Special Effect Animation

The illusions used in the film, television, theater, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects (a.k.a. SFX, SPFX, or simply FX).

Special effects are traditionally divided into the categories of optical effects and mechanical effects. With the emergence of digital film-making tools a greater distinction between special effects and visual effects has been recognized, with "visual effects" referring to digital post-production and "special effects" referring to on-set mechanical effects and in-camera optical effects.

Optical effects (also called photographic effects), are techniques in which images or film frames are created photographically, either "in-camera" using multiple exposure, mattes, or the Schüfftan process, or in post-production processes using an optical printer. An optical effect might be used to place actors or sets against a different background.

Mechanical effects (also called practical or physical effects), are usually accomplished during the live-action shooting. This includes the use of mechanized props, scenery, scale models, pyrotechnics and Atmospheric Effects: creating physical wind, rain, fog, snow, clouds etc. Making a car appear to drive by itself, or blowing up a building are examples of mechanical effects. Mechanical effects are often incorporated into set design and makeup. For example, a set may be built with break-away doors or walls, or prosthetic makeup can be used to make an actor look like a monster.

Since the 1990s, computer generated imagery (CGI) has come to the forefront of special effects technologies. CGI gives film-makers greater control, and allows many effects to be accomplished more safely and convincingly -- and even, as technology marches on, at lower costs. As a result, many optical and mechanical effects techniques have been superseded by CGI.

Multi-sketch Animation

Multi-sketch is an animation method of story-telling where a sequence of hand-drawn sketches are created simultaneously while narrating it with voice. To achieve this a Tablet PC or digitizing tablet, like Wacom, can be used to create improvised progressive line sketches which are captured to video.

Such types of cartoons are created in a freestyle unscripted manner, which makes them original, since the whole cartoon does not need editing after it is completed. Originally invented by Renat Zarbailov when he combined two software applications - sketching software with screen capturing one. One of the pioneers of Multi-Sketch cartoon creation is Kenly Dillard, who, at the age of twenty four held the title of the world's third champion in speed sketching competition. The final multi-sketch can be sent to various formats, HDTV, DVD, web streaming, or WMV/FLV/Quicktime/MPEG4.

Chuckimation Techinque

Chuckimation is a type of animation created by the makers of the cartoon Action League Now![citation needed] in which characters/props are thrown, or chucked from off camera or wiggled around to simulate talking by unseen hands, combined with traditional stop motion animation.

An animation style similar to chuckimation is used in the show, "A Town Called Panic", where clay figures are posed and moved by a strange force. Every time they talk they move a little, and their mouths don't move.

Character animation

Character animation is a specialized area of the animation process concerning the animation of one or more characters featured in an animated work. It is usually as one aspect of a larger production and often made to complement voice acting. Character animation is artistically unique from other animation in that it involves the creation of apparent thought and emotion in addition to physical action.

Historically, Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) is often considered the very first example of true character animation. Otto Messmer imbued his Felix the Cat with an instantly recognizable personality during the 1920s. The following decade, Walt Disney made character animation a particular focus of his animation studio, best showcased in productions such as Three Little Pigs, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Dumbo. Disney animation artists such as Bill Tytla, Ub Iwerks, Grim Natwick, Fred Moore, Ward Kimball, Les Clark, John Sibley, Marc Davis, Wolfgang Reitherman, Hal King, Hamilton Luske, Norm Ferguson, Eric Larson, Johnny Lounsbery, Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston all became masters of the technique.

Other notable figures in character animation include the Schlesinger/Warner Bros. directors (Tex Avery, Don Bluth, Chuck Jones, Hanna-Barbera. Bob Clampett, Max Fleischer, Walter Lantz, Frank Tashlin, Robert McKimson, and Friz Freleng), independent animator Richard Williams, John Lasseter at Pixar, and latter-day Disney animators Andreas Deja and Glen Keane. Character animation is not limited to Hollywood studios, however. Some of the finest examples of character animation can be found in the work of Nick Park of Aardman Animations and Russian independent animator Yuri Norstein.

Character animation is augmented by special effects animation, which creates anything that is not a character; most commonly vehicles, machinery, and natural phenomena such as rain, snow, and water.