Object animation is a form of stop motion animation that involves the animated movements of any non-drawn objects such as toys, blocks,

doll A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are foun ...

s, and similar items which are not fully

malleable Ductility is a mechanical property commonly described as a material's amenability to drawing (e.g. into wire). In materials science, ductility is defined by the degree to which a material can sustain plastic deformation under tensile stres ...

, as

plasticine Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...

(clay) or

wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to giv ...

are, and not designed to look like recognizable human or animal characters. Object animation is considered a different form of animation distinct from model animation and

puppet animation Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

, as these two forms of stop-motion animation generally use recognizable characters as their subjects, rather than pre-existing objects like static toy soldiers, or construction toys such as Tinkertoys, LEGO brand bricks (as with Brickfilm), Lincoln Logs,

erector set Erector Set (trademark styled as "ERECTOR") was a brand of metal toy construction sets which were originally patented by Alfred Carlton Gilbert and first sold by his company, the Mysto Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Connecticut in 1913. In ...

Playmobil Playmobil () is a German line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group (Geobra Brandstätter GmbH & Co KG), headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany. The signature Playmobil toy is a tall (1:24 scale) human figure with a smiling face. A wide ran ...

, and similar pre-formed objects. Object animation is often combined with other forms of animation, typically for a more realistic effect. Model animation or puppet animation may be used to add more complex movement or depth to the object animation. For example, a

toy car A model car, or toy car, is a miniature representation of an automobile. Other miniature motor vehicles, such as trucks, buses, or even ATVs, etc. are often included in this general category. Because many miniature vehicles were originally aime ...

might be animated, either without, but more often with, a character clearly seen driving the car. The use of animated objects in film has been present since the early days of cinema. An example of modern object animation can be seen on '' Robot Chicken'', part of the regular

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

block on Cartoon Network, which combines object animation with a variation of puppet or model animation. In this case, the puppets are made to resemble

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mark ...

References

Animation techniques Stop motion {{animation-stub