A Brief History of Computer-Based Animation
First Off: What Is It?
Computer-based animation is 2D animation which uses a computer and its graphics capabilities to create real-time animation.
- What it is not:
- 3D
- Video
- Film
- Advantages
- Small file sizes compared to video
- Can be highly interactive
- Disadvantages
- Dependent on computer's processing speed
Tools History: The Computers
- Apple ][
- 1977
- First "personal" computer with graphics
- Displayed 6 colors
Other early PCs
- Amiga 400
- 1978
- Displayed 4096 colors (2 to the 12th power)
- Commodore 64
- 1982
- Displayed 256 colors (2 to the 8th power)
- Apple Macintosh
- 1984
- Displayed 2 colors, black and white
Tools History: The Software
Proprietary tools vs. Commercial Tools
Many early tools were developed in-house by software developers for their own use. With so few computers paying attention to graphics in the early days, there was little market for commercial tools
Commercial Tools
- TGS (Total Graphics System
- Hypercard
- MacroMind Director
- Macromedia Director
- Macromedia Authorware
- mTropolis
- Silicon Beach Feature Splash
- Antecedent to Macromedia Flash
- First created for the Apple Newton
- Macromedia Flash
- Adobe Flash
Flash History
- The definitive history from the inventor himself, Jon Gay
- Ultimately, browser ubiquity wins the battle of commercial tools
The Flash Environment
Stage
The place where all the animation and user interaction takes place
Tools
Selection tools
Image making tools
Image modifying tools
Stage tools
Color tools
Special wacky tools
Timeline
The place where you control animation over time and what's in front of what (stacking or "Z" order)
Properties
The place where information about items selected on the stage is kept and set
Library
The place where symbols are stored
Animating In Flash
Tweening
Tweening positioning animation
- Show
- Using "Classic Tween" to bounce a ball
- Using Custom Ease In/Ease Out to achieve realistic motion
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More Types of Flash Animation
Pick Your Poison
Tweened Rotation
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Masked Animation
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Rotoscoped Animation
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The fabulous rotoscoped "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" from the Beatles' Yellow Submarine (credits for the Lucy Segment are here in Wikipedia)
Code Based Animation
Rosette
- Rosette animation detects mouse direction and sparks off corresponding little "glimmers"
- Click in center runs a special animation behind a mask of the rosette's lines
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- This is the Rosette without its masks…
Illuminated Dreams
- My MFA thesis project