Choosing your Animation Technique

2D vs 3D animation (source)

Deciding what the best animation technique to use is the final step before the animating process. The key to expressing your big idea lies in finding the right technique, as it can amplify the soul of your story. Additionally, the technique you choose must be scalable. Your animation could be watched anywhere from a small iPhone screen to a super-sized showing on “sky screens,” which can be as big as 1,500 feet. 

The technique you are most comfortable with working in isn’t always the right one for your story. You will want to look back at your creative brief and dive deep to find a technique that enhances the core of your story, staying true to the message and tone. 

Techniques and Styles 

There are a few different techniques and styles you can use in your animated films. These include, hand-drawn, stop motion, 2D CGI, and 3D CGI animations. Each of these provides a different style and feel for your animation, and it is important to choose wisely. 

Hand-drawn animation can be created with many different materials, from pencil, to paint, and more. There are many different styles, such as the traditional cel animation or rotoscoping. Many independent films use this looser style, as hand-drawn animation lends itself to more expressive and emotionally driven stories. It also works well in television shows and children’s entertainment and was used in all early Disney animations. 

Stop motion animation can be used in both 2D and 3D styles and is captured in-camera, shooting frame-by-frame as objects are slowly moved. Despite the more advanced technology available today, it is still a quite popular style. 2D stop motion is shot with a camera held over a flat surface and gives a flat, handmade quality to films. It is emotionally expressive and very adaptable, and a great example of a material for 2D stop motion is creating and using paper cutouts. As for 3D stop motion, the camera is placed on a tripod and the objects are shot and moved on a set. This style lends itself to being more naturalistic than 2D but still can maintain that handmade quality, depending on the materials used. A popular material for the 3D style is clay models. Both 2D and 3D stop motion techniques provide a homemade quality to films that are harder to achieve in other styles of animation.

2D CGI animation can be created in either a flat or 2D software environment, ranging from flat and super-clean to modeled and highly textured. This style is mostly used for broadcast graphics and provides narrative films a warmer and more innocent feel compared to 3D. 

3D CGI animation is made in 3D software environments, where elements are modeled, rigged, textured, puppets, and animated in a virtual space. While similar to stop motion, the main difference is that 3D CGI is not limited by gravity, like stop motion. This technique has unlimited options and because of that, can be the hardest to master. It allows you to create environments and characters that can be almost indecipherable from real life. 3D CGI gives you the power to create hyper-realistic worlds, making it the technique of choice for feature films, special effects, video games, and many commercials. Most animated films by Pixar, Disney, and Dreamworks are all being created in the style of 3D CGI. 

The great thing about animation is that you can always adapt a certain technique, stretching its limits to create a feel that embodies your message. You can find a balance in your 3D animation, adapting it to a more 2D style, and take inspiration from other, non-animation styles, such as Greek pottery, and mold your animation to match those motifs and patterns. 

Workarounds

A workaround is a method you can fall back on if you cannot find a hybrid that works for you. This means working with still images, live-action footage, or hiring extra help to fill in the gaps of your animation skills. 

Import still images

One of the most common workarounds in animation is simply importing still images and working with them inside your program. You can hide and reveal certain parts of your image using masking and make a still image feel almost like it is moving in your animation. 

Shoot live-action footage

If still images aren’t working for you, using live-action footage is the next best alternative for your animation. Whatever you need, you can capture with a video camera and then import that into your program and composite it into your project.

Staff up

Lastly, you are the producer of your film and if you can’t get something done by yourself, the best thing you can do is outsource it. Once you have found the right talent, you can direct them closely, but you should also leave some room for them to insert their own creativity. 

Finding the right animation technique is crucial to your animation, so don’t just jump into your animation without considers other styles, even if you are uncomfortable with them. You can always learn a new program, or find someone that knows it, but once you have animated your film in a certain technique, you cannot change that, without redoing the whole thing. 

Examples of Animation Techniques

Anticipation

This animation displays the technique known as anticipation through every action of the characters. With each ending action, the characters have several movements before they can show their ability, this makes us anticipate some payoff each time they begin their movement set.

Squash and Stretch

This video displays the technique known as squash and stretch with the weight and movement of Pumba, the red warthog, being hoisted into the air. Each time he has been hoisted a bit, his form squashes, telling the audience that his weight is coming back down after being pulled upwards, conveying a sense of physics.

Staging

This video of Wile E Coyote stages the payoff of the scene by allowing us to visually see and understand what’s happening, through timing and writing. When we first see his gun, it pauses letting the audience clearly read what type of gun and what setting it is on, giving us a sense of what is and will happen.

Slow In & Out

With the constant rolling and throwing of each character, we get to see the cycle of slow to fast and back to slow movement during this fight. When one character is thrown they might roll or try to stop themselves, which takes some time, before they can try another movement.

Exaggeration

The overly smug grin animation that Spongebob is given when he realizes he has been proven right is an iconic and memorable example of the Exaggeration technique.

My Logo Animation

Here is my personal animated logo that I created. I made this animation in after effects with the vector files of my logo that I created in Illustrator. I definitely learned a lot from this experience and while I struggled through it, I am quite happy with how it turned out. After Effects is not a program I am an expert in and create this really gave me the chance to explore the program more and figure out how to make my vision come to life.