accu-
rate framing are made possible with this ability to view through ] CANON IO\tE

the same lens that will expose the film. However, there are a
number of excellent 16mm animation cameras that don’t have
reflex or through-the-lens viewing. Instead, such cameras have
a viewfinder system. This kind of design presents the animator
with a problem called parallax. What the lens records on the
film is not precisely what the viewfinder shows to the camera
operator. Many such nonreflex cameras have some sort of a
calibrated system to assist the filmmaker in compensating for
parallax.
Even with reflex systems there can often be a slight error
between what is seen on the camera’s viewing screen and

FILM CAMERAS AND ACCESSORIES 305

 what is actually being recorded on film. Animators should
always test the framing and focusing mechanisms of their cam-
eras. Another note: Reflex viewing systems require a cutoff
mechanism that prohibits light from entering the camera body
via the viewfinder when film is being exposed and the film-
maker's eye is not pressed to the viewfinder as it normally is in
live-action filming.

LENSES

Imagine that you've painstakingly designed and executed a five-

minute film using, say, paint-on-glass technique. Everything
has been done under the camera—no artwork exists after your
labors. Okay. You rush home with your processed film and
Bois thread it through the projector. The lights go off and the image
Hi6é REx 5
appears on the fabled silver screen. Just as you are about to
grin with pride, you suddenly notice that the focus is soft. Part
of your image is fuzzy. No matter how hard you work the
focusing knob, the image remains blurred. The film is ruined.
This little horror story could be prophetic. It’s happened
19.5 16mm cameras: These illustrations
give you a quick introduction to specific to me, and if you are not careful, it can happen to you. |
16mm cameras. As with the sampling of recount the tragedy as a reminder that optical precision is
super 8 cameras, the list here goes from sim- essential in animation. If a lens is even slightly out of align-
ple to complex, from older models to newer
ones, from less expensive to more expen-
ment, the image will be sharp in places and out of focus in oth-
sive. Independent animators often get into ers. Indeed, any imperfection in a movie camera’s lens system
16mm production through used equipment. will show up most clearly when you are screening animation.
Although prices vary wildly according to the
Most of today’s super 8mm cameras have built-in lenses.
demand, original cost, and condition of
used cameras, it should be possible to get a When purchasing or using this kind of camera, you should
good used Bolex or Kodak K-100 for under conduct a thorough test to verify the optical quality of the lens.
$500. New equipment costs more, of course.
But whether you are using a built-in lens or a removable lens,
A new Bolex Rex 5 is around $1,000. Special
process cameras such as the Oxberry and the comments that follow are particularly important. They per-
Forox models are sold with their stands. tain to five facets of lens control and lens modification.

CLOSE-UP FILMING

Many of the techniques described in this book require a focus-

ing distance that is /ess than what standard lenses will accom-
modate. The majority of super 8mm cameras, for example,
cannot be focused on a subject that is closer than 4 or 5 feet.
As an animator, you will constantly be required to operate

see i THe ANIMATION Book

inside this minimum focal range. The process of close-up film-
ing, also called macrofilming, is achieved through one of four
procedures or attachments.
Built-in Macrofocusing. Many of today’s super 8mm
cameras have built-in zoom lenses that can be operated in a
in ee
, a -

macro range. A manual adjustment is made on the lens or

/ \'
camera body that allows the variable focal mechanism of the PA

zoom to act as a focusing device in ultra-close-up cinematogra- bh

} =
phy. A standard zooming motion is not possible when such a OxBERRY, “|
macrofeature is in operation. 5326-00 i } “4
Plus Diopter Lenses. By placing an auxiliary lens in front _ as an, ini

of the regular camera lens, one can simply and effectively

achieve close-up filming. Plus diopters is the technical name of
such close-up lenses. These accessories are generally sold in
sets of three, and they are sized according to the threading
within the metal housing on the front edge of the normal cam-
era lens. Measurements for the diameter of the diopter, given
in millimeters, must match that of your specific camera lens.
Diopters are rated according to their magnification
power: +1, +2, and +3. The threading on each lens holder per-
mits the filmmaker to stack two or more lenses simultaneously.
FoRox Nobex SSA Za
This achieves various multiples in magnifying power. When
more than one diopter is being used, the highest-power
diopter lens is positioned closest to the normal camera lens.
Note that the use of too many diopters can have deleterious
effects, including soft edges and “barreling” of the field of
vision.
Although simple in construction and use, plus diopters
must be ground and mounted with extraordinary precision. For
this reason, quality diopters are expensive. A set of three
diopters for super 8mm cameras will cost around $25; 16mm
diopters are usually sold separately and, because they are big-
ger, cost more. Prices range from $20 to nearly $200. The
manufacturers of diopters provide charts to help you deter-
mine how a particular close-up lens will affect the effective
minimum focal length of the lens it is attached to.

THE ZOOM LENS

A variable-focus lens, usually called a zoom lens, can be one of

the most technique-extending tools an animator can acquire

FILM CAMERAS AND ACCESSORIES 307

 for his or her camera. The popularity and usefulness of a zoom
lens is shown quite graphically by the fact that it is almost
impossible to find a super 8mm camera that is without one.
Because 16mm cameras are usually sold without a lens of any
kind and because these cameras generally accept different
lenses (unlike super 8mm cameras), most animators will try to
acquire a quality zoom lens.
49:8 Glbkelue lewsl Naat of close-up 7 The 20am eit pecinits the animator to quickly adjust the
lenses is available for virtually all super 8mm size of the field being filmed beneath the camera. A zoom lens
and 16mm cameras. also permits an effective camera “movement” toward or away
from the subject. A special homemade device can be easily
attached to almost any zoom lens in order to provide the ani-
mator with precise control of the lens during frame-by-frame
filming (Figure 19.7).
A zoom and a set of diopters combine to produce the
most versatile lens system for animation. It is possible, for
example, to add enough magnification so that one can zoom
within a field the size of a standard 35mm slide. Obviously, the
“stronger” the zoom the more flexible it will be. Zoom lenses
are measured by the ratio of their minimum to maximum focal
lengths—a 12mm-to-120mm zoom lens has the ratio of 1:10.
Zoom lenses for 16mm cameras come with different
types of camera mounts (Arri Standard Mount, Arriflex Bayonet
Mount, Bolex Rex Mount, Bolex Bayonet Mount, “C” Mount,
Cinema-Products [CP] Mount, and more) and in different sizes
(9.5mm-57mm all the way to 12mm-240mm). Zoom lenses
can be acquired with built-in metering systems and they come
with reflex viewfinder attachments.

LENS FEATURES AND PROBLEMS

Depth of Field. As noted earlier, depth of field refers to the

amount of physical distance in front of the camera that will
appear in focus. Depth of field is a complicated phenomenon
—a function of a number of elements, including lighting, film
speed, distance from subject to lens, focal length of the lens,
and f-stop. The f-stop is the easiest variable to control—the
higher the f-stop (say, f/16 or, better, f/22), the greater the dis-
tance in front of the camera that is in focus.
As you can clearly see, depth of field is a critical factor in
many animation techniques. For example, in clay, puppet, or

308 can ANIMATION BooKk

time-lapse techniques, the animator may want to blur the
background by using a low f-stop and less lighting, thereby
reducing depth of field. Sometimes it may be important to
have as much territory in focus as possible, with a high f-stop
and lots of lighting. More times than not, animators try to
shoot at a high f-stop in order to maximize the distance in
which everything will be in sharp focus.
Other important factors affecting depth of field include
the focal length of the lens (wide-angle lenses give greater
depth of field than telephoto lenses); the distance from the art
to the camera (the farther away, the greater the depth of field);
and the film speed (the slower the film stock, the greater the
depth of field, if lighting is constant). Note that the shutter
speed is not a factor in depth-of-field control because, in ani-
mation as in all live-action filmmaking, the shutter speed is
fixed at roughly 1/50 second (live action) or 1/30 second
(single-framing).
Aperture. A final and very critical quality of every lens
has to do with the range of its aperture settings. For most
moviemakers, the “faster” the lens the better. The lowest pos- ExTeWNne
SCMLE
sible f-stop opening is desired in order to extend the camera's
range when shooting under minimal lighting conditions. For
19.7 Zoom extenders: Most zoom
animators, however, it’s the other end of the scale that is most
lenses are equipped with short metal shafts
significant. Because of the artificial lights under which anima- that stick out of the lens and are used as
tion is filmed, it is easy to get bright, even illumination. There- levers in adjusting the lens before or during
filming (many super 8 cameras have auto-
fore the animator selects a lens because of its highest
matic zooms, a feature of little use to the
f-stop—f/16, f/22, or even £/64. It’s nice to celebrate pleasant animator). By replacing the short shaft with
serendipities when you find them. It’s much cheaper to buy a a longer one of metal or wood, the anima-
lens that does not have alow f-stop, and for animators, low tor gains greater precision in causing the
incremental changes that are required in
f-stops aren’t really needed. executing a frame-by-frame zoom. Registra-
Filters. There are many different filters that operate as tion of the zooming action is further
camera attachments. Filters provide effects such as stars, multi- extended by attaching a reference scale to a
fixed part of the lens shaft or the camera
images, and just plain weird colors. An introduction to filters
body. The scale allows the animator to con-
will be found among the comments about lighting tools for trol precisely a zoom movement and it also
animated filmmaking (see Chapter 22). helps in planning ahead—for example, in
estimating what change is required for a
zoom that covers the entire zoom ratio in
exactly five sets of two-frame exposures.

CABLE RELEASES

To most live-action filmmakers, single-framing means nothing

more than the technique of exposing one frame at a time. To
the animator, however, single-framing is a matter of tremen-

FILM CAMERAS AND ACCESSORIES 309

 dous concern. Animators perceive single-framing as an act
filled with many hazards and nuances.
The registration between the camera and the artwork
has to be perfect in animation. This means that the process of
exposing a frame must be done with a feather touch. The
duration of the exposure must be precise too—down to a
hundredth of a second. All frames in an animated sequence
must have an identical exposure time as well as a perfect
registration.
In order to minimize the pressure on the camera during
filming, a cable release can be used to trigger the advance of
single frames. The cable release provides a sheath in which
there is a metal pin and a spring. One end of the release
threads into a single-frame release socket usually found in the
trigger of the camera or nearby. The other end of the cable
release has a plunger. Manual activation of the plunger causes
the metal pin to trip a frame release mechanism inside the
camera. The spring returns the pin quickly to prevent the expo-
sure of multiple frames.
Cable releases come in different qualities and different
lengths. Some 16mm cameras such as Bolex require a special
form of cable release. A useful feature on some cable-release
systems is a foot pedal or air bulb that allows the animator to
operate the release by foot. The hands are then free for work
19.8 Cable release: The familiar cable
under the camera.
release, (A), can cause the camera to jiggle.
the newer electromagnetic release systems, In recent years, the more sophisticated super 8mm cam-
(B), do not require any external pressure to eras have been designed with electronic rather than mechani-
trigger the camera. Pictured here is a
cal single-framing devices. These electromagnetic systems
Minolta remote release. The Minolta super
8mm camera system is particularly well expose single frames by means of a remote cable attachment
designed for animation and its price is rela- that bypasses the trigger and permits the animator to advance
tively low.
the film without touching the camera at all. This is a preferred
method, because while cable releases push the camera to
some degree, electromagnetic operation is accomplished with-
out the application of any physical force to the camera body.

ANIMATION MOTORS

Many 16mm cameras, and a few super 8mm cameras, will

accept an auxiliary animation motor. When such a motor is
used, the built-in power system is disengaged. These auxiliary
motors, powered with electric current, are linked with the

310 eae ANIMATION BooK

camera body by means of a coupling device. The drive wheel of Q J-K Motok A-6€0B
the animation motor connects with the frame advance mecha-
nism within the camera. |
Auxiliary motors are designed to fit particular cameras
and there is no standardization of design for the coupling sys-
tem, the exposure time, the triggering device, or other specific
features.
The J-K Camera Engineering Company manufactures a
number of motors for animation and optical printing. The most
often used is the J-K Animation Motor (Model #A-60B), which is
19.9 Animation motor: The illustra-
designed for use with Bolex cameras and costs approximately
tion shows the component parts for the
$300. It features a 60-frames-per-minute synchronous motor, J-K Engineering auxiliary motor and con-
and all the operating controls are located in a remote-control trol box, shown with a Bolex.
box that is connected to the motor by an 8-foot cord.
J-K has six other motors, including a more expensive model with
an electronic preset memory, bright digital display, a self-
contained intervalometer, and other features.

FILM CAMERAS AND ACCESSORIES 311

 Animation stands Come in all shapes and
sizes. You can build your own rig or you can purchase a pro-
fessionally designed and commercially manufactured system.
The cost of an animation stand can vary from a few dollars for
2-by-4's and plywood to something well over $100,000 for a
top-of-the-line, fully computerized animation stand. But
whether you are in the market for a sophisticated tool or just
planning to make do with whatever is available, a familiarity
with the general features of animation stands will extend your
competencies as an independent animator.

GENERAL FEATURES

The main feature of any animation stand is its structural stabil-

ity. It must hold the weight of the camera in an
USKTING UN aha?
GARNER absolutely Steady position in relation to the artwork
UE CS being filmed.
SURFACE Requirements of stability extend beyond the stand
Pirccaartl itself. Check the room in which you are working for
vibrations that can come from other sources. If you can,
place the stand in some out-of-the-way spot to avoid acciden-
tal bumps or jarring. Once the stand is in position and the cam-
20.1 Universal stand: Consisting of ele- era is mounted, try to avoid moving the stand or having to take
rents Rom dake digerent eeeraaly
produced animation stands, this single sam-
it apart. The location you select ought to have good security.

mation stand. mount. Every super 8mm and 16mm camera has a threaded

312
receptacle called a bush that receives the standardized screw of
REGISTRATION
PINS Crop)
the tripod or other camera-mounting hardware. Naturally, any
stand must be able to mount the camera you will be using. But
because of variations in design, not all stands accept all cam-
eras. Sometimes a stand’s manufacturer will sell adapters espe-
cially designed to fit a particular camera to a particular stand. N-S COUNTE= E-wW COUNTER,
And HAwbWwitte AND HANDWHEEL
An animation stand will often be designed for a specific
camera. Whether you are building a stand or buying one, check
carefully to determine what kind of camera is recommended, or
required, for the stand you are considering. The preceding
chapter should help you to identify those features you'll need to
meet your own working objectives. Items to check include the
camera type, film selection, viewfinder system, lens, filters, film
advance, a single-frame device, film speed, film rewind, footage
and frame counters, shutter, aperture and metering system,
and available lens and camera accessories.
All stands hold the animation camera over a flat surface
on which the artwork is placed during filming. Some stands
can also be turned on their sides to present a horizontal puppet
stage. An important thing to check for is the ease with which
you can sight through the camera's viewfinder during filming.
Also, make sure that the stand’s height permits easy access to
important camera controls, such as a fade/dissolve lever.
Many stands feature a vertical column that is engineered
to allow the entire camera mounting arm to be adjusted to var-
ious heights above the table. Usually there is a single column
(the larger stands have double columns), which carries inside it
a ball-bearing system and counterweights. Such column move-
ment permits the operator to adjust the camera’s height with
ease and accuracy.
Vertical movement of the camera toward or away from 20.2 The compound: Illustration (A)
shows the individual elements of a
the artwork produces a zoom effect, sometimes also called a
professional-caliber animation stand. Illus-
vertical truck. The precise height from focal plane to film sur- tration (B) indicates five component pieces
face is often calibrated right on the column and there must be and the direction of movement each facili-
a locking device to hold the camera 100 percent steady at any tates. The latter drawing is based on an
illustration of a rostrum compound in The
position along the column. Some vertical movement mecha- Animation Stand by Zoran Perisic, Focal
nisms are motorized. The fancy expensive stands also have an Press Ltd., London. Drawing (A) is based on
automatic focusing device that keeps the lens sharply in focus an illustration in Animated Film by Roy
Madsen, Interland Publishing, New York.
at any height.
All animation stands require a registration system, a way
to ensure that the camera holds a constant relationship to the
surface below it and that artwork can be precisely aligned.

ANIMATION STANDS 313

 Registration on both these matters is generally attained with
an Oxberry or Acme pegging system. These industry standards
are discussed in detail in Chapter 21. It is possible and some-
times necessary to use alternate registration systems. But what-
ever the system, it must be used consistently in preparation of
artwork as well as for filming.
On commercially manufactured stands, the surface bear-
ing the registration device may have two sets of pegs—one on
the top and one on the bottom. In some stands, there are as
many as four sets of pegs—including moving peg bars, cali-
brated in twentieths or even hundredths of an inch.
The surface that holds the artwork is called the com-
pound. In many stands the compound can be moved laterally
in any direction. Compass coordinates are used to indicate hor-
izontal directions: north, south, east, and west. Such N/S and
E/W movements are usually done by cranking mechanisms,
often calibrated in hundredths of an inch. While compound
movements are usually done with hand cranks, sometimes the
drive mechanism is electrically powered. A locking system is
always present.
As noted in Chapter 9, the movement of artwork
beneath the camera can be facilitated by a viscous-damped
compound. This device makes possible ease-ins, ease-outs, and
constant-speed panning at real-time filmmaking speeds. The
viscous-damped system yields an omnidirectional compound
with a grease-based braking action. It is tremendously useful in
composing the frame over artwork.
Many compounds also provide a rotational movement
through the full 360 degrees. The rotating disc always has a
lock mechanism, and its spin movement is calibrated in degrees.
The platen consists of a metal carriage that holds an
optically pure sheet of glass. It is used to force artwork flat on
the compound table. Because of differing thicknesses created
by cels, cutouts, and other artwork, the platen is designed to
“float.” The glass is mounted on a pivoting center and hinged
on spring-loaded brackets. Platens are operated manually,
PES ere. COMRORNA SUPFITE even on the most expensive stands, and they are generally
20.3 Platen: The platen illustrated here removable for oversized artwork. A standard size for platens is
bears features common to all platens: pure a #12 field. There are #10 and #16 field platens as well. A com-
glass that floats in a center mounted frame- mercially manufactured platen will cost between $100 and
work; spring mounting; a handle for manual : ee
operation; and a removable mount on the $300. Note that an ordinary sheet of glass can be easily rigged
compound surface. to form a platen.

¢
314 i THe ANIMATION BooK
 Animation stands must have toplighting. The lights
themselves are color corrected and mounted at a 45-degree
angle to the plane of the camera. This prevents reflection of
the light directly into the camera. A useful feature of animation
stands can be a capability for bottomlighting or backlighting.
More information is provided in Chapter 22.
The pantograph is a device that allows the animator to
execute complicated camera movements.In using a panto-
graph, the movement is first planned out on a separate sheet
of paper. Often this pantograph grid is somewhat smaller in
total size than the full compound field. However, the planning
graph, like the pantograph table on which it sits, is accurately 20.4 Pantograph: The pointer on the
aligned to the camera tracking mechanism of the compound. pantograph is attached to the movable
The physical movement the artwork will make underneath the compound surface. The pantograph surface
never moves itself but, rather, carries plot-
fixed camera is represented by a thin line that the animator
ting lines that the camera operator will fol-
draws on the pantograph. Often the positions at which the low in filming a complicated sequence of
animation camera will take exposures are represented by moves during an animated scene.
crosshatching on the camera direction line. During the actual
filming, a pointer or a crosshair device follows the line of
movement.
Depending on the camera and the sophistication of the
stand itself, there will be a correspondingly complicated control
system. The simplest control is a cable release (to expose a sin-
gle frame) and a footage indicator (to measure the amount of
film that has been shot). Some super 8mm cameras carry both
features a bit further by means of a foot pedal for the cable
release and a frame counter as well as a footage counter. Addi-
tional camera controls such as forward/reverse, lighting, focus-
ing, and exposure switches are required when using a specially
designed animation camera or when using an auxiliary anima-
tion motor. In many of the more expensive stands, all the cam-
era controls and stand controls for automatic column and
compound movement are presented on a single control panel,
which also provides an accurate frame count. 20.5 Tripod head: The arrows indicate
The animator respects an animation stand for its preci- directions that different elements of the tri-
sion. But what makes a stand lovable is its idiosyncrasies. pod allow (or limit) movement. To calibrate
a particular movement, measurement lines
Almost every stand, manufactured yourself or by a commercial
can be taped onto or etched into a fixed
company, also has its own unique features, which represent, piece of the hardware at a place where it
really, the personal biases and passions of its designers. You'll meets the corresponding area of movement.
The model pictured here is a Bogen 3030,
have to check instruction booklets or consult each builder of
costing around $100. It is manufactured
homemade stands for what passes as special features or plain with calibrations at points (a) and (b), as
quirks. indicated.

ANIMATION STANDS 315

 TRIPODS
The tripod is an accessible and highly versatile tool. It consti-
tutes a relatively primitive yet effective sort of animation stand.
Note, however, that all tripods are not alike. The ones that can
be used for animation must have these three qualities. They
must be strong enough to hold the weight of the camera and
its accessories. They must be sturdy enough to keep the cam-
era absolutely steady when shooting. Tripods must also adjust
easily but hold various positions firmly.
The following animation techniques require a tripod:
time-lapse, pixilation, puppet, clay, and small-object animation.
Often the technique will call for controlled movement
of the tripod through pans, tilts, and even dollies. Such move-
20.6 Tripod positions used in ments can be plotted out most accurately if the animator
animation improvises a marking system right on the tripod itself.
For close-up photography, tripods can be “tied down”
with gaffer’s tape against a raised surface. (In case you are
unfamiliar with it, gaffer’s tape is a standard supply in filmmak-
ing. It is a super-sticky and super-strong tape that is cloth-
backed, usually gray in color, and comes in widths up to 2
inches. It is sometimes called duct tape.) With some tripods, it
is possible to reverse the head of the model entirely. A collec-
tion of tripod positions is illustrated in Figure 20.6
The least expensive tripod you can use with a super 8mm
camera will cost in the neighborhood of $75 to $150. Brand
names to investigate include Testrite, Bogen, and Husky.
Top-of-the-line 16mm tripods are purchased in two
parts. There are the legs, or the tripod, usually made of wood
with metal-fortified joints; and there is the head, made of
highly machined metal. In live-action filmmaking a fluid head is
desired for professional 16mm work. However, this viscous-
cushioned design is not required for animation. A high-quality
friction head is recommended. Costs for legs are $150 to $500
and a tripod head runs from $200 to $600. Note that tripods
and tripod heads are not standardized. Be sure the units you
get are compatible.

20.7 Copy stand: Ranging in price from COPY STANDS

less than $50 to many hundreds, copy stands a ! ;
must be strong enough to hold firmly your Although originally designed for still photography photo copy-
particular motion picture camera. ing work, commercially manufactured copy stands can be used

316 tae AWIMATION Book

for animated filmmaking too (see Figure 20.7). Their structure
is simple. A metal column is firmly mounted on a solid base-
board. A bracket allows the mounting head to be moved verti-
cally up and down the column. Copy stands generally come
with a pair of lighting fixtures that are mounted at 45-degree
angles to the camera plane. A good copy stand, like a good tri-
pod, is one that is strong, steady, and adjustable. The least
expensive copy stand is priced around $50. Top-of-the-line
copy stands will cost hundreds of dollars.
| should point out here that unless it’s been specially
modified, using a copy stand for animation requires one to
20.8 Laybourne’s box stand: Selec-
work upside down because of the camera mount. This can be tion of heights for the removable tray is
a real inconvenience with those techniques that require manip- determined by the minimum focal length as
marked on the lens of the particular camera
ulation of materials directly under the camera.
being used. If this is a nonreflex camera,
remember that a test roll must be shot to
determine the precise location and size of
the fields at the selected heights. In such a
HOMEMADE STANDS situation, once the camera is mounted it is
removed only when absolutely necessary.
If there were ever an international contest to search out the Modifications may be required so that the
best examples of human cunning—of the inventiveness, tenac- camera can be loaded and adjusted without
dismounting.
ity, and resourcefulness of the human mind—there’s no doubt
that an animator would get the grand prize. Nowhere, it
seems, is there a greater manifestation of sheer inventiveness
than in the design and development of homemade animation
stands. Here are three very simple examples:
Laybourne’s Box Stand. A box design is particularly well
suited for a nonreflex camera. The frame holds the camera in a
fixed position, but allows it to be loaded, wound, and single-
framed. The heights of a movable shelf are determined by the
focal length of the camera’s particular lens. Because the cam-
era we are discussing has no through-the-lens focusing, there
is no way to determine the precise focus at close distances
without relying on the distance indicator marks on the lens cas- 20.9 NFB super 8mm stand: This
drawing is based on a sketch of a wooden
ing. In order to locate the precise boundaries of the fields at stand specially designed for super 8mm
the preselected heights, a camera test must be shot. In this test cameras that was used in a workshop coor-
a field guide is placed on each level and film is shot of it. Only dinated by Co Hoedeman of the National
Film Board of Canada. You'll have to experi-
when this film returns from the lab and is screened can the ment with heights and other measurements
exact frame demarcation be determined. This is marked on the so that the stand will suit your camera and
surface for future reference. your animation plans. A nice feature is that
the stand “reverses” the camera so that the
NFB Super 8mm Stand. | encountered another simple
field is not inverted as it would be if a super
and inexpensive stand at an animation workshop conducted by 8 camera were mounted on an ordinary
the National Film Board of Canada. In constructing your own copy stand.

ANIMATION STANDS 317

 version, determine the vertical height of the column after
you've played around with your own super 8mm camera.
sige
Va. ¥ 3. 3O-THEEAS
Boer, WIS NUT & WASHER
* You'll need to select a height that affords the largest range of
field sizes, using the zoom at a wide-angle setting all the way
y

TO CANEPA
Sy « NX to the telephoto position with diopters or macrofocusing. Like
TRI-Pot SOCKET the box stand, this design is portable. The reflex camera can be
easily removed for live-action filmmaking or for those kinds of
animation that require a tripod.
Kodak Copy Stand. The Eastman Kodak Company circu-
lates information on how to build a simple wooden copy stand
that is sturdy and features a vertically adjustable column. Fig-
20.10 Kodak copy stand: For approxi- ure 20.10 provides a detailed breakdown of the Kodak stand.
mately $15 you can build a copy stand with Other Designs and Commercial Components. There are
an adjustable column. Pamphlet T-43 from
endless variations. Depending on the range of animation tech-
the Eastman Kodak Company (Rochester,
New York 14650) provides further specifica- niques that you want to do and on your camera, various build-
tions for the stand illustrated here. Repro- ing materials can be combined in any wondrous concoction.
duced with permission of Kodak. Slotted steel angle irons can be used to create a strong
and adjustable framework. it’s like a giant Erector Set. Modi-
fied photographic enlargers, lathe beds, X-ray machines—all
have been used to create successful animation stands.
As you begin to plan your own stand, you may want to
consider integrating into its design some of the commercially
produced elements that have been introduced in this book,
such as backlighting units, an auxiliary motor, a zoom-lens
extender arm, and so on. For example, the J-K Engineering
Company offers a compound table for do-it-yourself
animation-stand builders. The compound mounts on two
metal pads and its features include a black anodized aluminum
tabletop, 360-degree rotation, traveling peg-bars, #12 or #16
field platens, rear lighting, graduated hand wheels for 20
inches of east/west movement and 12 inches of north/south
travel, and mechanical counters. The unit costs around $2,000.

20.11 Oxberry Animator-8: This low-end

stand was specially designed for super 8mm film- COMMERCIAL STANDS
making. The model features a viscous-damped
compound consisting of a special traylike device When this volume was first published in 1979, the term anima-
that uses thick grease to smooth the manipula- tion connoted the film medium. True, there was animation on
tion of the compound. This model features a TV, but all of that was generated by motion picture technology
spring-mounted platen, 12 inches square, that is
removable. It has toplighting but not bottom- and then transferred to video. Back in 1979, computer anima-
lighting. The original cost, without a camera, was tion was an exotic frontier with tiny dribs of work coming out
under $700. of Bell Labs and a handful of other places.

318 } THe ANIMATION Book

20.12 Oxberry Media Pro: The Media Pro stand was designed
to work with a Bolex H-16 SBM 16mm camera attached to a single
frame motor. The stand features a heavy-duty aluminum column
that can be adjusted vertically by a spring-balanced ball-bearing
camera carriage and lock. The compound movement features the
same sort of viscous-damped movement as the Animator-8, with a
#12 field, spring-loaded glass platen to hold artwork flat, plus a #8
field pantograph. A terrific feature of this medium-level animation
stand is its bottomlighting. The Media Pro takes a 17-inch cast-
aluminum disc with two peg tracks cut to match the movable peg-
bars included with the compound table. There is a #12-field
opal-glass insert over a #12 field 3200°K, cold cathode backlight.
The backlighting stage is on legs that raise it above the compound
during filming. When the stage is removed and the legs are
detached, it can be used as a standard drawing disk for preparation
of art, tracing, inking, and opaquing. When this model #2500 was
being manufactured, it cost $2,300 without a camera and $6,300
with the Bolex and motor.

20.13 Oxberry Master Series: The Cadillac of animation

stands is the computer-controlled Master Series, which was manu-
factured for many years by the Oxberry Corporation. The original
system sold for $38,800 without motion computer control and
$80,000 with the digital controller. Who knows what you might be
able to pick up one of these wonderful antiques for these days? 20.14 Oxberry Filmmaker animation
The specs: twin precision ground steel columns; field range of #30 stand: Another step up in expense brings you to a
to #3 fields; mechanical counter that registers camera movements dedicated animation stand with a 16mm Oxberry
in hundredths of an inch; automatic focus; electric operation of (brand) process camera, automatic focus mecha-
camera, allowing filming of complex moves at constant speeds; ret- nism, self-supporting structure, motorized tracking,
icle projection; full rotoscope possibilities; multispeed stop-action automatic remote-controlled reticle projection,
motor; fixed pin registration within designated animation camera; shadowboard with hinged wings, quartz-halogen
possibilities for bipaking; variable shutter with automatic fade- top- and bottomlighting, compound with four peg
dissolve mechanism; two pantographs; moving peg bars; #12 tracks, compound movement with hand wheels
platen; Oxberry underneath Aerial Image projection system permit- and digit counters, rotation units, pantograph, full
ting combination of live action and animation without making control consul, and rotoscope attachment. These
traveling mattes; computer model control over all operations yet babies used to sell, new, at just under $15,000.
requires no knowledge of programming.

ANIMATION STANDS 319

 One way to measure the degree to which digital tools
have overtaken the mechanical ones is by looking at manufac-
turers. Twenty years ago there was a robust marketplace in
animation stands with model lines from companies like
Oxberry, Animation Sciences, Forox Corporation, Fax Com-
pany, JK Camera Engineering, and Ox Products, Inc. Today,
only two of these companies are making animation stands: Fax
Company and Oxberry (a Division of Richmark Camera Service).
Furthermore, the kinds of stands they make are geared more
for photocopy work than for filmmaking.
All is not bleak. During the fifty years when filmmaking
technology ruled supreme, many thousands of animation
stands were sold. These are rugged beasts. And animation
stands are not subject to the same wear and tear of, say, a live-
action camera. Hence, the enterprising animator who wants to
work in film should be encouraged to use his or her ingenuity
to locate used stands that run just as well as they did the day
they were manufactured. Oxberry—who was the largest
maker of animation cameras and stands—still stocks and sells
all parts for their full line of animation stands, which are sam-
pled in the accompanying line drawings. The company has a
special warm spot for independent animators and can be con-
tacted for product information at Oxberry, 180 Broad Street,
Carlstadt, New Jersey 07072.

20.15 Walking: A frame from Ryan Larkin’s Walking. Courtesy

of the National Film Board of Canada.

320 i THE ANIMATION BooK

Registration iS ihe animator’s mania. Through-
out the long hours of preparing artwork, the animator must be
focused—physically and mentally—on keeping things lined up,
keeping them registered. This awareness is intensified during
the process of filming—the artwork must stay perfectly aligned
under the camera.
Almost every piece of animation equipment exhibits a
technical preoccupation with registration. Cameras must ad-
vance single frames with perfect registration; zoom lenses
must be modified if the animator wants a fully registered
movement; the stand itself is nothing more than a mechanical
system that provides fully controlled registration of all filming
variables. Registration is also a big issue in digital animation.
The animator’s choice of different pegging systems has
been discussed fully in Chapter 14. Improvised registration sys-
tems for individual sheets of paper or acetate include the use
of: (1) a standard %-inch ring punch, the type employed with
loose-leaf notebooks; (2) 90-degree corners on sheets of paper
and acetate cels to provide a simple way of lining up successive
images; (3) index file cards, a variation of the corner method;
and (4) some kind of “bug,” a continually redrawn mark that is
consistently employed.
The specifications of commercially produced pegging
systems have also been discussed earlier. The two major peg
systems bear the names of the companies that first developed
them: Oxberry and Acme.
Animating with either paper sheets or acetate cels

321
 requires the artist to make continual comparisons between
the position of a drawing on one sheet or cel and the posi-
tions of that drawing’s variations on other sheets or cels. In
order to work easily, an animator needs to combine a peg-
ging system with a lighted drawing surface. Hence, the
evolution of special drawing discs and other underlighting
devices, which will be discussed shortly. All these registered
drawing aids also, of course, provide a standardization and
registration of specific areas that will be filmed by means of a
field guide. As described earlier, the field guide is used in
conjunction with the pegs and drawing surface (see Figures
14.2 through 14.6).
A catalogue of these tools, along with other items that
help an animator plan and plot and polish his or her work,
follows.

21.1 Loose pegs: Metal pegs can be pur- PEGGING DEVICES

chased unmounted. These loose pegs are
equipped with screws so that you can
Loose Pegs. Sets of three loose, removable, screw-in pegs (Fig-
mount them onto a drawing or filming sur- ure 21.1) are available for Oxberry or Acme systems. Each set
face. Whether Oxberry or Acme pegs are contains two oblong and one round peg. A set of three: $20.
used, the distance between both round and
Peg Bars. The standard peg bar is made of aluminum
flat pegs is always exactly 4 inches (center to
center). Also illustrated is a conventional and is “6 by % by 10% inches. Available with either Acme or
arrangement of pegs on a compound sur- Oxberry pegs, the bar is mounted on a wooden board or light
face. Note that a number of peg sets can be
box. Note that a channel for accepting the bar must be routed
mounted either above or below the draw-
ing surface. This eliminates much of the out of the surface. A bar with nonremovable pegs: $20. A bar
need for sliding pegs. with removable pegs: $35.
Extra-long black anodized-aluminum peg bars are avail-
able in Oxberry or Acme systems. These long bars carry three
round and two flat pegs and are scaled in twentieths of an
inch. They can be glued or taped to a surface. Dimensions: Y%
by 2 by 18 inches. Price: around $50.
Peg Plates. A particularly flexible pegging device is an alu-
minum tape-on peg plate bearing either Oxberry or Acme pegs.
It can be easily mounted on a light board or under the camera
by simply taping the thin plate to the surface. The plate, which
is also easily removed, is Y32 by 2 by 10% inches. Price: $30.
Cel Punches. High-precision cel punches can be pur-
chased that allow the animator to punch Oxberry or Acme reg-
istration systems (holes) into paper or acetate sheets. The
design of the most expensive punch is “progressive” —the sys-

322 (re ANIMATION Book

tem can be used with extra-long backgrounds, pan papers,
and cels. Oxberry’s punch is no longer manufactured, but pre-
punched paper is available. |
Quarter-inch Wooden Dowel System. Lumber and hard-
ware stores sell round wooden dowels that are 1% inch in diam-
eter. These can be used to create an inexpensive, homemade fee a ee
registration system that is accurate enough for most work. 21.2 Peg bars and plates
Pegs can be cut from the dowel and inserted into drilled holes
on a drawing or shooting surface. Similarly, short pieces of
doweling can be cut and glued on heavy posterboard or matte
board. In either case, the exposed portion of the dowel/peg
must be sanded carefully to prevent the scratching or tearing
of paper and acetate sheets.
The distance between holes on such homemade peg
plates and peg bars should be carefully selected so that it
matches one of the standard two-ring or three-ring spacing
distances that are used in standard school loose-leaf note-
books. | recommend the three-ring system in which %4-inch-
diameter holes are exactly 41% inches apart. If the pegs are
placed correctly, the animator ought to be able to use rotary-
cut and punched loose-leaf papers.
21.3 Commercial cel punch

DRAWING DEVICES

Animation Disc. The Oxberry Corporation still manufactures

and sells a high-quality, black anodized animation disc that
features a #12-field translucent glass window mounted within
a machined cast-aluminum-disc. These discs can be clamped to
a baseboard for under-camera cel registration and background
moves. It is better, however, to mount the disc in a 167-inch-
diameter hole in a drawing table or surface to be placed
beneath the camera. When so mounted, the disc can be
rotated for drawing, tracing, inking, opaquing, or for 360-
degree rotation moves under the camera. The disc's outside
dimension is 177 inches.
On such drawing discs, sets of pegs are mounted top
and bottom, 1014 inches apart, and accommodate up to a #12
field. An Oxberry brand animation disc with movable pegs
(bearing either Oxberry or Acme pegs) costs $415.
Ink and Paint Boards. A number of suppliers have simple
boards for use in drawing, tracing, inking, and opaquing.

REGISTRATION DEVICES 323

 Choices include size (#12 field or #16 field), material (clear
Plexiglas, aluminum, or white opaque plastic), and top pegs
only or top and bottom pegs. They are generally available with
either Oxberry or Acme pegging systems. Prices range from
$25 to $75.
Oxberry manufactures a thick black anodized-aluminum
inking peg board—11 by 16 by % inches—with three perma-
21.4 Animation discs: This drawing is nently mounted Oxberry or Acme pegs. Price: $50.
of an Oxberry disc. Light Tables. Oxberry has a light table that mounts any
Oxberry aluminum drawing disc. There is an instant-start, fluo-
rescent backlight. The table is recommended for preparation
and registration of paper sheets and acetate cels (Figure 21.5).
Price, without disc: $130.
For $75 to $95, Cartoon Colour Company has a range of
light boxes made from Plexiglas.
Another variation of a light table is the portable steel
tracing box. Its 16- by 20-inch glass surface has a light diffuser
and either two or three 15-watt bulbs with a three-way switch.
The metal stand allows the top surface to be tilted. This kind of
tracing box has to be used with a tape-on peg plate. Price:
around $75.
Field Guides. The standard reference for the area
beneath the animation camera is the Oxberry field guide. Field
guides that are printed on .02-inch plastic sheets provide #1
through #12 fields. They are available punched to Oxberry or
Acme standards. Price: $100.
Field guides that indicate TV cutoff areas—that familiar
rounding of the rectangular shape of the television screen,
which can mean a loss of up to 20 percent of the screen’s area
—are also available. These clear plastic sheets are like a field
21.5 Light tables: Ordinary plywood can
be used to make a simple light table such as area chart, but they show the precise cutoff line that exists
that in (A). The square hole is sized to when a film is projected on television. Such TV charts show a
accommodate a #12-field sheet of white
#12 field through a #14 field and are available punched or
Plexiglas. Standard wooden molding keeps
the drawing surface in place and mounted unpunched for $20 (Figure 21.6).
flush to the wooden surface. A porcelain
socket is mounted for use with a 60-watt
incandescent bulb. A peg plate can be taped
to the wood or to the Plexiglas and then OTHER AIDS
repositioned beneath the camera where the
registered sheets or cels are subsequently Exposure Sheets. Should you not wish to detach and duplicate
filmed. Illustration (B) shows a portable
light table from Heath Productions. It has
the exposure sheet provided later in Chapter 25, you can pur-
two 18” pan peg bars and a removable fluo- chase a pad with 50 sheets at a cost of $8 from Cartoon Colour.
rescent lighting unit. Footage and Timing Charts. A 16mm-35mm footage

324 } THE ANWIMATION Book

and timing chart, printed on thick plastic, can be purchased 21.6 Field guide with TV cutoff
(not to scale).
from the Cartoon Colour Company. Price: $2.
Stopwatches. A stopwatch is often useful for determin-
ing the precise duration (and subsequent number of frames,
number of drawings) of a particular movement or portion of a
movement. A standard stopwatch will work, but for those with
everything, Cartoon Colour will sell you a stopwatch with time-
footage scales for 16mm, 35mm, and super 8mm animation.
Price: about $150.
Animation Platen. |f you are building your own stand,
you ought to know that you can purchase an Oxberry #12 field
platen that is designed to hold cels and other artwork of vari-
able heights flat on the compound table. The glass sheet is %
inch thick, float-mounted on a pivoting center, and hinged on
a spring-loaded platen bracket. The glass itself is optically pure.
Since the entire assembly fastens to the surface with knobs, it
is easy to mount and then remove completely when filming
large art. Price: under $300. Platens are critical for registration
in many cutout and collage techniques.

REGISTRATION DEVICES 325

 Although this chapter is most useful for ani-
mators working in film technology, a number of elements
within it should be of value to digital animators as well. For
instance, the discussion of lighting setups for animation stands
is also of direct use to digital animators who will mount a video
camera pointing at a flat surface that must be lit (or underlit).
The section about art supplies is equally useful for all animators
working with registered sheets of paper and traditional draw-
ing and painting media.
The seven topics that Chapter 22 covers are:

Lighting
Audio
Editing
Projection
Film Stocks
Art Supplies
Lab Services

GENERAL LIGHTING REQUIREMENTS

Because animated films are almost always shot indoors and

under controlled situations, the element of lighting is less prob-
lematic for the animator than for the live-action filmmaker. If

326
you set up the right lighting system once, you may never need
to think about it again.
The human eye and brain are always making compensa-
tions to allow us to perceive colors as constant under various
lighting conditions. It is different with film. The same colored
surface—say, a white piece of paper—will film with very dif-
ferent hues depending on the source of light and the charac-
teristics of the kind of film stock that is being used.
Motion picture film is manufactured with different
chemical balances. These produce different measurements of
color temperature—the sensitivity of the emulsion to whatever
light falls on it. Daylight film stocks are structured so that a
white sheet of paper will appear white when filmed under nor- 22.1 Light meters: At left is an incident
mal daylight—the light provided by the sun. Tungsten film light meter (Sekonic model #L280), which
stocks are designed to be used with artificial lighting. As far as measures radiated light directly, whether it
comes from the sun or a flood lamp. On the
color balance is concerned, there are two variations of tung- right is a reflectant meter (Gossen Luna-Pro)
sten stocks (also called indoor stocks). Type A film is balanced that can also take incident readings. A
to one specific measurement on a temperature scale (3200°k), reflectant meter measures light that
bounces off a surface.
and Type B film is balanced to a slightly different reading on
the same scale (3400°K). Daylight films, by the way, have color
temperature of 5500°K.
You may remember from your science classes that light,
at least in part, behaves like a wave, and that these waves occur
at different frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum.
For the filmmaker, the practical result of this phenomenon is
that different kinds of light sources—the sun, an incandescent
bulb, fluorescent lights—will produce different colors even if pip ea
the same object is being filmed on the same film stock.
So how do you get the “right” film for the “right” light Lise At TSE tm woes
source? Or how do you compensate so that an indoor film can Ficee
be used outdoors?
The Kelvin color temperature scale is the measurement
system used by filmmakers to make sure that an apple will look
22.2 Avoiding reflection: The 45-
like an apple and that your favorite movie star will have the degree angle of the lights should mean that
“correct” flesh color when he or she appears on screen. The reflections will never bounce back into the
camera’s lens. That assumes, of course, that
Kelvin scale is a scientific measurement scale that is used in film
the surface being filmed is flat. This is one
and photography fields to measure degrees of color tempera- reason why a glass platen is recommended
ture. Sunlight is rated at 5400°K. The 100-watt household bulb for most kinds of animation. The shadow-
is rated at 2860°K. A candle flame is 1850°K. Almost all artifi- board’s black matte finish absorbs light and
helps shield the lens from direct flaring
cial lighting systems used in moviemaking are manufactured so from a nearby light source or reflecting
that their rating will be either 3200°K or 3400°K. Obviously the surface.

FILMMAKING GEAR 327

 two ratings are very close. Film stocks designed to be used with
artificial lighting are also rated 3200°K or 3400°K.
The quality control of commercially manufactured film
GUNSS stocks and lighting equipment virtually ensures that if you
OF PLEXIGLAS match the Kelvin scales of both film stock and lighting tools,
what you see with the naked eye will be what you see when
the exposed and processed film is projected on a movie screen.
If problems occur, it is usually because there are mixed sources
of light, say a fluorescent light or ambient sunlight in addition
to the proper artificial lighting. In case you ever have a weird
shooting setup that keeps giving you problems, you may want
to use a special color temperature light meter. These special-
ized devices will let you measure the precise temperature value
of any lighting situation.

LIGHTING PROBLEMS

Metering and Exposure. Many super 8mm cameras have built-

in light-metering systems that will automatically set the cam-
era's diaphragm at the proper f-stop opening for the given
light intensity and for the particular sensitivity of the film stock
22.3 Backlighting: Self-rigged back- being used. As noted earlier, there is a tendency in animated
lighting, (A), can be done by mounting two filmmaking for these built-in, automatic meters to overexpose
or (better) four lights under the compound the film's subject when a brightly colored background is being
surface. These must be arranged so that
they provide even illumination through the used. For this reason, a manual override capability is strongly
translucent surface that is mounted into the recommended.
compound. Commercially manufactured Or better, the animator should take manual light read-
backlights must also provide even illumina-
tion. A Fax backlight is pictured in (B) with a
ings by using a standard photographic light meter (Figure
fluorescent bulb. 22.1). Light meters measure reflected light (bouncing off the
surface) or incident light (light that is falling on the surface
being filmed). The utilization and price of meters won't be cov-
ered in these pages. Your local camera shop will explain the
tool or you can check a volume on the basics of filmmaking.
What ought to be noted here, however, is that the animator
should always shoot test footage in order to judge by eye the
proper setting for a specific kind of artwork under a specific
lighting setup. The process of testing exposure is called brack-
eting, and it is accomplished by filming the same surface under
the same lighting but at aperture variations of 4 an f-stop. By
studying the exposed film, the perfect setting can be selected.
When measuring light with either an automatic or a man-

328 } THE ANIMATION BooK

ual metering system, you should place a gray card under the
camera. These special pieces of paper or cardboard of grayish
hue have a value that is exactly halfway between white and
black; the card’s purpose is to help the meter estimate the
f-stop that will yield an exposure that best captures the
midrange of color and brightness intensities. The gray card will
compensate for the tendency of meters to underexpose the
film. But if you’re unsure about a reading and can’t do a test,
follow the time-proven rule of still photographers—expose for
shadows. When in doubt, underexpose rather than overexpose.
Even Illumination. The use of artificial lights can make it
difficult to evenly illuminate the surface underneath the cam-
era. Because the lights are mounted so close to the compound
surface, there is a tendency for a hot spot to develop. This is an
area that is more brightly lighted than the rest of the surface. In
order to get a balanced intensity of lighting, animators will
usually mount the same size light sources in matching positions
on either side of the artwork.
Reflection and Glare. Artificial lights tend to reflect off
almost any surface, even one that has a matte finish. The woe-
ful result can be glare or flashing in what is otherwise a per-
fectly exposed animation sequence. To fight this problem,
animation stands are designed so that lights are mounted at a
45-degree angle to the plane of the camera (or compound).
The use of a platen to hold artwork flat under the cam-
era is also important in defeating reflection and glare. Finally,
many stands feature shadowboards with hinged wings. These
devices are mounted close under the camera, with a hole cut
for the lens. The shadowboard also reduces reflections caused
by the camera body andthe lens itself.
Heat. Artificial lights get hot. Just how hot they get will
be appreciated the first time you work under them for any
length of time. Animators are always trying to escape the heat.
This can be accomplished by the use of /ow-wattage bulbs and
lamps when possible; barn doors on the lighting units in order
to focus brightness on the table as much as possible; heat-
absorbing glass filters in front of the bulbs; and the use of fans
to cool the lighting units (or an air conditioner to cool the cam- 22.4 Lighting systems: The Lowel-
era operator!). Light with barn doors, (A); the Colortran
Bottomlighting. A backlighting unit is required when Mini-Pro with barn doors, (B); and the Col-
ortran Multi-Broad, (C). Both Colortran
filming layers of paper sheets or with techniques such as sand
models use quartz lighting.
and ink-on-glass animation. Naturally, bottomlighting requires

FILMMAKING GEAR 329

 a transparent or translucent surface mounted under the cam-
QUARTZ LIGHTS
Among many, many styles and designs of era. Here are three options, in recommended order: (1) a sheet
quartz lighting systems, here are three of white, opal, translucent, and shatterproof Plexiglas (Plexiglas
possibilities, from lowest in price to
2447), (2) a sheet of frosted plate glass, or (3) a sheet of clear
highest.
glass that is covered with a thin piece of tracing paper in order
& Smith Victor Model 770 Quartz Broad
Hi-Fi Studio Light provides an even, to diffuse the light.
broad lighting, which makes it spe- Professionally manufactured bottomlighting units are
cially suited to animation. Of all- recommended. Specific models include a 3200°K cathode
aluminum construction for cooler
operation, the light mounts to a stan-
lamp mounted in a metal tray, produced by Oxberry. A 110-
dard *%-inch stand. Barn doors must volt backlight costs $900 and a 220-volt backlight costs $950.
be used to hold scrims and various fil- This backlight provides even illumination beneath the drawing
ters. Price: with accessories, about $75;
disc and it can be used under the camera for pencil tests and
lamps, $20 each (75 hours).
other shooting. It covers a full #12 field (10% by 12 inches) and
Berkey Colortran Mini-Pro Lights have
a recessed power receptacle permit- can be mounted under a drawing disc to provide art prepara-
ting use of a detachable 120-volt or tion as well as photographic backlighting.
30-volt power cable. Bulbs are inter-
changeable. The lamp has a 3:1 vari-
able focus and weighs 30 ounces.
Attachments facilitate mounting in
almost any situation. Price: a complete LIGHTING SYSTEMS
unit, about $150; bulbs, under $25.
Although movie lights are often used in amateur live-action
Colortran 750-Watt Soft-Lite, a rela-
tively small and lightweight studio filmmaking, they are not recommended for animation. Color-
lamp, provides a smooth, diffuse, balanced at 3400°K, they have a very high wattage (650 watts
shadowless light. Its dimensions are to 1,100 watts) that produces an intense and very, very hot light
13% by 16 by 6% inches. Price: $250;
output, which is uneven and harsh. They are also expensive.
bulbs, around $20.
Photoflood bulbs and reflector scoops are one of the
least expensive ways to light for animation. The bulbs fit stan-
dard sockets and some of them, called EAL bulbs, have a built-
in reflector, which eliminates the need for a reflector scoop.
Photofloods are available in most camera stores in either
3200°K or 3400°K color temperatures.
Photofloods come in various power ratings, from 150
watts to 1000 watts. Animators generally prefer the lower-
wattage versions. They are cooler to work near, yet they pro-
duce enough brightness for midrange f-stop settings with even
the slowest stocks. Photofloods are relatively cheap (less than
$2), but they don’t last a long time. The average life of a
photoflood is six hours and the color temperature will shift
with age, caused by the carbonization of the bulb.
Low Kelvin (2750°K) lamps have a long life—up to 2,000
hours. The unacceptable color can be compensated for with an
82C filter on the camera lens. Ask your local hardware store for
75-watt reflector floods. The low wattage is a plus factor in
~S

330 ici ANIMATION Book

cutting heat on the artwork. Using four bulbs also helps to
FILTERS
achieve a more even coverage at #12 field. These lamps fit into — Color Correction. The 80A filter cor-
any incandescent socket, have built-in reflectors, and cost rects daylight-balanced films to
under $5. They are also called flood lamps. 3200°K (tungsten) lighting conditions,
while the 80B filter corrects daylight
Quartz lamps, which are specially manufactured for film
stocks to 3400°K. The 82A filter com-
production, including halogen and iodine cycles, come in a vari- pensates Type A film (most super 8mm
ety of forms rated at 3200°K or 3400°K, with wattages from color stocks, which are valued at
3400°K) by cooling the light to match
250 to 2000. Through the use of quartz, a high-temperature
the 3200°K output of most quartz
glass, these lighting systems are able to maintain the same color lamps. Filming with a Type A film
temperature their entire lives by eliminating carbonization. without this filter will produce a
slightly reddish or “warm” tone. The
85 filter, which is built into all super
8mm cameras, converts 5500°K rated
daylight film so that it can be shot
FILTERS
under tungsten lighting. An FLB filter
is designed for use with fluorescent
Camera manufacturers and filter supply companies offer filters
lighting to compensate for the green-
of all kinds for all cameras. Here is a primer that applies to both blue cast that fluorescent lighting pro-
16mm and super 8mm formats. How one actually mounts a fil- duces on tungsten film.
ter will vary from camera to camera—check an instruction Damping Light Intensity. Sometimes
during animation filming you will dis-
booklet. Most super 8mm cameras take glass filters, which are
cover that more light is present than
screwed into the front of the lens casing. While many 16mm can be used. In these situations a
cameras take the same kind of front-mounting glass lenses, neutral-density filter can be employed
others often use a filter gel, either directly in front of the cam- to cut down on the amount of light
entering the camera. Such filters have
era gate or in front of the lens via a matte box or similar no effect on color. Tiffen, a producer
mounting device. of still and motion picture filters,
manufactures fifteen different
neutral-density filters, which are mea-
sured according to light transmission
percentage and f/stop increase. Here
GENERAL AUDIO REQUIREMENTS
are a few samples:
There is an especially intimate relationship in animation ND 0.1 80% Y stop
between the sound track and the moving image. Many of the ND 0.3 50% 1 stop
techniques for working creatively with sound have been dis- ND 0.6 25% 2 stops
cussed in Chapter 7. The comments that follow here deal pri- ND 0.9 13% 3 stops
marily with audio tools. First there’s a brief recapitulation of
Polarizing Filters. Polarized filters are
the sound production systems available within today’s 16mm useful in animation because they help
and super 8mm technologies. After that you'll find a fast run- block out and reduce reflections from
glass, water, and dust. The use of
through of recording tools and audio editing processes. While
polarizing filters is quite complicated
brief, this information should at least prepare you to approach and you are advised to check a thor-
audio with the respect it deserves. ough production manual for more
Once a film has been completed, it’s easy to create a detail on how they work and what
they will do.
wild track, an audiotape recording that provides (and some-
times combines) music, voice, and sound effects. Wild tracks
can be created for both super 8mm and 16mm films. The lia-

FILMMAKING GEAR 331

 bilities of such audio accompaniment is that it cannot be
matched very accurately to the progression of the film.
A more satisfactory system is made possible by the super
8mm sound-on-film technology (Figure 22.7). After an ani-
mated film is shot and edited, the film can be striped with a
thin surface of audio recording tape that is applied directly to
one edge of the film stock. Striped super 8mm raw stock is also
available. An audio track can now be recorded directly on the
film. This is done with a super 8mm sound projector. These
projectors are used both to record the sound on the film and
then to play back the sound with the film images during nor-
mal projection.
Such a system permits the animator to create a fairly well
matched track, for the audio can be recorded and rerecorded
on the completed and striped film until it is “just right.” There-
after, the track will be synced properly with the movie's visuals.
A similar system exists for striping 16mm film, but it has
become so infrequently used that you're advised not to try it.
Sixteen-millimeter film technology permits a more
detailed analysis of audio materials. This is accomplished by
transferring recorded sound from a reel-to-reel or cassette tape
recording to 76mm magnetic recording film, called mag stock.
Various tools permit frame-by-frame sound reading and track
analysis. The most important tool is a motorized film editing
console and/or a gang synchronizer with a soundhead and an
amplifier. These tools permit a very, very precise matching of
frames of picture to corresponding frames in the 16mm sound
track. In fact, most sophisticated films begin with an analysis of
the track. The images are then designed to match the track.
When a 16mm film and a set of 16mm audio tracks are
fully edited and synced, the tracks are mixed to form a master
track. This is then taken to a lab and turned into an optical
master, which is subsequently printed along with the original
film on a single strip of 16mm film. Voila! You have a com-
pleted 16mm optical print, which can be distributed and
screened wherever there is a standard 16mm sound projector.

SOUND RECORDING EQUIPMENT

Cassette Tape Recorders. There are hundreds and hundreds of

cassette recorders. Many come with built-in microphones.

332 ae THe ANIMATION Book

 Some accept “line” input from other recorders or from phono-
graphs and some take auxiliary mikes. A major drawback to
these recorders is that it is almost impossible to do sharp edit-
ing with them.
Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorders. Because of quality and ease
in manual editing, reel-to-reel recorders are generally preferred
for filmmaking. Decent monaural recorders begin at about
$150 and are manufactured by all major audio firms. Synchro-
nous monaural tape recorders made by Nagra and Stellavox
cost at least $3,000. They are not required for animation.
Stereo reel-to-reel recorders can be useful for the amateur and
independent animator. They enable one to record two differ-
ent tracks—one on each channel—and then to “mix” these
down to one track via a “y cable” that transfers the stereo
onto a single track machine or onto the edge of the film itself.
The mixing of 16mm tracks is usually done at a professional
sound studio, which provides more control.
Microphones. You can spend just about anything you
want for a mike. The cheapest is about $15; the most expen-
sive, around $1,000. There are totally different mikes that will
handle different recording jobs. The list includes omnidirec-
tional, cardiloid, and shotguns. There are condenser mikes,
dynamic mikes, and radio mikes. Along with these are mixers
22.5 Viewers: The Zeiss Moviscope is pic-
and amplifiers and filters and all manner of auxiliary attach- tured in (A). A Bolex super 8mm viewer,
ments, and a universe of plugs. with rewinds, is shown in (B).

AUDIO TAPE EDITING

By connecting two audiotape recorders with a patch cord, it is

possible to selectively transfer audio material from one
machine to a fresh roll of audiotape on the second machine. In
this way, a simple editing of sound tracks can be quickly, easily,
and inexpensively accomplished.
A more precise way to edit involves actually splicing the
recording tape. The tape is run forward and backward past the
recording head until the exact point for a cut is selected and
identified. A soft-lead pencil is used to mark the spot. When
cut diagonaily with a razor blade (a grooved metal splicing
block is used to position and hold the tape), the end of one
segment can be spliced together with the start of another seg-
ment. A special audio splicing tape is used. This procedure is

FILMMAKING GEAR 335

 fully explained in numerous source volumes or in the directions
accompanying an audio splicing kit, which can be purchased
for under $20.

OVERVIEW: EDITING AND SPLICING

Editing matters less in animation.

This is so for a number of reasons: animators preplan
their films with greater precision than live-action filmmakers;
there is greater control during the shooting process itself; ani-
mated films are generally shorter than live-action films; cer-
tainly the ratio of shot film to used film is far, far lower in
animation than in any other kind of film production.
Depending, of course, on which technique is being used,
the animator approaches the task of editing with two objec-
tives. First, there is a need to place the exposed sequences into
the proper order—an order that has usually been carefully sto-
ryboarded or scripted in advance of the actual production. Sec-
ond, the animator edits the film so that it conforms to a
prerecorded sound track. This involves a series of fine cuts—
minor alterations in the picture and sound track so that they
run together synchronously. If a wild track is being used, the
editing process is simplified further.
In contrast, the live-action film editor must constantly
make selections between possible “takes” and also determine
the precise flow and order of the edited footage (a 15:1 shoot-
ing ratio is common). In live-action filmmaking there can be up
to three or four different sound tracks that must be interre-
lated and cut to go with the visuals.
The job of editing is generally broken down into a num-
ber of sequential tasks. Each editor will have his or her modifi-
cations to the process—each will handle the choice-making
process in a different way and a different order. For what it's
worth, however, here is my own approach to editing, briefly
22.6 Editing consoles: The Movieola 6- reviewed.
plate “flatbed” is illustrated in (A). A super
Processed footage (the rushes) is screened again and
8mm editing machine is shown in (B), the
MKM model 824. In illustration (C) the sur- again until the filmmaker/editor is certain of what footage is to
face of a Steenbeck 6 plate is shown. The be used and in roughly what order it will appear in the finished
top two plates carry the picture (16mm
movie. No cuts are made in the footage until at least a first
work print) and the bottom two sets of
plates carry two different sound tracks rough-cut version is determined.
(16mm magnetic recording stock). The film is next run through a viewer or an editing con-

334 fieeds ANIMATION BooK

sole while the editor marks the film at the precise frame at
which cuts will be made. The film is then literally cut, with scis-
sors, and hung up in an editing bin or improvised system that
labels each individual strip of film. This is an important stage.
The editor has to be certain that the “head” end of each strip
of film can be identified and that it will be possible to quickly
locate various strips of film in the order they are required for
the rough-cut assemblage. Note that no footage is ever 22.7 Super 8 sound motorized edit-
thrown away. Those pieces that are not included in the final ing bench: The illustration shows, from
left to right, a rewind crank (note long
film are called outtakes and they should be carefully saved.
shaft), a modified cassette tape recorder, a
Using rewinds and a splicer and beginning with a strip of super 8mm viewer with soundhead
white leader, the editor now begins to splice pieces of film mounted directly in front of the viewing
gate, a two-gang synchronizer with a motor
together—the “head” of one piece to the “tail” of the pre-
drive assembly (the rear section), and a for-
ceding piece. Splices in both super 8mm and 16mm formats ward wind crank that carries two up-reels.
are made in either of two ways: a butt-end splice or an over-
lapping cement splice. (Splicing tools are described later in this
chapter.)
The rough cut is spliced to a piece of tail leader and can
now be projected with either an editing console or with a pro-
jector. At this stage the animator generally makes refinements,
which lead to what is called the fine cut. In 16mm film editing
the picture is edited in relationship to the 16mm magnetic
stock that bears the sound track(s). Often, of course, the track
will be cut and rearranged so that it fits the film’s images.
When both sound and picture are set, the completed film can
be previewed by projecting in double system with a special
kind of film projector or by using a motorized editing console.
If all is as the animator wants it, the camera-original film ( a
work print having been used in editing) is conformed to the
fine cut, using a gang synchronizer, a tool that advances indi-
vidual tracks and pictures together. A gang synchronizer can
be equipped with a soundhéad and amplifier. This gives the
editor another stage at which to analyze the film to make cer-
SLD MMOL ARE
tain that the picture and sound are aligned as they should be.
As noted earlier, the synchronizer is used commonly in anima-
wud WIT
tion in order to preanalyze a recorded sound track before the be SHRET Be es

actual filming takes place.

A few paragraphs are not adequate to introduce all the UGCHT Romteb
CREAR LUT)
S4nceoN(26e

stages, techniques, and tools that are used in film editing.

22.8 Synchronizer: A four-gang syn-
Entire volumes have been written on this topic, and you'll need
chronizer is pictured in drawing (A). The
to consult one if you are beginning to learn editing. But to synchronizer’s position on an editing b ench
familiarize you a bit further with the editing and splicing is indicated in drawing (B).

FILMMAKING GEAR 330

 process, and to help you determine what tools you'll need to
borrow, rent, or purchase, here is a catalogue of editing and
splicing equipment.

EDITING EQUIPMENT

Viewers. Available in a wide variety of super 8mm and 16mm

models, viewers are operated by passing the processed film
from left to right through a precision transport mechanism that
ensures smooth film movement without scratching (Figure
22.5). The viewer has a rotating shutter with a reflecting prism
that casts a projected image past polished condenser lenses
and onto a ground-glass viewing screen. The sizes of the view-
ing screens and the intensity of the image vary. Viewers are
used in conjunction with hand-operated rewinds. Prices run
from under $50 for super 8mm viewers, to around $300 for a
16mm Zeiss Moviescope.
Editing Machines. Modern flatbed editing consoles pro-
vide speed, accuracy, and convenience through precision engi-
neering (Figure 22.6). These machines are designed in modular
units with a large-screen viewing surface, variable speed move-
ment in forward and reverse modes, quality soundhead(s),
footage/frame counters, instant start/stop, and other features.
Flatbed machines hold and transport both film and sound in a
horizontal position. The capabilities of such machines are mea-
sured by the number of plates, the loading and take-up posi-
tions that hold cores on which film is reeled. A four-plate
console has one picture head (for the film and usually designed
22.9 Splicers: The Maier-Hancock with a 26-frame advanced optical reader) and one magnetic
portable hot splicer is shown in (A). Bolex’'s soundhead (for the mag stock). There are eight- and even ten-
super 8 Guillotine splicer is shown in (B). A
plate models.
Rivas 16mm tape splicer is shown in (C) and
an inexpensive splicing bar that uses Kodak Rewinds. Sixteen-millimeter rewinds have gears with a
Press-Tapes is shown in (D). There are many cranking ratio of one handle revolution to four reel revolutions.
other brands and styles of cement and tape
They are available with friction drags, long shafts, elbow
splicers for both super 8mm and 16mm
editing. breaks, spacers, tite-winds, and spring clamps. A basic long-
arm rewind costs $50. Super 8mm rewinds cost about the
same. Many super 8mm viewers have attached plastic rewinds
that operate in a one-to-one cranking ratio.
Synchronizers. These essential tools are designed to keep
multiple picture and sound tracks locked in absolute mechani-

336 THE ANIMATION BooK

cal sync. Film and sound sprockets are held by rollers and
hinged pressure arms. These roller arms are often drilled to
mount a magnetic head, which rests gently on the sound film
and is connected by wire to a sound amplitier/speaker called a
squawk box. The rollers are referred to as gangs. Synchronizers
cost in the $200 to $300 range and are available in one- to six-
gang models. All have footage counters. The rollers themselves
mark the frame count (Figure 22.8).
Splicers. Cement splicers are preferred (often required)
for printing 16mm films. The technique of wet splicing involves
scraping off the emulsion from one of the ends being joined.
These ends are then slightly overlapped and fused together by
a cement that is specially designed for the purpose and must
be fresh or else the splices won't properly bond. An inexpen-
sive 16mm cement splicer such as the Griswold HM6 costs
$40; Bolex makes a super 8mm cement splicer at $75.
Hot splicers are the professional standard. They are pre-
cision tools with a carbide scraper and a thermostatically
heated blade, which makes a quick and perfect weld. Cement
is also used. Maier-Hancock Model 8165S will take 16mm and
super 8mm films. Splicers can be rented for a few dollars a day.
In what’s called butt-end splicing, the two ends are cut
on the frame line and then taped together without overlap-
ping. Tape splicers aré preferred in rough editing because they
can easily be taken apart without losing even one frame. A
tape splice can be done far more quickly than any cement
splice. The tape is specially fabricated to withstand the rigors of
projection and handling and to remain pliable and colorless.
Guillotine splicers are tape splicers that have machined
die-set posts that guidethe cutting blade on the frame line.
Guillotine splicers also have a diagonal blade for use in editing
magnetic stock. When two ends are placed end to end a Mylar
splicing tape is stretched across it. With a single stroke of the
guillotine handle, the tape is perforated and cut to conform
with the film. Guillotine model M.2-16mm-2T costs $225. A
professional super 8mm version (Model $1) costs $275. Guillo-
tine also manufactures a plastic model for super 8mm filmmak-
ing. It’s called the Semi-Pro and costs $20. Rivas 16mm tape
splicers perform the same function as Guillotine splicers but
use a perforated splicing tape. The Rivas model is preferred by
some editors; cost is about $200.

FILMMAKING GEAR 337

 One of the simplest tools in filmmaking is a 16mm splic-
EDITING SUPPLIES
Trim bins are used to hold 16mm film ing block. Ediquip’s model, which costs $20, is used with a
that has been cut and awaits splicing. single-edged razor blade and with perforated splicing tape or
Reels come in sizes of 400 feet, 800 precut perforated tabs such as Kodak Press-Tapes. The latter,
feet, and 1,200 feet, and are made of
while expensive, are fast and easy ways to make a good butt-
either steel or plastic, although steel is
recommended. end splice with 16mm or super 8mm gauge.
Plastic cores are used to edit on
flatbed machines. Get a split ree/ for
projection, which will fit around a GENERAL PROJECTION
core, holding the film in place while it
REQUIREMENTS
is being projected.
Film leader for super 8mm and 16mm Film projectors are much alike. They project and rewind movie
formats should be black-and-white. film from metal or plastic reels. Many of them feature auto-
Sixteen millimeter leader comes in sin-
gle or double-perforated forms. The matic threading systems. In 16mm sound projectors there is an
single perfisrecommended. You may excitor lamp and an amplification/speaker system. In super 8
also want to purchase academy leader, sound projectors there is a record/playback magnetic head,
which has that 3-2-1 countdown
plus amplifier, speaker, and input receptacles.
you've seen all your life. Don’t forget
to purchase some clear leader if you An important feature of any projector is the loving care
are going to try drawing onto film— it provides to film. All projectors claim to be safe, but some
see Chapter 2.
aren't—particularly the self-threading mechanism. Beware the
Grease pencils come in white, red, and
auto-shreds. Ask around before you purchase a projector.
yellow and are used for putting marks
onto the celluloid to indicate cut Zoom lenses. These are only occasionally helpful. It’s a
points. feature built into many super 8mm projectors. With 16mm
Sharpie fine-point felt-tip pens are projectors you select a specific lens to provide the width of
permanent markers used to label throw you'll require.
white leader.
Variable projection speed. This is a very, very useful fea-
Editing gloves are worn when cutting
negative and doing Michael Jackson ture for animators. Slower-than-normal speeds allow the study
impressions. of animated movements in detail, as if the film had been shot at
Lupe magnifier is a model with 8X six or seven frames at one time instead of the usual two.
magnification that is useful for eye- Sound. As discussed elsewhere, many of today’s super 8
balling the surface and frames of both
16mm and super 8mm footage.
projectors have the capability to record and play back an audio
Splicing tape is something you can
track that is placed on one edge of the super 8 film. Other pro-
never have enough of. Be sure to get jectors have outlets that allow them to be synced up with
extra roles for whichever splicing sys- external audio recording and playback devices. There are
tem you use.
many, many special features and options and specifications to
consider when purchasing a sound projector. Consult a dealer
or a technical manual for more discussion and guidance.

338 1 enti ANIMATION BooK

FILM STOCKS

Although many, many different film stocks are manufactured

for 16mm and super 8mm filmmaking, only a few of these are
used regularly for animation. This section introduces them to
you. As with everything else in animated filmmaking, there’s
no end to what you can know about the nature and qualities
of different motion picture films—or about the processes of
developing and printing.
Reversal film is developed so that the camera original
22.10 Projectors: The illustrations show
provides a series of positive images that can be projected. All the Kodak S-8 Ektagraphic projector, one of
super 8mm film is reversal stock—what goes through the cam- the best ever made, (A); the Kodak Insta-
era is what comes back from the laboratory, ready to be matic M-100A super 8 projector, (B); the
Bolex SM80 Electronic super 8 sound projec-
screened. In still photography, a familiar example of reversal tor, (C). All the manufacturers of 16mm and
film is the ordinary color slide. The film stock that enters the super 8mm cameras also produce projec-
camera unexposed is the same object that is subsequently tors. Used projectors are a good value.

projected.
Negative film is developed into a negative image in
terms of the object that has been photographed—light areas
appear darkest on the negative film, etc. When developed,
negative film must be printed onto another negative film in
order to create a projectable series of images. Thus, with nega-
tive film the animator always has a “negative”—an unpro-
jectable camera original that has to be reprinted in order to be
seen. (Almost all black-and-white still photography involves use
of negative stocks that are developed and then printed onto
negative papers.)
The overall visual characteristics of reversal films are gen-
erally considered to be better than negative films. Prints can be
made easily from either kind of camera original. In the printing
process, however, negative film yields a greater ability to
change the exposure levels. But it is easier to handle and print
reversal stocks and, on balance, many animators prefer reversal
to negative. ;
There are, of course, color and black-and-white stocks.
The characteristics of emulsion that differentiate films in either
category are classified under these headings:
Contrast refers to the separation of lightness and dark-
ness (called tones) in a film or a print. Adjectives like “soft” and
“hard” or “flat” and “contrasty” are used to describe variations
of contrast. Note that there are special high-contrast stocks that
polarize the image toward the extremes of black and white in

FILMMAKING GEAR 339

 the tonal range. These high-contrast stocks (available in reversal
ART SUPPLIES
Animation bond paper—10"% by 12 or negative 16mm film) are useful to animators in filming white
inches (#12 field size), punched for paper sheets and many bottomlighting techniques.
either Oxberry or Acme pegging: 500
Speed of a film stock refers to the inherent sensitivity of
sheets, $30; 5,000 sheets, about $225.
an emulsion under specified conditions of exposure and devel-
Animation bond paper—10"%, by 25
inches, 250 sheets, $25. opment. Film stocks are constantly being developed that have
Animation bond paper—10'% by 1214 higher speeds—that is, they require less light to achieve a good
inches, unpunched, 500 sheets, $25; image. Such stocks, while very important to live-action film-
5,000 sheets, $250. makers (especially cinema verité documentarists), are relatively
Background paper—2-ply weight, 10'%4 unimportant to animators, who have great control over light-
by 14 inches, white vellum finished,
punched for Oxberry or Acme, 50 cents
ing conditions. A more significant factor for the animator is the
each. sharpness and granularity that is related to film speed. The slow-
Tracing vellum—10'% by 12'% inches, est color emulsions are the sharpest and have the finest grain.
punched for either Oxberry or Acme, Graininess or granularity is a quality of the image’s phys-
100 sheets, $10.
ical/chemical structure. An individual frame of film seen via
Flip-books—white pads, 5 by 7 inches,
projection or through magnification will possess a grainy struc-
50 pages. Less than 50 cents each, the
cost varies with the number purchased. ture. The effect of grain—its perceived value—is largely an
Color-Aid papers—tThese special aesthetic choice. But granularity is directly related to photo-
papers are used because of their graphic sharpness—the ability of an emulsion to record fine
adaptability and quality. Each is silk-
detail distinguishably. Most animators prefer a sharp, highly
screened with flat matte color that
doesn’t bleed. Color-Aid papers come defined, low-grained image.
in 210 coordinated colors (24 basic Exposure index is a scale that provides a number that is
hues with 5 tints and 3 shades each, used with photoelectric meters to help determine the correct
plus 16 grays and black and white).
Single sheets, 18 by 24 inches, 50 cents;
exposure of a particular stock. Index ratings are given in ASA
24 by 36 inches, $1. Color-Aid swatch numbers—that appear on every film container. There are two
book (210 colors), 5 by 7 inches, $15. ratings for each stock—one for use of the film outdoors (day-
Note: Quality colored papers are also
light) and one for use under artificial lights (tungsten). Anima-
manufactured by Color Vu, Pantone,
Tru-Tone, etc. tors prefer a low index number for overall emulsion quality.
Construction paper—inexpensive, Color saturation and spectral sensitivity are terms that
assorted colors, 50-sheet packages; 12 refer to color reproduction characteristics. Different stocks will
by 18 inches and 18 by 24 inches, under
yield slightly different colors—some are “warmer” (emphasize
$5.
the red/yellow end of the spectrum) and some are “cooler”
Day-Glo papers—come in assorted col-
ors and sizes. (blue/green are emphasized). The reason for this is that color
Background color cels—#12 field size, dyes (cyan, magenta, and yellow), which make up the emul-
punched, pastel colors and black; 50, sion, will respond differently to variations of light wavelengths.
$15. Also, different manufacturers of film stocks make different
Background bristol paper—#12 field, judgments as to what constitutes a pure shade of, say, red.
punched; 65 cents each.
Color specification, it turns out, is a highly subjective judg-
ment. And so also are variations of “richness,” of reproduced
colors vis-a-vis the original colors being photographed. This lat-
ter quality is called saturation. Underexposure tends to encour-
age “rich” saturation.

340 oF THE ANIMATION Book

THE MOTION PICTURE LABORATORY
CELS
— Clear acetate animation cels—punched
Listen to your mother: Be nice to people who can help you.
for either Oxberry or Acme, .005 mil.
Don't forget to say thank you. I’m speaking from experience. thick, 10% by 12% inches (for a #12
You never know when you'll need help. Don’t worry but be field); 100 sheets, $30; 500 sheets, $150.
careful. Remember to wear a nice smile. And remember, many Clear acetate animation cels—
a live wire would be a dead end without its connections. unpunched, 101% by 12% inches, 250
sheets, $75; 1,000 sheets, $270. Wider
Believe me. I’m your mother and | know. sheets are also available.
Place the staff of your local film lab at the top of your
Maintain Friendly Relations list. The expertise, cooperation, and
pride of craft of the film lab combines to form a silent partner IMPLEMENTS AND COLORS

for the animator in any creative production. E— Animation paints. Professional cel paints
Although the standard lab services (described below) are specially fabricated for use on acetate
cels, vinyl, foil, glass, illustration board,
ought to be enough to convince you that Mother's advice is watercolor paper, and Color-Aid paper.
sound, it is only when you encounter a real problem—a crisis They can be used with an airbrush, are
—that you'll appreciate the invaluable counsel and irreplace- thinned with water, and will not chip,
crack, or flake. There are approximately
able resources that a first-rate lab provides. Next to close rela-
fifty standard colors plus thirty shades of
tives, you can count on lab people. gray. All these colors are available with
Along with the “normal” services catalogued here, the cel-level compensation.
lab can deal a bit of wizardry that you should know about. The Black cel ink. This ink is opaque, water-
proof, free-flowing, and acetate-
lab can push or flash your raw stock. It can color-correct. It can
adhering; 2 ounces, $3.50; 4 ounces, $6.
blow up, reduce, and otherwise ready a finished film for sale
Inking pens. Traditional inking pens are
and distribution. The lab can repair damaged footage (the composed of a simple hardwood holder
process is called rejuvenation). Labs can help you hide cel and steel pen points. The holders cost
scratches, clean dirty film, and in other ways help your movie $1.50 each and the pen points (medium,
fine, and flexible), 75 cents each. Some
look as good as possible. animators like to use Rapidograph pens
Best of all, the lab’s highly trained and thoroughly pro- that have interchangeable points. Pens,
fessional staff can give you the advice, encouragement, and $20; replacement points, approximately
$13 each.
direct support that comes from years of experience with every
Strip chart. A set of acetate sheets show-
imaginable film production problem. The lab can troubleshoot
ing 44 basic colors, 32 grays, and more
for you, direct you to specialists and specialized services, save than 600 compensating tint colors. A
you time and money and heartache. So, as with a cup of hot strip chart is used in selecting and order-
ing animation cel paints. Price: $30.
chicken soup, equate a good lab with nourishment, friendli-
Opaquing brushes. A crow-quill brush
ness, and survival.
costs under $1. Sable watercolor brushes
with round points are available in 16
sizes and are priced from $4 to $50.
Poster (Tempera) colors. These opaque
SUPER 8MM LAB SERVICES paints come in jars, are fully intermix-
able, and dry to a flat, brilliant surface.
Although super 8mm animators generally tend to deal They can be used with brush, pen, or air-
with a local camera shop for purchasing and processing super brush and are available in boxed assort-
8mm film cartridges, it’s important to know that you can go ments of colors or in individual bottles.

directly to labs that process the film. You just need to find out

FILMMAKING GEAR 341

 what labs there are, what services they provide, and at what
cost.
Here are some of the special services you may want to find
out about:
u Push processing—footage shot under very low lighting
conditions can be specially processed as if it had a higher
ASA setting
u Enlargement—to 16mm format
& Contact printing—to strike a print from the camera original
& Opticals—see list under 16mm services, below
a Sound striping—after an 8mm film has been edited

16MM LAB SERVICES

Filmmakers working in 16mm use their local lab for many dif-
ferent activities and services.

u Forced developing—the same as push processing, but

costs a few extra cents per foot
gu Reduction—if you have 35mm and need to reduce it to
16mm

342 q THe ANIMATION BooK

& Contact printing—to get work prints and, at the very
Miscellaneous Materials
end, release prints
& Storyboard pads. Storyboard layout pads are
Printing of A-and-B rolls—after the animation has been specially designed as “work-up” aids in visu-
edited, the filmmaker carefully cuts the camera original, alizing a sequence or entire movie. Each
which is laid out in a special way so that, in the printing frame (drawn within the format of a televi-
process, the splices are masked and don’t show in the final sion screen) has space beneath it for audio
film. This special layout is called A-and-B rolling. Consult a information (dialogue/music/effects) or for
filmmaking book to see how it is done. Your lab will print script notations. Storyboard layout pads
from the A-and-B roll to get an... come in a variety of different sizes and sets
g Answer print—the movie's first version, which often of frames. Two options: 8- by 18-inch pad
requires reprinting so that color and density of various shots with 4 sections per sheet (75 sheets, $5) and
will all match together. When the film is just right, the lab 19- by 21-inch pad with 12 sections per sheet
will make you one or more... (50 sheets, $10).
Reinforcements. Double-ply bristol rein-
Release prints—if you are doing a number of these, you
forcements are used to strengthen damaged
will want the lab to make you an internegative.
peg holes or to protect heavily used cels,
Opticals—done during the A-and-B roll phase. Some
backgrounds, or papers. These are available
require special work on the optical bench. Costs are
in strips or in self-sticking single peg-hole
charged by the foot. The most common optical effects
reinforcements. The strips cost about a dime.
include cropping (frame line or image repositioning), freeze-
(Specify Oxberry or Acme when you order.)
frame, reverse action, matte wipes, lap dissolve, superimpo-
Peg hole strips. Bristol paper strips (.009
sition, and step printing.
inch thick), 12% by 18 inches, are available
Sound transfer—many labs provide the service of transfer- in Acme and Oxberry punch systems. These
ring audio from cassette, DAT, or quarter-inch format to are taped onto undersized cels, paper, or
16mm magnetic recording stock. background paintings. Also used for chang-
Optical sound master—similarly, labs will take your mixed ing animation, overlays, or backgrounds and
16mm mag stock master—mixed at a recording house— to convert any artwork to standard pegging
and turn it into an optical printing master that is used with registration. Price: 100-peg strips, around $6.
the A-and-B rolls or the internegative to create the final Cotton gloves. White cotton gloves are
16mm films, ready to be played on any projector in the worn in cel animation in order to protect
known universe. cels from the oil of hands. Ink and paint
won't adhere to an oily surface. Price: small
and large sizes, 80 cents a pair, $8 a dozen.
Additional art materials that are often
required for animation include: masking
tape, pushpins, scissors, matte knife, single-
edged razor blades, rubber cement with
applicator and thinner, Wite-out, white
tape, Scotch tape, gaffer’s tape, pencils,
sharpeners, kneaded and pink-Pearl-type
erasers, and grease pencils. Experiment with
other materials, for through them you can
22.11 Six Plate Flat Bed: That's how
discover a new technique well suited to
this Steinbeck 16mm film editing machine is
known in filmmaking parlance. Photo cour- your drawing style.
tesy Nickelodeon.

FILMMAKING GEAR 343

WRITTEN WITH GEORGE ESCOBAR

Whether Your Sofiware is store-bought,

downloaded, or hand-delivered by FedEx, you act quickly when
you get it home. There’s something about opening new com-
puter software that fills you with anticipation, be it floppy
disks, a shiny CD-ROM, or a big file that magically appears on
your computer desktop. A manual accompanies it, which after
a year remains begging to be read. And there’s a registration
card with serial numbers, and sometimes a coupon for soft-
ware add-ons. But you ignore this paraphernalia, staying
focused on the promise of amazing new tools.
Double-click on an unfamiliar yet promising icon, and a
splashy screen heralds the successful launch of the newest
“Great Software.” A new blank page appears with scroll bars
and a neat row of buttons. You're in! A new interface looks at
you. You stare back at it, catching your breath as you hope
that this software is the one. You fantasize about a dazzling
array of graphic gadgets and fresh techniques within its bits
and bytes that will unleash your creative powers. If you've
 BaJoa i
MPODUCEE
SSCRRE- A
Import Multiple... FS
Import Folder... F6
New Title Fo
Movie Capture F10
Batch Capture F11
Movie Analysis F13
Add Folder...
Audio Snap
Ripple Delete
Edit Line Insert F?
Edit Line Overlay FS
Mark In Fi4
Mark Out FIS

23.1 Interface anatomy: Software pro-

already been doing digital animation, you’re eager for potent grams use many standard icons to perform
cures for chronic software “bugs” and a tenfold productivity similar functions: an arrow to point and
click; a pencil for freehand drawing; the let-
increase as you use this new software to become a world-class
ter A or T for entering text; a lasso for
animation factory. If you're just starting out in digital anima- selecting odd-shaped objects; a magnifying
tion, the excitement is even more intense! glass for zooming in or out; a hand to grab
and reposition objects; a paint bucket to
Such is the promise of new computer software. Does it
pour color; a folder to open files; and
deliver? Sometimes. More often than not, the perfect anima- squares or circles to draw basic shapes.
tion software remains just beyond reach and into the next Unique icons are also used for proprietary
release. Sometimes a new version of a familiar application does functions such as manipulating sound waves
or reshaping 3-D objects. Sometimes, as
indeed have new features, but you find you don’t really need with Premiere, words are used to evoke the
or use them after all. So what’s going on? It is a game called commands. Here are some representative
perpetual upgrade, designed to extract the maximum amount toolbars and toolboxes from different,
widely used programs. Together they are
of (your) dollars for a minimal supply of (their) features.
known as GUls, or Graphic User Interfaces.
Courtesy George Escobar.
A. SoundEdit 16 (Audio)
B. Ray Dream Studio (3-D)
THE RULES OF THE GAME C. Director (Interactive/Multimedia)
D. Photoshop (Image Processing)
It’s a fun game. And it’s one that you don’t even want to win E. Ray Dream Studio (3-D)
because the software that collects inside your computer, like F. Director (Interactive/Multimedia)
G. Flash (2-D)
the creativity and expertise that collects inside your brain,
H. After Effects (Compositing)
should be an ever-expanding universe of possibilities. I. Premiere (Video Editing)
But. But. But. As everybody knows, if you are going to J. Painter (Image Making)

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 345

 From this:
play the game, you gotta know the rules. That is what this
2G? Commands 353)
chapter is all about. It takes on the nearly impossible task of
Import Multiple... FS
explaining what every animator needs to know about com-
Import Folder... Fé
New Title Fo
puter software. As you will see, the focus holds tight on infor-
Movie Capture F10
mation that is relevant to animation—and only animation. If
Batch Capture F11
you are looking for a wide orientation to computers in gen-
Movie Analysis F13
eral, you will need to buy one of many good books that talk
Add Folder... about the different platforms and operating systems. If you
Audio Snap are looking for a narrower focus on a particular piece of soft-
.an “inter- Ripple Delete ware, you will need to work your way through the manual
face editor” and tutorials that come with the particular application (or pro-
Edit Line Insert F?
creates a two-
Edit Line Overlay FS gram, or package—the words are used interchangeably) or
column menu
along with a Mark In Fi4 the array of books on the market devoted to each application.
key command Mark Out F15 If you are looking for close comparisons of one program to
now in gray.
another, then you will need to consult one of the excellent
magazines that serve the Windows PC and Macintosh plat-
forms for a bench test that breaks out each and every feature
Import Folder...
New Title FO}
S|
| Delete
and function.
Batch Capture Filly. But if you are an animator who wants to know a little
Movie Analysis F135
Add Folder...
unction: Multiple...
something about the full spectrum of digital software tools,
Audio Snap Title: |Import Multiple... |
you're in the right place. Read on.
Pair
Edit iins
Line inst
Insert F?] ees nd
Reus) e |
Edit Line Overlay F8 Color:
Mark In Fld]. 2
Mark Out

WHAT SOFTWARE IS

What is software, anyway? Regardless of what type of com-

puter you use, for the most part you live and interact with
what's on the screen, and that’s the software. The compo-
nents of software are fairly straightforward. It is the way these
qualities are mixed and served up that determines the soft-
ware’s usefulness and makes one product better than its com-
petitors. If you can acquire a fundamental understanding of
seven essential ingredients, you will have a good foundation
23.2 Custom interface: Some software
applications allow you to easily change or
for understanding what is really central to an application and
edit the tool set or set of commands to suit what is less important—that is, bells and whistles.
your style of working or the needs of a User Interface. There are two ways to look at this. User
particular project. These settings can be
interface is what you see on the computer screen (buttons,
saved and chosen again later, making it
easier to use the software and leaving the text, menus, operational devices, etc.) and how the computer
screen less cluttered. For popular programs requires you to manipulate these things. Once you've learned
like Premiere, settings files others have
the conventions of an interface, the exchange between what
found useful can even be found in the
developer's Web site, user groups, or in you see and how you interact becomes almost automatic. The
how-to books. Courtesy George Escobar. other way to think of a user interface is more poetic: It is the
|

346 } THE ANIMATION Book

dance in which your hands and mind are partnered with a
computer's computational power. Sometimes you lead and
sometimes you follow. The interface is where you hold your
partner. The level of innovation and creativity that comes into
your work is a measure of how well you dance together.
Either way, all software programs operate via an interac-
tion model, which develops as a result of how these on-screen
elements are packaged and organized. Together the user inter-
face and its interaction model enable users to access the soft-
ware’s functionality. Over the past few years, a set of
user-interface conventions has been adopted by numerous
software developers. These include commonly shared icons
that represent tools, actions, and functions. It also includes
standard formats and navigational controls.
Adoption of common conventions has been both good
and bad for users. It is good to have a familiar set of tools that
behave exactly the same way regardless of the software prod-
uct. Imagine the nightmare of having to drive a car if the accel-
erator and brakes functioned differently in each make of auto.
The bad side is that at some point the interface of every soft-
ware behaves in an awful, convoluted way in order to adhere
to convention.
Functionality. Functions (also called features) define the
software's usefulness and provide a checklist of why you might
wish to buy it. The overall feature set and user interface
become the basis for how the software is marketed and to
whom.
One function that has become a favorite among artists,
designers, videographers, and animators is the ability to cus-
tomize the user interface. This personalization of software will
be a growing trend as software engineers provide better and
better methods for “opening up” their software by making the
programs extensible.
Another set of functions common to 23.3 Toon tech specs: This box lists minimum Mac and PC
requirements for using all the software applications discussed in
graphics and multimedia software are file
this chapter. Courtesy George Escobar.
translators. These allow a person working in
one software program to work on artwork MAC PC
or movies created by another software | cpy 603e - 200 MHz Pentium 200 MHz
application. Such translators are ways for | os Mac OS 7 or 8 Windows 95 or NT
different programs to both import and RAM 32 MB 32 MB
2 GB 2 GB
rt different types of file formats that byl QT, QuickDraw 3D QT, QuickDraw 3D
Soper, Miner i Extensions
can then be used somewhere else in the

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 347

 Sb AS LAU

:
ULL ded DULL YYOLS MOVelMprls thd

down the road it is much easier to upgrad

¥¥LALS
creative process and are transparent to users. Do you remem-
gormands and changes in ber the “universal translator” that the characters in Star Trek
and competitive
b> choosing you used to communicate with aliens? It effortlessly translated the
intergalactic languages into English and vice versa. In the world
of computer data, this cool piece of science fiction has indeed
become fact.
An old typographical function that’s becoming more
popular in illustration software is the ability to convert text
shapes into artwork. This is done by “tracing” the outlines of
the text and adding control points that pass through spline
curves so that the converted text can be manipulated as if it
were a piece of drawn artwork. This function has helped to
spread the use of text as a key element in animation, especially
in sophisticated television commercials where word forms and
logos become unique characters, not just labels.
Extensibility. Increasingly, software upgrades in the form
of plug-ins or extensions to the original program are being pro-
duced by both the original manufacturer and third parties. You
B add plug-ins to gain new functionality, therefore extending the
usefulness of the software. Extensible software includes those
23.4 Kai the plug-in king: It’s easy to
applications with built-in facilities allowing other pieces of soft-
see why Kai Krause, the inventor and genius
behind Kai’s PowerTools, has made a signifi- ware code (the plug-ins) to “hook” into the main software
cant mark in the software landscape. His product and usually to show up right inside your program. In
easy-to-use, intuitive, and powerful plug-in
effect, the software adopts the new code and smoothly inte-
tools make it downright fun to manipulate
images. Almost any serious artist and cer- grates it into its own. While it is more difficult for software
tainly every professional one uses Kai’s developers to write extensible software programs, down the
tools. With them, relatively “staid” applica- road it will be much easier to upgrade them so that they are
tions such as Photoshop or Painter are given
power and functionality heretofore responsive to both user demands and changes in hardware,
unimagined by the original developers. By thus making them more productive and competitive over a
using plug-ins, you can keep your applica- longer period of time. Look for this capability when choosing
tions strong and fresh without having to
your software.
upgrade them to the next version. These
are some samples of how images can be Input and Output. Although it may seem obvious, it’s
altered using this software. (A) and (B) give awfully easy to forget the dual ingredients of how you get
the illusion of using a physical lens to mod-
information into a computer (input) and the form in which you
ify an object. (C) curls a page corner to sim-
ulate a page turn. (D) adds a “perspective can get it out (output). During the first days of desktop pub-
plane” to flat services. (E) wraps images into lishing, software engineers only had to worry about input from
a sphere and lets you modify it, and (F) dis- a keyboard and output to a printer. Typically this was in the
torts the image by creating an artistic twirl.
Courtesy George Escobar. form of text from a word processor or charts from a drawing
program. Today there are a myriad of input and output devices
that good software must support, especially for animation. For
input, these include scanners, digital pens and tablets, digital
still and video cameras, infrared remote controls, faxes,

ar
348 THE ANIMATION BooK
modems, and microphones. For output, the printer is still para-
mount, but close behind are VCRs and digital encoders; more
distant are recordable CD-ROMs, film recorders, and DAT
machines. The next chapter discusses these hardware tools.
Cross-platform Support. Learning to use multiple com-
puter platforms (Mac or PC) is hard enough. Imagine how con-
fusing it would be if the same software (Photoshop, for
example) behaved differently for each type of machine it ran
on. Fortunately, sanity has prevailed in the software industry
instead of expediency. Almost all major software applications
made today are cross-platform. Try to stick with these. The
data or files that were created in an application using the Mac
platform will run on the version of the application. created for

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 349

 a the PC platform. Note that the software program itself is not
DP ANM
Electric Iimage™ cross-platform. If you purchase a Windows 95 version, don’t
EPSF v
FITS Astronomical expect it to work on a friend’s Macintosh. For an introductory
FLI,FLC
GIF discussion about the two platforms that comprise the desktop
Or. Halo CUT
IMG animation world and the one platform that is used for
JPEG, JFIF
IFF,LBM,CDI Fee
Oa professional-level tools, see the next chapter.
IFF,LBM
MacPaint Efficiency. For users there is no way to test the efficiency
of software except by actually working it or by reading maga-
OMF™ Interchange
PCR zine reviews. If it feels sluggish or slow (compared to similar
Photoshop™
PICT2 u normal software or its predecessor version) then you know the applica-
Picture Icon & Preview Only with CLUT (PixelPaint)
Pixar Startupscreen
tion is bloated—not lean and mean. If you experience frequent
PNG PICS (animation) =;
crashes, screen freezes, or system errors, then you know the
QuickTime Movie
QuickTime Still
>| PICT Resource software is “buggy.” Sometimes running the software on a
Raw RGB > fast computer (with more CPU horsepower) alleviates the slug-
RLE Compuserve™
SGI gishness of the software, but that’s an expensive cure.
Softimage
SUN Minimum Hardware Requirements. All of today’s anima-
Targa
TIFF G4 Fax tion software has a minimum set of requirements for it to run.
TIFF AY.
VV
Thunderscan You will see these appearing as a list on the outside of the soft-
Wavefront
HWD ware package or listed inside the user’s guide and manual. Be
sure that the desktop computer system you are operating at
23.5 DeBabelizer: If Kai is the king of
plug-ins, then DeBabelizer is the queen of least matches the minimum conditions requested by a particu-
file formats. Like Will Rogers, DeBabelizer lar application. And know that “minimum” does not always
“never met a format it didn’t like.” In fact,
mean it will.run well in everyday, real-world situations.
every format ever invented—whether it’s
arcane (like FITS Astronomical) or wildly pop- Figure 23.3 provides what might be called “’toon tech
ular (like GIF)—is supported by DeBabelizer. specs”—a generic chart of minimum hardware specifications
(A) shows the list of supported formats that
for digital animation. We've checked the current versions of all
comes with the software, and other formats
not included can be purchased as separate the software packages discussed in this chapter and kluged
options. With DeBabelizer you can open a one set of requirements that will fit all the software. Don't
file or a set of files in its native format, despair if the configuration of your hardware setup is less than
change its dimensions, resolution, color,
listed here. Most of the applications will operate on less pow-
palette, and convert it to another file format.
Using its automatic batch-mode setting, (B), erful and less memory-enriched computers. You just have to be
DeBabelizer can take the tedium out of con- more resourceful and more patient.
verting dozens, hundreds, or thousands of
files by allowing you to select a list of images
to convert and process in a batch. (C) shows
the program's toolbar. The only bad news is
DeBabelizer’s horribly confusing user inter- FILE FORMATS
face. Even with the manual, using DeBab-
elizer is more or less a trial-and-error affair. In the early days of personal computing, software developers
Courtesy George Escobar. for the PC and Macintosh sought to gain advantage over their
competitors by using proprietary file formats. In effect, a file
created in one application would not work in another. This is
similar to the Beta-versus-VHS videotape format wars. The hard-
ware vendors also played their part in promoting their favorite

350 Geta ANIMATION Book

 [
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file format. Fortunately this interplatform warfare did not last

long, because users demanded compatibility. Since no one
wanted to concede defeat, the developers decided to “sup-
port” other file formats besides their own. What has emerged
are numerous basic file formats that animators need to care
about. They are PICT, TIFF, GIF, BMP, EPS, JPEG, MoV, M-JPEG,
AVI, and DXF. The first six deal mostly with still images, while
MoV, AVI, and M-JPEG handle digital video, and DXF is for 3-D
models. For audio, the common file formats include AIFF, WAV,
SND, MDI, and AU. Each computer platform has its own pre-
ferred file format, and so do different image and audio editing
programs. Happily, most programs can read different file for-
mats and convert them to the one you need.
New formats continue to emerge, especially for the
Internet. These include HTML, VRML, RA, MPEG, Shockwave,
and QuickTimeVR.
The function of a file format is twofold: first, it is to fully
exploit the capabilities of the application software, allowing
the artwork or digital video to retain its exact form when it is
saved and subsequently reopened, converted for use in
another program, or shared with other users. Second, some
file formats serve to optimize the saved file by reducing its disk
size and allowing it to open more quickly in memory.
Check any software you are considering to make sure it
supports as many standard file formats as possible. As a final
resort, there are dedicated file format programs, such as DeBa-
belizer from Equilibrium, which convert one file format into
another. For most artists and animators DeBabelizer has
become an essential tool because of its flexibility and powerful

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 351

23.6 Color maps: Imagine looking at a
color cartoon using only fifteen colors for its
palette. The cartoon is of an egg about to
hatch in the middle of a farmyard. The egg is
colored white. There is black outlining all of
the artwork. There’s a mother hen, also
white, but with an orange beak and red
crown on her head. The nest uses four
shades of brown as it rests on three shades
of green grass. Behind the scene is a blue sky
with a yellow sun peeking out behind white
and gray clouds.
Now let’s see how the computer looks at
this scene in the raw, without compression.
First, the cartoon’s size is 640 x 480 pixels for
a total of 307,200 individual picture ele-
ments. Because we are using a 4-bit palette
(to support up to 16 colors), we multiply
307,200 x 4 to get 1,228,800 bits of informa-
tion, or 153K, which the computer must features, including batch conversions and a simple method for
manipulate to display this one picture. That's automating frequently used functions (see Figure 23.5).
a hefty load for a very simple picture.
When compression is used, the computer
segments this scene according to color, divid-
ing the scene into a color map (a bit map).
Instead of counting each pixel individually, it MULTIMEDIA/INTERACTIVE
can group them, assigning only a few color MEDIA/NEW MEDIA
bits to describe the blue sky. For example, it
looks at the starting position of the blue The term multimedia was coined in the mid-eighties to refer to
color, then at its ending position. These are
a computer-based world where text, animation, audio, and
called coordinates. Then it simply records
this information: “From here to there, is the video were all colliding in new formations. Of course, this con-
color blue.” It repeats this process for all the vergence of media began way before the 1980s, but the word
other colors and now it has a color map of didn’t catch on with users and the news media until more
the cartoon. It’s similar to making a map of
your neighborhood, recording only the rele-
powerful and affordable personal computers made it easy to
vant information to show the major streets use mixed media. Later, as it became clear that the user was at
and landmarks. So instead of a million bits of the center of these new configurations of visual information,
information, the cartoon is compressed or
this world became known as interactive media. But that name
reduced perhaps tenfold, to only 122,000
bits, or 15K. This simple type of compression implies limits to this burgeoning, interconnected sphere. Hence
is called “run-length encoding.” There are a new title has evolved for the whole shebang: new media.
many other types of compression techniques
Whatever it’s called, the explosion of digital forms has
that use different and more complex mathe-
matical formulas known as algorithms. These made huge demands upon the basic data-crunching power of
algorithms were developed to solve a multi- personal computers. Machines have needed to get faster, as
tude of large-file imaging challenges. Draw- you will see in the next chapter. The momentum of digital
ing by Chris Allard.
forms has also forced all forms of software to squeeze the raw
data tighter and tighter. Hence your introduction to software
must look at compression technology and then at the distribu-
tion formats that allow the animation files one has created to
be easily duplicated and distributed.

352 } THE ANIMATION BooK

COMPRESSION

The large size of digital images—both still and motion—makes

compression a necessity for artists, videographers, and anima-
tors. By using compression technology, the fidelity of the origi-
nal image file can be largely retained while reducing the need
for expensive computer resources required to store and play
back such files. In other words, the goal of compression tech-
nology is to re-create the original image as quickly and eco-
nomically as possible.
Compression algorithms can be characterized as being
either “lossy” or “lossless.” Lossless algorithms preserve all of
the original data and are generally preferred, particularly for
still images. Lossy algorithms do not preserve the data exactly.
Such compression formulas purposely lose some image data,
which can never be recovered after the compression algorithm
is applied. This latter approach attempts to compress the data
as much as possible without decreasing the image quality in a
noticeable way. Because of the nature of persistence of vision
(our eyes tend to smush together individual frames into one
fluid, comprehensible pattern), such lossy algorithms are
acceptable in situations where the data is moving. The
viewer's perception is tricked and doesn’t notice the missing
image data.
Software applications such as Premiere from Adobe (for
video editing) support multiple codecs (compression/decom-
pression algorithms), allowing you to choose the compressor
best suited to your project. Here are some of Premiere’s stan-
dard compression utilities:
Animation. The animation compression scheme keeps
the best sound and image quality possible for a clip. However,
the final file size is large, taking up lots of disk space. Consis-
tent playback of files using this codec is not always guaranteed
on every computer sinceit uses more data. If, however, the
final destination is videotape or the image quality is important,
then use this compressor.
Video. This compressor is designed to play back video
footage at real-time rates if possible. However, the quality suf-
fers if the image has large areas of continuous tone, like most
cel animated films.
Graphics. The graphics compressor is limited to 256 col-
ors and supplies a greater amount of compression than the

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 353

Original size at Enlarged size at Enlarged size at Enlarged size at
low compression low compression medium compression high compression

Image is clear and quite Gets blocky at edges More blockiness Blocky and loss of detail
acceptable

23.7 Codecs at work: It’s a good thing

that compressed images are hard to detect animation codec. Unfortunately, the playback isn’t as fast,
when the image is small or normal-sized, sometimes resulting in skipped frames.
(A). When they are blown up, (B) and (C),
JPEG. This is the international standard for compressing
artifacts such as pixilation and stair-step-
ping (or jaggies) are clearly visible. By the images. It can reduce files greatly, but playback is poor since
time JPEG “high compression,” (D), is it’s designed for stills and not moving images.
applied to this image, which was originally
M-JPEG. To accommodate moving images, JPEG was
scanned at 72 dpi, the resulting picture can
be noticeably blocky and undesirable. Photo modified with a “motion” algorithm, hence the name Motion-
courtesy George Escobar. JPEG or M-JPEG. Many video hardware boards use M-JPEG as
its algorithm engine, but it needs powerful processors to deal
with video. The advantage of M-JPEG is that it facilitates the
editing of individual still images from a set of images that com-
prises a video sequence. It’s also extremely fast and can com-
press and playback video in real time. The disadvantage is that
it uses a relatively large amount of hard disk storage despite its
use of compression.
MPEG. To deal with the disk storage problem of video, a
new standard called MPEG was created. MPEG works by dis-
carding large amounts of redundant data from one image to
another. Only the visual information between key frames are
kept. It takes a lot more processing power to compress video
into the MPEG format, but because the resulting movie file is
so efficient, it can be played back using only software. Since
the human eye cannot detect MPEG’s removal of visual data, it
has become the low-cost standard for the new DVD (digital
videodisks) as well as the new generation of 18-inch digital
satellite dishes.

a54 | THE ANIMATION Book

 Cinepak. This codec is often used for video clips targeted
for CD-ROMs or distributed over the Internet. It provides
smooth motion that plays back on almost any computer. The
image quality is usually acceptable, though not the best. It pro-
vides a high amount of compression to save disk space, hence
the reason it also takes longer to compress a clip.

QUICKTIME

QuickTime is an extension to a computer's operating system,

making it possible to view and edit video, animation, music,
and even text. It was invented by Apple to create an “architec-
ture” for multimedia that includes compression, user-interface,
and file-format standards. This unifying architecture has
enabled multimedia to grow because it provides developers, QuickTime™ MPEG Extension
producers, and audiences with an easy-to-use technology that
is completely cross-platform—it works on PCs and Macs. 23.8 QuickTime parts: QuickTime is a
software add-on or extension to the operat-
Today all computers come equipped with QuickTime ing system that provides powerful multime-
extensions. It is the de facto standard for multimedia and dia capabilities such as recording and
might well be an element in your basic operating system. playback of video. The other parts of Quick-
Time, including the PowerPlug, Musical
Should you find you don’t have a QuickTime program, you can
Instruments, and MPEG are themselves
get one free of charge by downloading it from the Apple Web extensions to augment the initial QuickTime
site (see Chapter 25: Resources). Most graphics programs and component. This ability to plug-and-play
new functionality to QuickTime has made
CD-ROMs will also provide you with a free copy of the latest
QuickTime the industry standard for audio
QuickTime version, which is automatically mounted into your and video. Courtesy George Escobar.
Systems Folder (on a Mac) or Resources (on a PC) when you
launch the new software for the first time.
Technically, QuickTime supports two basic types of files:
pictures and movies, which may also contain audio informa-
tion. Picture files contain still images, and movie files support
multiple images that are linked to time-based data. Within a
movie, QuickTime supports various media files, including
video, sprites, audio, music, text, QuickDraw 3-D, and time
code.
A QuickTime movie can contain any or all of these media
types, putting them into “tracks” so they can be individually
controlled. This is what makes QuickTime invaluable. It keeps
these “tracks” automatically synchronized so that a movie's
images, sounds, and text are played and displayed at the
proper time. Moreover, the QuickTime architecture is flexible
enough to support new media types as they emerge, such as

COMPUTER SOFTWARE B55

 virtual reality (see Chapter 17). With this flexibility, software
|| -Compressor-— . developers can create new custom media components to sup-
| plement the generic ones originally supplied by Apple.

Millions of Colors w |
|
--Quality—
PAINT AND DRAW PROGRAMS

Until fairly recently, artists had to make difficult choices about

what kind of artistic software tool to buy. There were three
separate types of programs with many similar capabilities.
Eventually one would need all three. So for most computer
Animation 33 artists that meant purchasing SuperPaint (paint) and Photo-
Apple Motion JPEG B
Y Cinepak shop (image editing) from Adobe, and FreeHand (draw) from
Component Video Macromedia, which also meant paying triple the money for
Graphics
Motion JPEG A many of the same functions. What makes these programs dis-
None
Photo - JPEG tinct yet similar—and necessary?
Planar RGB A paint program distinguishes itself from a draw pro-
TARGA M-JPEG B
TARGA Video gram because it more closely mimics traditional methods: The
artist takes a brush, puts paint on it, and applies the paint onto
a canvas. If the paint is applied correctly, the artist continues
23.9 QuickTime interface: As an
on. If there is a mistake, the artist scrapes it off or paints over it.
operating system extension, QuickTime pro-
vides additional functionality such as com- Computer paint software operates similarly but adds features
pression (shown above). When using that are delightfully familiar and useful to artists trained in tra-
QuickTime compressors, software develop- ditional graphics materials. For instance, with today’s robust
ers do not need to invent their own inter-
face in order for a user to set, for example,
paint programs, the artist has unlimited ability to undo, a func-
“Compression Settings.” Instead, developers tion that permits the removal of previous steps one at a time.
can use the standard interface provided by Also, because computers are painting with electrons, you can
QuickTime. This way users need to learn
have an unlimited choice of surfaces (canvas or different paper
only one interface method. Courtesy
George Escobar. finishes), and even a choice of artistic brush stroke—from
impressionistic to medieval Gothic—as well as the size, width,
and density of your brush.
A draw program, on the other hand, allows artists to
easily draw straight lines, smooth curves, polygons, and basic
shapes (@.g., squares and circles). These primitives can then be
manipulated using contro! points, without having to erase or
redraw the original image. By using these control points, artists
actually change mathematical equations (or vector coordi-
nates) that make up the image.
For a number of years there was quite a heated argu-
ment about which approach to computer graphics was better:
painting programs or drawing programs. The right answer
depended on your background and on what kind of images

356 q THE ANIMATION BooK

you were making, and for what purpose. While the traditional
applications continue to flourish, the question has been put to
rest by the evolution of programs that combine both draw and
paint approaches.
Foremost among these is Fractal Corporation's program
Painter. It is the only software on the market that can do
seemingly everything with great style and elegance. More-
over, it has room to grow because the basic program is
23.10 Bit maps vs. vectors: The
designed to receive plug-in modules that extend its function- image on the left was hand-drawn, then
ality. For animators, Painter has added value because it sup- scanned into the computer as a “bit map”
image. This means that the original image
ports onion-skinning, drawing tablets, and pressure pens, has
was broken up into thousands of little dots
a rotating disc, and can import, play, and make QuickTime (which become “bits” in computer talk).
movies. Painter uses “natural media” tools that simulate art These bits can be manipulated individually,
tools and materials like pencils, charcoals, watercolors, oil which is sometimes advantageous or down-
right tedious, depending on the objective.
paints, bristly brushes, and over a hundred different paper tex- The image on the right was drawn directly
tures. You can also import digital video frame by frame, allow- on the computer as a set of vectors using
ing you to apply natural-media tools and features to Flash from Macromedia. Vectors consist of
location points on the computer screen.
QuickTime movies. There is also a function called Net Painting,
Each point contains its horizontal and verti-
where multiple artists can log onto a network for a collabora- cal location, which become control points
tive painting session. In fact, art lessons using Painter are avail- for the image. When points are joined or
connected, they create a line between
able on the Internet.
them. This line can be pulled, stretched,
and resized at the control points. Qualita-
tively, you can see that vectors create more
uniform lines, while bit maps can be
IMAGE EDITING PROGRAMS rougher, more fluid. Being able to use both
styles is a boon for artists and animators.
An image editing program is a different breed of software Drawings by Chris Allard and George
from its draw and paint cousins. For starters, it was conceived Escobar.

as an application to work with imported images—mostly

photographs.
The mother of all image editing programs shows this ori-
gin. It’s called Photoshop and has been refined over many
years by the Adobe Corporation.
Photoshop provides familiar digital darkroom techniques
such as enlarging, cropping, dodging, and burning, as well as a
host of new filters and special effects like bursts, waves, rip-
ples, and texture maps. Collectively, these imaging tools facili-
tate modes of artistic expression that are impossible with
traditional media. Photoshop gives the digital artist powerful
new options, such as image layering, to create composite
images that incorporate individual image transparency values,
so the artist is able to combine multiple images and text, then
highlight different layers or parts of those layers.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 357

 Anyone working professionally in computer graphics
knows how vital Photoshop is to the graphics and imaging
industry. Perhaps no other software has such wide support and
praise, and because of its popularity, an almost unlimited num-
ber of plug-ins and extensions are made for it. If you can imag-
ine an image in your head, Photoshop can help you execute it.
Such power comes at a price, however, both monetarily (at
$600) and in its complexity. Don’t expect to become a Photo-
shop guru overnight—it will take months or years!
A tip. While there are many fine draw and paint pro-
grams on the market, including ///ustrator from Adobe, Free-
Hand from Macromedia, Core/Draw from Corel, and Canvas
from Deneba, only Painter from Fractal and Photoshop from
Adobe offer a complete draw, paint, and image editing pack-
age that can support all of the techniques described in this
book. Both of these are mature applications that excel in all
seven essential categories that make for superior software.
There are currently over six dozen books and tutorials available
for using Photoshop and Painter. Before spending hundreds of
dollars buying the software, you might want to get one of
these books to get a close-up, real-world look at their power
and see how closely they match your artistic style and meet
your creative goals.

3-D ANIMATION PROGRAMS

It’s a bit surprising that the first of the affordable animation pro-
grams for the Mac and PC evolved in the domain of 3-D rather
than the world of established 2-D character animation. Yet the
simple truth is that the software pioneers with the greatest
impact in the world of animation were those who created ways
of providing logo fly-throughs within three-dimensional space.
Animation programs soon expanded from there.
Three-D programs are still used primarily for animating
hard objects such as cars, planes, type fonts, and spaceships.
But with the increase of computer processing speed and mem-
ory, 3-D programs are becoming more and more proficient at
3-D character animation. Chapter 16 provides an overview of
the 3-D process. There is also a case study that shows a strong
3-D application called 3D Animation Pro from Martin Hash.

358 } THe ANIMATION BooK

Perhaps not as well known as other 3-D applications, 3D Ani-
mation Pro has a starter version available for $200 and a pro-
fessional version for $600. This softwate was designed from
the ground up to do character animation. It can create space-
ships, robots, furniture, cars, and other “hard” objects. But
what really makes it a great package is that it can help you cre-
ate nifty characters. The biggest drawback of this software is
its poor documentation. But if you are patient and willing to
undergo a steep learning curve, then 3-D Animation Pro is the
most affordable character-based tool available.
Another 3-D program we can recommend is Ray Dream
Studio from Meta Creations, an integrated software package
that includes a Bézier-based spline modeler, a ray tracing ren-
derer, shaders and a shader editor, and an event-based anima-
tion system. You can animate everything in a scene, including
all lights, cameras, shaders, and objects. There are also
deformer tools to twist, bend, stretch, and squash for special
effects. Ray Dream uses a unique interface, utilizing a perspec-
tive window view instead of the more traditional top, left,
right, and 45-degree window views carried over from
computer-aided design (CAD) programs. With a perspective
window you can immediately see the height, depth, and width
of your work. Ray Dream Studio also includes high-end fea-
tures such as inverse kinematics to ensure accurate and realistic
motion when you create animations.
For low-end to midrange PC and Macintosh computers,
there are over a dozen major developers of 3-D programs,
including Extreme 3D from Macromedia, StudioPro from
Strata, /nfini-D from Meta Creations, and CorelDraw from
Corel. These programs are feature-rich, providing many control
points, lighting effects, and special effects previously available
only from high-end programs. The drawbacks of these pro-
grams are that none of them is very easy to use and they take
a long time to master. Nevertheless, they are fertile training
grounds before making the leap to the higher-end 3-D pro-
grams, costing between $2,000 and $7,000, from companies
such as Kinetix, Electric Image, New Tek, and Microsoft Softlm-
age. Forms-Z from Autodessys is also very important in this list,
especially since it is the only “solids” modeler on a PC—which
in the future will be the way all 3-D modeling will be done.
Those working at the highest end of PC modeling/animation

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 359

23.11 High-end digital animation systems

TIC-TAC-TOON For SGI and Windows NT on DEC SOFTIMAGE TOONZ For SGI and Windows NT
Toon Boom $25,000 per seat Microsoft $13,000
Technologies $2500-$7500 for modules 818-365-1359
818-954-8666
Xsheet: Emulates look and feel of traditional exposure
Preproduction: Includes exposure sheet, storyboard, and
sheets, plus real-time previews and full-color display.
automatic lip assignment. This module links and registers
Unlimited number of Xsheet levels; infinite number of
all parts of the production.
pegs. Includes special effects like transparency, backlight,
Scanning: A single automatic process that scans, cleans,
motion blur, glows, shades to modify your artwork.
aligns, and vectorizes drawings in only 35 seconds per
Scan and Cleanup: Scan drawings then filter them for
image.
cleanup.
Animation: A virtual animation disk for design, sheet tim-
Palette Edit: Create, edit, and save color palettes for color
ing, layout, animation, effects, cleanup, and in-between-
modeling and markup.
ing.
Ink and Paint: Create color drawings that conform to spec-
Backgrounds and Effects: Complex backgrounds and
ified colors.
effects can be created using a brush editor.
Batches: Run processes such as compositing in the back-
Paint: Resolution-independent image painting with auto-
ground.
gap closing, color styling, inking, painting, and checking.
Other Features: Camera Stand feature to enlarge, reduce,
Virtual Editor: Capability for compositing, special effects,
and rotate image, or create complex movements. Pencil
and rough cut.
Test feature to view animation quickly, with onion-skin-
System Management: Integrated database for artwork
ning, just like a flip-book. Audio feature to load sound
management, routing, archiving, reports, import/export,
and synchronize it with animation.
and file conversion.

are probably using Forms-Z or Lightwave to model, and Electric

Image to animate.
For high-end workstations, namely those from Silicon
Graphics Inc. (SGi), there is a plethora of very powerful, sophis-
ticated, 3-D animation packages that generally cost $10,000
and above. The development of this category of software was
driven by the entertainment industry, led by the top special-
effects powerhouses: Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), Pixar,
Pacific Data Images, Digital Domain, Robert Greenberg & Asso-
ciates (RGA), and others.
High-end 3-D programs require top-of-the-line hard-
ware in order to make their expense worthwhile. What you're
paying for is speed, finer controls, more elaborate (and there-
fore more complicated) features, and special effects. For exam-
ple, features such as footstop-driven key-frame animation,
motion mapping, and advanced inverse kinematics from
Kinetix's 3-D Studio Max make animating two-legged charac-
ters almost automatic. High-end programs also offer develop-
ment kit options that allow you to modify or add custom
functionality to the software (if you know C programming).
The problem with high-end equipment (besides cost) is its
complexity. It takes as much computer programming knowl-

-\
360 THe ANIMATION BooK
AXA TEAM 2D For Windows 3.1 THE ANIMATION STAND _ For Mac, Windows NT, and SGI
AXA Corporation $1,495 Personal Edition Linker Systems $5,000 Mac/NT
714-560-8800 $2,995 Professional Edition 714-522-6985 $9,000 SGI
Pencil Test: Incorporates editable exposure sheet for real- Ink and Paint $1,495 Mac/NT; $3,000 SGI
time playback with synchronized audio. Also includes auto Pencil Test $1,495 Mac/NT; SGI (N/A)
antialiasing, 100 levels of animation plus shadows and ScanLink $995 Mac/NT; SGI (included)
highlights. Preview multiple scenes with sound and cam- Art-Director $400 Mac/NT; SGI (included)
era moves (using optional Camera fx module). Includes
ScanLink: Supports batch or manual scanning, cleans up
Capture Module to input drawings using a scanner or
cels, fixes lines, aligns, builds exposure sheet.
video camera. Capture automatically cleans up and posi-
Animation: Includes exposure sheet, sound synchroniza-
tions drawing into the exposure sheet.
tion, field controls, transitions, multiplane camera con-
Ink and Paint: Uses color models for painting and auto
trols, motion paths, pencil test, frame-accurate output,
repainting and re-inking. Also has specialized tools to cre-
antialiasing, automatic drop shadows, also output and
ate automatic shadows, backlighting, and highlights, with
device controls with SMPTE, including real-time output.
soft edges.
Sound: Display waveforms, beat marking, squash/stretch
Camera fx: Modeled after an Oxberry and includes multi-
sound, frequency shift, also supports multiple concurrent
plane capability, including rack-focus. Up to 100 peg bars
sound tracks.
can be panned, zoomed, and blurred independently, plus
Ink and Paint: Complete drawing and painting tools—up
truck in or out while blurring images and rotating the vir-
to 64 bits of color, controls for lighting, color, airbrush
tual camera.
patterns; NTSC legal colors, CMYK separations, paint with
Options: AutoScan for using automatic scan feeder;
textures, and 32-bit masking.
AutoRecord to record composited scenes directly to an
Optical and Special Effects: Unlimited effects in one pass,
output device; AutoMatte for generating tone mattes;
multiple exposures, mattes, transparencies, rack focus,
Telecine to convert animation drawn at 24 fps into 30 fps
gels, glow, backlight, and support for bluescreen/green-
for NTSC. All included in Professional Edition.
screen.
Art Director: Generates markup sheets from colored cels,
automatically updates color names.
Programming: Although not required to use The Anima-
tion Stand, there is a built-in programming language so
you can build your own custom paint tools or create pro-
prietary special effects.

edge as artistic acumen to really take advantage of the soft-

ware. Within many shops that use high-end programs, an
artist/animator is typically matched with an engineer/operator
to perform really tough maneuvers.
The good news is that the processing power of PC com-
puters and that of high-end workstations are converging,
which may take us into a new golden age of computer anima-
tion software. The first sign of this new age comes from
Microsoft, which acquired Softimage in late 1994. Within a
year, Microsoft released desktop versions of Softlmage’s core
products for the PC, dropping their cost from $25,000 to
$15,000 at launch, then later down to $7,000 and soon to less
than $1,000. Other 3-D animation companies have had to
react to Microsoft and now many offer products for the PC at
substantial savings from their SGI workstation siblings.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 361

 2-D ANIMATION
PROGRAMS

For the longest time it seemed that software

developers were approaching the design of
animation tools without talking with any tra-
ditional character animators.
Early programs worked off a concep-
tual model in which “stacks of cards” repre-
sented individual actions and became stacks
of frames. HyperCard from Apple was and is
an example of this. Early programs developed
facility in prescribing pathways for rigid
images but didn’t accommodate the stretch-
and-squash world of cartoons. HyperCard-
based tools (including parallel capabilities in
23.12 Digital ink and paint: Although
these four black-and-white images don’t do Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere) allowed for “onion-
justice to the subtlety of their full color ver- skinning” that would show one, two, or even three previous
sions, you can get a sense here of how the
image layers, yet there was no on-screen way to select two dif-
new digital coloring can bring form and
roundness to cartoon characters. Using a ferent key frames and then extrapolate the in-between draw-
higher-end animation package called U.S. ing. Also, for a long time there was no 2-D tool that mimicked
Animation by Toon Boom Technologies, the animator’s light table and provided the simple yet elegant
animation director John Hays and his col-
leagues at Wild Brain in San Francisco ren-
control of selecting two completed drawings and then refer-
dered corresponding eye frames for a ring to both while making a third, new drawing.
coyote (A), a cat (B), a buzzard (C), anda Even after almost a decade of multimedia, software spe-
dog (D). Note the highlights and shadows.
cially conceived and designed for two-dimensional desktop
With digital ink and paint, the “lines” of a
drawing can be given any color once the animation is still at an immature state.
drawing has been scanned into the com- Fortunately, a new day is dawning, thanks to some innov-
puter. With care and patience, the same
ative companies. One such company is FutureWave, which
quality of coloring can be achieved using
Photoshop or a graphics program like developed Splash, a $200 program designed for animators by a
Painter. These images are from a project team that included an animator. It was the first vector-based ani-
in development by Kit Laybourne with mation software designed especially for distributing animations
Nickelodeon.
on the Internet. It also has interactivity built in so that clicking on
the animation triggers other events or animated segments.
Perhaps what makes Splash most special is its interface. It
takes familiar tools found in paint and draw programs and
makes them better by adding animation elements such as filling
a specified area with paint, even if there are gaps in the outer
lines of the drawing. It also includes an intuitive timeline for
making scenes and sequences of key-frame animation. The
“onion-skinning” tool in Splash makes the task of drawing mul-
tiple images much easier. On top of that, Splash can automati-

si THE ANIMATION BooK

cally render any graphic or text on the fly as an
antialiased image, instead of waiting until the
very end. Antialiasing gets rid of the jaggies,
letting you see your work with crisp edges and
no banding, as it would appear on television.
Splash quickly proved itself to be so powerful
and innovative that multimedia powerhouse
Macromedia purchased the company and its
product and renamed it Flash. To learn more
about this program, see the case study in Fig-
ure 23.13.

HIGH-END INK AND PAINT

PROGRAMS

At the high end, 2-D animation programs are evolving rapidly

and offer automatic mouth assignments and lip-syncing, data-
base management tools, and auto pin registration of scanned
art. The companies that are developing such 2-D animation
applications are specialized and much smaller than their 3-D
counterparts. Enterprises like Toon Boom Technologies and
Linker Systems are not as well known to the PC industry, but
they are setting the pace for developing artistically friendly
interfaces with professional products such as Tic-Tac-Toon and
Animation Stand, respectively, each selling for around $4,000
per copy.

VIDEO EDITING

Desktop video had been a long time in coming. For many

years the software tools were so expensive and hard to use
that most consumers steered clear of the process of editing
digitized videotapes. This was in contrast to the world of desk-
top publishing, which was immediately embraced by enter-
prising writers and by the publishing and print design
industries. Until recently, only motion graphics professionals
and semipro videophiles had the bucks and the stamina to
pursue desktop video.
All of that has changed with the introduction of powerful
200 MHz Pentium and PowerPC processors running on PC or
Macintosh consumer models (see the next chapter on computer

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 363

 »Y 2523.13 CASE STUDY: Using Macromedia’s Flash

Pilgrim’s Progress is an animated musical feature film

based on John Bunyan’s classic allegory, published in
1678, about a man who becomes converted to Chris-
tianity and leaves his home to seek the Celestial King-
dom. The screen adaptation was written and is being
produced by George Escobar from his home-based ani-
mation studio in Encino, California. During the design phase of Pilgrim’s Progress, George has taken hand-
drawn sketches and turned them into vector-based drawings using Macromedia's Flash software. Later during
production, he will convert computer-generated 3-D characters to look like cel-animation using Ray Dream Stu-
dio or a similar software. Finally, he will composite the characters into multilayered backgrounds using Adobe
After Effects.
As George Escobar describes the design of Pilgrim’s Progress, take note of how Flash—a software tool made
primarily for the Internet—can be successfully adapted for feature animation production.

Writing and Music

In feature animation you have ninety pages or minutes to tell
your story. Yet typical of most adaptations, the source material
is usually two or three times more voluminous. Bunyan’s classic
is no exception.
As an allegory, Bunyan’s original text is filled with dozens
and dozens of characters whose names, dialogue, and actions
represented a particular archetype, fact, or belief. The first
writing challenge was to select and recombine characters to
less than a dozen key players. The next was to capture the Apollyon, earlyversion Final Young Ignorance
essence of their two- to six-page discourses with five to ten
lines of dialogue.
| decided early on that Pilgrim’s Progress would make a great musical because the ideas
expressed by the characters are so emotional and spiritual—key ingredients for powerful songs.
Another reason is that Pi/grim’s Progress is quite a “preachy” story. | realized that music and song
would allow me to exploit the emotional arc of our central character, a woodcutter named Chris-
tian. | gave my song and lyric ideas to
Leslie Burkart, a songwriter who has writ-
ten over 400 songs. In less than three
weeks she gave me back eight songs with
Broadway-quality melodies. With real
songs in the script, | could now begin the
visual design of the movie.

Design and Character Development

To find my artist for character design and
storyboarding, | used the Internet, logging
onto the Animation World Network Web
site at http:/www.awn.com. Using the
site’s Career Connection area, | selected
half a dozen artists to interview by phone. Five were nearby in Gg
southern California, but the one | hired, Chris Allard, was in

sortfk
364 THE ANIMATION Book
 Massachusetts. Despite the cross-country distance,
| chose him because of his “can-do” attitude. Chris
immediately read the script and within a week
sent two dozen character sketches, (A).
©@ Don't Close Gaps
We spent the next four weeks, via fax, phone,
© Close Small Gaps and America Online, reworking and refining the
@ Close Medium Gaps characters—the toughest one was our dragonlike
“ & Close Large Gaps character, Apollyon, because he is described as
having the head of a lion, claws of a bear, wings
like a bat, and fire and darts coming out of his
belly. Our easiest one was Young Ignorance. We
just filled him with haughtiness, (B).
In reworking these characters, | began using Macromedia’s Flash, not because of its auto-trace tool, which is indeed
powerful, but because of its line-drawing tools, (C).
Creating vector-based versions of our hand-drawn sketches was easy because of the program's “smoothing func-
tion” and excellent control points. The reason for converting drawings to vectors is that it gives you great flexibility in
resizing the images without any loss in resolution or detail, (D). Because vectors are mathematical formulas, rather than
pixels, there are no “jaggies” even when the image is enlarged by 800 percent.
Flash also makes inking and painting much easier, because it lets you paint within the lines even if the lines have
gaps, where in other standard paint programs, the paint “leaks” into unwanted areas. In (E), the large gaps in the face
are filled in, stopping just short of the character's left eye even though it has a small gap. In other paint programs, this
small gap would result in the eye being “painted” as well.
Another advantage of working with Flash is the ability to send your
drawings and animations efficiently over the Internet. Your animation
will play back on any computer, exactly as you designed it.

Layouts and Animatic

Flash is ideal for laying out the movement of characters within one or
more backgrounds—especially during the design phase. Because Flash
has multilayering capabilities, we could easily break up the elements of
our backgrounds—for example, separating the trees in the scene so that
trees farther back could move more slowly than foreground trees when
panning across the scene. We can also have the character walk behind
the tree. Doing these simple layout tests using traditional animation
tools would have been prohibitively expensive during the design phase.
By using Flash we have been able to get the rough timing we needed to
start budgeting the screen time for each major sequence. It also helps
for creating the breakdown list of the elements we will later use for
final compositing in Adobe After Effects, (F).
While nearly 1,500 panels for the storyboard were being completed,
the dialogue and songs were recorded. | used Adobe Premiere to com-
bine sound and picture elements, yielding a ninety-minute animatic,
complete with camera movements and simple effects such as fades and
dissolves. As the production proceeds, these storyboard panels in their
animatic form will be replaced with pencil tests, which themselves finally become replaced with color animation. The
only thing left to do now is get the $4.8 million needed to complete the project!

Credits: Producer and Screenwriter: George Escobar Music and Songs: Leslie Burkart Music Arrangement and Orchestration: Jonathan
Neal Storyboard Artist: Chris Allard Character Design: Chris Allard and George Escobar Voice Consultant: Pat Fraley Sound Production
Consultant: Michael May

BP,

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 365

 hardware). Moreover, the cost of full-motion video cards has
plummeted from $3,500 down to $500. The good news for ani-
mators is that video editing applications are
now at broadcast-quality, professional levels,
but priced for regular consumers.
Corel’s Lumiere for Windows 95 and
Windows NT is a powerful editing tool with
motion controls, allowing a video clip to fol-
low a prescribed path. Lumiere can also
scale, rotate, and distort the clip. It has over
sixty transition effects and sixty video filters
for creating special effects and transparency
controls for superimposing images (in
effect, compositing). The cost? Amazingly,
only $69.
The industry mainstay, however, is
Premiere from Adobe, available for the PC
23.14 Digital compositing: When
images become digital, they can be “recom- and Macintosh. It comes in two versions: Premiere LE, which is
posed” or “composited” in endless ways. less than $99 and is often available for free as part of a bundle
Photographic stills can be combined with with a video card; and the full version of Premiere, which usu-
cartoon drawings. Those can be combined
with live-action footage. To give you a sam- ally retails for $499 and is more suited for broadcast applica-
ple of what's possible, here is a frame, (A), tions, plus an incredible array of plug-ins and filters to extend
in which two coyotes are circling a feast of its functionality, like camera 3-D controls, lens distortion,
carrion. Five elements are composited in
strobe, and mosaic filters. The advantage with Premiere is that
this one image. There is the shot of a dead
tree, (B). Note that some of the limbs were it's based on QuickTime, making its movies transportable
eliminated as well as the background. The across computer platforms and applications, and able to play
mesa background, (C), replaces the shrub-
over the Internet.
bery background. The cartoon coyotes (D)
and (E), were resized as they got placed into For animators, it’s important to realize that video editing
the image. Finally the carrion, (F), appears software like Premiere provides a great tool for creating story-
as a foreground element. By placing all boards and animatics.
these elements on different layers in After
Effects and then “panning” the layers at
different speeds (less in the rear, more
toward the front), the animators were able
to achieve the illusion of movement with COMPOSITING
the scene traveling past the viewer's eye.
The effects achieved here with simple com- After Effects from Adobe is perhaps the only software from the
puter software are much like those of the multimedia world to emerge as a powerful tool yet retain an
Multiplane camera devised by Disney almost
elegant user interface. After Effects’ primary specialty is
fifty years ago. And it would be a simple
step to add true live-action footage—say, a motion-based effects that involve multiple image layers: mov-
time-lapse sky above the mesa landscape ing text, images, and video clips superimposed over full-screen
and stalks of grass in the foreground, being
video or patterned backgrounds. For animators, After Effects is
blown by a western wind. This deconstruct
designed by Wild Brain, Inc. Courtesy Kit great for cutout animation and title sequences or for assem-
Laybourne and Nickelodeon. bling mixed-media animation, including 2-D and 3-D images.

366 rr ANIMATION BooK

 There are a number of case studies in Part Il: Techniques that
cite the use of After Effects.
The basic operating style of After Effects involves using
two main windows: the composition window and a time lay-
out window. The composition window is a large pasteboard on
which you can layer and position assets such as video clips,
text, and still images. The time layout window lets you control
the position and characteristics of assets as they change over
time. All together, this set of assets and their associated
motion and effects settings is called a composition.
A significant feature of After Effects is that it treats time
and motion as two distinct attributes. This enables you to spec-
ify an asset's motion path independently of its speed along the
path. Another advantage is the unlimited number of layers of
movies and stills that can be composited. Additionally, a pro-
ject can have numerous composition windows where you can
nest one composition within another to simplify working with
complex projects or to reuse parts of a project.
Another significant strength of After Effects is its ability
to apply up to thirty-two effects to a single layer. The effects
settings window lets you control the settings of each effect
and the order in which to apply them. As for masking, After
Effects replaces polygon masks such as oval, rectangle, and
polygon shapes with Bézier masks. Béziers provide Illustrator-
like control points that enable you to create precise masks on
any shape.
The only weakness that After Effects has is its audio sup-
port. You can vary the volume of an audio track over time, but
there are no audio effects or sophisticated processing options.
Audio is still best handled’by dedicated sound editors or plug-
ins such as those from Waves.
After Effects comes in two versions, costing about $650
through mail order for the base version and $1,900 for the
production bundle from Adobe VARs, or value-added
resellers, who tend to offer turnkey systems along with very
specific and often very high-performance add-on hardware,
training, and support. The production bundle includes addi-
tional effects and functions via plug-ins that appeal to video
professionals. These plug-ins include a set of key-frame assis-
tants, so you can draw complex motion paths in real time and
calculate motion paths using a built-in scripting language.
Another plug-in is a motion stabilize command that removes

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 367

 handheld-camera jitter, while a motion tracker command lets
H Beginners. Audioshop from Opcode is a
you synchronize the location of one element with an exact
$150 product for two-track (left and
right) recording. Audioshop’s interface point on another element.
looks similar to the audio CD-player utili- The more expensive production bundle also includes sig-
ties that come with most CD-ROM drives.
nificant enhancements to After Effects’ keying features, nine
But unlike those utilities, Audioshop lets
you convert audio CD tracks into digital additional distortion filters, and plug-ins for controlling high-
audio files. Audioshop can also record end digital disk recorders from Abekas and Accom. However, it
audio from a source connected to the is not necessary to have this production bundle to produce out-
computer’s sound-input jack. For a low-
end product, Audioshop provides strong standing results. The base version of After Effects can sustain
editing features. It has a waveform win- almost every creative ambition of novices and professionals,
dow for selecting, deleting, and re- but you can upgrade the base version to the production bundle
arranging clips of a recording; a tool
for an additional thousand dollars at any time.
palette for applying a variety of special
effects, and a mixer command for com- With After Effects, an animator on a Macintosh or a PC
bining two recordings and controlling can add world-class, broadcast-standard animated effects
their relative volumes.
without compromise. The only requirements are talent and
Hf Semiprofessional. SoundEdit 16 plus Deck
output to a single-frame video or digital recorder to record
Il from Macromedia is a powerful two-
program combination package for $400. your animation sequences.
The two programs let you create audio
for nearly everything—from multimedia
to music to the Internet. Like Audioshop,
SoundEdit 16 has built-in effects and a SOUND EDITING AND MIXING
basic mixing function that lets you com-
bine tracks. However, SoundEdit 16 isn’t Sound editing programs for Macs are superior to those found
limited to just two tracks; you can create
on PCs. This is because the Macintosh, from the ground up,
as many tracks as your disk space and
memory allow. It also can import tracks was designed with built-in sound support, microphone, and
from audio compact discs, converting speakers, so it doesn’t need additional sound cards. On the
them to any audio file format and/or
other hand, there are many more sound editing products on
compressing them to reduce disk space
and memory requirements. the PC, most of which support the Sound Blaster standard.
While SoundEdit 16 supports numer- Regardless of platform, if you are an animator wanting to add
ous tracks, its mixing and recording fea-
sound to your film or animation, there is a choice of software-
tures can be cumbersome.
based audio products for you to consider.
i Professional. This is where Deck // comes
in. It currently supports up to thirty-two Investing in high-end audio hardware is no longer neces-
tracks of real-time audio effects. It also sary to achieve professional results. Today's digital audio soft-
has an array of nondestructive editing ware products can record and play back near-CD-quality
tools, with which you can manipulate
original audio files without permanently
material that sounds great and provides editing precision and
altering them. Unlike SoundEdit 16, Deck mixing flexibility that analog systems can’t match. Since it’s
Il has a scrub feature, letting you use a done with software, rearranging sections of a recording or
mouse to play a recording forward and
mixing tracks is as easy as cutting and pasting audio files, with
backward over a waveform to find an
exact point, like the start of a sentence. no degradation of quality.
This is essential for editing voice sound- There are currently hundreds of audio software products,
tracks. Deck II also has strong support for
ranging from $10 shareware to $10,000 developer bundles.
MIDI as well as time codes for film and
video. Described in the margin are three products available for those
with a tight budget.

368 | THE ANnimaTIon Book

 23.15 THE SOFTWARE SHRINK

Type of Low End , Midrange High End

Software Tool $300 or less $300-$600 $1,000 or more
Integrated packages such as Macromedia’s FreeHand and Can add plug-ins to the
Microsoft Works or Claris Adobe Illustrator are the main- base price of Photoshop,
Works provide both drawin stays in this category, although FreeHand, QuarkExpress,
and painting tools that can be Deneba’s Canvas and CorelDraw and Illustrator.
exported later to more expen- both provide more functionality
sive programs. for the money, including painting.
Numerous shareware pro- Fractal Painter practically owns the Parallex Matador is used in
grams. natural painting category. There matte paintings for films
are numerous midrange general such as Speed. It specializes
purpose 2-D painting programs. in wire removals and other
retouching effects.
Image Editing Macromedia’s Xres, when Adobe Photoshop edges out Photoshop is available in a
included in a bundle, is a good LivePicture, Xres, and Fractal Unix version for SGI's. It
deal for the artist. Similar to Painter. Photoshop has the widest has the same functionality
LivePicture. Xres uses fractals selection of plug-ins and by far has as its PC cousins, but runs
to create “proxy” images of the largest number of users. A new much faster for twice the
the original. This permits faster entrant, Illuminaire Paint, is cost. On the extreme high
performance. designed for video end is Kodak’s Cineon used
broadcast—quality work. in special effects.
KPT Byce 2 is a powerful, spe- There is a slugfest for 3-D domi- For the PC, the high end
cialized tool for creating realis- nance in this area. Ray Dream Stu- means using Lightwave 3D
tic, as well as surrealistic, dio is the overall best choice or 3D Studio Max. For
landscapes, and backgrounds. because of features and its $399 SGI's, the trio of Softimage
The best in its class, it has no price. The others, including 3D, Alias PowerAnimator,
competition. Fractal Poser is Extreme 3D, Infini-D, and Strata and Wavefront Explore are
also a specialized program for StudioPro are equally as powerful competitors. It takes a lot
creating the human form. Both but more expensive. For character of skill and horsepower to
are designed to work with animation there is only one pack- use these incredible tools
other 3-D packages. age—Hash’s 3D Animation Pro. that have become film and
esindustry standard tool
its.
Macromedia Flash, Simple- ToonBoom, Animo, and
toon, and PaceWorks Dancer Animation Stand are the
are 2-D animation tools best known commercial
designed for the internet. They production-quality anima-
can also be used for standard tion systems available. Stu-
animation since they can out- dios like Disney and Pixar
put QuickTime movies. have invented their own
proprietary systems.
Video Editing and Streta VideoShop, formerly Adobe After Effects and Premiere AVID and Media 100 Pro-
Compositing from Avid, is an easy to use are the industry standards. (New prietary video and com-
video editor that has suffered entrants such as Illuminaire are try- positing a Baes Essentially
market share against Premiere. ing to break in but After Effects is you buy the hardware and
It’s a solid product and now so strong and compelling that it it includes the software.
quite inexpensive. Corel’s continues to dominate. Premiere, The exceptions are SGI
Lumiere is also a good buy. It however, is vulnerable to Macro- workstations. You still have
has motion controls, trans- media’s Key Grip video editor, cre- to buy Flint, Flame, or
parency, and a title window. ated by Premiere’s original Wavefront Composer soft-
programmer, Randy Ubillos. It ware to edit or compose.
should be a Premiere-killer.)
Sound Editing SoundForge is the standard for The combination of SoundEdit 16 Avid’s Digidesign product
PC Windows. It has a plug-in and Deck II make this offering line occupies the high end
architecture, making it from Macromedia an unbeatable for sound editing.
a dabiend flexible and power- combination. Together they gener-
ul. ate professional work.
Multimedia SuperCard, Toolbook, and Macromedia Director reigns
HyperCard remain extremely supreme in this category. More
powerful multimedia author- titles are created with Director,
ing tools. If you don’t need a hence more plug-ins. Lingo code
time line interface for your and authoring engineers are avail-
project, any of these three able. A good second choice is
tools will be good. mFactory from mTropolis.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 369

 (SE ST) 23.16 CASE STUDY: Finding Heart® S70
Since the late 1980s, Derek Lamb and Kai Pindal have been making animated
films for the poorest kids on earth. (A) and (B) show preliminary sketches for
Karate Kids, AIDS, a twenty-minute adven-
ture cartoon to teach children about AIDS.
(C) shows two of the characters on a cel
and (D) has two character sketches drawn
from life. The photograph, (E), shows
Derek with kids who live at the city dump
in Guatemala. (F) is a storyboard sketch
from Goldtooth, a film about prostitution.
The series also includes a twenty-minute
film about drugs, The Big Fire. All three
films are available from Street Kids International, 398 Adelaide Street West,
Suite 1000, Toronto, Canada, M5V 1S7; Ph: 416-504-8954: Fax: 416-504-
8977; or check them out on the Internet at: www.streetkids.org. Take a
moment to read Derek’s own account of how he has approached the chal-
lenge of making movies that really matter.

When Peter Dalglish, founder of Street Kids International, Toronto, asked me in

1989 to help him create films for
the hundred million or more homeless children around the world, kids who live hand to mouth, marginalized, vulnera-
ble to every kind of danger and abuse the world can offer, | was apprehensive. These were to be films that would talk
to kids about AIDS, drugs, pedophilia, behavior of all kinds — not a world | knew about. But | supposed Peter had con-
fidence in my so-called abilities to write stories that communicate to kids, and he understood the universal appeal of
animation. Within forty-eight hours, my animation partner, Kai Pindal, and | were on our way with him to Central and
South America.
| needed to ask myself some questions:

e Who is the audience?

¢ How do street children live day to day?
e How do | start to think in their terms, be in their shoes,
and be honest to their experiences?

| believe these questions are key to creating most kinds of

scripts. Over time, I’ve learned that writing stories exclusively
out of my own head is a bad idea. It’s much better to gener-
ate characters and ideas in collaboration with my audience,
especially this audience.
In Mexico City, Pindal and | mixed with hundreds of street
children: We were in street clinics, workhouses, prisons — a
world of Charles Dickens, where kids beg on the streets, jug-
gle, sing for money. In Guatemala we met children living on
garbage dumps and competing with vultures for bits of food.
We met kids who sniff shoe glue to get high and forget their

(ec
370 ¢ THe ANIMATION BooK
 pain and fear. We took photographs and made a lot of
drawings — they became our kids.

At what point do a script and storyboard

begin?
For me | always look for one simple, clear image
— an inspired moment that encapsulates the overall
theme. My films invariably start out that way. In the case
of Karate Kids, AIDS, one day we saw two boys performing
at the traffic lights, one of them juggling while sitting on
the other’s shoulders. | said to Kai, “Eureka! That's it, if
one of those boys contracts AIDS the team is in trouble.”
That was the metaphor, a seed image for the film. A story-
board could now be developed around that central idea,
about the adventures of those two boys and how AIDS
came to affect their lives.
E>
Why do I take so much time to test my story-
boards in the field, show Leica reels, often in several countries, before starting to animate?
Animators love to start animating. That's what we like to do best, but often way too early in the process. | say count
to ten before starting, get out of the studio, get your stories watertight before the expensive process of animation
begins; it can pay off in spades.
At Street Kids International, we often test stories by having an actor perform them live, like a play, to watch the chil-
dren’s reactions and listen carefully to their comments. Kids are your best and most honest critics. They've told us how to
better tell the story, introduced new characters, switched genders, and killed ideas — a ton of things for the better!
Karate Kids, AIDS, is now in forty languages in more than a hundred countries. It’s seen rear-projected on the sides of
trucks in Brazil, in cassettes carried by every health worker in Thailand,
dubbed into languages we've never heard of, pirated everywhere, which is
great!
Kids love to watch this series of films again and again. A key reason is
they see themselves in it: It’s their humor, their street smarts, their lives
shown in a nonjudgmental way; a validation of themselves and the mes-
sages.
| would say the way Kai and | work is in the tradition we learned at the
National Film Board of Canada, making entertaining films in the service of
public information. =
A final thought: If you aren’t already, study improvisational theater
techniques; try performing it, too. You can find it an amazing tool for
character and story development, and a heck of a lot of fun.

Materials courtesy Derek Lamb and Kai Pindal.

re : ‘y oe ©

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 371

 MULTIMEDIA AUTHORING

Authoring a multimedia title, either for a CD-ROM or the Inter-

net, is akin to orchestrating a production studio on your desk-
top. It is a complex process, demanding mastery of multiple
skill sets, ranging from drawing to design to sound to anima-
tion to programming. As daunting as this may seem, It is not
unlike creating a short animated film. The main difference is
you do not have to limit your thinking to being linear, as in
“The audience will view my work from A to Z, start to end.” In
multimedia you have the exciting opportunity to design a
world where your audience will have choices—“Here’s a place
for some users to go one way and others to find a different
path.” In multimedia you must think about interactive buttons
by which users will navigate within your CD-ROM or across
Web sites. In multimedia, the audience is free to go where and
when they want to—and you have to allow for this. It’s no
wonder that a leading authoring tool, Director from Macrome-
dia, incorporates a frame-based animation timeline metaphor
for its user interface.
Director is a mature and robust system with tools for
image creation, painting, editing, animation, and a sophisti-
cated interactive programming language called Lingo. Multi-
media authors typically rely on other software packages (such
as those mentioned in this chapter) to create their media
“assets.” Director’s own asset-creation tools are quite good,
but they are not nearly as complete as stand-alone packages.
Hence, Director is primarily used for arranging and sequencing
media assets in a purposeful way so that end users are enter-
tained, engaged, and informed.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SOFTWARE

The Software Shrink chart in Figure 23.15 is designed to assist

you in selecting the right mix of software for your project. Note
that blank boxes mean there are no recommendations or prod-
ucts in the category.

372 + ree ANIMATION Book

GET STARTED NOW!

To understand why software is like it is (confusing, delighting,

frustrating, magical), it is helpful to consider where it comes
from and who makes it. Almost all software is designed from
the ground up by a single individual or a small team that has a
distinct point of view—usually a technical one. And hardly ever
does a software creator bother to state his or her beliefs and
biases.
The end users, you and |, are typically the last folks to
have input about the software. Don’t laugh. Up until about ten
years ago, the American auto industry operated similarly and
was creamed by the Japanese. The software industry, not hav-
ing great incentive to change, still “codes” software rather
than “crafts” it to end-user specifications, especially for cre-
ative endeavors. However, a few companies are starting to
change and the future is exciting. There will be further simplifi-
cation and integration. There will be greater focus on building
tools to better serve different animation techniques like 3-D,
character animation, and cutouts. And doubtless there will be
new forms of animation that bubble up through the ever-
expanding tool base from which the independent animator can
do his or her thing.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE 373

WRITTEN WITH GEORGE ESCOBAR

There are (wo basic computer platforms for

consumer-level digital animation: the Macintosh and the Win-
dows PC. Over the past few years, both the Mac and the PC
have been evolving so quickly that they threaten to overtake
more costly and complex UNIX workstations that have pro-
duced those dazzling effects we all associate with the com-
puter era of animation in TV and feature films.
And the pace of innovation keeps accelerating! A new
generation of Macs and PCs are now appearing every six
months as manufacturers seek to outdo each other in com-
petition for buyers. Five years ago, this cycle was a bit more
manageable at eighteen to twenty-four months. The quicker
introduction of new products is a recipe for chaos and
confusion.
To make your way through the turbulence, this chapter
offers a high-level introduction to the various tools that are
used in digital animation. By “high-level” we mean that our
discussions about the functions of each kind of hardware
should be so universal, so fundamental, that they can be
matched against any computer that you can get your hands
on—or that may appear in the foreseeable future. (Note that
“high-level” is not the same thing as “high-end”—which
means expensive.)
At the conclusion of this basic orientation to computer
hardware there is a self-diagnostic grid that should help digital
animators determine what cost levels and peripheral gear they

374
will need when working in eleven basic different tasks involved
in computer animation.

THE PRICE IS (ALWAYS) RIGHT

An interesting thing about the cost and performance of com-

puters is that, over the years, the price has remained pretty
constant. The low-end cost of a desktop computer (plus
related hardware) is always somewhere between $2,000 and 24.1 Generic computer cutaway:
$4,000. The midprice level is from $4,000 to $8,000, and any- Every personal aleeain ae ee
, : : ; component parts, which are described here.
thing above the $8,000 mark is considered high end. Gener- What makescomputerinodelschibamant
ally, software adds another $1,000 to $4,000 to the cost of from each other is the sum of their individ-
doing animation on your own system. ual parts, consisting of capacity, perfor-
mance, and quality. Drawing by George
Escobar.

Power Supply: This unit connects

The CPU: This is the brain of the the computer to the electrical out- Hard Detwactow muchaiieie-
computer, processing instructions let, giving power to the PC compo- tion you can store and the number
from applications (stored in the nents. If you plan on having many of applications you can run are
hard drive), and orchestrating its add-on cards to the PC, get a large- determined by your hard drive
executions among the different capacity powersupply—something capacity. Most computers come
parts of the PC. The faster the CPU, over 300 watts is good. with 2 gigabyte drives. That is
the zippier the PC performs. As enough capacity to store about
with the hard drive, you can never 2,000 floppy disks—which is a lot,
have enough speed. but is it enough? No. You can
never have too much hard drive
space. No matter how large a
Expansion Slots: drive you get, you will fill
These slots allow you it up in no time.
to add capabilities to
your computer, such as
Floppy Drive: This
accelerating 2-D/3-D
drive reads and writes
graphic computations,
to diskettes that hold
capturing and displaying
about 1.4 megabytes of
video, and transferring
data. It is still a common
large files between your _
and popular way to trans-
computer and an external drive
fer files from one computer to
or a network more quickly.
another. Increasingly, however, the
ZIP drive, holding 100 megabytes per
Memory Slots for RAM: Most comput- disk, is becoming the standard.
ers come with at least 16 or 32 megabytes of
Random Access Memory (RAM). To add more, just
insert them in these slots. The number of open slots ROM: Some computers, like the Macintosh,
determines how much you can expand your mem- store commonly used computer instructions in
ory capacity. RAM memory is temporary. It holds its | “Read Only Memory” (ROM). The data is stored
data only as long as the computer has power. permanently and is “read” as necessary by the com-
When the PC is turned off, RAM memory is erased. puter in conjunction with the operating system.

COMPUTER HARDWARE 375

 While prices have remained fixed (after all, people have
consistent boundaries for what they can afford to spend),
hardware performance has improved dramatically, mostly
because of all those new bells and whistles that attract new
buyers. The computer manufacturers know that enhanced and
expanded performance forces current computer owners to
trade up. Those semiannual computer shows—MacWorld, PC
Expo, COMDEX, and others—are showroom circuses designed
to produce digitalis wishlhadits—also known as computer envy.
Make no mistake about it: There is an ongoing battle for
your imagination and your computer dollars. The manufactur-
ers’ tactics all aim at making it impossible for you to resist the
urge to splurge. Your defense against the attack should be to
buy with an upgrade strategy in mind and to keep a map
handy that reminds you exactly what creative destination you
(not they) have chosen. The aim of this chapter is to give you
such defenses. But keep this in mind: Year in and year out the
cost of computing power drops about $100 a month. If you
wait six months, the same raw power of your dream machine
will be $600 less than it is today, but you will have learned
nothing. The cost of knowledge is the same as $100 per
month. Are you worth it?

24.2 Digital finds its own voice.

This example of 3-D computer animation THE PLATFORM
shows a standout effort by independent
animator Doug Aberle. While much 3-D Despite what you might have read or heard, Macintosh and
work is highly representational, Doug’s sto-
rytelling takes a more abstract approach.
Windows PCs (both manufactured by a range of different com-
Here are two frame-grabs, (A) and (B), panies) are two fundamentally different computer platforms
from Fluffy, a four-minute film produced at that yield similar results because of software. Strictly from the
Doug's home in Battle Ground, Washington.
hardware perspective, the Macintosh is far easier to set up,
Production still (C) shows a wire-frame ren-
dering of the dog character. Note how the maintain, and upgrade than a Windows PC—even with the lat-
character design takes advantage of geo- ter’s “plug-and-play” architecture.
metric “primitives” that are used in build-
With a Macintosh there are no DIP switches, jumpers,
ings 3-D segments. Three independent
elements make up the dog’s head, and and arcane software patches to mess around with if you want
these are not attached to each other. In to add a new input device such as a scanner, making the Mac
motion, however, the creature comes alive much easier to use. However, what you give up for this conve-
and exhibits a terrific range of expressions.
(D) shows the animator with his digital
nience is choice. Macintosh parts and devices are generally
tools — a consumer-level rig. Copyright © more expensive because there are few of them made and there
1995 Aberle Films. are fewer manufacturers to make them. In the Windows PC
world (which at the time of this writing dominates the personal
computer industry, with 90 percent versus 10 percent for the

376 t THe ANIMATION BooK

 24.3 Character design in 3-D anima-
tion: /nsektors is a 3-D computer animation
series created and directed by the French
artists Georges Lacroix, who heads the studio
of Fantome Animation, and Renato. This
series exemplifies what a talented group can
do with state-of-the-art hardware. Photo (A)
shows Georges Lacroix and project manager
Jean Francois Schneider reviewing drawings
for Insektors Ill.
The stories center on the fantastic saga of
warring insects—the dark and sinister Yucks
are always trying to invade and destroy the
joyful universe of the Joyces. Frame enlarge-
ments (B) and (C) suggest the richness of the
Insektors digital world, where the imagina-
tion and charm of the animators makes even
the darkest Yuck, the evil Lord Krabo,
extremely humorous. The evolution of the
Krabo character is shown step-by-step.
Even in the cutting-edge world of 3-D, you
begin with simple drawings, (D), which evolve
into tighter renderings, (E). These in turn lead
to the step of modeling in which character
specs, (F), become a piece of sculpture. (G)
shows design and sculpture artist Yves Vidal
sculpting Krabo. A grid is drawn and the sur-
face of the sculpture and the XYZ coordinates
of each intersection on the grid are entered
into the computer with a data pen. (H) shows
Fantome’s manager of modelization, Franck
Clement Larosiere, modeling the character
Spoty. The character of Krabo now lives inside
the computer, appearing as a wire frame, (1).
Animation takes place using a simplified (usu-
ally a monochrome) version of the character,
(J), that the animator directs by entering prin-
cipal positions (or key frames). The computer
will subsequently calculate the “in-between”
positions. The character doesn’t take its fin-
ished form until the computer “renders” the
3-D figure with full color and texture, (K). The
last two frames, (L) and (M), show Krabo in
full action.
Insektors is a production of Fantome Ani-
mation and a co-production of Ellipse Pro-
gramme—France 3—Medialab—RTBF
Television Belge—Neurones—Finatoon—Club
d’‘Investissement Media (Programme Media
de I’Union Europeene) in association with
SOFICA VALOR 4, with the participation of
Canal +, and with the support of Centre
National de la Cinemathographie, and Car-
toon (Programme Media de I’Union
Europeene). All images provided courtesy
Fantome Animation, Copyright © 1996.

COMPUTER HARDWARE 377

 11 pixels Mac platform), prices for parts and devices are lower, the selec-
tion is abundant, and product improvements are more fre-
quent. But this point about ease of use is not a trivial one,
especially if you think you'll be adding new gear, drives, scan-
ners, monitors, and so on. Frustration issues extend through
the life of ownership. Also, there are several PC operating sys-
11 pixels
tems: DOS, OS/2, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows
NT. Today there are more Windows 3.1—based machines than
there are computers with Windows 95, and this incompatibility
will continue through the year 2000.
lf you want the best of both worlds, Apple’s Macintosh
can support two processors: One is the PowerPC microproces-
24.4 What a bit looks like: A good sor for Macintosh operations and the other is a Pentium
way to understand bits is by using a “bit- processor for Windows operations. The Pentium processor
mapped” image. For this type of picture, comes in an “add-on” card that goes into a PCI slot. Orange
the graphics program needs only two pieces
of information: the location of a pixel and
Micro sells them for only a few hundred dollars more, but you
whether to turn the pixel on (black) or off get two computers in one.
(white). The man in the hat consists of 121 At the high end of the spectrum, Silicon Graphics and Sun
pixels. Since in this example 1 pixel is equal
Microsystems dominate the workstation market, which uses the
to one bit, there are 121 bits used by the
program (or around 16 bytes because 8 bits UNIX operating system. These workstations come in several fla-
equals 1 byte). Courtesy George Escobar. vors: from funny-looking, toasterlike boxes to mainframe-style
behemoths requiring controlled air-conditioning. The lowest end
of this high-end category typically costs just slightly more than
their lower-end siblings—around $6,000 to $10,000—yet they
pack a wallop in terms of raw speed. These “entry-level”
workstations are designed to compete with a top-of-the-line
Macintosh or PC. What makes them expensive overall is the
cost of their UNIX-based software, which is often three to
twenty times more expensive than identical software running
on a Macintosh or PC. Why the steep markup? Because soft-

24.5 CPU Chronology: Brief Chronology of CPUs and their Speeds (MHz)

IBM Compatible/PC/Windows/intel
Debut: (1984) (1987) (1989) (1991) (1993) (1995) (1997) (1999)
CPU: 8088 8086 80286 80386 80486 Pentium Pentium Pro Pentium Il Merced
MHz: 4-6 8 16 33 66 133-200 200-250 300-400 500+

Macintosh

Debut: (1984) (1987) (1989) (1990) (1994) (1995) (1996) (1997) (1999)
CPU: 68000 68020 68030 68040 PowerPC: 601 603e 604e G3 G4
MHz: 8 20 40 60 66-100 160-300 180-350 233-300 400+

378 4 THE ANIMATION Book

ware developers in the UNIX market have a signif-
icantly smaller number of buyers when compared
to the mainstream computer market. Another dis-
advantage is the high maintenance cost of UNIX
software in terms of training and complexity.
Don’t expect to learn the software on your own.
It's more than likely that you'll need professional
training and ongoing software support because
UNIX software is a lot less bulletproof than off-
the-shelf software. In fact, animation and special-
24.6 Homage to the motherboard:
effects companies using Silicon Graphics workstations (SGls) Typical desktop motherboard with Intel®
often employ a team of UNIX engineers to keep their system Pentium® II processor. Courtesy Intel
running. Corporation.

If you are a current computer owner and can’t even con-

sider spending money on new hardware, let alone an SGI-class
workstation, you shouldn't feel stuck—even if your Mac or PC
platform is old and you suspect it is a clunker. Today even the
low-end computers have the capacity for robust upgrading.
This was not true until recently. And it means that you can get
into the animation game right now, with just about any com-
puter you can get your hands on. You'll be wasting precious
time if you think that next month's or next year’s model will be
the perfect computer for you. It does not exist. You will always
lust after next year’s model!

THE CPU, THE OS,

AND PROCESSOR SPEED

The central processing-unit (CPU), or processor, together with

the operating system (OS), constitutes the heart of the com-
puter. The processor literally has a heartbeat, expressed in
megahertz (MHz), that measures how fast the computer can
run its operations. The OS, defined as a set of “low-level”
instructions, determines how software applications are written
to the processor and how everything in the computer appears
to the user.
Processors Circa 1998. When this edition of The Anima-
tion Book is published, the Mac and PC platforms should still
be operating with the PowerPC and Pentium CPUs. The former
was developed by Apple and IBM working together, while the

COMPUTER HARDWARE 379

 latter was developed by Intel Corporation. Both processors are
manufactured with different soeeds—ranging from 133 to
500 Mz.
The combination of processor speed (CPU), memory
(RAM), and the data transfer rate (bus or backplane, the place
where the motherboard plugs into the CPU) determines how
fast the software and its files will run. For functions such as
drawing, painting, or inking, most animation software will per-
form adequately using the standard, consumer-level machines
with PowerPC-based or Pentium-based motherboards operat-
ing at the 200 MHz level. But for more demanding digital func-
tions such as editing sound, video-image capturing, playback
of full-screen animation sequences, or rendering, a faster ver-
sion of these processors is required—and these will work only
when coupled with a lot of memory.
Processor speed is crucial in animation because a higher
speed can dramatically reduce the time it takes to create an
animated scene and because processor speed affects how well
24.7 Portable storage devices: The an animation file will play back on the computer once it is
cost of storage devices ranges from $150 or
completed.
less for a 100 MB Zip drive, $250 for a 230
MB SyQuest EZFlyer drive, or up to $400 for Let's take a moment to look at the playback phase
the 2 GB Jaz or $300 for the 1.5 GB SyJet within 3-D animation, which makes huge demands upon a
drive. The cost of the portable storage computer’s computational strength. As you've seen in Chapter
media used with these drives ranges from
$20 for a 100 MB Zip cassette to $100 for a 1 16: 3-D Animation, the computer must calculate the amount
GB cartridge used in a SyQuest drive. DAT of sequential change in character or background between one
tapes come in packs of five for $25 or ten frame and the next. The CPU has to complete this calculation
for $50.
at a fast enough rate of new frames per second so that the illu-
(A) lomega Zip Drive $150 (drive)/$14
(cartridges); 100 MB storage; 5.25”: Mag- sion of movement is sustained. The more complex the makeup
netic cartridge that is a floppy disk replace- of a given frame, the more calculations the processor must per-
ment
form, making processing speed very important.
(B) Syquest EZFlyer $230 (drive)/$30 (car-
tridges); 230 MB storage; 3.5”: Not in wide- Take a moment to look at the creative phase, which
spread use, but can serve as a super floppy places even larger demands upon the CPU. If a piece of digital
disk. animation is to run at 24 frames per second and the sequence
(C) lomega Jaz Drive $200 (drive)/$125
(cartridges); 1 GB storage; 5.25,” $400 2 GB:
is 20 seconds long, then the computer must render 480 frames
Like a near-hard disk. in order to complete the file that will become the animation
(D) SyQuest SyJet $300 (drive)/$125 (car- itself (usually a QuickTime movie). The animator working on a
tridge); 1.5 GB storage; 3.5”: Market accep-
slow computer (say, 133 MHz) will discover it can take an hour
tance uncertain, but has near-hard disk
capabilities. to render each frame the first time. Rendering this piece would
(E) DAT (Dynatex, Sony, etc.) $1065 take 480 hours, which is twenty days of computer time! On a
(drive)/$15 (cartridges); 2 GB storage; 3.5”:
fast PowerPC or Pentium computer running at a processing
Relatively slow, sequential nature of tape
limits its usefulness. speed of 200 MHz, the very same frame might take only 10
minutes to render. The same 20-second sequence now

380 J THe ANIMATION Book

requires a mere 80 hours of computer time—only three and a
half days, if you get it right the first time!
This is precisely the scenario you will encounter when
working in 3-D, where the rendering process must calculate
and display each model’s height, width, depth, overlaying or
“mapping” textures, applying illumination from various light
sources, and compositing with background and foreground
elements. Because this is so much work to do, it’s easy to
understand why a powerful processor is essential.
A performance tactic worth knowing about, yet often
overlooked, is to “soup up” a relatively slow computer with a
fast 2-D and 3-D graphics and video accelerator card. What
this card does is take over from the main processor the func-
tions of rendering, drawing, and displaying an image. (More
about accelerators is in the Peripherals section of this chapter.
Be sure to read it. It could save you hundreds—maybe thou-
sands!—of bucks.)
PowerPCs and Pentiums are the latest-generation
processors, and they operate from two to ten times faster than
their immediate predecessors—the 68040 CPU for a Mac and
the 486 CPU for a PC. These older CPUs still power many com-
puters at home, school, and work. Retailers also sell them at a
discount, typically under $400 for a complete system with a
monitor. Should you buy them? Probably not, especially if you
think you will seriously use computers for animation.
lf you already own one of these older computers, the
good news is that you can upgrade it by adding an accelerator
board, replacing the CPU itself, or entirely swapping out the
motherboard. Your exact upgrade strategy depends on the
computer model you own, how much you can spend, and the
type of animation you intend to do or grow into. Upgrades are
not inexpensive. They typically cost between $400 and $1,200.
You may be better off purchasing a new computer and selling
your old one as a down payment.
How fast a processor should you buy? The faster the bet-
ter! Any processor over 200 MHz for the Mac and 233 MHz for
a PC should be enough for most cel animation projects and
even for simple 3-D animations. If you are pushing beyond
that—say, complex 3-D projects involving characters who talk
and interact (as opposed to space vessel fly-throughs)—then
processors ranging from 266 MHz to 400 MHz are necessary.
Top-of-the-line Macintosh and PC systems, priced

COMPUTER HARDWARE 381

24.8 Megabyte scales: The formula for around $6,000 to $10,000, now use more than one processor
figuring out the storage requirement or file to go even faster. Special software is required to take advan-
Se Se Memeseenoseit a Thos tage of this capability. Fortunately most soft-
ware developers recognize this growing trend
(Pixel image size) X (The bit depth) and are rewriting their software to support
ee ee = multiple-processor computers.
divided by eight Right now the speed game is being
played out in a marketing war between Intel
and Motorola, the makers of Pentium and
For example: PowerPC, respectively. Each side is declaring itself king of the
hill. So who really has the fastest processor? An independent
(640 x 480) X (8-bits) study by BYTE magazine says the hands-down winner is the
PowerPC, beating the fastest Intel Pentium chip by up to 100
8 to 200 percent based on raw processor performance. This can
be misleading; real-world use of these processors finds them
Sample Chart: operating almost evenly in many applications since the PC uses
a faster system bus and bet-
: ; : ter, more flexible memory
ite) VAs schemes. Nevertheless, the
edge in real-world use still
640 x 480
a. goes to the PowerPC and
may in fact increase as the
Macintosh switches to the
Units of measure for memory or same motherboard architecture as the PC, negating any system
storage size: bus or memory advantage currently enjoyed by the PC.
The future for both the Pentium and PowerPC is very
1 bit is the smallest unit bright. Top processing speed will go from the current 400 MHz
8 bits = 1 byte (in 1998) to well over 800 MHz and perhaps even 1 GHz (giga-
1,000 bytes = 1 Kilobyte hertz) by the year 2000. Keep your seat belts on; it’s going to
1,000 Kilobytes =1 Megabyte be a fast and bumpy ride.
1,000 Megabytes =1 Gigabyte
1,000 Gigabytes =1 Teraflop

MEMORY

Digitized information—the little zeros and ones that make up

computer code—can fill up a lot more space than you might
imagine. You'd better get used to the idea, right now, that if
you are going to do digital animation, you will surely become a
memory and storage hog.
As you are about to see, computer memory comes in dif-
ferent forms and even comes in different pieces of equipment.
Generally for multimedia use, memory increases the speed at

382 4 THe ANIMATION Book

which your computer works, and ample storage allows you to
deal with the various components of your work in a single
process. Here’s a primer.
Hard Drive. Most home computers come with an average
of 2 gigabyte (GB), or 2,000 megabytes (WB—a megabyte is
one million of those zeros and ones) of hard drive, the built-in
storage device that holds all those files and stores the software
applications. A 2 GB hard drive is roughly equal to 2,000 31-
inch diskettes. That may seem like a vast digital pool, but it’s
not. With the growth of multimedia and on-line services, many
off-the-shelf computer models feature 4 GB hard drives—what
it takes to handle heavy loads of sound, video, and animation.
The problem is (no surprise here), the bigger the hard drive, the
bigger the price tag. If you are buying a new computer, the
smallest hard drive you should consider is 2 GB. If you are
adding an external hard drive to an existing computer system
(which is easy to do), you can expect to pay $150 for 1 GB or
$250 for 2 GB of hard disk storage.
A single color image created in an application like Pho-
toshop can easily be 30 MB or larger. Since you sometimes
need hundreds of such images to create a single piece of ani-
mation, not to mention the sound and video files you'll need
to work with, it shouldn't be a surprise that hard disk space
will disappear quickly.
A small but essential point of speed for animators and
video editors is throughput, or sustained speed, of hard drives.
These don’t matter much to most folks because 3 MB/sec—
the standard throughput for regular hard drives—is great for
text. However, Photoshop and video capture/edit systems run
much better with ultra (or at least fast and wide) stripped and
arrayed drives running at 7,200 RPM for a minimum through-
put of 7 to 21 MB/sec. Many animators and digital editors pay
serious attention to this. ©
RAM. Random Access Memory is one of the most
important things to consider before purchasing a computer.
RAM helps determine how fast a computer runs and how
many different pieces of software can be used at the same
time. The standard amount of RAM for a home computer hov-
ers around 32 MB, just enough for an animator to pull off
smooth animation. Ideally you will want to add at least
another 32 MB (for around $50) or 64 MB (for $100).
Because of the complexity and size of operating systems

COMPUTER HARDWARE 383

 E STUDY CASE & 24.9 CASE STUDY: 3-D/2-D Fusion

A B

As digital tools become more accessible, they become more easily and more widely explored. In the process,
the relative strengths of different animation techniques start to become more apparent and their boundaries
less limiting. All of which leads, importantly, to the breakdown of those unperceived compartments we seem
to create for ourselves as each new wave of innovation offers its
approaches to animation.
As a case in point, let’s look at character animation and 3-D anima-
tion—two forms that seem so very different. Thanks to the power of
desktop computer systems and to the ever-increasing sophistication
of software products, the well-mapped world of traditional character
animation is rapidly finding Aacul

ways to merge with the

more recently discovered
domains of 3-D image manipula-
tion. The result could be called Ani-
mation Fusion.
The figures that accompany the
analysis here provide a quick look at
full animation sequences created by San
Francisco’s Wild Brain studio for an interac-
tive CD-ROM game titled Flying Saucer, a
Stand-alone product developed and pub-
lished by Postlinear Entertainment. Jason
Porter, Wild Brain’s Technical Director, points
out some dimensions of the project that sug-
gest yet broader innovations that will come as digital tools and increased band-
width become creative realities during the next few years.

¢ The backgrounds were all created in 3-D animation. This provides rich environ-
ments and very flexible lighting capabilities. When necessary, the 3-D backgrounds can
be digitally defocused so that the foreground characters stand out.

384 k THE ANIMATION BooK

ea

e The character animation is done in traditional form: hand-drawn

images that are scanned into the computer. This allows animators the full
control required for expressive and subtle movement and lip sync.
¢ Digital ink and paint allows for a soft-edged, “airbrush”-styled color-
ing. The look intentionally mirrors the rendering techniques found in
Japanese Anime—a high-octane style of representational animation that
is having a large impact upon comic and animation aesthetics.
¢ The world of computer gaming is itself a fusion combining narrative
or “story” elements with interactive sequences in which the viewer
becomes a participant (for the most part, jockeying a flying saucer
through 3-D environments).
e The marriage of 2-D and 3-D elements into a seamless composition is
not easy. In the Flying Saucer cinematics, the compositing was achieved
primarily using Adobe After Effects run on a Macintosh 8500. Many other
compositing applications are available or in development that allow
extreme flexibility in mixing 2-D and 3-D, and working in a 3-D work-
space. 3-D applications are also becoming more capable in the handling
of 2-D objects and 3-D rendering treatments are allowing 3-D objects to
look like 2-D, or even traditional abstract or surreal art styles.

Frames (A), (B), and (C) sample the rich fantasy landscape that appears
in the game. Note how the backgrounds use 3-D techniques to build com-
plex environments for the
action. Character design was
done in a quasirepresentational
style that would permit drawn
cel characters to fit into the 3-D
world. The four poses in (D)
show head details of one of the
protagonists, Emily. The pair of
drawings in (E) show two “turn-
around” poses of a character
called Grey Elder. Figure (F) shows a podlike creature called Signer.
The hero of the piece (in addition, of course, to the game viewer/player!) is
named Boone. (G) is a color chart for Boone. Even here in this black-and-white
reproduction, you can make out the soft-edged, airbrush-shading techniques
employed in the digital ink and paint phase.
The fusion of a single scene is represented in the remaining images: (H)
shows the animator’s rough drawing for Boone, as he looks out a window. (I)
is the cleanup that was scanned to make a digital file. (J) is the colored version
of the same element. (K) shows the window and background (rendered from
a 3-D model). (L) shows one of the Alpha channels that was used to matte and
composite the different source images together. Image (M) is the final com-
posite image of this scene.
Photos are provided courtesy of Wild Brain Studios and Postlinear Enter-
tainment. The Flying Saucer (© 1997 by Postlinear Entertainment, Inc.) game is
due to be released in 1998.

COMPUTER HARDWARE 385

 and other systems software, you need to have at least 10 to 20
MB of free RAM to run most of the motion graphics packages
featured in this book, along with the 10 MB needed to run the
system. Production domains that require working in full-
motion video, like editing, can require even more. Programs
like Premiere and Photoshop save multiple copies of images in
the memory of your computer, enabling you to perform those
convenient “undo” and “revert” functions, which takes a lot
of RAM. Premiere recommends a whopping 128 MB for video
editing. Always, always, always buy as much RAM as possible.
lf your budget is slim, purchase a decent amount now and
more later. Your local computer store will be glad to show you
what to purchase and help you install the extra memory. It’s
24.10 Monitors are not TV screens: not difficult to pop open your computer and insert a memory
But they sure do look like TV screens before
card into a slot that awaits it. But it’s easiest to get a pro or an
you turn them on! The latest monitor
designs feature adjustable pedestals, as experienced friend to help you make such a memory upgrade
shown here. Well-respected manufacturers the first time.
include Sony, Samsung, NEC, Mitsubishi,
Supplemental Storage Devices. Sooner or later you are
ViewSonic, and Apple.
going to find it extremely useful to have one of the external
storage devices that are available for desktop computing.
Inevitably, your hard disk’s storage space will dwindle, no mat-
ter how much you compress files or how often you clean it out.
So look into acquiring an external drive or removable storage
device such as SyQuest, Zip, Jaz, or DAT drives. Besides allow-
ing more room for your work, they're perfect for backing up
files, archiving large chunks of data, and swapping files with
others with whom you will be working. Ask around your cre-
ative community to see what format people are using. Cur-
rently, the two most popular types are made by SyQuest and
lomega (Zip and Jaz).

MONITORS

Almost all computers in use today feature color monitors that

can display millions of colors, provided there is enough video
memory in the computer to display the colors. Video memory
or video RAM (VRAM) is similar to application RAM, except
that it stores images instead of documents or applications.
VRAM serves as a temporary storage space for an image just
before it is displayed on the monitor's screen. If there are any
changes to the image, even a single pixel (which is the smallest

386 & THe ANIMATION Book

unit of a screen image), the VRAM is where that change is
stored and from where it is fetched for screen display. Most
computers come with 2 MB of VRAM, but they can be
upgraded to hold up to 8 MB of VRAM. Why so much?
Because of two factors: screen resolution and color depth.
Screen Resolution. Most monitors, regardless of their
actual physical size, support multiple screen resolutions (these
are often called multires or multisync monitors). They allow a
screen to display 640 by 480 pixels, 834 by 624 pixels, or even
up to 1,024 by 768 pixels. In a standard 15-inch monitor, using 24.11 Geometric fables: Frame froma
series of fifty five-minute pieces created by
the 640 x 480 resolution mode provides an ideal image size Fantome’s Renato and Georges Lacroix for
that’s not too small or too large and displays an image at international television. © 1996 Fantome
approximately the same size as it would print. If in the same Animation.

15-inch space you then set the display resolution within the
control panel to the maximum 1,024 by 768 pixels, everything
will suddenly look twice as small. With a 17-inch or larger mon-
itor the “smallness” effect is not as pronounced. For a 17-inch
monitor, 834 by 624 resolution approximates a 1:1 ratio of
image display on the screen and the actual image size that will
be printed. For a 21-inch monitor, 1,024 by 768 is the ideal.
What happens when you increase the resolution is that
you double the amount of pixels to display within the same
screen size, allowing more screen objects to appear and pro-
viding more screen real estate to maneuver. It’s like zooming in
and out with a camera telephoto lens. But this flexibility does
not come for free.
Color Depth. By increasing the amount of pixels to dis-
play, you may reduce the number of colors or the color depth
of the image because there isn’t enough video memory to hold
all of the image information. For example, 1 MB of VRAM can
yield from 256 colors up to 32,000 colors for pixel sizes of 640
by 480 and 834 by 624. If the image size is 1,024 by 768 pix-
els, then there is only enough video memory to show 256 col-
ors. But by adding another megabyte of VRAM, up to 16
million colors can be seen at a resolution of 640 by 480 and
834 by 624 pixel images, and up to 32,000 colors for 1,024 by
768 resolution.
If you are going to be working in animation, it’s a good
idea to get at least 4 MB of video memory.
Large Screens = Luxurious Animating. The size of the
monitor can also be important. Creating animation will often
involve using many software applications at once, and each

COMPUTER HARDWARE 387

 application can use many different windows and tool palettes.
A standard 14- to 15-inch monitor will work fine but doesn’t
allow the extra room often needed to navigate through layers
of windows, folders, and files. A 21-inch monitor provides a
great screen size to work on, since it offers plenty of room to
view the image file or animation and still manages to provide
screen space for the tool sets of multiple applications. It’s
worth noting, however, that 21-inch monitors are huge and
24.12 Accelerators: This is an example will hog the top of your (literal) desktop.
of a 3D add-on accelerator card. Some people set up two monitors (using a second video
card) that can operate off the same Macintosh computer. In the
4 Mac dual-monitor setup, a user can move the mouse and all
(virtual) desktop objects seamlessly from one screen to the next.
The typical configuration is to use a large monitor to show the
animation field being worked on while the second monitor,
sometimes smaller in size and of a lower grade, is used to han-
dle the windows and files of the various graphic software appli-
cations. Up to seven monitors can be driven by one Macintosh,
provided there is a video card for each monitor.
Buying a Monitor. The rule: Never buy a monitor you
haven't seen, regardless of price, because if you don’t like
what you see, you won't be happy in the long run. Once
you've seen the actual monitor in operation, you can then buy
it from a retailer or by direct mail. Because monitor technology
is continuously improving, read the latest computer magazines
with reviews of monitors before making a purchase. Today,
many monitors include built-in speakers, headphone jacks, tilt-
and-swivel bases, and front-panel controls to adjust brightness,
contrast, resolution, size, and so on. The array of features can
be intimidating, and some add to the price tag, so stick to the
fundamentals.
One of the most important things to consider is dot pitch
or how finely the pixels are displayed. Monitors are made using
a mask that focuses and filters the image before it reaches the
physical screen that we see. The finer the focus and filter (its
dot pitch), the sharper the image. Get only .28 dot pitch or
less. Cheap monitors sometimes have .39 dot pitch, giving you
a fuzzy picture with grainy detail, with which you may get killer
headaches and think you are going blind. Avoid them. Also,
make sure the screen refresh rate is no less than 60 Hz, prefer-
ably 75 Hz or more, otherwise you'll notice a flicker (especially
in your peripheral vision), resulting in migraines.

388 b rue ANIMATION BooK

 Don't get too enamored of the physical size of the mon-
itor. Check instead the actual viewable image size. It should be
no less than 13.9 inches for a 15-inch monitor, 15.6 inches for
a 17-inch one, and 18.7 inches for 20-inch monitors. As far as
prices, expect to pay from $150 to $250 for 15-inch, $300 to
$700 for 17-inch, and $1,300 to $2,000 for 20- to 21-inch
monitors.

PERIPHERALS IN GENERAL

In the world of graphic computing, the word peripherals covers

a lot of ground. Following are short descriptions and accompa-
nying line drawings that will introduce you to all the basic tools
you can add to your computer system.
Keep in mind that fledgling animators—well, even expe-
rienced ones—do not need to own each and every component
of the digital animation studio. Lots of times you can find a
business or educational organization that will feel fine about
lending you access to costly peripherals. And there are places 24.13 Les Girafes: Two frames from a
nonverbal series of fifty one-minute pieces
called service bureaus—small businesses that provide special- developed for international television and
ized computer services on a charge-per-service basis. There are adapted from Guillermo Mordillo’s comic
good and bad service bureaus, of course, and you just have to Les Girafes © 1996 Fantome Animation.

find one that will give you the great technical support and help
you need, plus access to first-rate equipment, and fair prices.
Small-business operators and the IS (information ser-
vices) folks at large corporations often seem to have a soft spot
for artists. Don’t be shy about introducing yourself as an inde-
pendent animator. Tell people about the project you are work-
ing on. Ask their advice. If you are passionate enough,
sometimes the business or institution that owns and/or con-
trols the peripheral you need will work out a special deal.

GRAPHIC ACCELERATORS

An accelerator is the single most important addition to your

computer animation system. For around $100 you can increase
the drawing, rendering, and playback speed of your animation
from between 100 percent to 400 percent. How’s that for a
return on investment? Spending more will give you even better
performance. The midrange of accelerator cards run around

COMPUTER HARDWARE 389

 $300 to $600, which is still way, way less than the cost of
upgrading to a new computer system. Top-end cards cost
$1,000 to $2,000.
There are five things you need to be smart about once
you are smart enough to look into accelerators.
First, the accelerator comes in the form of a plastic and
silicon card that fits in the expansion slot of your computer. So
read up on the physical size requirements of the card and its
connector type (such as PCI, ISA, or NuBus) in your operator’s
manual.
Second, be aware that the accelerator has to support the
graphics library of the software and operating system you are
using. Graphics libraries are stored collections of graphic
“primitives” or basic shapes such as squares, circles, cubes,
and triangles that all animation software uses to create every-
thing from simple images to complex ones. Think of the graph-
ics library as the “alphabet” of computer visualization that
works analogously to a writer using text alphabets to compose
poems or stories. Your graphics library will most likely be one
of the following: OpenGL, Rendermorphics, Heidi, or Quick-
Draw 3-D. Check the software manuals of your favorite pro-
grams to learn what libraries they use.
Third, the accelerator card should support different
shading routines such as Phong and Gourad as well as other
features like texture-mapping, QuickTime, and MPEG (see
Chapter 23: Computer Software).
Fourth, the card should be upgradeable either by soft-
ware driver updates or by plugging in a new chipset on the
card. (Chipset plug-in capability is usually for high-end cards
only.)
Fifth, some accelerators now include a TV tuner so you
can watch regular TV programs in a window on your computer
monitor. If you buy an accelerator with this feature, you can
also use the card to capture still or video images (although you
may be faced with many compromises in picture size, frame
rate, and image quality).

24.14 Drawing tablets: Shown here is

the full line of Wacom drawing tablets. The
smallest has a 4 x 5 inch screen ($150) and
the largest is 18 x 25 inches ($2,000). Acces- VIDEO EDITING CARDS
sories include DuoSwitch Erasing Pens; four
to six button pucks. There are a few manu- To “capture” video on your computer and then play it back at
facturers, some with lower prices. the proper frame rate, you will most probably need a special

390 4 THE ANIMATION BooK

piece of hardware called a video editing card. Like graphic
accelerators, a video editing card offloads processing work
from the main processor, allowing you to capture video at
nearly broadcast levels. These cards capture and play back
video at a rate of 30 frames per second (60 fields per second of
alternate scan lines), using video compression technologies to
make the resulting video file manageable on a hard disk (see 24.15 Scanners: For around just $100
Chapter 23: Computer Software for more about compression). you can get a good color scanner that gets
the job done right. Minimally it should cap-
Video editing cards are very complicated and sophisti-
ture 24-bit color (16 million colors) at up to
cated peripherals. While they are getting cheaper (around 300 dots per inch (dpi) of resolution. Inter-
$500) and are now much easier to use, in order to get the best polation software that comes with the scan-
results they require very precise operating parameters that are ner can increase the resolution to anywhere
from 600 to 1200 dpi. The drawing here
matched to your specific computer system. If you acquire a shows a Nikon Flatbed Scanner AX-110 with
video editing card, you will need more hard disk space to go optional document scanner ($400). It has 24-
with it, probably between 2 GB and 8 GB. Another option is to bit color with 300 x 600 dpi optical resolu-
tion. Scanners range from the low end —
use 1 GB removable cartridges to expand the memory. Regard-
30-bit color depth ($100 to $300) — and
less of which storage media, video gobbles tons of memory— from the midrange — 36-bit color depth
around 100 MB per minute of video at the low end. Overall, ($500 to $900). In animation, there isn’t a
practical value for high-end scanners
expect to spend somewhere between $1,000 for VHS-quality
because the additional resolution they digi-
video capture (consumer standard) and $15,000 for broadcast- tize can't be discerned.
quality video capture and playback. If you are going to use your scanner for
Video cards lead the animator toward a burgeoning area lots of pencil testing, an optional feature to
add is a multiple sheet feeder that will auto-
known as desktop video. Recent advances in computer speed matically scan in a stack of drawings. This
and storage are now allowing people who work in their homes isn’t essential, but it can be handy when an
or at small businesses to operate with the same tool set that animation contains hundreds of drawings,
and scanning them all in one by one can
would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars just a few become tiresome.
years ago. Digital cameras, multicamera switchers and effects
generators, nonlinear editing systems, and multitrack mixing
have all made their way to desktop video.
You will need to investigate much deeper than these
pages should you get into serious desktop video production—
especially editing. There is lots of information available via
books and on-line services, but perhaps the best approach is to
talk about your interests with a professional video editor or
with one of the people who run a video postproduction shop.
Have them show you the interface of a professional-level non-
linear editor. Take a look at the configuration of monitors, con-
trol tools, and storage media that it takes to operate
professional-level video suites. Or you can find expertise (and
support) from companies with digital studios, cable companies,
trade shows, or—perhaps best of all—from the guys who do
wedding videos. They'll know firsthand, usually through seri-

COMPUTER HARDWARE 391

 ous trial and error, what really works. Another great (and often
untapped) source of free information, training, and access to
video suites is your local cable company, who is required by law
to have a community video access program.

DRAWING TABLETS

For the traditional animator making the transition to a com-

puter, a drawing tablet is an essential investment. In tandem
with the stylus and graphics software that come packaged
with it, a tablet allows you to draw directly into the computer,
much as you would with a normal pen or marker, and then
manipulate the image.
24.16 Desktop cameras: Connectix Most tablets today are pressure-sensitive, allowing you
QuickCam, (A), at about $230, and Best to change the darkness and width of lines by applying more
Data’s SmartOne, (B), at $200, both get high
marks. pressure to the tablet surface with a pressure pen. This is par-
ticularly valuable for people used to working with traditional
drawing tools since it mimics their look and feel. Digital draw-
ing tablets come in a range of sizes, with some large enough to
cover half a desk and others that can neatly fit in the palm of
your hand.

SCANNERS

If you are going to marry the precision of traditional character

animation techniques with the speed and facility of digital ink
and paint, then you are going to be spending lots and lots of
time hunched over a scanner. This specialized piece of hard-
ware can take a photograph or drawing and digitize or copy it
into the computer. Chapter 15: Digital Ink and Paint shows the
techniques of scanning drawings into the computer. Remem-
ber, too, that scanners can be used to generate images from
many sources other than registered paper sheets—see the case
24.17 Video cameras: There are hun-
study in Chapter 5: Cutouts.
dreds of consumer video cameras from
dozens of manufacturers. Pictured here are Scanning at resolution rates above 24 or 30 bits is not
two all-digital cameras from Sony — one necessary for most animation projects because the additional
from the low end and one from the high
image fidelity cannot be noticed on a computer monitor or a
end. Prices are changing so fast, you will
need to use the Web or talk with a good TV screen. Besides, high-resolution scans take up a lot of hard
dealer to check out options for your budget. disk space and will slow down the playback of your animation

392 & THE ANIMATION Book

because the computer has to carry the extra baggage of high
image definition, even though it can't be seen.
There are no hard-and-fast rules as to how you should
scan your artwork. It depends on the scope of the project, your
computer system, the devices used to play back the animation
(TV, computer, video, or film), and the overall look and feel you
are trying to achieve. By owning your own scanner, however,
you will be free to experiment until you get the best results.

DIGITAL CAMERAS

Sometimes a whole corner of computer technology seems to

make a quantum jump overnight. It feels as though this is hap-
pening in 1998 within the realm of digital cameras. Here are
three different kinds of cameras that have been around for a
while but which promise to undergo a simultaneous burst of
technological improvement and cost reduction. There is no
doubt that computer animators will soon have a variety of dig-
ital cameras in their hands that will expand the creative process
while also speeding it up and making it easier.
Desktop Minicams. Connectix Quickcam pioneered the
capture of “postage-stamp” videos from a computer desktop, E

allowing you to send them via E-mail or embedding them in 24.18 Portable digital cameras:
reports or newsletters—all for $99. Now there are over two These tools are changing so fast. We are just
dozen manufacturers of these tiny video gizmos offering black- seeing the end of the 640 x 480 resolution
limit, which was originally thought to be the
and-white and color models, ranging in price from $49 to
standard because VRAM chips were cheap
$300. Some computer manufacturers include them as a stan- and because camera makers thought TV
dard feature similar te. CD-ROM and modems. This is in would be the main viewing medium. We are
just seeing the introduction of the third gen-
response to the explosive growth of the Internet and its use for
eration of these cameras, where 1,000 x 800
videoconferencing. Can you use these tiny video cameras for is available for $900 and less. These represent
animation? Absolutely. They make a terrific tool for story- the recommended choices for portable digi-
boarding or for conceptualizing your animations because they tal cameras.
(A) Apple QuickTake 200 ($600): 2 MB
capture not only moving images but still images. Another good RAM memory; 640 x 480 resolution limit
thing about minicams is that they don’t need video capture (B) Olympus America D-300L ($900): 6 MB
cards to input the video to the computer. Instead, they plug RAM; 1,024 x 768 res
(CQ) Sony DSC-F1 ($850): 4 MB memory; 640
into a computer's standard serial or parallel port and use their
x 480 res
special software to process the input signal. If you can’t afford (D) Kodak DC40 ($600): 4 MB memory; 756
to get a scanner, then get a minicam. x 504 res
(E) Canon PowerShot 600 ($950): 1 MB
Portable Digital Still Cameras. If you can wait a week to
memory; 832 x 608 res
get your regular 35mm film and prints back, then you can use
any camera as a digital camera. Most photography stores offer

COMPUTER HARDWARE 393

 two choices when you bring in a canister of exposed 35mm
film: You can have it processed in the old-fashioned way and
get either prints or slides, depending on the kind of film you
shot, or you can have it developed and digitally scanned and
get a photo CD or a diskette of your photos, ready to slip into
the computer and view.
If you can’t wait a week, then expect to spend between
$350 and $2,500 for a digital camera that can connect directly
to your computer, download its digital picture files from its
memory banks, erase the old pictures, and allow you to take
new ones.
VCRs and Video Cameras. Your home VCR and video
camera are wonderful tools for animation. A VCR can play
back for your study and analysis most of the best animated
films ever. And if you can input the video signal into your com-
puter using a graphics accelerator or video editing card, then
you study and trace over, frame by frame, the animated seg-
24.19 Ink-jet cictd ay aig : ments you've captured (see Chapter 13: Rotoscoping).
Here are two typical models: (A), an Apple :
StyleWriter ($200), and (B), a Hewlett- The standard consumer video cameras = = the
Packard Ink Jet 870Cse ($400). same way, except you get to create your own original images
and not just work with footage that comes from an existing
movie or TV show. Take a video of a baby crawling, go for a
spin on a skateboard or bike (don’t crash and ruin the camera),
tape yourself and friends involved in a favorite sport, or simply
use your video camera to get head shots of friends and family.
Input such images into the computer and use them as source
material for your next animation project.
If you are thinking about the purchase of a video cam-
era, we recommend that you opt for the desktop minicam
solution simply because a minicam uses the serial or parallel
port of the computer to input the video and its accompanying
software does the rest.

PRINTERS

Printing text and graphics is essential to the life of an animator.

It’s the only way to do storyboarding, scripting, budgeting, and
production planning. Animators need to print out exposure
sheets, character studies, model sheets, and layouts so that
they can pin them to a bulletin board and have various mem-
bers of the animation team study them. In short, a printer is

394 4 THE ANIMATION Book

essential just about everywhere. Because of this necessity,
printers are commodity items and there are literally hundreds
of models to choose from, ranging in price from $199 for an Nene es
ink-jet color printer up to $10,000 for a desktop commercial
laser color printer.
Before going further, let’s take a moment to look at how
printers work. Printers generally come in two types: ink-jet or
24.20 CD-ROM and friends: CD-ROMs
laser. Ink-jets work by spraying ink through superfine apertures get faster and faster—now reaching
(pinpoint holes) onto the paper surface, moving side to side 24-speed and soon beyond. CD-Recordables
across the page according to a pattern set by the computer. In are finally affordable and easy to use. The
drawing here is a Creative Labs Blaster CD-R
effect, ink-jets are literally painting a picture on the page line 4210, which doubles as a quad speed CD-
by line, not unlike spray-painting the side of a house. Although ROM drive. The cost is $500. Soon DVD units
the inks dry very quickly, touching them soon after printing will be routinely packaged inside desktop
computers.
may cause a smudge. Laser printers, on the other hand, use dry
dustlike toner particles that adhere to a highly polished metal
drum that has been magnetized according to the image it’s try-
ing to print. As the paper goes through the revolving drum, the
dust is transferred to the paper, while a heating unit bakes the
dust to the paper to permanently adhere it.
The recommendation that follows will cover only color
ink-jet printers. This is because laser printers, regardless of
brand and price, are universally good. The variances in print
quality between inexpensive models and expensive ones are
microscopic. Most brands of laser printers compete in superflu-
ous bells and whistles and the amount of memory the printer
has. For home users interested in basic laser printing, get the
most affordable laser printer that supports PostScript and it will
be just fine.
What should you look for in a color ink-jet? First, high
resolution, around 600 dpi, should be the minimum resolution
for printing both color and black-and-white images. Second, it
should support dual ink cartridges—one for the black ink, the
other for the color inks. Some models support only one car-
tridge, typically for the color inks. To print “black,” the primary
colors are mixed together, but the result is not true black—it’s
a grayish black. This also uses up the color inks more quickly,
especially if you are printing mostly black-and-white text, so
avoid single-cartridge ink-jet printers. Third, the printing speed
should be at least 2 pages per minute when printing color doc-
uments and 5 to 7 pages per minute for black-and-white. And
finally, upgradeability, especially for PostScript support, is
important. (PostScript is the universal language of printers, giv-

COMPUTER HARDWARE 395

 ing you better printing control and flexibility to enlarge and
reduce images than the generic print drivers that come stan-
dard with the printer.)

CD-ROM AND DVD

The CD-ROM has become a standard playback device and

comes packed inside most of today’s computers. One CD-ROM
holds as much data as 450 34-inch diskettes. But if you think
24.21 George’s piano: In the world of
that is something, wait until you see the next generation of
serious cooking, a chef's stove is called his . ee ; : :
“piano.” Here is the home animation setup dual-sided DVDs (digital videodisks), which hold as much as ten
of contributing author George Escobar, with CD-ROMs. If you get into making long digital animation or mul-
his two production assistants, Gregory and
timedia productions, look into acquiring your own CD-ROM
Stephen. Courtesy George Escobar.
recordable or rewritable drive (CDR). The recordable drive allows
you to imprint a CD once; a rewritable can be imprinted repeat-
edly, but these recordable drives cost about twice as much.

Solitary animators locked to their drawing tables, cameras, or

computer monitors cry out in search of a kindred spirit, who
understands that a passion for animation can lead to a pro-
found isolation. But they are not alone!
Salvation resides in a few circuit boards that link your
computer to a phone line. We're talking about modems, of
course. This important component of your modest digital ani-
mation studio connects you with the major animation studios
(Disney, Pixar, and Warner Bros., for example), animation soft-
ware companies (Adobe, Electric Image, Softlmage, Strata,
Alias/Wavefront), animation schools, animation magazines, and
best of all, other animators. There's a big, vibrant, and growing
animation community out there. So make sure you learn to use
your modem. Since many computers now are shipped with a
built-in modem, there is no excuse not to connect. (To learn
more about the Internet, read Chapter 25: Resources.)
If you are going to use modems as a distribution vehicle,
you need to know something about how they work. Modems
are basically interpreters. They convert analog signals into digi-
tal ones that a computer can understand and vice versa. If
you've ever picked up the phone handset and listened to a’

396 k THe ANIMATION Book

modem or fax connection on the other end, you have
undoubtedly heard the actual voice or screech of a modem.
That unintelligible noise is generated by a modem chip that has
converted digital ones and zeros into various chirps and beeps
that can be carried by standard phone lines. Because the chirps
and beeps are so packed and condensed, being created from
typically up to 28,000 digital bits of ones and zeros per second,
the actual analog signal sounds out of this world. On the
receiving end, another modem converts the analog signal back
to digital ones and zeros and then the computer takes over
from there, turning these digital bits into pictures, words, or
music. (Fax machines work the same way too!)
Connecting a modem is fairly straightforward. Take a
standard phone wire and connect one plug into the modem’s
phone jack. Then take the other end and plug it into the phone
jack on the wall. And finally, take the interface plug from the
modem and plug this into the modem or serial port on the
back of your computer. Launch the communications software
or just use an /nternet service provider (such as America Online,
which has an easy built-in procedure for signing on), enter the
required phone numbers, names, and passwords, and you're
connected. If you’re a new member, you don’t even have to
pay for the first month of service. So be sure to try it out. The
other advantage of modems is that you can talk directly to
other modems to send files to service bureaus, clients, or your
friends. It’s really a great way to stay in touch and to learn the
latest in the world of animation. For some specific information
on speed and operating costs, see the section on Web anima-
tion in Chapter 17: Animation Frontiers.

WHAT DO I NEED?
WHICH SHALL I BUY?

This entire chapter can be seen as a primer for that big

moment when you’ve decided to either purchase your own
computer system or upgrade an existing one. What do you
need? Which will you buy? Those are the questions that this
chapter has been anticipating.
Choosing the right computer tools, both hardware and
software, starts with understanding what you want to accom-
plish, how quickly you want it done, and of course how much

COMPUTER HARDWARE 397

 you can afford. But before deciding on the exact computer
model, you must also know what to expect.
The Right Tool(s) for the Task(s). To help you determine
the computing power you need, Figure 24.22 provides a table
to give you a self-diagnostic matrix that seeks to combine five
disparate elements:

1. Computer Power (emphasis on CPU/processing

speed)
. Peripherals (all described in this chapter)
. Cost (low end, midrange, and high end)
. Animation Tasks (eleven of them are broken out)
. Animation Techniques (by the categorization in
-G
od
Vi

Part Ill: Techniques)

24.22 The Escobar Analysis Grid:

THE ESCOBAR ANALYSIS GRID

Production Tasks Low End: $2-5K Midrange: $5-10K High End: $10-20K
CPU = 75-100 MHz CPU = 100-166 MHz CPU = 200 MHz plus
Writing/Publishing More than adequate for outlines, |Blazingly fast for this Complete overkill.
scripts, and sophisticated desktop | task alone.
publishing.
Storyboarding Can handle most “slideshow- On the upper end of this |Much faster processing to
based” storyboarding tasks in range, the storyboard repare “multimedia-
black and white and color. can use any media you ased” Siciynomeds Play-
Adding audio and transitional want to add such as, back should be zippy.
effects will start to slow playback | audio, photo, digitized
of storyboards from the video, and animation.
computer—but you can print This “multimedia-based”
them just fine. storyboard will probably
require more up-front
processing time, but it
should play back nicely.
Recording Expect to record FM radio to Software-based audio Can handle multitrack
nearly CD-quality audio, but you | solutions are possible. recording and playback
may need to get asound board, | But most models at this | like a professional studio,
especially with PCs, for reliable level include built-in depending on the sophisti-
CD-quality audio. audio processors to eas- | cation of your audio soft-
ily record CD-quality ware. No additional sound
audio. board should be necessary.
Scanning and Image ___| Most of the initial heavy lifting is |Can do much better You can post-process the
Processing done by the scanner, however than the low end, but scanned image at will
the computer still does the post- | can still go slowly with | without any hiccups or in
processing of the scanned image. | large, colorful, compli- | most cases see it done in
Depending on the resolution cated images. You can real time. For example,
(size of the image) and bit-depth | add special boards to resize, rotate, flip, skew,
(color intensity) of the scan, the | improve image-process- | remap, texturize, roto-
computer may struggle in this ing task so it’s closer to | scope, or do almost any-
task. It should handle black-and- | real-time performance. | thing you can think of and
white scans in a breeze. this levelof computing can
andle it.

398 Lares ANIMATION BooK

Production Tasks Low End: $2-5K Midrange: $5-10K High End: $10-20K
CPU = 75-100 MHz CPU = 100-166 MHz CPU = 200 MHz plus
Video Capture, Play- | Will capture and play small-size | Can capture, play back, | Capture and playback at
back, and Transfer videos at between 10 to 15 and transfer larger 30 fps, full-screen videos,
(to a video tape frames per second (fps). Can videos at faster frame but still not as good as can
recorder) be upgraded with video process- | rates, but not at full- be obtained using a video
ing board to record and play screen size. Video pro- processing board.
back full-screen videos at cessing board still Can also perform MPEG
30 frames per second. Most low- | necessary for Super VHS video encoding (format-
end computers do not have or Beta SP quality. ting) and decoding (play-
video-out (transfer) capabilities. back) all in software.
A video board solves this. Encoding function will be
slow, decoding will be fast.
Drawing and Speed is generally not the issue | More than adequate for | Exceptionally capable for
Painting in this task. Low-end computers | this task and performs drawing and painting
can handle painting and drawing | reasonably well for most | tasks, including any subse-
programs just fine. It is when the | image-processing assign- |quent image processing.
finished drawing has to undergo | ments.
further image processing (see
above) that additional processor
muscle is requi
Modeling Similar to drawing; should be no |Can handle more com- | Complex modeling is this
problem for most modeling jobs. |plex models before computer's lifeblood. Go
Complicated objects or multiple | needing assistance from | ahead, make your model.
models will likely be slow, but a 3-D processing board.
this computer can be enhanced
with 3-D processing b
Animating Pre-rendered animation can be Can do simple pre- and Unless this computer has
done, but post-rendered anima- post-rendered anima- multiple processors, even it
tion ee (without compres- tion equally well, but can't guarantee superior
sion) will be slow or necessitate complicated animation post-rendered animation
resizing to a smaller animation sequences could benefit support. Better get that
image. from a 3-D processing 3-D processing board.
board.
Rendering Don’t expect 3-D rendering to Some rendering can be Some rendering can be
occur in real time. Depending on done in a few minutes; done in real time, often in
the model, lighting, and anima- most is done in several minutes, sometimes in
tion settings, this could take a minutes; and more than hours, and infrequently in
few seconds, minutes, hours, or occasionally in hours. days.
days. Generally it will be long Rendering in days can
minutes and hours. Rendering in be expected.
days is not unusual.
Printing Similar to scanning, the heavylift- More than adequate. Overkill.
ing is done by the device (in this
case the printer) and not the
computer. But if your printer is
not intelligent, lacks a processor
or enough memory, then the
computer has to do the work.
The low end should perform
well, but it can appear slow
because it is biel) for the
printer to render a line of image.
Editing This function taxes the computer Larger animation can be Full-screen, full-motion
in a similar fashion as rendering edited with this com- videos at 30fps are doable,
and image processing. The low puter, but a full-screen but rendering of effects
end should be adequate for size at full-motion video and fancy transitions will
small, rough cuts of your anima- rates may be a struggle remain relatively slow.
tion. Without a video board it without the video
can’t serve as your final output, board.
unless it is for the Internet or CD-
ROM.

COMPUTER HARDWARE 399

 CPU AS PERFORMANCE
GAUGE (NOT PRICE)

Notice in Figure 24.22 that the speed of the processor is shown

in megahertz (MHz). While this is not the only factor in the
overall speed of a computer, you can use it as a handy gauge
for deciding the level of computer that meets your require-
ments. It can also be used as your price-point gauge. A year or
two from now the processor in the midrange column will be in
the low end, while the high end shifts to the middle, and a
new high end will emerge. The prices are likely to stay about
the same for even more power in each category. That is the
reality of computing.
Knowing this, do not be dissuaded from buying today.
The opportunity cost for waiting another year or two will be
greater than any perceived savings you may fantasize about.
“Opportunity cost” is a business term for the income that is
lost (or not earned) by doing nothing when an alternative (or
opportunity) to earn income presented itself.
Admit it. You are thinking, “But if | wait to buy, I'll be
able to do so much more!” Well, that is absolutely true. The
problem is that the expectations of the audience rise propor-
tionally so that what was acceptable as a low-end (or even a
high-end) product no longer measures up. In the meantime,
the skill level you need to climb to deliver audience-acceptable
animation becomes even steeper. Those who are doing low-
end work today can more easily handle the high-end work
tomorrow.
A computer can help in many creative and production
areas. But it cannot do one very important thing: It does not
create the visual and emotional impact that comes with every
piece of successful animation. You have to supply those critical
ingredients. The computer-generated movie Toy Story suc-
ceeded because it was a good, well-told story—not because it
was done using a computer. The computer is just a tool, like a
pencil or a light box. If it is put to good use with enough skill
and power, then your story can be well told too.

400 > THE ANIMATION BooK

WRITTEN WITH TRISTA GLADDEN

The information inl this chapter is bound to be quickly dated. The field of animation has seen
tremendous growth since the first edition of this volume, and that growth continues, faster and faster.
The resources that fuel animation will change too. But the strategies and pathways for finding out what
you need to know will most likely remain constant. At least that’s the premise upon which we offer what we
hope you will find a good starting point for learning more.
This chapter explores the categories of Books, Periodicals, the Internet, Organizations, Schools, Suppliers,
Distribution, and Festivals related to animation. These lists are not meant to be comprehensive. They are quite
selective. We've chosen only what we know to be accurate and durable. In compiling these resources, we
leaned heavily on three sources: (a) New York University (NYU) Animation Station at http:/Awww.nyu.
edu/tisch/filmtv/animation/station.html, (b) the University Film and Video Association (UFVA) at http://www.
temple.edu/ufva/index.html, and (c) the Animation World Network (AWN) at http:/www.awn.com. Checking
out these sites will provide the most up-to-date information on resources available in animation. Also, con-
tributing writer Jan Cox of Manga Entertainment supplied much of the information on distribution.
At the very end ofthis chapter, there are two full-page
reproductions that you may want to duplicate for use in your
own animation: an animation field guide and an exposure
sheet. There are also some special treats to lure you through
these pages—miscellaneous cool pictures and photo spreads
that make good reading as well as good looking.

The bibliography that follows has been organized into three

25.1 Animation Year One: The history of
categories: Books on Making Animated Films; Books on the animation begins with a 1906 film by James S.
History of Animation, Studios, Animators; and Books on Topics Blackton entitled Funny Faces. Here is a frame
Related to Animation. The last group is a hodgepodge of titles from it. Courtesy John Canemaker.

401
that, for one reason or another, seem to deserve mention within these pages. This is by no means a compre-
hensive list; it serves only as a sampling of the immense library available on animation in all its forms.
You'll note that a few titles in each list have been given longer annotations than others. In our judgment,
these works constitute a “core collection” on animation. We've read them and liked them. This is not to say
that other titles aren't valuable. But to be honest, we've only skimmed many of the books and some are
included because they come highly recommended by several sources. You will, of course, have to do your own
browsing to find works that serve your interests and your needs. Further recommendations can be found on
the Internet at animation sites, as well as at www.amazon.com and other booksellers on the Web. They can
often find out-of-print books as well.
There are a few references you should know about: the Animation Industry Directory, available from Ani-
mation Magazine for $75; the Animation World Network Web site at www.awn.com, which contains a
monthly magazine as well as a slew of up-to-date resources; and the LA or NY Work Book, which lists artists
and illustrators of all kinds.

BOOKS ON MAKING ANIMATED FILMS Cawley, John and Jim Korkis. How to Create Animation.
Las Vegas, NV: Pioneer Press, 1990.
Andersen, Yvonne. Make Your Own Animated Movies:
Culhane, Shamus. Animation From Script to Screen. New
Yellow Ball Workshop Film Techniques. Boston: Little,
York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988. “How-to” book on animat-
Brown, 1970. Sixteen millimeter animation for children.
ing and the creative process in general from a veteran of
Specific techniques are described for flip cards, clay,
Disney, Fleischer, Lantz & Television commercials.
drawing on film, cutouts. Filmography. Updated in 1991
and published as Make Your Own Animated Movies and Education of a Computer Animator. SIGGRAPH ‘91,
Videotapes, with expanded focus on techniques for mak- Course 4. Try a University library for SIGGRAPH materials,
ing flat and three-dimensional animation, exploring spe- which are no longer published, but are floating around.
cial effects, computer animation, editing, sound tracks, You can also try www.siggraph.org for more recent SIG-
and where to buy equipment. GRAPH publications.

. Teaching Film Animation to Children. New York: Foster, Walter. Cartoon Animation: Basic Skills. Tustin,
Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1970. The director of the Yellow Calif.: Walter Foster Publishing, 1989. How to Draw and
Ball workshop describes simplified animation techniques Paint Series, No. 25.
and the equipment needed for animation workshops. . Cartoon Animation Kit. Tustin, Calif.: Walter Foster
Blair, Preston. Animated Cartoons for Beginners. Laguna Publishing, 1996.
Beach, Calif.: Foster, n.d. A beginning set of approaches Godfrey, Bob. Animation as a Hobby. BBC Books. It's out
for classic cartoon-type characters. of print, but if you can find a copy, it’s a good book for
. Animation: Learn How to Draw Animated Car- beginners.
toons. Laguna Beach, Calif.: Foster, 1949. Part of the . The Do-it-Yourself Film Animation Book. BBC
“How to Draw” series. Published also as Advanced Ani- Books. Out of print, but still around.
mation. This large-format publication features Blair’s own
Heath, Bob. Animation in 12 Hard Lessons. West Islip,
drawings along with a simplified methodology of using
New York: Robert P. Heath Productions, 1972. Step-by-
geometric shapes as structural foundation in designing
step guidance for the self-taught animator, with a good
and drawing your own animated characters. Although
chapter on camera mechanics. Points to lots of good
the book doesn’t reach beyond the classic American or resource material.
Disney style of character animation, it covers that art
thoroughly and with such abundance of examples that Lasseter, John. Principles of Traditional Animation
the book is a classic. Applied to 3D Computer Animation. SIGGRAPH ‘87, Com-
puter Graphics, Vol. 21, No. 4. Lasseter is a leading com-
. Cartoon Animation. Tustin, Calif.: Walter Foster
puter-animation director who worked on Toy Story.
Publishing, 1994.

402 GS RESOURCES
Madsen, Roy P. Animated Film: Concepts, Methods, Uses. . Windsor McCay: His Life and Art. New York:
New York: Interland, 1969. This is one of the best vol- Abbeville Press, 1987.
umes on animated filmmaking. Madsen’s book is.
Culhane, Shamus. Talking Animals and Other People.
thoughtfully designed and presented. The volume’s
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1986. Autobiography that
unique strength is the detail it provides on professional covers most of the major studios.
production techniques and tools used in full-cel anima-
tion. Additional areas of value include chapters on The Finch, Christopher. The Art of Walt Disney: From Mickey
Filmograph (Kinestasis), Planning and Drawing Cartoon Mouse to the Magic Kingdoms. New York: H. N. Abrams,
Animation, Sound Recording and Bar Sheets, and Expo- 1973, 1995. Historical examination of the Walt Disney stu-
sure Techniques. An excellent glossary. dio and productions. Information on Disneyworld and
Disneyland. Bibliography.
Morrison, Mike. Becoming a Computer Animator. Sams,
1994. Covers computer animation history and technology, Jones, Chuck. Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an
and has a slew of resources. The accompanying CD-ROM Animated Cartoonist. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux,
contains sample animation. 1989. Autobiography with a little history and a lot of
anecdotes, philosophy, and great art.
O’Rourke, Michael. Principles of Three-Dimensional Com-
puter Animation. W. W. Norton & Co, 1995. Thorough Koenig, David. Mouse Under Glass: Secrets of Disney
Animation. Bonaventure Press, 1997. Well-researched
look into concepts of 3-D computer animation, regardless
of computer software or hardware. behind-the-scenes details about Disney films and theme
parks from Snow White to The Hunchback of Notre
Whitaker, Harold and John Halas. Timing for Animation. Dame.
London, New York: Focal Press, 1981. Good for under-
standing the mechanics of timing and drawing. Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of Ameri-
can Animated Cartoons. New York: New American
White, Tony. The Animator’s Workbook. New York: Library/Plume, 1980. Best objective history of Hollywood
Watson-Guptill Publications, 1986. Essential cel-animation animation.
reference with extensive coverage of marking break-
Thomas, Frank and Ollie Johnston. Disney Animation:
downs for assistants and in-betweeners. Has an explana-
The Illusion of Life. New York: Abbeville, 1981. Out of
tion of the shift-and-trace in-between system.
print, but arguably the best book on drawn animation
ever published.

BOOKS ON THE HISTORY OF

ANIMATION, STUDIOS, ANIMATORS
BOOKS ON TOPICS RELATED TO
Adamson, Joe. Tex Avery: King of Cartoons. Da Capo, ANIMATION
1985. General information on the art of animation and
on Avery’s contributions to the field. Blacker, Irwin R. The Elements of Screenwriting: A Guide
for Film and Television Writers. Macmillan Publishing Co.,
Canemaker, John. The Animated Raggedy Ann & Andy:
1996. Similar to Strunk & White’s Elements of Style for
The Story Behind the Movie. New York: Bobbs-Merrill,
English. Essential for film and television of all types.
1977. This book has value beyond the context of its
development, which was the making of Richard Campbell, Joseph. Hero With a Thousand Faces. Prince-
Williams's feature-length animated film Raggedy Ann ton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968. ©1949. Also Fine
and Andy. Communications, 1996. This is a classic for screenwriters
and other storytellers. Campbell's analysis of the world’s
___. Before the Animation Begins: The Art and Lives of
great myths and epic stories provide insight into the
Disney Inspirational Sketch Artists. New York: Hyperion,
kinds of worlds and characters that animation is so
1996.
uniquely qualified to develop.
. Felix: The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most
Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.
Famous Cat. Pantheon 1993/Da Capo 1996.
Los Angeles, Calif.: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1979, 1989,
. Storytelling in Animation: The Art of the Ani- 1992. Teaches how to draw what you see and how your
mated Image. Los Angeles: AFI, 1988. brain interprets visual images.
. Tex Avery: The MGM Years, 1942-1955. Turner,
1996. Probably hard to find, but large with full-color
pictures.

RESOURCES 403
 PERIODICALS

The following periodicals often contain information

of interest to those making, teaching, and/or study-
ing animation. Sources of information for current
articles on animation can also be found in The Read-
ers Guide to Periodical Literature and film periodical
indexes (Film Literature Index, New Film Index, Inter-
national Index to Film Periodicals, and The Critical
Index). It's also nice to know that sometimes there
are student rates and other discounts offered on sub-
25.2 Windsor McCay: Animation historian and writer scriptions. And often, articles and supplements to
John Canemaker holds an original drawing from McCay’s these magazines can be found on the Internet.
film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). Courtesy John Cane-
maker. This section is divided into Animation Maga-
zines, which is dedicated to those magazines that
Egri, Lajos. The Art of Creative Writing. New York:
discuss animation in general; Computer Magazines,
Citadel Press, 1965; reissued 1995.
which lists those that offer a great deal of informa-
. The Art of Dramatic Writing. Simon & Schuster,
1977. The bible for telling a structured and thoughtful tion on the newest technologies available to anima-
story for any medium. tors and others; and E-zines and the Internet, which
Gray, Milt. Cartoon Animation: Introduction to a Career. lists additional animation resources found exclusively
Northridge, Calif.: Lion’s Den Publications, 1991. Points to
on the Web.
lots of other good resource material.
Hoffer, Thomas W. Animation: A Reference Guide. West-
port, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1991. Lists books, articles,
periodicals, research centers, and has a short history. ANIMATION MAGAZINES
Muybridge, Eadweard. Animals in Motion and The Animation Journal. AJ Press; 2011 Kingsboro Circle;
Human Figure in Motion. New York: Dover, 1955 and Tustin, CA 92780-6733, http:/Awww.chapman.edu/anima-
1956, respectively. The time-motion studies by Muybridge tion/. About $20 for 2 issues/yr. and index to back issues.
are a continuing source of fascination, appreciation, and Peer-reviewed scholarly journal devoted to animation his-
instruction to animators. If we caught your interest with tory and theory from Chapman University School of Film
our book's cover, treat yourself to these volumes. and TV in Orange, CA.
Nicolaides, Kimon. The Natural Way to Draw. Boston, Animation Magazine. Thoren Publications; 30101 Agoura
MA: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1975, ©1941. Famous “how- Court, #110; Agoura Hills, CA 91301-4301. (818) 991-2884.
to-draw” book recommended by people like Culhane and Monthly, $36/yr. Created as a forum of the newest tech-
Jones. niques and classic styles of the animation process for ani-
Pintoff, Ernest. The Complete Guide to American Film mators, afficionados, and general audiences to enjoy.
Schools. Viking Books, 1994. Promotes the art and business of animation and gives
recognition to those animators and technicians who
. The Complete Guide to Animation and Computer
make the world of animation what it is today.
Graphics. Watson-Guptill Publications, 1995.
Animation Report. P.O. Box 2215, Canoga Park,
Walter, Richard. Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Busi-
CA 91396 (818) 346-2782. 10 issues/yr. $250. Newsletter
ness of Film and Television Writing. New York: New
with current events, commentary, and analysis of the
American Library/Plume, 1988. Enjoyable to read, just for
animation industry. Includes detailed reports on studios,
fun.
articles on the economy of animation, and interviews
with producers.

404 oS RESOURCES
ANiMATO! 92 Thayer Road, Monson, MA 01057-9445. tion companies and a multitude of resources, including
Quarterly, $18/yr. http://members.aol.com/thelmascum/ those for animation.
animato.htm. Loaded with articles written by fans and The Independent Film and Video Monthly. Foundation
industry people for animation fans; some articles are for Independent Video and Film; 304 Hudson St., New
well-written, others not. Highly recommended. York, NY 10013-1015. (212) 807-1400. http://www.
Cinefex: The Journal of Cinematic Illusions. P.O. Box virtualfilm.com/aivf. Monthly, $45/yr. ($25/yr. for stu-
20027, Riverside, CA 92516-0027. (909) 788-9828. Quar- dents.) The official publication of FIVF. Covers new film
terly magazine devoted to cinematic special effects, which and video releases from the smaller, sometimes lesser-
increasingly means computer animation. Provides insight known producers. Also includes profiles of independent
into all motion picture illusions, from computer-enhanced film and video makers, festival listings, information on
effects to the trickery of the makeup department. Inter- new media technologies, and legal and business news.
views with special effects creators are also included. Millimeter. Intertec Publishing; 5 Penn Plaza, 13th Floor,
Daily Variety. Cahners Publishing Company, Inc.; 5700 New York, NY 10001. (212) 613-9700. Annual animation
Wilshire Blvd., #120, Los Angeles, CA 90036-3659. (213) issue; information on new techniques and equipment.
857-6600. Daily Mon-Fri, $187/yr. With special animation Producer’s Masterguide. 60 E. 8th St., 34th Fl., New York,
issues about every three months. Created for profession- NY 10003. (212) 777-4002. http://www.producers.
als and observers of the global entertainment business, masterguide.com. Annually, $125. Comprehensive refer-
such as film, television, video, cable, music, theater, etc. ence for film, TV, and media, national and international
Includes coverage of financial, regulatory, and legal mat- production. Web site has table of contents, sample pages,
ters pertaining to entertainment. and ordering information.
Digital Video Magazine. Miller Freeman, Inc.; Harrison
St., San Francisco, CA 94107. (415) 905-2200; or subscrip-
tions: (888) 776-7002. $20/yr. http://www.livedv.com.
Monthly magazine focusing on the needs of digital video
COMPUTER MAGAZINES
and digital media creators, including animators. 3D Artist is a printed how-to magazine for desktop 3-D
Film & Video, The Production Magazine. Phillips Publish- graphics (PC, Mac, Amiga, Windows NT). The Web site
ing International; 8455 Beverly Blvd., #508, Los Angeles, supplements the news, resources, and articles that appear
CA 90048-3416. (213) 653-8053. Monthly, free to industry in the magazine. Most articles are written by the readers
members—request free copy to see criteria, $55. Written themselves. The target readership is freelance artists who
for producers of motion pictures, television program- use 3-D tools, and people whose goal is to become pro-
ming, commercials, music videos, and multimedia. fessional 3-D users. 3D Artist appears at intervals of
Designed to educate and inform readers of the changes, approximately six to eight weeks at $37/yr.
technologies, and emerging trends in the film, television, 3D Artist Magazine. Columbine, Inc.; P.O. Box 4787; Santa
and interactive industries. Fe, NM 87502. (505) 982-3532; http:/Awww.3dartist.com/
Hollywood Creative Directory (Film and TV Production 3D Design. P.O. Box 420432, Palm Coast, FL 32142-0432.
Companies and Executives), Hollywood Distributor Direc- (800) 829-2505. Monthly issues for $30/yr.
tory (Distribution and Syndication Companies) and Holly-
Computer Graphics World. 10 Tara Boulevard, 5th Floor,
wood Interactive Directory (Title Developers and
Nashua, NH 03062-280. (603) 891-0123; fax: 603-891-0539;
Publishers). 3000 W. Olympic Blvd., Ste. 2525, Santa Mon-
www.cgw.com; [email protected]. 3D, CGls, Design
ica, CA 90404. (310) 315-4815; (800) 815-0503; www.
Products, Information and Reviews. A graphics industry
HollyVision.com. Semiannually, $50. Great resources for
magazine. Product reviews, industry news. Annual sub-
the most up-to-date info.
scription of 12 issues, $40.
The Hollywood Reporter. Billboard Publications, Inc.;
Digital Magic. Monthly. P.O. Box 122; Tulsa, OK 74101.
5055 Wilshire Blvd., 6th floor, Los Angeles, CA 90036-
(918) 832-9257; fax: (918) 831-9497. Info on digital tech-
4396. (213) 525-2000; http://www.hollywoodreporter.
nology, reviews, product information and reviews, 3-D
com. Daily Mon-Fri, $189/yr. Written for members of
effects animation and more.
each segment of the international entertainment indus-
try, from movies and television to legitimate theater and MacUser. Monthly. P.O. Box 56986; Boulder, CO 80322-
music. Focuses on emerging new media and corporate 6986. (415) 547-8600. Macintosh products, review and
finance. Animation special issues throughout the year. help.
Also publishes the Hollywood Reporter's Blu-Book Direc- MacWorld. Monthly. P.O. Box 54529; Boulder, CO 80328-
tory annually in January, which has listings for produc- 3429. (800) 288-6848. Macintosh products and reviews.

RESOURCES 405
PC Computing. P.O. Box 58229, Boulder, CO 80322-8229. Devoted to visual affects and 3-D animation, including
(800) 676-4722; www.pccomputing.com. Monthly, $25/yr. news and information on the tools and techniques of
Another source for info on PC hardware and software. visual imagery.
PC Magazine. P.O. Box 54093, Boulder, CO 80322-4093. Warner Brothers Animation
(303) 665-8930; www.pcmag.com; $50/yr. (22 issues). Great http:/Awww.wbanimation.com
resources for the latest in PC hardware and software. Offers a step-by-step look at the Warner Brothers process
Video and Multimedia Producer. 701 Westchester Ave., of creating animated series, from beginning to end.
White Plains, NY 10604. Monthly; $53/yr. Info on digital
technology, video, film, broadcast and game production,
3-D animation, reviews, Internet, new products.
The Visual Computer, Computer Graphics Society (CGS); ORGANIZATIONS
http://www-ci.u-aizu.ac.jp/VisualComputer/k-myszk@
u-aizu.ac.jp. A good graphics journal. The following are national and international organi-
zations that support the art of animation. Some of
these are devoted to animated filmmaking and schol-
E-ZINES AND INTERNET SITES arship and some maintain a strong interest in anima-
3D Site tion within a broader context of support for all forms
www.3dsite.com
of the moving image media.
Dedicated to 3-D computer graphics.
Animation and Cartoon Heaven Do not overlook organizations at the local level
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/1684/ that can provide important resources for people
Popular Web site includes news, features, and reviews of
interested in animation. Schools and colleges with
interest to the animation community and fans.
film-production programs are usually a center for
Animation World Magazine
http://www.awn.com/mag/index.phtml animation interest. Museums, libraries, and special
6525 Sunset Blvd., Garden Suite 10, Hollywood, CA 90028. film screening centers exist in many cities. State arts
(213) 468-2554. councils are important supporters of the film arts as
Animation World Network's monthly Internet magazine
of animation has current news, features, profiles, soft-
well as other art forms, and strong regional film
ware, reviews, festivals, conferences, and employment study and film production centers are developing
opportunities. throughout the United States.
Animejin
http://www.animejin.demon.co.uk/
The UK’s on-line anime fanzine. Back issues were AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE (AFI)
printed—now available only on web.
Entertainment Directory AFI is an independent, nonprofit organization established
http://www.edweb.com in 1967 by the National Endowment for the Arts. AFI pre-
Contains Yellow Pages. Excellent for searching for anima- serves films, operates an advanced conservatory for film-
tion resources all over the world. makers, gives assistance to new American filmmakers
through grants and internships, provides guidance to film
NYU Animation Station
teachers and educators, publishes film books, periodicals,
http://www.nyu.edu/tisch/filmtv/animation/station.htm!|
and reference works, supports basic research, and oper-
All kinds of information for animators: books, films,
ates a national film repertory exhibition program.
schools, organizations, festivals, and more!
SIGGRAPH Main Office:
http:/www.siggraph.org
2021 N. Western Ave.
International ACM Conference on Computer Graphics
Los Angeles, CA 90027
and Interactive Techniques. Contains informative articles
(213) 856-7600
from past SIGGRAPH conferences.
http://www.afionline.org
Visual Magic Magazine
http://www.visualmagic.awn.com

406 § RESOURCES
 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ASIFA Hollywood
ANIMATED FILMMAKERS (ASIFA) 725 S. Victory Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91502
ASIFA is an international animated film association com-
(818) 842-8330
posed of the leading animation artists from more than (818) 842-5645 fax
fifty countries. The organization sponsors annual festivals http://www.awn.com/asifa_hollywood/index.html
of international animation and has participated in the
publication of a series of books on animation techniques. ASIFA San Francisco
Membership/subscription is $18 a year or $40 for both P.O. Box 14516
local and international membership. San Francisco, CA 94114
http://www.awn.com/asifa-sf/
ASIFA International
c/o Borivoj Dovnikovic Association of Independent Video and Film Makers
Secretary General, ASIFA (AIVF)
Hrvatskog Proljessa 36 $45 for membership, which includes The Independent
41040 Zagreb, Croatia monthly

ASIFA Canada 304 Hudson Street, 6th Floor

Case postale 5226 New York, NY 10013
St.-Laurent, Quebec (212) 807-1400
Canada H4L 4Z8 (212) 463-8519 fax
(514) 842-9763 http://www.virtualfilm.com/AIVF

ASIFA Canada/Vancouver Educational Film Library Association, Inc. (EFLA)

C/o Leslie Bishko Nadine Covert (212) 246-4533
Graphics and Multi-Media Research Lab A membership service that includes individuals and insti-
Centre for Systems Science tutions other than libraries. Provides information services,
Simon Fraser University film evaluations, library. Annually coordinates the Ameri-
Burnaby, B.C. can Film Festival.
Canada V5A 1S6 International Coordinating Bureau of the Institutes of
(604) 291-3610 Animation (BILIFA)
http://fas.sfu.ca/cs/people/GradStudents/bishko/personal/ Robert J. Edmonds (312) 663-1600
anim/asifa.html An organization of U.S. and foreign animation schools.
ASIFA Central Encourages an exchange of curricula, student films, and
Deanna Morse—Membership Secretary general information. High schools, colleges, and universi-
School of Communications ties are eligible for membership.
Lake Superior Hall Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, Local 839 IATSE
Grand Valley State University 4729 Lankershim Blvd.
Allendale, MI 49402 North Hollywood, CA 91602-1864
(616) 895-3101 (818) 766-7151
http://www.swcp.com/~asifa or http://www.awn.com/MPSC839/839INDEX.HTM
http://www.asifa.org/~asifa/
National Film Board of Canada
ASIFA East 1251 Avenue of the Americas
c/o Michael Sporn Animation New York, NY 10020
Jim Petropoulos (212) 596-1770
632 Broadway, 4th Floor www.nfb.ca
New York, NY 10012 Search engine for their titles.
(212) 966-8887 x110
http:/Awww.yrd.com/ASIFA/ Main Office:
Operational Headquarters
Norman McLaren Bldg.
3155 Cote de Liesse Road
St. Laurent, Quebec H4N 2N4
(514) 283-9000 or (800) 267-7710

RESOURCES 407
Quickdraw Animation Society (QAS) American Animation Institute
A nonprofit, artist-run film production co-op dedicated to 4729 Lankershim Blvd.
the production of independent animation and the appre- N. Hollywood, CA 91602
ciation of all types of animation. To this end, they offer (818) 766-0521
Free Film Nights, Animation Workshops, and courses in
California Institute of the Arts
Calgary.
24700 McBean Parkway
#300, 209-8 Ave. SW Valencia, CA 91355
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 1B8 (800) 545-ARTS (Nationwide)
(403) 261-5767 (800) 292-ARTS (California)
http://www.awn.com/qas
Columbia College Chicago
Society for Animation Studies 600 S. Michigan Ave.
Supports animation scholarship in a variety of ways, Chicago, IL 60605
including an annual conference, special exhibits, and a (312) 663-1600 Ext. 367
newsletter published five times a year informing mem-
Computer Arts Institute
bers of animation news and printing reviews of current
310 Townsend St.
books in the field. Fosters research and writing focused
Suite 230
on animation topics, with several competitions.
San Fransisco, CA 94107-1607
Richard J. Leskosky, Pres. (415) 546-5242
University of Illinois
MIT Media Laboratory
2117 Foreign Language Bldg.
20 Ames Street
707 S. Matthews Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02139
Urbana, Illinois 61801
(617) 253-5114
http://www.awn.com/sas
New York University
Institute of Film and TV Animation Area
721 Broadway, 8th Floor
New York City, NY 10003
ANIMATION SCHOOLS (212) 998-1781
Programs that teach animation will—and should— Northwestern University
be constantly revising their approaches and person- 1905 N. Sheridan Road
Evanston, IL 60208
nel. And new programs are popping up all the time. (312) 489-4191
The listing here will provide a starting point, but for
Pratt Institute
more current information, check out the Worldwide 200 Willoughby Avenue
Directory of Film/Video/Communications Schools and Brooklyn, NY 11205
Programs, which is available at the UFVA Web site at (718) 636-3633

http://www.temple.edu/ufva/index.html, the Anima- Rhode Island School of Design

Film/Animation/Video Dept.
tion World Network's Animation School Directory at
2 College Street
http:/Awww.awn.com, and ASIFA’s List of Animation Providence, RI 02903
Schools available on-line at http://asifa.hivolda.no (401) 454-6300
or via mail from Gunnar Strom at More & Romsdaal Ringling School of Art & Design
College, P.O. Box 188, N-6101, Volda, Norway. Also 2700 N. Tamiami Trail
Sarasota, FL 34234
check out The Complete Guide to Animation and
(941) 351-5100
Computer Graphics and The Complete Guide to
American Film Schools, both by Ernest Pintoff.

408 S* ausources
Rochester Institute of Technology SUPPLIERS
One Lomb Memorial Drive
Rochester, NY 14623-0887 Animation Suppliers
(716) 475-2411 Below are a few suppliers of animation tools that will
ship throughout the United States and Canada. It is best
Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design
to try obtaining your supplies through local resources, so
6875 E. Evans Avenue
check out your Yellow Pages and contact art and anima-
Denver, CO 80224-2359
tion schools or organizations in your area. A local dealer
(303) 753-6046
with expertise is often your best resource, since they are
San Francisco Art Institute convenient, and usually eager to help someone who may
800 Chestnut become a loyal customer.
San Francisco, CA 94133
Alan Gordon Enterprises, Inc.
(510) 771-7020
1430 N. Cahuenga Blvd.
San Francisco State University Hollywood, CA 90028
Dept. of Cinema (213) 466-3561
1600 Holloway Avenue (213) 871-2193 fax
San Francisco, CA 94132 www.A-G-E.com
(415) 338-1649 —registration devices, production equipment (lights,
cameras, audio, etc.), drawing tables, etc.
Savannah College of the Arts
548 E. Broughton St. Cartoon Colour Co. Inc.
Savannah, GA 31410 9024 Lindblade St.
(912) 238-2400 Culver City, CA 90203-2584
(310) 838-8467; or (800) 523-3665
School of the Museum of Fine Arts
(310) 838-2531 fax
230 The Fenway
—animation paints and art supplies, registration devices,
Boston, MA 02115
books on animation, etc.
(617) 267-1218
Norris Film Products
School of Visual Arts
1014 Green Lane
209 E. 23rd Street
La Canada, CA 91011
New York, NY 10010-3994
(818) 790-1907
(212) 592-2000
(818) 790-1920 fax
Sheridan College
Oxberry
Visual Arts Dept./Classical Animation
180 Broad St.
1430 Trafalgar Road
Carlstadt, NJ 07072
Oakville, Ontario
(201) 935-3000
L6H 2L1, Canada
(201) 935-0104 fax
(416) 845-9430 =
—cameras, animation stands, supplies
UCLA Animation Workshop
Dept. of Film and TV
405 Hilgard Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024
(310) 825-5829

University of the Arts

320 S. Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 875-1020
USC School of Cinema
Television Animation Dept.
University Park
Los Angeles, CA 90089
(213) 743-3205

RESOURCES 409
Software and Hardware Suppliers Hash Inc.
The following is a list of software publishers for programs 2800 East Evergreen Blvd., Vancouver, WA 98661
related to animation, most of which are mentioned in (360) 750-0042
this volume. The list for companies producing hardware is http:/Awww.hash.com
so vast that is better to start your research by browsing Products: Animation Master
dedicated computer magazines for the most current
Kinetix
product and pricing information. It is often cheapest and
(Division of Autodesk)
most convenient to purchase computer hardware and
642 Harrison St., San Francisco, CA 94107
software products through mail-order companies like PC
(415) 547-2000
and Mac Connection (800-800-0005) and MacWarehouse
http://www.ktx.com
(800-255-6227), especially if you know exactly what you
Products: 3D Studio MAX
want.
Linker Systems
Adobe
13612 Onkayha Circle, Irvine, CA 92620
P.O. Box 1034, Buffalo, NY 14240-1034
(714) 552-1904
Customer Support: (800) 833-6687
http://www.linker.com
http://www.adobe.com
Products: Animation Stand
Products: Photoshop, Premiere, Illustrator, After Effects
Macromedia
Allegiant Technologies, Inc.
600 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
9740 Scranton Road, Suite 300, San Diego, CA 92121
(415) 252-2000
(619) 587-0500
Sales: (800) 457-1774
http://www.allegiant.com
http://www.macromedia.com
Products: SuperCard
Products: SoundEdit 16, Director, Extreme 3D, Flash, Free-
Apple Computer, Inc. Hand, SmartSketch
1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014
Opcode
(408) 996-1010
3950 Fabian Way, Suite 100, Palo Alto, CA 94303
http://www.apple.com
(650) 856-3333
Products: HyperCard, Quick Time
http:/www.opcode.com
Claris Corporation (FileMaker, Inc.) Products: Audioshop, Studio Vision Pro
General Info: (800) 544-8554
Softimage
http://www.claris.com; www.filemaker.com
3510 St. Laurent, Suite 400, Montreal, Quebec
Products: FileMaker Pro
(514) 845-8252
Corel http:/Awww.softimage.com
1600 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Z 8R7 Products: Softimage 3D, Softimage 3D Extreme
(800) 772-6735
Specular
http://www.corel.com
7 Pomeroy Lane, Amherst, MA 01002
Products: Lumiere
(413) 253-3100
Deneba Orders and Info: (800) 433-SPEC
7400 SW 87th Ave., Miami, Florida 33173 http://www.specular.com
(305) 596-5644 Products: Infini-D
http://www.deneba.com
Strata
Products: Canvas
2nd West St. George Blvd., St. George, Utah 84770
FormZ (801) 628-5218
(Division of Autodesk) http://www.strata3d.com
(614) 488-8838 Products: Studio Pro
http:/www.formz.com
Toon Boom Technologies Inc.
Fractal Design 3601 W. Alameda Ave., #201, Burbank, CA 91505
Orders: (800) 846-0111 (818) 954-8666
http://www. fractal.com http:/Awww.toonboom.com
Products: Painter, Ray Dream Studio, Ray Dream Designer Products: TicTacToon, USAnimation

410 “ie asucuees

25.3 Cartoon virtuosity: A master animator’s art is not simply to make a series of drawings move but also to make
them move with recognizable elements of character, emotion, and life. This series of key drawings is reproduced from
Animation—How to Draw Animated Cartoons by Preston Blair.

RESOURCES 411
 wes °C .
"RIBUTION ¢—
Written with Jan Cox

Now that you've made a film, what do you do with festivals will have entry fees, and you must supply the
it? And where do you go to see other independently print or video of your film and pay for shipping. This
made animation? Let's tackle this by defining the cat- can be an expensive hobby if your film isn’t in the
egories of distribution. First you must realize that running for an award. However, the exposure gained
there are several types of rights associated with your may help your film progress to the next type of distri-
film. In general, they are theatrical, television, and bution: licensing.
video rights. Theatrical Licensing. There are entertainment
companies that may be interested in acquiring the
rights to your film for the purpose of distribution in
theaters. Rather than pay to have your film shown,
THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION
you will get paid. This may sound great, but there are
A big screen in a dark theater with an excellent pitfalls to watch out for. You should ask about the
sound system will best highlight your efforts, or mag- ability of the entertainment company to distribute
nify a film’s flaws. For this reason, one hopes you your film. How many theaters will it go to, in how
have spent some time thinking about the production many cities? How will the company advertise your
quality of your film. There are two paths to follow to film? Does the company have a track record of suc-
theatrical distribution, and you should pursue both of cessful theatrical distribution? If so, have you person-
them. ally seen any films they have distributed? These are
The Festival Circuit. Film festivals are basically all questions you should ask them. You should
contests, which offer awards and prizes, and have always retain permission to circulate your film in
rules of entry. Typically, a jury of animation experts competitive film festivals for awards. And if the com-
will judge the film. The rules of the festival may limit pany buys the rights to your film, and neglects to use
the entries to student works or first films, films made them within a short time, you should get the rights
since a particular date, or films with a theme. There back. Otherwise, your hard work is legally tied up,
are many, many festivals all over the world, so you and no one gets the opportunity to see it. The bot-
should pick and choose which to be involved in. The tom line is, go for the widest possible distribution
amount and/or type of prize may help you decide. you can find. To find these companies, look in indus-
Usually, a monetary prize is awarded, but sometimes, try directories and film festival guidebooks, and ask
the prize is simply the honor of having won. In some other animators.
cases, just your ticket to attend the festival will be
gratis, and in others, your travel and lodging expenses
will be covered. Contact ASIFA for their list of sanc-
TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION
tioned festivals, and search the Internet and enter-
tainment industry magazines for announcements. With the advent of cable and satellite television, the
New festivals pop up like weeds, so you may want to outlets for animation have widened considerably.
check out the awards offered before you leap. These Consult a library for Bacon’s Media Guide—Televi-

yy
412 y RESOURCES
sion. Depending on the theme of your film and the rental) and see who has space on the shelf in the ani-
intended audience, you could match your film to mation department.
many types of programming, especially if it is a short
film. Another option is to sell the television rights to
an entertainment company, who then sells your film
and pays you a royalty or a fee each time it is sold. As WORDS OF WISDOM
before, check the track record before you assign your There are animators all over the world, doing a wide
television rights. Be aware, you are NOT giving up variety of projects for different purposes. Explore via
your character rights, just the rights to screen one trade magazines and the Internet. A great place to
particular film. In addition to the actual film, the
start is at www.awn.com (Animation World Net-
character you have invented is a commodity. You work), which is a complete source for anything to do
may sell the character rights separately, or you may with animation. Attend film festivals and meet the
want to develop more stories involving the same people who are showing or producing films. Join an
character. ASIFA chapter and/or Women in Animation (818-
759-9596). Write letters or call people you'd like to
meet. Keep taking classes. It helps you grow and
meet people AND it helps the educational programs
VIDEO DISTRIBUTION
to stay alive. Most people in animation are incredibly
This area of distribution is where clout and connec- nice, and networking is crucial to your artistic devel-
tions are most important. It does you no good to opment and to learn about career opportunities.
have a video produced if the public can’t find it, so Another resource is MPSC, the Motion Picture Screen
make sure that whomever you assign the video rights Cartoonists (818-766-7151). And if you get to the
to has adequate distribution. That should include point where you need an agent, find one who spe-
shelf space in major video chains. And that old bug cializes in animation. One place to start is Animan-
again: What is their track record? Don’t worry that it agement (805-260-2950). Ask other animators for
will be your only chance. Once you give up the rights, references. The bottom line is, get connected!
you can’t go back when a better offer comes along.
In the meantime, you could try to sell a video of your
film or compilation all by yourself. Contact a duplica-
tion company (your cost will be about $4 per tape for DISTRIBUTORS OF ANIMATION
a small quantity) and spread the word among friends The following is a selected list of distributors of ani-
and family. Place ads in local ‘zines and see if your mation. For specific titles and current prices, request
local video store will carry some copies. In the mean- the distributor's catalogue. For the most recent list-
time, there are many companies who distribute ings and information, contact the resources men-
videos, and eventually you'll find one who wants to tioned earlier.
add yours to their product line. One of the most
comprehensive animation catalogues is The Whole Alice Entertainment
1539 Sawtelle Blvd., Suite 4
Toon Catalog (800-331-6197), which also lists some Los Angeles, CA 90025
of the production companies of the many videos they (310) 231-1050
sell. Another type of research you should do is to
simply walk into your local video store (sales, not

RESOURCES 413
American Federation of Arts Link Television Entertainment, Inc.
41 East 65th Street 14333 Addison St., Suite 311
New York, NY 10021 Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
(212) 988-7700 (818) 981-8980
Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre Manga Entertainment, Inc.
37 Hanna Ave., Suite 220 964 5th Ave., Suite 330
Toronto, Ontario San Diego, CA 92101
Canada M6K 1 W8 (619) 531-1695
(416) 588-0725 http:/Awww.manga.com
http:/Awww.cfmdc.org
Mellow Manor (aka Spike & Mike)
Carousel Films, Inc. 7488 La Jolla Blvd.
260 Fifth Ave., Suite 405 La Jolla, CA 92037
New York, NY 10001 (619) 459-8707
(800) 683-1660 http://www.spikeandmike.com
specialization: multicultural, social issues
Moon Mesa Media
Enold Films, USA, Inc. P.O. Box 7848
16501 Ventura Blvd., Suite 306 Northridge, CA 91327
Encino, CA 91436 (818) 360-6224
(818) 907-6503
M3D Studios, Inc.
Expanded Entertainment 15820 Arminta St.
30101 Agoura Court, Suite 110 Van Nuys, CA 91406
Agoura Hills, CA 91301 (818) 785-6662
(818) 991-2884
Nelvana Communications
The Filmmaker’s Cooperative 4500 Wilshire Blvd., 1st Floor
175 Lexington Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90010
New York, NY 10016 (416) 588-5571
(212) 889-3820
Nest Entertainment
Film Roman, Inc. 6100 Colwell Blvd.
12020 Chandler Bivd., Suite 200 Irving, TX 75039
North Hollywood, CA 91607 (212) 402-7100
(818) 761-2544
New Yorker Films
FilmWright 16 West 61st Street
231 State Street New York, NY 10023
San Francisco, CA 94114 (212) 247-6100
(415) 864-5779
Pulse Entertainment
INI Entertainment Group 2444 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 303
11845 Olympic Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90403
Suite 1145W (310) 264-8320
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Pyramid Film and Video
(310) 479-6755
2801 Colorado Ave.
International Film Bureau Santa Monica, CA 90404
332 South Michigan Ave. (310) 828-7577; (800) 421-2304
Chicago, IL 60604 http://www.pyramidmedia.com
(312) 427-4545
Rembrandt Films
Lee Mendelson Film Prods. Ballyhack Rd.
330 Primrose Road., Suite 310 Brewster, NY 10509
Burlingame, CA 94010 (914) 279-4158
(415) 342-8284

414 RESOURCES
Silverline Pictures Chicago Underground Film Fest
11846 Ventura Blvd., Suite 100 May deadline; August awards; $25-$35 entry fee
Studio City, CA 91604 Tel: (312) 866-8660
(818) 752-3730 http://www.cuff.org
Formats: Film, Video
Whamo Entertainment
1850 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 201 Cine Golden Eagle Film & Video Comp.
Los Angeles, CA 90025 February & August deadlines (semiannual); $100
(310) 477-0338 Tel: (202) 785-1136

Yellow Ball Workshop D.FILM Digital Film Festival

62 Tarbell Ave. Touring festival of short films using technology in new
Lexington, MA 02173 ways, including digital/desktop video, nonlinear editing,
(617) 862-4283 2-D and 3-D Animation, digital cameras, etc.
The entry deadline is ongoing and there is no entry fee.
Tel: (415) 541-5683
http://www.dfilm.com

FESTIVALS Honolulu Underground Film Festival

September deadline; November awards; $20 entry fee
The following is a select list of U.S. and foreign festi- Tel: (808) 735-2242
vals either entirely devoted to animated films or with http://www.lava.net/huff

special categories for animation. Unless otherwise Los Angeles International Animation Competition
November deadline; March awards; $75 entry fee
noted, these are annual events. Contact the individ-
Tel: (818) 991-2884
ual festival you are considering for entry rules and
New York Underground Film and Video Fest
firm deadlines. They often require the entries to be in
January deadline; March awards; $30 entry fee
a particular format (16mm, 35mm, video, etc.) and Tel: (212) 925-3440
of a particular length. Also check out the UFVA Web http://www.nyuff.com
site at http:/www.temple.edu/ufva/ for the UFVA Palm Springs International Shortfilm Fest
International Festival Directory for Students, and the June/July deadline; July/August awards; $25 entry fee
Tel: (619) 322-2930
Directory of On-Line Festivals at http://www.awn.
com/awneng/fest-av.html San Francisco Int'l Film Fest
April awards
Tel: (415) 929-5016

U.S. Festivals Sinking Creek Film Fest

June deadline; November awards; $30-$60 entry fee
Aspen Filmfest Tel: (615) 322-4234
July deadline; September awards; $30-$40 entry fee Formats: 35mm, 16mm, 3/4”, Beta, VHS
Tel: (970) 925-6882 Slam Dance International Film Fest
http://www.aspen.com/aspenonline/directory/mad/spon-
October deadline; January awards
sors/artscouncil/sponsors/filmfest/index.html Tel: (310) 204-7977
Formats: 16mm, 35mm
South By Southwest
Chicago International Film Festival December deadline; March awards; $20 entry fee
July deadline; October awards; $35-$250 fee. Tel: (512) 467-7979
Tel: (793) 644-3400
http://www.sxsw.com
http://www.chicago.ddbn.com/filmfest Formats: VHS only
Formats: 16mm, 35mm, 3/4", VHS

RESOURCES 415
Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation Fax: 011-353-1-679-2939
The Festival plays in over thirty cities across the U.S. and
Fest Int'l de Cinema Fantastic Sitges
Canada, along with the “Sick and Twisted” for more
July deadline; October awards
mature audiences.
Tel: 011-343-415-3938
No official deadline
Fax: 011-343-237-6521
Tel: (619) 459-8707
http://www.spikeandmike.com/ Festival du Dessin Anime, Belgium
Formats: Pencil test or demo reel on VHS November deadline; February awards; no entry fee
Tel: 011-32-2-534-4125
The UFVA Student Film and Festival
Fax: 011-32-2-534-2279
National Tour of selected work
Tel: (800) UFVA or (215) 923-3532 Hiroshima International Animation Festival, Japan
http://thunder.ocis.temple.edu/~ddoyon March deadline; August awards; no entry fee
Tel: 011-81-82-245-0245
World Animation Celebration
November deadline, February awards Holland Animation Film Festival
Tel: (818) 991-2884 October deadline; November awards
http://www.wacfest.com Tel: 011-31-0302331733
Fax: 011-31-030-2331079

Internationales Trick-Film Stuttgart

Overseas Festivals
December deadline; March awards; no entry fee
Annecy International Film Festival and Market, France Tel: 011-49-711-262-2699
January deadline; May/June awards Fax: 011-49-711-2624980
6 avenue des Iles—BP 399 http://www.itfs.de
74013 Annecy Cedex—France
London Effects and Animation Festival, UK
Tel: 011-33-04-50-57-41-72
November awards
Fax: 011-33-04-50-67-81-95
Digital Media International
Format: 16mm, 35mm
10 Barley mow Passage, Chiswick, London W4 4PH
Bilbao Int'l Fest of Doc. and Short Film, Spain Tel: 011-44-0-181-995-3632
September deadline; November awards; no entry fee Fax: 011-44-0-181-995-3633
Tel: 011-34-4-4245507 http://www.digmedia.co.uk
Fax: 011-34-4-424-5624
Montreal International Short Film Festival
Bradford Animation Festival December deadline; April awards; $30 entry fee
May deadline; June awards Tel: (514) 285-4515
Tel: 011-44-1274-725347 Fax: (514) 285-2886
4205 Rue St-Denis, Bureau 326
Cardiff International Animation Festival
Montreal, Quebec, H2J 2K9, Canada
June awards
Formats: 35mm, 16mm, Super 8
Tel: 011-44-171-494-0506
Fax: 011-44-171-494-0807 Ottawa International Animated Film Festival
http://www.vital-animation.org Canadian Film Institute
2 Daly Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6E2
Drambuie Edinburgh Film Festival
Summer deadline; fall awards; no entry fee
May deadline; August awards; no entry fee
Tel: (613) 232-8769
Tel: 011-44-312284051
Fax: (613) 232-6315
Fax: 011-44-312295501
http://www.awn.com/oiaf
88 Lothian Road
Edinburgh, EH3 9BZ, Scotland ZAGREB, Croatia
(131)2284051 (Fax) (131)2295501 February deadline; June awards; no entry fee
http://www.edfilmfest.org.uk/ Koncertna Direkcija Zagreb
Formats: 16mm, 35mm Kneza Mislava 18 10000 Zagreb, Croatia, Europe
Tel: (385 1) 46 11 808/ 46 11 709
East Kilbride Animation Fest, Scotland
Fax: (385 1) 46 11 808/ 46 11 807
January deadline; March awards; no entry fee
Tel: 011-353-1-679-2937

416 sv RESOURCES
 2 SUE ESB eR SBR e
JUDE EVES INGes cmc
isleat erecta lbs leis] alesSSS
rye fees bea eee RN
ita eel Apel |=|oo foo]Sal la
Sil elel eal aE Ged Gl
eat == At GRR oeke NEES
fie ee pees ees Sea
Puaeeee ese cece ey
yl ee eed
25.4 16MM Animation field guide: Reproduced in full scale, this is a portion of the standard field guide. Full-
sized guides are printed on thick acetate, cover a 12 field (12 inches wide), and come with professional peg holes cut
into them (either Oxberry or Acme registration systems are available). This guide can be modified for your own use if
you punch it to fit the pegging system that you use. Note that a test must be done to make certain that the center of
the field guide corresponds to the center of the camera’s frame.

RESOURCES 417
x bu
5

a x LTT
BF
CAMERA
:

a
LeU
INSTRUCTIONS

i?)
<
m!
PTET
TET
a
i

25.5 Exposure sheet: This sheet can be duplicated so that you will have enough copies to record every frame in an
animated film. Regardless of technique, an exposure sheet should be employed whenever one is working with a pre-
recorded sound track.

418 5 RESOURCES
 “In addition to the traditional parameters of time and
money, some animators have new technical aspects to
consider: things like the narrow bandwidth of the Inter-
net and available memory (on CD-ROMs, hard drives, etc.)
that affect design and frame rate. At the same time, with
the advent of desktop cinema, lots of new production
tools are available to the animation artist. Each new pro-
gram or bit of machinery offers both opportunities and
idiosyncratic limitations as far as the “look and feel” of
the finished work is concerned.
“The practitioners of Kinda-Mation™ might be consid-
ered to be part of the older tradition of independent
artists. These dedicated souls work alone to produce per-
sonal animated films for an audience far smaller than that
of the “industrial strength” studio animation one sees in
feature films or TV series. In so doing, their work helps
broaden the public’s perception of what animation is
really about. This makes possible an ever more sophisti-
cated audience who can learn to appreciate the wider
spectrum of stories and worldviews, in a process which has
been described as the democratization of animation.”
And now to the pix. (A) samples George Evelyn’s rol-
licking but minimalist style as used in a music video pro-
duced by Walt Disney Records for the feature George of
the Jungle (which was inspired by Jay Ward's original Sat-
urday morning cartoon). Courtesy Jay Ward Productions,
Inc. The frame from Dr. Zum, (B), was also designed by
George Evelyn for MTV. Courtesy MTV's Liquid Television.
Both (A) and (B) were animated by Vargo Studios in
25.6 Kinda-mation™: George Evelyn is a great wit as Budapest, Hungary. It is rumored that this new branch of
well as a wonderful character animator from (Colossal) animation is deeply suited to the Eastern Bloc aesthetics.
Pictures. Along with the accompanying pictures, George If you are feeling overwhelmed by the realities of ani-
offers these... mation—limits of budget and technology and time and
Semi-Scholarly Remarks about Kinda-Mation™ clients—try adopting the semi-Zen, semi-fatalistic, semi-
“Adapting one’s vision to a budget, schedule, or produc- bemused perspective that comes from working within the
tion reality is a time-honored human endeavor, long constraints. Don’t freak out. Forget animation and, like
employed in the practical realm of graphic designers, George, surrender yourself to Kinda-Mation.™ Inciden-
illustrators, engineers, architects, and so on. Kinda- tally, the phrase itself is a trademarked term devised,
Mation™ means applying this point-of-view to anima- with tongue in cheek, by George Evelyn and Drew Taka-
tion, which, by it’s very nature (frame-by-frame hashi at (Colossal) Pictures. Some years back, they did the
generation of a motion picture), always has the potential same thing when describing the stylistic range of Colos-
of becoming grueling and complicated. sal’s animation as Art-That-Moves.™

RESOURCES 419
Abekas, 368 cel animation, 199-201, 203-4, 208 cameras, digital, 52-53, 56, 65, 74,
Aberle, Doug, 376 cutout animation, 63-64, 65 164, 393-94
Abolafia, Yossi, 289 in drawings, 6 cameras, video, 51, 53, 165, 168-70,
accelerator cards, 381, 388-89, 394 in forward movement, 191 394
Accom, 368 object animation, 51-52 camera setups
Acme peg system, 176, 196, 314, 321, pixilation, 80 clay animation, 151-52
322, 324 backlighting. See bottomlighting cutout animation, 59, 60
Acrobat (software), 270, 271 backwind mechanisms, 38, 121, 305 field size, 175, 176-78
Adams, Michael, 224 Bagge, Peter, 293 for kinestasis, 120
Adobe Corporation, 65, 127, 220, 227, bar sheets, 97-98, 206, 207, 208 object animation, 51-52
233, 270, 356, 357, 358, 366 Bartlett, Craig, 214 puppet animation, 157
After Effects (software), 65-66, 70, Bass, Saul, 128 for sand and paint-on-glass,
93, 95, 105, 124, 127-41, 165, Bass, Warren, 28 142-43
166, 168, 345, 364-68, 385 Batchelor, Joy, 211 three-dimensional animation, 240
airbrush coloring, 213 Bell, Art, 276 time-lapse animation, 74-75
Alias (software), 237, 396 Benzier handles, 12 Canemaker, John, 104
ALIVE! (software), 260, 261 Big Pixel, The, 261 Canvas (software), 358
Allard, Chris, 364 bit-map images, 8, 352, 357 Cartoon Colour Company, 324-25
alpha channels, 133, 139, 221, 222, Blair, Preston, 5, 8, 172, 193 Cartoon Network, 233
231-32 Blendo, 251 Casale, Bob, 87
America Online, 266, 365, 397 Blockheads, The (television program), CD-ROMs, 46, 252-53, 355, 395
animatics, 85-86, 105, 290 293-95 cel animation, 22, 43, 171-215, 235,
animation discs, 323, 324 Blue’s Clues (television program), 66, 341
Animation Stand (software), 361, 68-71, 134 cel-overs, 194-95
363 Borowczyk, Walerian, 73, 211 cel punches, 322-23
animation stands, 38-39, 114, 121, Boss Film Studios, 261 character animation, 43, 110, 171,
122, 176, 312-20 Bosustow, Stephen, 210 186-87
Anime (animation style), 385 bottomlighting, 142, 315, 328, 329-30 and three-dimensional imaging,
antialiasing, 362 box stands, 317 384-85
anticipation, 186-87, 241 Bozzetto, Bruno, 211 using motion graphics, 129, 131,
aperture. See f-stop bracketing, 328 133
Apple Computer, 41, 267, 270, 275, breakdown count, 183, 187 character packs. See model sheets
355, 362, 378 Broderbund, 252, 254 Chase, Cheryl, 205
armature, puppet, 155-56, 157 browsers, Web, 265, 269-71 Chen, Evan, 90
Asher, Japhet, 293 budgeting, 282-85, 287 Chung, Peter, 293
aspect ratio, 39, 176, 177-78 bugs, registration, 174, 175, 223, 321 Cinemascope, 176, 178
audience, 279-80 bump maps, 239 Cinepak (compressor), 355
audio production. See sound Burkart, Leslie, 364 Clampet, Bob, 172
Audioshop (software), 368 Burns, Steve, 68 clay animation, 150, 151-54, 316
Autodessys, 359 Claymation, 153
auxiliary motors, 302, 310-11 cleanups, 218
Avery, Tex, 172 cable releases, 302-3, 309-10, 315 close-up lenses, 38, 305, 307
Avid systems, 95, 110 cameraless animation, 18-36 close-ups, 210, 213
AXA Team 2D (software), 361 camera mounts, 312-13 codecs, 353-55
cameras, animation, 37-38, 51, Coderre, Laurent, 52
301-11, 313, 315 collage animation, 126, 129, 134
Babbitt, Art, 172 moves and effects, 115, 117, Collins, Vincent, 211
backgrounds 120-21 color

420 A INDEX
 in cel animation, 197-98, 199, Csupo, Gabor, 205, 214 Driessen, Paul, 210
202-3, 213, 216 cue sheets, 97-98, 114, 123-24 Dsquared, Inc., 244
digital painting, 221, 222, 226-30 Culhane, Shamus, 172 Dunbar, Geoff, 172
in drawing, 6-7 cutoff mechanisms, 306 Dunning, George, 83, 172
film stock and, 340 cutout animation, 43, 59-71, 133, 134 duration, 105, 123
in line animation, 195 cycles, cel, 191-93, 197, 200, 210 dust, 203
Web issues, 271 DVDs. See digital videodisks
See also opaquing
Colorflex, 146 Dalglish, Peter, 370
color temperature, 327-28, 330 data storage devices, 380, 383 easing in and easing out, 190, 241
(Colossal) Pictures, 251, 254, 293 David, Tissa, 172 Eastman, Tony, 35
column movement, 313, 315 Davis, Ron, 161 Eastman Kodak Company, 318
compositing, 44, 213, 251, 366-68 DeBabelizer (software), 350, 351 Edison, Thomas, 14, 115
composition, 6, 240, 367 Deck II (software), 368 editing, 117, 334-38
composition window, 129, 136, 141, deGraf, Brad, 293, 295 in cel animation, 208
366 Deneba, 358 of Leica reels, 107
compound, 121, 122, 313, 314 depth, spatial, 7 postproduction, 290
compound movements, 117, 121, depth of field, 304, 308-9 software programs, 363, 366
122-23, 314, 315 design filmmaking genre, 117, 120 of sound, 89-93, 97, 333-34, 368
compression, file, 165-66, 267, 352, desktop minicams, 393 video cards, 390-91
353-55, 391 desktop video, 363, 366, 391 editing consoles, 334-35, 336
computer-generated images, 44, Devignes, Pierre, 21 Efron, Marshall, 288
109-10 die-cuts, 194, 213 Electric Image (software), 360, 396
computers, 251, 266 digital animation, 42-45, 48-49, Equilibrium, 351
cel animation and, 208-9, 213 68-71, 216-33. See also comput- Escobar, George, 364, 396
in cutout animation, 65-66, 133, ers Evelyn, George, 417
134 Digital Domain, 360 exaggeration, 186-87, 241
digital drawing basics, 7-9, 12 digital videodisks, 46, 253, 356, 396 Explorer (Web browser), 266, 267
inking and painting with, 216-33 digitizing exposure index, film, 340
motion capture and, 260-61 for rotoscoping, 165-66 exposure levels, lighting
motion graphics, 66, 127-41 of sound, 88-89 for cameras, 38, 305, 310, 328-29
object animation and, 52-56 diopters, 38, 305, 307 pixilation, 79-80
rotoscoping and, 163-67 dioramas, 51, 52 time-lapse animation, 74-75
sound track production, 43, 86-87, Director (software), 124, 253, 254-57, exposure sheets, 202, 203-4, 206, 207,
88-95 345, 372 208, 324. See also cue sheets
stop-motion animation, 159-61 director's reel, 292 extensible software, 348
storyboarding using, 43, 104-5, Disney, Walt, 83, 171, 250 extremes and in-betweens, 182-85,
108-13 ~ dissolve mechanisms, 38, 304-5 187, 208, 216
three-dimensional animation, dissolves, 121, 131, 195, 305 Extreme 3D (software), 359
234-49 distribution, 46, 250, 291-92, 411-16
See also hardware, computer; soft- CD-ROM and DVD, 252-53
ware, computer modem use, 396-97 fade mechanisms, 38
concept, project, 278-80, 287 nontheatrical, 272 fades, 121, 130, 304
Connectix Quickcam, 52-53, 54-55, via World Wide Web, 271-73 Fax Company, 320
164, 392 documentary genre, 117 field guides, 176, 177-78, 219, 322,
continuity, 79 Dougherty, Michael, 54, 90, 95, 168 324, 325
copyright issues, 84, 87, 412-13 draw software, 8, 73, 356-57 field size, 175, 176-78
copy stands, 121, 316-17, 318 drawing skills, 3-17 files, digital, 46, 65, 269-70
Corel, 358, 359, 366 drawing tables, 183 compression technology, 267, 352,
CorelDraw (software), 358, 359 drawing tablets, digital, 9, 104, 390, 353-55
Cox, Jan, 401 392 cross-platform, 349-50, 355
creative process, 14-17, 134-38, drawing tools, 195, 213, 323-24, 341 formats, 350-52
293-95 cameraless animation, 26, 28, 30 naming of, 221, 225-26, 237
Cruikshank, Sally, 172 digital, 9, 13, 356-57 file translators, 347-48

INDEX 421
film, 40, 250, 327-28, 339-40 Goldsholl, Mildred, 172 inking, 199, 208, 212, 216-33
cameraless animation, 25-36 Gordon, Dave, 294, 295 inks, 26, 142, 341
digital integration, 42-45 granularity, of images, 340 insurance costs, 283
formats, 39-40 (see also specific graphics libraries, 390 Intel Corporation, 378, 381
formats) Grgic, Zlatko, 211 interactive media, 352-53. See also
optical reduction of, 36 Griffin, George, 23, 24, 100, 103, 194 new media
projection speed, 26, 32-33, 57, 73, Gustafson, Mark, 153 Internet, 46, 208, 251, 355, 362, 405.
303, 309, 338 See also World Wide Web
sound recording, 96-99 intervalometers, 38, 74
film festivals, 291, 411, 413-16 Halas, John, 211 intervals, time-lapse, 73-74
film gauge, 39, 40 hardware, computer, 40-42, 45-46, InToons, 261
film laboratories, 341, 342, 343 298-300, 374-400 intuitive genre, 117
filters, lens, 121, 203, 309, 331 cutout animation needs, 65 inverse kinematics, 241, 359
Final Effects (software), 133 minimum requirements, 347, 350 lomega, 383
fine cuts, 290, 334, 335 See also specific components lwerks, Ub, 172
Fischinger, Oskar, 73, 172 hardware, film, 37-40, 45-46,
501 Group, 44 298-300, 326-43. See also edit-
Flash (software), 124, 345, 357, 363, ing; lighting; sound; specific Jankovics, Marcel, 173
364-65 equipment Jarnow, Al, 193
flatbed editing machine, 97 Harris, Hilary, 74 Java (programming language), 271
Fleischer, Max, 172 Harry, the (video tool), 251 J-K Camera Engineering Company,
flip-books, 22-25 Hash, Martin, 244-49, 359 311, 318, 320
flocking animation, 110 Hays, John, 362 Joe’s Apartment (film), 100, 108-13
flutter, 57, 58 heat, lighting-generated, 329 Johnson, Len, 78
focus, camera, 121, 305-6 Herbert, Pierre, 29 Johnson, Ollie, 172
foley effects, 88 herding animation, 110 jointing, of cutouts, 60-61
footage counters, 38, 305, 315 high-contrast film stock, 339-40 Jones, Chuck, 172
Forms-Z (software), 359-60 high-definition television, 251, 253 Jones, Phillip, 122
forward/backward projection, 33, 35 Hoedeman, Co, 58, 155, 317 Jordan, Larry, 62
forward movement, 191 holds, cel, 190, 193, 199, 210 JPEG (compressor), 269-70, 354
Fractal Design, 167, 170, 357, 358 Horner, William, 21 Judge, Mike, 293
frame-by-frame animation, 28-29, 46, hot spots, 329
56 HTML, 265-66, 274, 351
frame count, 73-74 Hubley, Faith, 82, 209, 212 Kahl, Milt, 172
frame counters, 38, 305, 315 Hubley, John, 82, 172, 209, 212 Kai’s PowerTools (software), 348
frame enlargers, 311 HyperCard (software), 362 Kelvin color temperature scale,
frameless animation, 27-28 327-28
frame lines, 26, 27, 28 key frames, 130, 136-37, 139, 241
framing, 6, 305-6 lanzelo, Tony, 122 Kinda-mation, 417
FreeHand (software), 12, 233, 356, 358 IBM, 378 kinestasis, 115-25, 129
f-stop, 303-4, 308-9, 328 idea books, 15, 16, 17 Kinetix, 360
FutureWave, 362 Illustrator (software), 12, 128, 135, Klasky, Arlene, 205, 214
233, 358, 362 Koenig, Wolf, 122
image area, film, 39 Kraning, Suzan Pitt, 62
gang synchronizers, 97, 332, 335, image editing programs, 357-58 Kraus, Kai, 348
336-37 image maps, in texturing, 238, 239 Kricfalusi, John, 214
Gates, Bill, 41 Improv (software), 258, 261
Geersten, George, 195 improvisational animation, 258-59
genres, filmmaking, 117-20 in-betweens. See extremes and in- labor unions, 283
GIF Builder (software), 269, 270 betweens Lacroix, Georges, 377, 387
GIF files, 269-70 Industrial Light and Magic, 360 Lamb, Derek, 73, 100, 199, 279,
Gilliam, Terry, 126 Infini-D (software), 234, 359 288-89, 370
glare, 203, 329 ink and paint software, 222, 226-33, Lambert, Evelyn, 33, 63
gloves, cotton, 338, 342 363 Lantz, Walter, 172

422 8 INDEX
Larkin, Ryan, 172, 173, 189 magnetic tracks, 98-99 flip-books and, 22
Larosiere, Franck Clement, 377 Manacsa, Gary, 276 line and cel animation, 180-93
Lasseter, John, 238, 241 marketing and promotion, 283, in object animation, 56-58
Laybourne, Emmy, 139 411-12 persistence of vision and, 19,
Laybourne, Sam, 168 Maslow, Abraham, 14, 15 26-27, 56
layering, in motion graphics, 131, 133 materials in pixilation, 78
Leach, John, 210 animation, 17, 50-51 in puppet animation, 158-59
leader, film, 25-30, 35-36, 338 in texturing, 238 See also motion graphics
Leaf, Carolyn, 82, 102, 142-49 McCay, Winsor, 172 MPEG (compressor), 354-55, 390
Leica reels, 86, 107, 290 McFerrin, Bobby, 238 Mr. Film, 261
lenses, camera, 38, 121, 305, 306-9. McLaren, Norman, 28, 33, 35, 36, 77, mTropolis (software), 268, 269
See also specific types 82 MTV, 108, 161, 233, 251, 293
Lernie, Michael, 118 McLuhan, Marshall, 16 multi-imaging, 195
licensing, theatrical, 411 Melville, Chuck, 78 multimedia, 352-53, 369, 372. See
light boxes, 194, 324 memory, computer, 379, 382-83, 386 also new media
lighting, 39, 326-31 Messmer, Otto, 172 multitrack audio editors, 92
camera metering systems, 303-4, Meta Creations, 359 Munro, Grant, 62, 77, 82, 173
328-29 Mickey Mousing effect, 94, 171 Murray, Joe, 214
cel animation, 201-2 microphones, 332, 333 music, 35, 81, 83, 86-87
clay animation, 151-52 Microsoft Corporation, 41, 42, 266,
object animation, 52 360
pixilation, 79-80 Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 5 Nagra, 333
puppet animation, 157 Miller, Zdenck, 211 narrative genre, 117
quartz, 330-31 Minoff, Ted, 224 National Film Board of Canada, 77,
three-dimensional animation, 240 Mintz, Alan, 80 100, 127, 317-18, 371
time-lapse animation, 74-75 mixing, of sound, 89-93, 95, 98, 332, Natwick, Grimm, 172
See also bottomlighting; toplight- 368 Navigator (Web browser), 266,
ing M-JPEG (compressor), 354 271
light meters, 303-4, 327, 328-29 modeling, three-dimensional, 235, needle-drop fees, 87
light tables, 23, 183, 324 236-37, 243 negative film, 339
Lightwave (software), 359 model sheets, 203, 287 Netscape, 266, 267
limited-cel animation, 209-10 modems, computer, 396-97 new media, 252-57, 355-56
line animation, 172, 174-75, 193-95, Mogubgub, Fred, 122 Newton rings, 202
235 monitors, computer, 383, 386-89 New York University, 258, 259
Lingo (programming language), 372 Mordillo, Guillermo, 389 Nickelodeon, 66, 68, 80, 167, 205,
Linker Systems, 363 morphing, 44 210, 214
lip sync, 70, 84, 85, 94-95, 206 Mosaic (Web browser), 269 90-degree corner registration, 175,
Liquid Television (television pro- Moss, Dan, 244 321
gram), 210, 251, 253, 293 Mothersbaugh, Mark, 87 Nodester, 275
Live Picture, 275 motion capture, 260-64, 295 Norton, Tennessee Reid, 264
Living Books, 252, 254 motion control animation, 159 Noyes, Eli, 150, 152, 166, 250, 254,
looping, of film, 30, 32 motion-control cameras, 51 293
Lowenstein, Randy, 129, 220 motion graphics, 66, 127-41 numbering systems, cel, 193, 203-4
Lumiere (software), 366 motion pictures, 37-38, 42-45. See
also film
motion tests, 107 object animation, 50-58, 316
Macintosh computers, 41, 165, motivation, 187-88 object-oriented graphics. See vector
349-50, 368, 374, 376-78, 381 Motorola, 381 images
macrofilming, 307 Mouris, Frank, 126 opacity, 130-31
macrofocusing, 305, 307 mouth shapes, 94-95, 206, 207 Opaquing, 199, 208, 212, 216, 226-27,
Macromedia, 90, 92-93, 253, 254, movement 341
356, 357, 358, 359, 363, 364, 368, distance/speed relationships, 56, 57 Opcode, 368
372 as essential element, 12-14, 50 optical printers, 127, 128
Magna-Sync machines, 96 filming techniques, 120-23, 124 optical reduction, of film, 36

INDEX 423
optical tracks, 98, 332 139, 165, 167, 168, 222, 225, radial lights, 240
outtakes, 335 226-32, 239, 245, 275, 345, 356, radiosity, 242
overlays, cutout animation, 61 357-58, 362, 382, 383 random access memory (RAM), 383,
Oxberry Corporation, 124, 318-19, Photo Vista (software), 275 386
320, 323, 330 Picture Works, 275 Random House, 252, 254
Oxberry peg system, 176, 196, 314, Piguet, Yves, 269 Ray Dream Studio (software), 12, 124,
321, 322, 324 Pindal, Kai, 370 345, 359, 364
Pixar, 238, 241, 360, 396 ray tracing, 242
pixels, 8, 14, 378 RealAudio (software), 270
PaceWorks, 270 pixilation, 75-80, 151, 316 recording studios, 88, 96
Pacific Data Images, 360 Plateau, Joseph, 19 reel-to-reel tape recorders, 333
PAD interface, 275 platens, 60, 201, 314, 325, 329 reflection, avoiding, 201, 327, 329, 331
Paintbox (video tool), 251 playback speed, video, 57, 73 reflector floodlights, 330-31
paint/draw software, 9, 104-5, 357 plug-in applications, 93, 270, 271, reflector scoops, 330
Painter (software), 9, 12, 134, 135, 348. See also specific programs reflex viewing systems, 305, 306
167, 170, 222, 345, 357, 358 Pojar, Bretislav, 154 reframing, 123, 213
paint-on-glass animation, 142-43, polarizing filters, 203, 331 registration, 321-25
145-49 Pop, Iggy, 87 animation stands and, 313-14
paints, 26, 142, 146, 202-3, 341 Porter, Jason, 384 cameraless animation, 29, 35
paint software, 8, 73, 167, 356-57 positive/negative fields, 144 of cameras, 302
Pair, Greg, 224, 228, 233 Postlinear Entertainment, 384 digital inking and painting, 219,
Pal, George, 154 postproduction, 290 223-24, 226
Palmer, Dave, 66, 68 PostScript files, 9, 395 flip-book animation, 22, 23
Panimation (software), 275 Potterson, Gerald, 62 frame exposure and, 310
panning backgrounds, 200, 210 PowerPC processors, 363, 366, 378-81 line and cel animation, 174,
pans, 121, 129 Prat, John Ashlee, 153 175-76, 196, 208, 212
pantographs, 121, 122, 315 praxinoscope, 20-22 pixilation, 79
paper stock, 63, 195, 340 Premiere (software), 53-56, 95, 124, of zoom shots, 121
parallax, 305 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 220-22, Reiniger, Lotte, 67
parallel lights, 240 223, 345, 346, 353-55, 362, 365, remote contact mechanisms, 303
Park, Nick, 512 366, 383 Renato (animator), 377, 387
Patel, Ishu, 53 primitives, 236, 356 rendering
Payson, John, 108 printers, computer, 393-95 case study, 10-11
PC platform computers, 41-42, 165, procedural animation, 261 digital cutout animation, 71
349-50, 360, 368, 374, 376-79 production books, 287, 290 three-dimensional animation, 235,
peg system registration, 174, 175-76, production design, 286 241-42, 380
219, 314, 321-24 production planning, 43, 278-95 RenderMan (software), 238
pencil tests, 107, 174, 199, 208 projection, film replacement animation, 70
digital, 218-19, 220-22, 224, 391 in cameraless animation, 30-33, 35 resolution, 130
Pentium processors, 363, 366, field cutoff, 178 image size and, 231-32
378-81 optical reduction, 36 of monitors, 386
performance animation. See motion speed of, 26, 32-33, 57, 73, 303, of scanners, 224-25, 391-92
capture 309, 338 resources, 401-410
Perisic, Zoran, 313 projectors, film, 39, 99, 332, 338, 339 books, 401-403
Perlin, Ken, 275 Protozoa, 260-64, 272, 295 organizations, 406-8
Perlman, Janet, 100, 198, 279, 288-89 puppet animation, 151, 154-59, 316 periodicals, 404-6
persistence of vision, 19, 26-27, 32, schools, 408-9
56, 353 suppliers, 409-10
phenakistoscope, 19-20 QTVR (software), 270, 271, 273, 274, reversal film, 339
photofloods (lights), 330 275 rewinds, 335, 336
photographs, 46, 120, 135, 274-75, quartz lights, 330, 331 Reynaud, Emile, 21-22
357 QuickTime, 54, 65, 71, 73, 89, 90, 92, Reznickova, Paula, 62
Photoshop (software), 11, 65, 69-70, 128, 137-38, 166, 168, 266-67, Robert Greenberg and Associates,
93, 128, 129, 132, 133, 134, 135, 355-57, 366, 390 360

\
424 % INDEX
Rose, Kathy, 184 software, computer, 43, 48, 344-73 Spin Panorama (software), 275
Ross, Sharon, 205 audio production, 89-93 Splash (software), 362-63
rotating discs, 314 basic drawing tools, 13 splicing
rotoscoping, 43, 162-70 case studies, 54-55, 139-41, audio, 333-34
rough cuts, 290, 334-35 254-57, 364-65 film, 39, 46, 334-38
round punch registration, 174, 175, cue sheets, 124-25 splines, 237, 245
321 for cutout animation, 65-66, 133 spotlights, 240
royalty fees, 87, 412 digital painting, 226-27, 233 spring-wind motors, 302
Ruff’s Bone (CD-ROM), 253-57 digitizing, 165 squash, 187, 241, 243
run-length encoding, 352 plug-in applications, 93, 270, 271, squawk box, 97, 337
348 Starevitch, Ladislas, 154
program types, 8-9 Stellavox, 333
sand animation, 142-45 for scanners, 223-24 stop-motion animation, 43, 51, 53-56,
saturation, color, 340 three-dimensional animation, 237, 109, 159-61
scale 238-39, 240, 241, 242, 244-49, stop-motion capture animation, 261,
in cutout animation, 63, 65 358-61 264
in motion graphics, 129-30 virtual reality, 275 stopwatches, 325
in puppet animation, 156-57 See also specific programs and pro- story
scanners, 65, 219, 224, 391-92 gram types in cutout animation, 59-60
scanning, of images, 130, 219, Somersaulter, J.P. and Lillian, 173 in paint-on-glass animation, 146
220-21, 223-25, 226 sound, 81-99, 331-34, 335, 338 storyboarding, 100-105, 106, 207
scanning box, 223, 224 in cel animation, 207, 208 digital, 43, 104-5, 108-13
Schauer, Mitch, 214 editing software, 368 in production planning, 279, 280,
scheduling, 280-82, 287 Leica reels and, 107 287, 290
Schrecker, Dan, 244 production planning, 282, 290 of sound, 85-86
scratching, film emulsion, 29, 30 projection speed for, 32 story treatments, 279, 287
scratch tracks, 85-86 track analysis, 93-95, 97, 206, 207, Strata, 359, 396
screenings, 291 332 Streamline (software), 233
screen time, 73 track building, 86-88 Street Kids International, 370-71
Selick, Henry, 159, 160-61 track layout and mixing, 89-93, 98, stretch, 187, 241, 243
Selwood, Maureen, 165 332 strobe effect. See flutter
sequencing, of shots, 103-4, 114 See also lip sync; music StudioPro (software), 359
service bureaus, 389 Sound Blaster (software), 368 studio system production, 206-9
set design, 156-57 SoundEdit 16 (software), 90, 91, Sullivan, Beth, 256
shading, 242 92-93, 128, 345, 368 Sun Microsystems, 271, 377
shadow boards, 201-2, 329 sound effects, 84, 86-87, 93, 207 super 8mm cameras, 301-11, 315,
shooting log. See cue sheets sound treatments, 83 316, 317-18, 328, 331
shooting on twos, 56-57, 181 spacing guides, 183, 187, 188 sound-on-film technology, 332,
silhouette animation, 67 special effects 335, 338
Silicon Graphics, 43, 263, 360, 378 computer-generated, 130, 133 super 8mm film, 26, 39-40, 178, 303,
silk-screen line cutters, 30 in cutout animation, 64 342
simplicity, in drawings, 5, 28 © motion picture, 42, 44 superimposition, 121, 131, 304
simplified cel system, 210, 212-13 in pixilation, 78-79 SuperPaint (software), 356
16mm cameras, 301-11, 316, 331, 332 sound tracks, 89, 93, 207 Swain, Mark, 295
16mm film, 39-40, 178, 343 spectral sensitivity, 340 synchronization, 81, 83, 93-94. See
cameraless animation and, 25-30, speed also gang synchronizers; lip sync
32 of computers, 378-81, 382, 389-90, SyQuest, 386
projection speed, 26, 303 397 $zasz, Eva, 122
16mm magnetic recording stock, data transmission and, 266
96-97, 332 film projection, 26, 32-33, 57, 73,
slide copiers, 311 303, 309, 338 Takahashi, Drew, 419
sliding peg bars, 201, 322 film stock, 340 tape recorders, 89, 332-33
Smith, Lynn, 62 in pixilation, 78-79 Taylor, Jennifer, 128, 129, 130, 135,
Softimage (software), 360, 361, 396 video playback, 57, 73 139

INDEX 425
TCP/IP, 266 track analysis, sound, 93-95, 97, 206, visual stutter, 57
TeleVirtual, 261 207, 332 visual thinking, 3-4, 13, 103
television, 42-43, 128, 178, 250-51 tracking shots, 121 voice-over narration, 84, 88
cel animation for, 209-10 transitions, between shots, 104 voice tracks, 84, 85, 88, 94-95
digital, 267 traveling scenes, 200 VRAM, 383, 386
as distribution outlet, 412-13 tripods, 38, 121, 315, 316 VRML, 264, 272, 274, 351
high-definition, 251, 253 Trnka, Jivri, 154, 156, 157
Terry, Paul, 172 Tunis, Ron, 82, 173
tessellation, 237 Turner Entertainment, 261 Wallach, Peter, 79
texture, 143-44, 195, 235, 237-39 24 beat, 183 Walt Disney Studios, 101, 103, 171,
thaumatrope, 18-19 two-dimensional animation software, 238, 366
Théatre Optique (Paris), 21-22 362-63 Ward, Jay, 417
Thinkfish Productions, 243 Tyrlova, Hermina, 154 Warner Brothers, 209, 396
35mm film, 30-31, 35-36 warranties, 300
Thomas, Frank, 172 Wasilewski, Zenon, 154
3-D Animation Pro (software), Ultimatte (video tool), 251 waveform editors, 89, 92
244-49, 359 UNIX operating system, 374, 377 waveforms, 85, 89, 91, 93
three-dimensional images UPA Studios, 212 Waves, 367
animation techniques, 150-61 Web animation, 265-77
character animation and, 384-85 Wild Brain Studios, 385
computer-generated, 8-9, 44, Vargo Studios, 417 wild tracks, 331-32, 334
234-49, 379-80 variable shutters, 38, 121, 303, 304 Wilkosz, Tradeusz, 50
software programs, 358-61 variable speed settings, 38 Will Vinton Studios, 153
virtual reality, 274 Varsanyi, Frenc, 50 Windlight Studios, 261
3-D Studio Max (software), 360 vector images, 8, 357 Windows computers. See PC platform
throbbers, 267, 269 Vidal, Yves, 377 computers
Tic-Tac-Toon (software), 361, 363 video, 138, 250 wire frame rendering, 242
tilting, of camera, 121 broadcast resolution, 231-32 wire frame tests, 107
time/frame charts, 26 as distribution medium, 46, 412 work prints, 335
time-lapse animation, 72-75, 79, 150, editing software, 363, 366 World Wide Web, 251, 264-77
316 playback speed, 57, 73
time layout window, 136, 141, 367 video capture, 165-66, 390
timing videocassette recorders, 165, 394 xerography, 135, 213
digital animation, 225 video editing cards, 390-91, 394
line and cel animation, 180-83, 204 viewers, film, 39, 333, 334-35, 336
three-dimensional animation, 241, viewfinder systems, 305 Zeman, Karel, 154
243 Viewpoint Datalabs, 237 zeroed out, 178
timing charts, 180, 181 Vinton, Will, 153 zoetrope, 20-21
titles, film, 128, 132, 133-34 Virgien, Norton, 205 zoom lenses, 38, 121, 305, 307-8, 309,
Toon Boom Technologies, 362, 363 virtual reality, 273-76, 356 338
toplighting, 315 viscous-damped compound, 122-23, zooms, 121, 128, 129-30, 313
Toy Story (film), 44, 238, 241 124, 314

va

426 3 INDEX
hil Laybourne is a highly successful independent producer who has worked on such television
series as MTV's Emmy-winning animation series Liquid Television and Nickelodeon's Eureeka’s Castle and Gul-
lah Gullah Island. During the 1995-96 academic year, he taught the Advanced Animation Seminar at NYU's
Tisch School of the Arts. His full-time gig is Chief Creative Director at Oxygen, a new media company develop-
ing interactive content for the convergence of TV and computers. He is also Executive Producer of Hank the
Cowdog, an animated feature film and TV series being developed by Nickelodeon.
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he first edition of The Animation Book, published in 1979, became the authoritative guide to making animated movies. Now, as
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|
PERFORMING ARTS/TECHNOLOGY
ISBN 0-517-88602-2
52495
wen
Serre NVA
THREE RIVERS PRESS

New YORK
www.randomhouse.com 9"780517"886021