An animation stand is a device assembled for the filming of any kind of animation that is placed on a flat surface, including

cel 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 ...

, graphic animation,

clay animation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tra ...

, and

silhouette animation Silhouette animation is animation in which the characters are only visible as black silhouettes. This is usually accomplished by backlighting articulated cardboard cut-outs, though other methods exist. It is partially inspired by, but for a ...

. Traditionally, the flat surface that the animation rests on is some kind of table that the animator sits at. Pegs made specifically for animation are embedded into the table, in at least two slots allowing the pegs to slide from side to side, permitting horizontal movement of images, but can also be easily fixed into position for the accurate positioning ("registration") of the artwork. Opposite the animator is a series of supporting arms and supports, on top of which is mounted a film or video camera, pointing down toward the artwork, which films the artwork, frame-by-frame, as it is slowly moved and changed by the operator. The vertical positioning of the

animation camera An animation camera, a type of rostrum camera, is a movie camera specially adapted for frame-by-frame shooting of animation. It consists of a camera body with lens and film magazines, and is most often placed on a stand that allows the camera t ...

, always shooting down, is the main component that defines an animation stand, as opposed to a

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 ...

set-up, or other equipment arrangements for animation production. Animation stands can be homemade, from metal or wood, such as that owned by Los Angeles animator

Mike Jittlov Mike Jittlov (born June 8, 1948) is an American animator and the creator of short films and one feature-length film using forms of special effects animation, including stop-motion animation, rotoscoping, and pixilation. He is best known for the 1 ...

, and still accomplish impressive animation production; or they can be elaborate (and expensive) professionally made precision systems that allow for the computerised movements of both the art and the camera, as has been traditionally used by professional animation studios and special effects facilities such as the Walt Disney studio (famous for their

Multiplane camera The multiplane camera is a motion-picture camera that was used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a sense of par ...

) and George Lucas's '' Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)'' facilities.

See also