Animation techniques have evolved significantly in the last century and have undergone a massive transformation from traditional hand-drawn Animation to the modern day computer assisted animation. The animation is recognized as the powerful communication tool that is extensively used to make an illusion of movement. Animation techniques are most commonly and widely used in cartoon movies that appear in televisions and cinema as means of entertaining kids and school children. They are very popular among the younger children due to its magic to grab the attention of the viewers and keep them engaged for a longer time.

Animation industry in the past

Traditional animation was mainly hand drawn that was used in the majority of animated films produced in the 20th century. The individual frames of those movies were initially drawn on paper with each drawings differing slightly from the previous one. The photographs of those drawings were combined and used to create an illusion of change and movement.

Hand-drawn animation had numerous challenges and necessitated each frame to be individually crafted by an artist who had lots of skill, patience, and very little equipment support. Conventional animation techniques generated mainly two-dimensional cartoons, where every frame was limited to a flat picture. The quality of animated movies improved with the process of placing of several glass layers under the camera at varying distances to create a more realistic movement. Computers found its usage in animation in 1970’s, which considerably improved the speed, accuracy and the cost of making animated movies.

 Present day Animation

Highly sophisticated computer animation software packages with interactive graphics interface are used extensively in the modern day animated movies and educational presentations. Multimedia computer system comes with the provision of interactive audio-video visual effects, which produces superior quality 3-D animations. The eye-catching visuals and communications used in the modern day animated cartoons are quick and concise that allows even the smaller kids to gain a good understanding of the story and its characters.

Animation- Future Implications

In this Internet age, people’s viewing habits have changed from longer to short-form content, which is also expected to influence the way the animation is made in future. Virtual reality technologies used in the modern day animations are projected to become more mature, and the future of virtual reality is expected to make the animation status to equal that of live-action sequences. The perception of cartoons and animated movies has undergone a significant change, and they will be no longer restricted solely to kids.

Thus, in future live-action animated movies are anticipated to provide endless opportunities to their creators to use their imaginative skills and ideas, which make a lasting impression on the audience