animation Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

, smear frames are animation frames that create the illusion of

motion blur Motion blur is the apparent streaking of moving objects in a photograph or a sequence of frames, such as a film or animation. It results when the image being recorded changes during the recording of a single exposure, due to rapid movement or lo ...

. Smear frames are used in between key frames. This animation technique has been used since the 1940s. Smear frames are used to stylistically visualize fast movement along a path of motion.Drury, Matthew R., "Creating 3D Smear Frames for Animation" (2016). ''Undergraduate Honors Theses.'' Paper 348. https://dc.etsu.edu/ honors/348

History

The earliest, most notable use of smear frames was in the 1942 film

The Dover Boys at Pimento University ''The Dover Boys at Pimento University; or, The Rivals of Roquefort Hall'' (also known as ''The Dover Boys'') is a 1942 Warner Bros. '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoon directed by Chuck Jones. The short was released on September 19, 1942. The cartoon ...

. The nature of smear frames helped to reduce production costs of other motion blur techniques used in earlier cartoons. Developed for 2D animation, smear frames did not evolve much even with the emergence of CG animated films in the 1990s. The more sophisticated, rigged style of animation for CG films was not conducive to smear frames at the time. The earliest most notable use of recognized smear frames in a CG film was 2012’s

Hotel Transylvania ''Hotel Transylvania'' is an American animated media franchise created by comedy writer Todd Durham and produced by Sony Pictures Animation. It consists of four feature films, three short films, a flash-animated TV series, and several video ...

in which Tartakovsky’s 2D design philosophies were used to guide the 3D shots.

Types of smear frames

Elongated inbetween

Movement of the subject between key poses by distorting it over 1-2 frames. The term first emerged in reference to this type of smear in Richard Williams’ '' The Animator’s Survival Kit''.

Multiples

Duplication of the subject or parts of the subject along a path of motion. Does not distort the subject and is used for repeated actions like walk cycles.

Smear frames in different media

While developed for 2D animation, smear frames can be seen in other mediums that employ the use of animation.

In 2D animation

• Chuck Jones’ ''Roadrunner''. • An example of a smear can be found in Williams’ ''The Animator’s Survival Kit.'' • ''

The Legend of Korra ''The Legend of Korra'' (abbreviated as TLOK), also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Korra'' or simply ''Korra'', is an American anime-influenced animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for Nickelode ...

'' combined slight smears with motion blur to emulate a fast motion without distorting the realistic art style. • Animated with 2D puppetry, YouTube’s Super Science Friends used multiples as to not distort their models.

In 3D animation

• 2012 Hotel Transylvania employed the use of both elongated in-betweens and multiples, depending on the motion of the shot. • 2014

The Lego Movie ''The Lego Movie'' is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, its story focu ...

used Lego shapes in the same color as the character to simulate a smear. • 2018

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used squash and stretch with overlayed 2D effects to create smears.

In Stop-motion

• Laika’s ''

ParaNorman ''ParaNorman'' is a 2012 American stop-motion animated comedy horror film directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler (the latter's feature directorial debut), and written by Butler. Produced by Laika, the film stars the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, J ...

'' used 3D printed head replacements that were modeled in various smear shapes. • ''

Wallace and Gromit ''Wallace & Gromit'' is a British stop-motion comedy franchise created by Nick Park of Aardman Animations. The series consists of four short films and one feature-length film, and has spawned numerous spin-offs and TV adaptations. The series c ...

'' used multiples to visualize quick action.

In Video games

Much like 3D animation, smear frames were rarely seen in early video games due to the lack of power in gaming systems. Visually stylistic games with fixed cameras were more likely to have smears. • 1991 ''

Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...

'' smeared Sonic’s feet in his run cycle. • ''

Crash Bandicoot ''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series c ...

'' used multiples and blur on Crash’s spin. According to Lendenfeld, this is the first notable use of smears in a 3D game. • 2001 ''

Jak and Daxter ''Jak and Daxter'' is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game franchise created by Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The series was originally developed by Naughty Dog with a number of install ...

'' used elongated inbetweens, though they were limited in how far they could distort the model.

References

{{reflist Animation techniques