Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating
animations
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...
. The more general term
computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (
still image
An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...
s) and dynamic images (
moving image
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
s), while computer animation refers to moving images.
Modern computer animation usually uses
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for t ...
to generate a three-dimensional picture. The target of the animation is sometimes the computer itself, while other times it is
film.
Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to
stop motion
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 ...
techniques, but using 3D models, and
traditional animation
Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation.
Proc ...
techniques using frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations. Computer-generated animations can also allow a single graphic artist to produce such content without the use of actors, expensive set pieces, or
props
A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...
. To create the illusion of movement, an image is displayed on the
computer monitor and repeatedly replaced by a new image that is similar to it but advanced slightly in time (usually at a rate of 24, 25, or 30 frames/second). This technique is identical to how the illusion of movement is achieved with
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
and
motion pictures
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
.
For 3D animations, objects (models) are built on the computer monitor (modeled) and 3D figures are rigged with a
virtual skeleton. Then the limbs, eyes, mouth, clothes, etc. of the figure are moved by the animator on
key frames. The differences in appearance between key frames are automatically calculated by the computer in a process known as
tweening
Inbetweening, also known as tweening, is a process in animation that involves creating intermediate frames, called inbetweens, between two keyframes. The intended result is to create the illusion of movement by smoothly transitioning one image i ...
or
morphing
Morphing is a special effect in motion pictures and animations that changes (or morphs) one image or shape into another through a seamless transition. Traditionally such a depiction would be achieved through dissolving techniques on film. Sinc ...
. Finally, the animation is
rendered.
For 3D animations, all frames must be rendered after the modeling is complete. For pre-recorded presentations, the rendered frames are transferred to a different format or medium, like digital video. The frames may also be rendered in real-time as they are presented to the end-user audience. Low bandwidth animations transmitted via the internet (e.g.
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich web applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players. Fla ...
,
X3D
X3D is a royalty-free ISO/IEC standard for declaratively representing 3D computer graphics. File format support includes XML, ClassicVRML, Compressed Binary Encoding (CBE) and a draft JSON encoding. X3D became the successor to the Virtual Re ...
) often use the software on the end user's computer to render in real-time as an alternative to
streaming or pre-loaded high bandwidth animations.
Explanation
To trick the
eye and the
brain
A brain is an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It is located in the head, usually close to the sensory organs for senses such as vision. It is the most complex organ in a ve ...
into thinking they are seeing a smoothly moving object, the pictures should be drawn at around 12
frames per second
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
or faster. (A
frame
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
is one complete image.) With rates above 75 to 120 frames per second, no improvement in realism or smoothness is perceivable due to the way the eye and the brain both process images. At rates below 12 frames per second, most people can detect
jerkiness
Jerkiness, sometimes called strobing or choppy, describes the perception of individual still images in a motion picture.
Motion pictures are made from still images shown in rapid sequence. Provided there is sufficient continuity between the imag ...
associated with the drawing of new images that detracts from the illusion of realistic movement. Conventional hand-drawn cartoon animation often uses 15 frames per second in order to save on the number of drawings needed, but this is usually accepted because of the stylized nature of cartoons. To produce more realistic imagery, computer animation demands higher frame rates.
Films seen in theaters in the United States run at 24 frames per second, which is sufficient to create the illusion of continuous movement. For high resolution, adapters are used.
History
Early digital computer animation was developed at
Bell Telephone Laboratories
Nokia Bell Labs, originally named Bell Telephone Laboratories (1925–1984),
then AT&T Bell Laboratories (1984–1996)
and Bell Labs Innovations (1996–2007),
is an American industrial research and scientific development company owned by mult ...
in the 1960s by Edward E. Zajac, Frank W. Sinden, Kenneth C. Knowlton, and A. Michael Noll. Other digital animation was also practiced at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
In 1967, a computer animation named "Hummingbird" was created by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer. In 1968, a computer animation called "
Kitty" was created with
BESM
BESM (БЭСМ) is the name of a series of Soviet mainframe computers built in 1950–60s. The name is an acronym for "Bolshaya Elektronno-Schetnaya Mashina" ("Большая Электронно-Счётная Машина"), literally "Large El ...
-4 by Nikolai Konstantinov, depicting a cat moving around. In 1971, a computer animation called "Metadata" was created, showing various shapes.
An early step in the history of computer animation was the sequel to the 1973 film ''
Westworld
''Westworld'' is an American science fiction-thriller media franchise that began with the 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild-West-themed amusement park populate ...
,'' a science-fiction film about a society in which robots live and work among humans. The sequel, ''
Futureworld
''Futureworld'' is a 1976 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard T. Heffron and written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. It is a sequel to the 1973 Michael Crichton film '' Westworld'', and is the second installment in ...
'' (1976), used the 3D
wire-frame imagery, which featured a computer-animated hand and face both created by
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
graduates
Edwin Catmull
Edwin Earl "Ed" Catmull (born March 31, 1945) is an American computer scientist who is the co-founder of Pixar and was the President of Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has been honored for his contributions to 3D computer graphics, including th ...
and
Fred Parke
Frederic Ira Parke is an American computer graphics researcher and academic. He did early work on animated computer renderings of human faces.
Parke graduated from the University of Utah with a BS degree in physics in 1965. He was then a gradua ...
. This imagery originally appeared in their student film ''
A Computer Animated Hand
''A Computer Animated Hand'' is the title of a 1972 American computer-animated short film produced by Edwin Catmull and Fred Parke. Produced during Catmull's tenure at the University of Utah, the short was created for a graduate course project. ...
'', which they completed in 1972.
Developments in CGI technologies are reported each year at
SIGGRAPH, an annual conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques that is attended by thousands of computer professionals each year. Developers of computer games and 3D video cards strive to achieve the same visual quality on personal computers in real-time as is possible for CGI films and animation. With the rapid advancement of real-time rendering quality, artists began to use
game engines to render non-interactive movies, which led to the art form
Machinima.
Film and television
CGI short films have been produced as
independent animation The term independent animation refers to animated shorts and feature films produced outside a major national animation industry.
A good portion of the work is viewed in animation festivals and private screen rooms along with schools that produce ...
since 1976. Early examples of feature films incorporating CGI animation include the live-action films ''
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'' and ''
Tron
''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action- adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer ...
'' (both 1982),
and the Japanese
anime
is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
film ''
Golgo 13: The Professional'' (1983). ''
VeggieTales
''VeggieTales'' is an American Christian media, computer generated musical children's animation, and book franchise created by Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki under Big Idea Entertainment. The series sees fruit and vegetable characters retell ...
'' is the first American fully 3D computer animated series sold directly (made in 1993); its success inspired other animation series, such as ''
ReBoot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
'' (1994) and ''
Transformers: Beast Wars'' (1996) to adopt a fully computer-generated style.
The first full length computer animated television series was ''
ReBoot
In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is physi ...
'', which debuted in September 1994; the series followed the adventures of characters who lived inside a computer. The first feature-length computer animated film is ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'' (1995), which was made by
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
and
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
: following an adventure centered around
anthropomorphic toys and their owners, this groundbreaking film was also the first of many fully computer-animated movies.
The popularity of computer animation (especially in the field of
special effects) skyrocketed during the
modern era of U.S. animation. Films like ''
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appeara ...
'' (2009) and ''
The Jungle Book
''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...
'' (2016) use CGI for the majority of the movie runtime, but still incorporate human actors into the mix. Computer animation in this era has achieved photorealism, to the point that computer animated films such as ''
The Lion King
''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...
'' (2019) are able to be marketed as if they were live-action.
Animation methods
![3D dragon animation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/3D_dragon_animation.gif)
In most 3D computer animation systems, an animator creates a simplified representation of a character's anatomy, which is analogous to a
skeleton or
stick figure
A stick figure, also known as a stickman, is a very simple drawing of a person or an animal, composed of a few lines, curves, and dots. On a stick figure, the head is most often represented by a circle, which can be either a solid color or som ...
. They are arranged into a default position known as a
bind pose
In computer animation, a T-pose, also known as a bind pose or reference pose, is a default posing for a 3D model's skeleton before it is animated. It is called so because of its shape: the straight legs and arms of a humanoid model combine to ...
, or T-Pose. The position of each segment of the skeletal model is defined by animation variables, or
Avars for short. In human and animal characters, many parts of the skeletal model correspond to the actual bones, but
skeletal animation
Skeletal animation or rigging is a technique in computer animation in which a character (or other articulated object) is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character (called the ''mesh'' or ''skin'') and a hierarc ...
is also used to animate other things, with facial features (though other methods for
facial animation
Computer facial animation is primarily an area of computer graphics that encapsulates methods and techniques for generating and animating images or models of a character face. The character can be a human, a humanoid, an animal, a legendary creatu ...
exist). The character "Woody" in ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'', for example, uses 712 Avars (212 in the face alone). The computer doesn't usually render the skeletal model directly (it is invisible), but it does use the skeletal model to compute the exact position and orientation of that certain character, which is eventually rendered into an image. Thus by changing the values of Avars over time, the animator creates motion by making the character move from frame to frame.
There are several methods for generating the Avar values to obtain realistic motion. Traditionally, animators manipulate the Avars directly. Rather than set Avars for every frame, they usually set Avars at strategic points (frames) in time and let the computer interpolate or
tween
Preadolescence is a stage of human development following middle childhood and preceding adolescence.New Oxford American Dictionary. 2nd Edition. 2005. Oxford University Press. It commonly ends with the beginning of puberty. Preadolescence is ...
between them in a process called ''
keyframing''. Keyframing puts control in the hands of the animator and has roots in hand-drawn
traditional animation
Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation.
Proc ...
.
In contrast, a newer method called ''
motion capture'' makes use of
live action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...
footage. When computer animation is driven by motion capture, a real performer acts out the scene as if they were the character to be animated. Their motion is recorded to a computer using
video camera
A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film). Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of oth ...
s and markers and that performance is then applied to the animated character.
Each method has its advantages and as of 2007, games and films are using either or both of these methods in productions. Keyframe animation can produce motions that would be difficult or impossible to act out, while motion capture can reproduce the subtleties of a particular actor. For example, in the 2006 film ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'',
Bill Nighy
William Francis Nighy (; born 12 December 1949) is an English actor. Nighy started his career with the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and made his London debut with the Royal National Theatre starting with '' The Illuminatus!'' in 1977. There he ...
provided the performance for the character
Davy Jones. Even though Nighy doesn't appear in the movie himself, the movie benefited from his performance by recording the nuances of his body language, posture, facial expressions, etc. Thus motion capture is appropriate in situations where believable, realistic behavior and action is required, but the types of characters required exceed what can be done throughout the conventional costuming.
Modeling
3D computer animation combines 3D models of objects and programmed or hand "keyframed" movement. These models are constructed out of geometrical vertices, faces, and edges in a 3D coordinate system. Objects are
sculpted much like real clay or plaster, working from general forms to specific details with various sculpting tools. Unless a 3D model is intended to be a solid color, it must be painted with "
textures" for realism. A bone/joint animation system is set up to deform the CGI model (e.g., to make a humanoid model walk). In a process known as ''rigging'', the virtual marionette is given various controllers and handles for controlling movement. Animation data can be created using
motion capture, or
keyframing by a human animator, or a combination of the two.
3D models rigged for animation may contain thousands of control points — for example, "Woody" from ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'' uses 700 specialized animation controllers.
Rhythm and Hues Studios
Rhythm & Hues Studios was an American visual effects and animation company, that received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects in 1995 for '' Babe'', in 2008 for '' The Golden Compass'', and in 2013 for '' Life of Pi''. It also received fou ...
labored for two years to create
Aslan
Aslan () is a major character in C. S. Lewis's ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' series. Unlike any other character, he appears in all seven chronicles of the series. Aslan is depicted as a talking lion, and is described as the King of Beasts, the ...
in the movie ''
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'', which had about 1,851 controllers (742 in the face alone). In the 2004 film ''
The Day After Tomorrow
''The Day After Tomorrow'' is a 2004 American science fiction disaster film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Roland Emmerich. Based on the 1999 book '' The Coming Global Superstorm'' by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, the film stars De ...
'', designers had to design forces of extreme weather with the help of video references and accurate meteorological facts. For the
2005 remake of ''
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...
'', actor
Andy Serkis
Andrew Clement Serkis (born 20 April 1964) is an English actor, director, and producer. He is best known for his performance capture roles comprising motion capture acting, animation, and voice work for computer-generated characters such as Go ...
was used to help designers pinpoint the gorilla's prime location in the shots and used his expressions to model "human" characteristics onto the creature. Serkis had earlier provided the voice and performance for
Gollum
Gollum is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. He was introduced in the 1937 fantasy novel '' The Hobbit'', and became important in its sequel, '' The Lord of the Rings''. Gollum was a Stoor Hobbit of the R ...
in
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlins ...
's ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...
'' trilogy.
Equipment
Computer animation can be created with a computer and an animation software. Some impressive animation can be achieved even with basic programs; however, the rendering can require much time on an ordinary home computer. Professional animators of movies, television and video games could make photorealistic animation with high detail. This level of quality for movie animation would take hundreds of years to create on a home computer. Instead, many powerful
workstation
A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...
computers are used. Graphics workstation computers use two to four processors, and they are a lot more powerful than an actual home computer and are specialized for rendering. Many workstations (known as a ''"
render farm
A render farm is a high-performance computer system, e.g. a computer cluster, built to render computer-generated imagery (CGI), typically for film and television visual effects.
Origin of the term
The term ''render farm'' was born during the p ...
"'') are networked together to effectively act as a giant computer, resulting in a computer-animated movie that can be completed in about one to five years (however, this process is not composed solely of rendering). A workstation typically costs $2,000 to $16,000 with the more expensive stations being able to render much faster due to the more technologically-advanced hardware that they contain. Professionals also use digital
movie camera
A movie camera (also known as a film camera and cine-camera) is a type of photographic camera that rapidly takes a sequence of photographs, either on an image sensor or onto film stock, in order to produce a moving image to project onto a movie sc ...
s, motion/
performance capture
Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...
,
bluescreens,
film editing software, props, and other tools used for movie animation. Programs like Blender allow for people who can't afford expensive animation and rendering software to be able to work in a similar manner to those who use the commercial grade equipment.
Facial animation
The realistic modeling of human facial features is both one of the most challenging and sought after elements in computer-generated imagery.
Computer facial animation
Computer facial animation is primarily an area of computer graphics that encapsulates methods and techniques for generating and animating images or models of a character face. The character can be a human, a humanoid, an animal, a legendary creatu ...
is a highly complex field where models typically include a very large number of animation variables. Historically speaking, the first
SIGGRAPH tutorials on ''State of the art in Facial Animation'' in 1989 and 1990 proved to be a turning point in the field by bringing together and consolidating multiple research elements and sparked interest among a number of researchers.
The
Facial Action Coding System
The Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is a system to taxonomize human facial movements by their appearance on the face, based on a system originally developed by a Swedish anatomist named Carl-Herman Hjortsjö. It was later adopted by Paul Ek ...
(with 46 "action units", "lip bite" or "squint"), which had been developed in 1976, became a popular basis for many systems. As early as 2001,
MPEG-4 included 68
Face Animation Parameter
A Face Animation Parameter (FAP) is a component of the MPEG-4 Face and Body Animation (FBA) International Standard (ISO/IE14496-1 developed by the Moving Pictures Experts Group. It describes a standard for virtually representing humans and human ...
s (FAPs) for lips, jaws, etc., and the field has made significant progress since then and the use of facial
microexpression
A microexpression is a facial expression that only lasts for a short moment. It is the innate result of a voluntary and an involuntary emotional response occurring simultaneously and conflicting with one another, and occurs when the amygdala respon ...
has increased.
In some cases, an
affective space, the
PAD emotional state model The PAD emotional state model is a psychological model developed by Albert Mehrabian and James A. Russell (1974 and after) to describe and measure emotional states. PAD uses three numerical dimensions, Pleasure, Arousal and Dominance to represent ...
, can be used to assign specific emotions to the faces of
avatars
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
. In this approach, the PAD model is used as a high level emotional space and the lower level space is the MPEG-4 Facial Animation Parameters (FAP). A mid-level Partial Expression Parameters (PEP) space is then used to in a two-level structure – the PAD-PEP mapping and the PEP-FAP translation model.
Realism
Realism in computer animation can mean making each frame look
photorealistic
Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can be ...
, in the sense that the scene is rendered to resemble a photograph or make the characters' animation believable and lifelike. Computer animation can also be realistic with or without the
photorealistic rendering
__NOTOC__
Within the field of computer graphics, unbiased rendering refers to any rendering technique that does not introduce systematic error, or bias, into the radiance approximation. The term refers to statistical bias, not the broader mean ...
.
One of the greatest challenges in computer animation has been creating human characters that look and move with the highest degree of realism. Part of the difficulty in making pleasing, realistic human characters is the
uncanny valley
In aesthetics, the uncanny valley ( ja, 不気味の谷 ''bukimi no tani'') is a hypothesized relation between an object's degree of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object. The concept suggests that humanoid object ...
, the concept where the human audience (up to a point) tends to have an increasingly negative, emotional response as a human replica looks and acts more and more human. Films that have attempted photorealistic human characters, such as ''
The Polar Express
''The Polar Express'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1985. The book is now widely considered to be a classic Christmas story for young children. It was praised for its detai ...
'', ''
Beowulf'',
[Digital Actors in 'Beowulf' Are Just Uncanny](_blank)
– ''New York Times'', November 14, 2007 and ''
A Christmas Carol''
have been criticized as "disconcerting" and "creepy".
The goal of computer animation is not always to emulate live action as closely as possible, so many animated films instead feature characters who are
anthropomorphic animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
s,
legendary creatures and characters, superheroes, or otherwise have non-realistic, cartoon-like proportions. Computer animation can also be tailored to mimic or substitute for other kinds of animation, like traditional stop-motion animation (as shown in ''
Flushed Away
''Flushed Away'' is a 2006 computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell, produced by Cecil Kramer, David Sproxton, and Peter Lord, and written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd, Joe Keenan a ...
'' or ''
The Peanuts Movie
''The Peanuts Movie'' (known in some countries as ''Snoopy and Charlie Brown: A Peanuts Movie'') is a 2015 American computer-animated comedy film based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''Peanuts'', produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed ...
''). Some of the long-standing
basic principles of animation, like
squash and stretch, call for movement that is not strictly realistic, and such principles still see widespread application in computer animation.
Animation studios
Some notable producers of computer-animated feature films include:
*
Animal Logic
Animal Logic is an Australian animation and visual effects digital studio based at Disney Studios in Sydney, New South Wales in Australia, Vancouver in Canada, and Rideback Ranch in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1991, Animal Logic has ...
– Films include ''
Happy Feet
''Happy Feet'' is a 2006 computer-animated jukebox musical comedy film directed, produced, and co-written by George Miller. It stars the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, and ...
'' (2006), ''
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole'' (2010), ''
Walking with Dinosaurs
''Walking with Dinosaurs'' is a 1999 six-part nature documentary television miniseries created by Tim Haines and produced by the BBC Science Unit the Discovery Channel and BBC Worldwide, in association with TV Asahi, ProSieben and France 3. Envi ...
'' (2013), ''
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 ...
'' (2014)
*
Aardman Animations
Aardman Animations Limited (also known as Aardman Studios, simply Aardman or Aardman Animation and stylised as AARDMAN as of 2022) is a British animation studio based in Bristol, England. It is known for films made using stop-motion and clay ani ...
– Films include ''
Flushed Away
''Flushed Away'' is a 2006 computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell, produced by Cecil Kramer, David Sproxton, and Peter Lord, and written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd, Joe Keenan a ...
'' (2006), ''
Arthur Christmas
''Arthur Christmas'' is a 2011 computer-animated Christmas science fantasy comedy film directed by Sarah Smith and co-directed by Barry Cook. Featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and As ...
'' (2011)
*
Big Idea Entertainment
Big Idea Entertainment, LLC (formerly known as Big Idea Productions, Inc. and Big Idea, Inc.; also simply as Big Idea) is an American Christian animation company, best known for its computer-animated ''VeggieTales'' series of Christian-themed ...
– ''
Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie'' (2002) and ''
The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie'' (2008)
*
Bron Studios
Bron Studios (stylized as BRON) is a Canadian motion picture company based in British Columbia owned by Bron Media Corporation. Bron's notable productions include '' Joker, Bombshell, Queen & Slim, Greyhound, Judas and the Black Messiah,'' '' ...
– Films include ''
The Addams Family
''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over ...
'' (2019), ''
The Willoughbys
''The Willoughbys'' is a 2020 computer-animated comedy film directed by Kris Pearn and co-directed by Rob Lodermeier. Based on the book of the same name by Lois Lowry, the film's screenplay was written by Pearn and Mark Stanleigh, and stars the ...
'' (2020)
*
Blue Sky Studios – Films include ''
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
'' (2002), ''
Robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...
'' (2005), ''
Horton Hears a Who!
''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Whovi ...
'' (2008), ''
Rio
Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil.
Rio or Río may also refer to:
Geography Brazil
* Rio de Janeiro
* Rio do Sul, a ...
'' (2011), ''
Epic'' (2013), ''
The Peanuts Movie
''The Peanuts Movie'' (known in some countries as ''Snoopy and Charlie Brown: A Peanuts Movie'') is a 2015 American computer-animated comedy film based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''Peanuts'', produced by Blue Sky Studios and distributed ...
'' (2015)
*
DNA Productions
DNA Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio and production company founded in 1987 by John A. Davis and Keith Alcorn, which is best known for its comedy films. It also provided directing, script writing, and production to its client ...
– Films include ''
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'' (2001), ''
Santa vs. the Snowman 3D'' (2002) and ''
The Ant Bully
''The Ant Bully'' () is a 1999 children's book drawn and written by John Nickle. It is about a young boy named Lucas Nickle (also known as Peanut the Destroyer), who is the title character in the book and who likes to torment ants. It was late ...
'' (2006)
*
DNEG
DNEG (formerly known as Double Negative) is a British visual effects, computer animation, and stereo conversion studio that was founded in 1998 in London, and rebranded as DNEG in 2014 after a merger with Indian VFX company Prime Focus.
The ...
- Films include ''
Ron's Gone Wrong
''Ron's Gone Wrong'' is a 2021 computer-animated science fiction comedy film directed by Sarah Smith and Jean-Philippe Vine (in his feature directorial debut), and written by Peter Baynham and Smith. The film features the voice of Jack Dylan ...
'' (2021)
*
DreamWorks Animation – Films include ''
Shrek
''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jen ...
'' (2001), ''
Shark Tale
''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial de ...
'' (2004), ''
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
'' (2005), ''
Over the Hedge
''Over the Hedge'' is an American syndicated comic strip, written by Michael Fry, and drawn by T. Lewis. It tells the story of a raccoon, a turtle, a squirrel, and their friends, who come to terms with their woodlands being taken over, by su ...
'' (2006), ''
Bee Movie
''Bee Movie'' is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film co-produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG and Columbus 81 Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Simon J. Smith and Steve Hickner (in the fo ...
'' (2007), ''
Kung Fu Panda
''Kung Fu Panda'' is an American media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated feature film of the same name, produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping (primarily voic ...
'' (2008), ''
Monsters vs. Aliens'' (2009), ''
How to Train Your Dragon
''How to Train Your Dragon'' (abbreviated ''HTTYD'') is an American media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the eponymous series of children's books by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three feature films: ' ...
'' (2010), ''
Rise of the Guardians
''Rise of the Guardians'' is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated fantasy action-adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by Peter Ramsey (in his feature directorial debut ...
'' (2012), ''
The Croods
''The Croods'' is a 2013 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film was written and directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, and stars the voices of Nicol ...
'' (2013), ''
Trolls
A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...
'' (2016), ''
The Boss Baby
''The Boss Baby'' is a 2017 American computer-animated
Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes (still images) and dyn ...
'' (2017)
*
ImageMovers
ImageMovers (IM), known as South Side Amusement Company until 1997, is an American production company which produces CGI animation, motion-capture, live-action films and television shows. The company is known for producing such films as ''Cast A ...
– Films include ''
The Polar Express
''The Polar Express'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1985. The book is now widely considered to be a classic Christmas story for young children. It was praised for its detai ...
'' (2004), ''
Monster House'' (2006), ''
Beowulf'' (2007), ''
A Christmas Carol'' (2009), ''
Mars Needs Moms
''Mars Needs Moms'' is a 2011 American 3D computer-animated science fiction film co-written and directed by Simon Wells, produced by ImageMovers Digital and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on the Berkeley Breathed book of the same ti ...
'' (2011)
*
Ilion Animation Studios
Skydance Animation Madrid (formerly known as Ilion Animation Studios) is a Spanish animation studio based in Madrid, Spain. It is a subsidiary of Skydance Media via Skydance Animation to create computer-animated films for theatrical release. Af ...
— Films include ''
Planet 51
''Planet 51'' is a 2009 computer-animated science fiction comedy film directed by Jorge Blanco and co-directed by Javier Abad and Marcos Martínez, from a script by Joe Stillman, based on an original idea by Javier Abad, Jorge Blanco, Marcos ...
'' (2009), ''
Mortadelo and Filemon: Mission Implausible'' (2014) ''
Wonder Park
''Wonder Park'' is a 2019 computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies, with Ilion Animation Studios handling animation. The plot follows a young girl who encounters a real version of her magic ...
'' (2019)
*
Illumination — Films include ''
Despicable Me'' (2010), ''
The Lorax
''The Lorax'' is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, the titular character, who "speaks for the trees" and confronts the Once-ler, a business magnate who cause ...
'' (2012), ''
Minions'' (2015), ''
The Secret Life of Pets
''The Secret Life of Pets'' is a 2016 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Yarrow Cheney (in his feature directorial ...
'' (2016), ''
Sing
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
'' (2016), ''
The Grinch
The Grinch is a fictional character created by Dr. Seuss. He is best known as the main character of the 1957 children's book ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas!'' He has been portrayed and voiced by many different actors, including Boris Karloff, ...
'' (2018), ''
The Secret Life of Pets 2
''The Secret Life of Pets 2'' is a 2019 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Illumination, directed by Chris Renaud, co-directed by Jonathan del Val, and written by Brian Lynch. It is the sequel to '' The Secret Life of Pets'', ...
'' (2019)
*
Industrial Light & Magic – Films include ''
Rango'' (2011) and ''
Strange Magic'' (2015)
*
Pacific Data Images – Films include ''
Antz
''Antz'' is a 1998 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation (in its debut film) and Pacific Data Images and released by DreamWorks Pictures. It was directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson (in their fe ...
'' (1998), ''
Shrek
''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jen ...
'' (2001), ''
Shrek 2
''Shrek 2'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 picture book '' Shrek!'' by William Steig, produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. The sequel to ''Shrek'' (2001) and the ...
'' (2004), ''
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
'' (2005), ''
Megamind
''Megamind'' is a 2010 American computer-animated superhero comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Tom McGrath from a screenplay by Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, the film stars ...
'' (2010), ''
Mr. Peabody and Sherman
''Mr. Peabody & Sherman'' (also known as ''Peabody's Improbable History: The Movie'' in the working title) is a 2014 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film based on characters from the '' Peabody's Improbable History'' segments ...
'' (2014)
*
Paramount Animation
Paramount Animation is an American animation studio, serving as the animation division and label of Paramount Pictures, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The division was founded on July 6, 2011, following the box office success of Paramount's ow ...
– Films include ''
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water'' (2015), ''
Monster Trucks
A monster truck is a specialized off-road vehicle with a heavy duty suspension, four-wheel steering, large-displacement V8 engines and oversized tires constructed for competition and entertainment uses. Originally created by modifying stock pi ...
'' (2017), ''
Sherlock Gnomes
''Sherlock Gnomes'' is a 2018 3D computer-animated mystery comedy film directed by John Stevenson. Based on the character Sherlock Holmes created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the film serves as a sequel and spin-off to ''Gnomeo & Juliet'' (2011) ...
'' (2018), ''
Wonder Park
''Wonder Park'' is a 2019 computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies, with Ilion Animation Studios handling animation. The plot follows a young girl who encounters a real version of her magic ...
'' (2019), ''
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run'' (2020)
*
Pixar Animation Studios
Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...
– Films include ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'' (1995), ''
Monsters, Inc.'' (2001), ''
Finding Nemo'' (2003), ''
The Incredibles
''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah ...
'' (2004), ''
Cars
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, people in ...
'' (2006), ''
Ratatouille
Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...
'' (2007), ''
WALL-E
''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, pro ...
'' (2008), ''
Up'' (2009), ''
Brave'' (2012), ''
Inside Out'' (2015), ''
Coco'' (2017), and ''
Soul
In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being".
Etymology
The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...
'' (2020)
*
Rainmaker Studios
Mainframe Studios is a Canadian computer animation company owned by Wow Unlimited Media and based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1993 as Mainframe Entertainment Inc. by Christopher Brough, Ian Pearson, Phil Mitchell, Gavin Blair and ...
– Films include ''
Escape from Planet Earth
''Escape from Planet Earth'' is a 2013 computer animated comedy-adventure science fiction film produced by Rainmaker Entertainment and distributed by The Weinstein Company in the United States and Entertainment One in Canada, directed by Cal Br ...
'' (2013) and ''
Ratchet & Clank
''Ratchet & Clank'' is a series of action platformer and third-person shooter video games. The franchise was created and developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation consoles, such as PlayStation ...
'' (2016)
*
Reel FX Animation Studios
Reel FX Animation (or simply Reel FX) - formerly known as Reel FX Creative Studios (also known as Reel FX Animation Studios) is an American computer animation and visual effects studio based in Dallas, Texas; Hollywood, California. The studio d ...
– Films include ''
Free Birds
''Free Birds'' is a 2013 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film. The film follows two turkeys travelling back in time to the first Thanksgiving to get turkey off the menu. It was produced by Reel FX Creative Studios as its fir ...
'' (2013) and ''
The Book of Life'' (2014)
*
Wizart Animation – Films include ''
The Snow Queen
"The Snow Queen" ( da, Snedronningen) is an original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in '' New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection'' (''Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samli ...
'' (2012), ''
Sheep and Wolves
''Sheep and Wolves'' (russian: Волки и овцы: бе-е-е-зумное превращение, lit=Wolves and Sheep: Cra-a-a-zy Transformation, translit=Volki i ovtsy. Be-e-e-zumnoe prevrashchenie) is a 2016 Russian computer-animated fant ...
'' (2016)
*
Shirogumi
, member of The Association of Japanese Animations, is a company centralized in the production of animated series and feature films, as well as the making and adjusting of visual effects.
History
In 1973, Tatsuo Shimamura established . To expan ...
– Films include ''
Friends: Mononoke Shima no Naki'' (2011), ''
Stand by Me Doraemon
is a 2014 Japanese 3D computer-animated science fiction comedy drama film based on the ''Doraemon'' manga series and directed by Ryūichi Yagi and Takashi Yamazaki. It was released on 8 August 2014. It is the highest-grossing film of the Dora ...
'' (2014) and ''
Dragon Quest: Your Story'' (2019)
*
Skydance Animation – Films include ''
Luck (2022 film)
''Luck'' is a 2022 computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Peggy Holmes and co-directed by Javier Abad, from a screenplay written by Kiel Murray, and a story by Murray and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, based on a ...
'', ''
Spellbound (2023 film)''
*
Square Pictures -Films include ''
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within'' (2001)
*
Sony Pictures Animation
Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by So ...
– Films include ''
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 ...
'' (2012), ''
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse'' (2018), and ''
The Mitchells vs. the Machines'' (2021)
*
Sony Pictures Imageworks
Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc. is a Canadian visual effects and computer animation studio headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with an additional office on the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City, California. SPI is a unit of Sony Pi ...
– Films include ''
The Angry Birds Movie
''The Angry Birds Movie'' (also known simply as ''Angry Birds'') is a 2016 computer-animated comedy film based on Rovio Entertainment's video game series of the same name, produced by Columbia Pictures and Rovio Animation, and distributed by S ...
'' (2016) and ''
Over the Moon'' (2020)
*
Triggerfish Animation Studios
Triggerfish is a computer animation film studio based in Cape Town, South Africa and Galway, Ireland. The studio is best known for its animated feature films '' Adventures in Zambezia'' (2012), ''Khumba'' (2013), and '' Seal Team'' (2021), as wel ...
– Films include ''
Zambezia'' (2013), ''
Khumba'' (2014)
*
Vanguard Animation
Vanguard Films & Animation, often named only as Vanguard Animation, is an American production studio founded in 2002 by producer John H. Williams and Neil Braun. The studio has offices in British Columbia, Canada and Ealing Studios in London, E ...
- Films include ''
Valiant'' (2005), ''
Space Chimps
''Space Chimps'' is a 2008 computer-animated science fiction comedy film directed by Kirk DeMicco in his directional debut, and written by DeMicco and Rob Moreland. It features the voices of Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick W ...
'' (2008)
*
Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
– Films include ''
Bolt'' (2008), ''
Tangled
''Tangled'' is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated musical adventure fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on the German fairy tale ''Rapunzel'' in the collection of ...
'' (2010), ''
Wreck-It Ralph
''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 52nd Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Rich Moore (in his feature director ...
'' (2012), ''
Frozen'' (2013), ''
Big Hero 6'' (2014), ''
Zootopia
''Zootopia'' (titled ''Zootropolis'' in various regions) is a 2016 American computer-animated buddy cop action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 55th Disney animated feature film, ...
'' (2016), ''
Moana'' (2016) and ''
Encanto
''Encanto'' is a 2021 American computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 60th film produced by the studio, it was directed by Jared B ...
'' (2021)
*
Warner Animation Group
The Warner Animation Group (WAG) is an American animation studio serving as the computer-animated feature film label of Warner Bros.' theatrical film production and distribution division, Warner Bros. Pictures. Established on January 7, 2013, ...
– Films include ''
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 ...
'' (2014), ''
Storks
Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...
'' (2016), ''
The Lego Batman Movie
''The Lego Batman Movie'' is a 2017 computer-animated superhero comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group, DC Entertainment, RatPac Entertainment, Lego System A/S, Dan Lin's Lin Pictures, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's Lord Miller Pro ...
'' (2017), ''
Smallfoot
Smallfoot was the name of both a rapid application development toolkit and an embedded operating system designed and released by Caldera Systems/Caldera International/The SCO Group in both UnixWare and Linux formats. Created for use in embedded ...
'' (2018), ''
Scoob!
''SCOOB!'' is a 2020 American computer-animated mystery comedy film produced by the Warner Animation Group, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is a reboot of the theatrical'' Scooby-Doo'' film series and the third theatrical film b ...
'' (2020)
*
Weta Digital – Films include ''
The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comi ...
'' (2011)
Web animations
The popularity of
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...
s that allow members to upload their own movies for others to view has created a growing community of independent and
amateur computer animators. With utilities and programs often included free with modern
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...
s, many users can make their own animated movies and shorts. Several
free and open-source animation software applications exist as well. The ease at which these animations can be distributed has attracted professional animation talent also. Companies such as
PowToon and
Vyond
Vyond (formerly known as GoAnimate until 2018; stylized as ''Go!Animate'' until 2013) is an American cloud-based animated video creation platform.
History
Vyond was founded as GoAnimate in 2007 by Alvin Hung, and the first version of GoAnima ...
attempt to bridge the gap by giving amateurs access to professional animations as
clip art
Clip art (also clipart, clip-art) is a type of graphic art. Pieces are pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Today, clip art is used extensively and comes in many forms, both electronic and printed. However, most clip art today is creat ...
.
The oldest (most backward compatible) web-based animations are in the animated
GIF format, which can be uploaded and seen on the web easily. However, the
raster graphics format of GIF animations slows the
download
In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...
and frame rate, especially with larger screen sizes. The growing demand for higher quality web-based animations was met by a
vector graphics
Vector graphics is a form of computer graphics in which visual images are created directly from geometric shapes defined on a Cartesian plane, such as points, lines, curves and polygons. The associated mechanisms may include vector display ...
alternative that relied on the use of a
plugin. For decades,
Flash animation
Adobe Flash animation or Adobe Flash cartoon (formerly Macromedia Flash animation, Macromedia Flash cartoon, FutureSplash animation, and FutureSplash cartoon) is an animation that is created with the Adobe Animate (formerly Flash Professional) p ...
s were the most popular format, until the web development community abandoned support for the
Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player (known in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome as Shockwave Flash) is computer software for viewing multimedia contents, executing rich Internet applications, and streaming audio and video content created on the ...
plugin. Web browsers on
mobile device
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physica ...
s and
mobile operating system
A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on ...
s never fully supported the Flash plugin.
By this time,
internet bandwidth
In computing, bandwidth is the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path. Bandwidth may be characterized as network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth.
This definition of ''bandwidth'' is in contrast to the field of signal p ...
and download speeds increased, making raster graphic animations more convenient. Some of the more complex vector graphic animations had a slower frame rate due to complex
rendering compared to some of the raster graphic alternatives. Many of the GIF and Flash animations were already converted to
digital video formats, which were compatible with mobile devices and reduced file sizes via
video compression technology. However, compatibility was still problematic as some of the popular video formats such as Apple's
QuickTime and
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich web applications, similar to Adobe's runtime, Adobe Flash. A plugin for Silverlight is still available for a very small number of browsers. W ...
required plugins.
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
, the most popular video sharing website, was also relying on the Flash plugin to deliver digital video in the
Flash Video
Flash Video is a container file format used to deliver digital video content (e.g., TV shows, movies, etc.) over the Internet using Adobe Flash Player version 6 and newer. Flash Video content may also be embedded within SWF files. There ar ...
format.
The latest alternatives are
HTML5
HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...
compatible animations. Technologies such as
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...
and
CSS animation
CSS animations is a proposed module for Cascading Style Sheets that allows the animation of HTML document elements using CSS.
History
While the pseudo-class :hover has been used to generate rudimentary animations for years, extensions of CSS ...
s made sequencing the movement of images in HTML5 web pages more convenient.
SVG animation
Animation of Scalable Vector Graphics, an open XML-based standard vector graphics format is possible through various means:
* Scripting: ECMAScript is a primary means of creating animations and interactive user interfaces within SVG.
* Styling: ...
s offered a vector graphic alternative to the original Flash graphic format,
SmartSketch
FutureWave Software, Inc was a software development company based in San Diego, California. The company was co-founded by Charlie Jackson and Jonathan Gay on January 22, 1993. VP of Marketing was Michelle Welsh who also came from Silicon Beach Sof ...
. YouTube offers an HTML5 alternative for digital video.
APNG
Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) is a file format which extends the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) specification to permit animated images that work similarly to animated GIF files, while supporting 24-bit images and 8-bit transparen ...
(Animated PNG) offered a raster graphic alternative to animated GIF files that enables multi-level transparency not available in GIFs.
Detailed examples
Computer animation uses different techniques to produce animations. Most frequently, sophisticated
mathematics is used to manipulate complex three-dimensional
polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two to ...
s, apply "
textures", lighting and other effects to the polygons and finally
rendering the complete image. A sophisticated
graphical user interface
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inst ...
may be used to create the animation and arrange its choreography. Another technique called
constructive solid geometry defines objects by conducting boolean operations on regular shapes, and has the advantage that animations may be accurately produced at any resolution.
Computer-generated animation
''To animate means, figuratively, to "give life to". There are two basic methods that animators commonly use to accomplish this.''
Computer-generated animation is known as three-dimensional (
3D) animation. Creators design an object or character with an X, a Y and a Z axis. No pencil-to-paper drawings create the way computer-generated animation works. The object or character created will then be taken into a software. Key-framing and tweening are also carried out in computer-generated animation but so are many techniques unrelated to
traditional animation
Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation.
Proc ...
.
Animators can break physical laws by using mathematical
algorithm
In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing ...
s to cheat
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
,
force and
gravity
In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
rulings. Fundamentally, time scale and quality could be said to be a preferred way to produce animation as they are major aspects enhanced by using computer-generated animation. Another positive aspect of CGA is the fact one can create a flock of creatures to act independently when created as a group. An animal's fur can be
programmed to wave in the wind and lie flat when it rains instead of separately programming each strand of hair.
A few examples of computer-generated animation movies are ''
Toy Story
''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...
'', ''
Antz
''Antz'' is a 1998 American computer-animated adventure comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation (in its debut film) and Pacific Data Images and released by DreamWorks Pictures. It was directed by Eric Darnell and Tim Johnson (in their fe ...
'', ''
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
'', ''
Happy Feet
''Happy Feet'' is a 2006 computer-animated jukebox musical comedy film directed, produced, and co-written by George Miller. It stars the voices of Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, and ...
'', ''
Despicable Me'', ''
Frozen'', and ''
Shrek
''Shrek'' is a 2001 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 1990 book of the same name by William Steig. It is the first installment in the ''Shrek'' franchise. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jen ...
''.
2D computer animation
2D computer graphics are still used for stylistic, low bandwidth, and faster
real-time rendering
Real-time computer graphics or real-time rendering is the sub-field of computer graphics focused on producing and analyzing images in real time. The term can refer to anything from rendering an application's graphical user interface ( GUI) to ...
s.
Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to
stop motion
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 ...
techniques, but using 3D models, and
traditional animation
Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation.
Proc ...
techniques using frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations.
For 2D figure animations, separate objects (illustrations) and separate transparent layers are used with or without that virtual skeleton.
2D sprites and pseudocode
In 2D computer animation, moving objects are often referred to as "
sprites." A sprite is an image that has a location associated with it. The location of the sprite is changed slightly, between each displayed frame, to make the sprite appear to move. The following
pseudocode makes a sprite move from left to right:
var ''int'' x := 0, y := screenHeight / 2;
while x < screenWidth
drawBackground()
drawSpriteAtXY (x, y) ''// draw on top of the background''
x := x + 5 ''// move to the right''
Computer-assisted animation
Computer-assisted animation is usually classed as two-dimensional (
2D) animation. Drawings are either hand drawn (pencil to paper) or interactively drawn (on the computer) using different assisting appliances and are positioned into specific software packages. Within the
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
package, the creator places drawings into different
key frames which fundamentally create an outline of the most important movements. The computer then fills in the "in-between frames", a process commonly known as
Tweening
Inbetweening, also known as tweening, is a process in animation that involves creating intermediate frames, called inbetweens, between two keyframes. The intended result is to create the illusion of movement by smoothly transitioning one image i ...
. Computer-assisted animation employs new technologies to produce content faster than is possible with
traditional animation
Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation.
Proc ...
, while still retaining the stylistic elements of traditionally drawn characters or objects.
Examples of films produced using computer-assisted animation are
''The Little Mermaid'', ''
The Rescuers Down Under
''The Rescuers Down Under'' is a 1990 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 29th Disney animated feature film and the second movie to be produced during the Disne ...
'',
''Beauty and the Beast'', ''
Aladdin'', ''
The Lion King
''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...
'',
''Pocahontas'',
''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'', ''
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the ...
'',
''Mulan'', ''
The Road to El Dorado
''The Road to El Dorado'' is a 2000 American animated adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by DreamWorks Pictures. It was the third animated feature produced by DreamWorks. The film was directed by Eric "Bibo" Bergeron a ...
'' and ''Tarzan (1999 film), Tarzan''.
See also
* Animation
* Animation database
* Autodesk
* Avar (animation variable)
* Computer-generated imagery (CGI)
* New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab
* Computer representation of surfaces
* Hand-Over
* Humanoid animation
* List of animation studios
* List of computer-animated films
* List of computer-animated television series
* Medical animation
* Morph target animation
*
Machinima (recording video from games and virtual worlds)
* Motion capture
* Procedural animation
* Ray tracing (graphics), Ray tracing
* Rich Representation Language
* Skeletal animation
* Timeline of computer animation in film and television
* Virtual artifact
* Wire-frame model
* Twelve basic principles of animation
References
Citations
Works cited
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Computer Animation
Computer animation,
Computer graphics, Animation
Animation techniques
Articles containing video clips