Animation is an art form that is loved by many. However, it is not an art form that many could enjoy creating. There is a need for not only artistic talent, but complex audio and video equipment, and fairly large teams of creators. Even with those elements in place, creating traditional quality animation was still lengthy and hard work. Just think, every second of screen time required 25 to 30 separate drawings.

These days, computers have made the animated playing field much more even. Now anyone with an idea can create an animation of considerable quality, in a lot of cases for little or even no money, and a lot less time. With a computer and the proper software creating 2D or 3D animation is very much a reality.

Let’s take a look at some of the software available, both low cost and free, for 2D and 3D animation.

2D Software

There are many programs on the market for creating 2D animation. Some require drawing out scenes like traditional animation, and some use cut-out animation, which is more like working with puppets. Unlike traditional animation where everything was hand drawn frame by frame then filmed, today computer animation programs allow for tweening. This means you can draw or position two scenes on a time line, and the computer fills in the frames in between. This makes creating an animation much faster.

Let’s focus on two of the more popular programs here. Toon Boom and E-frontier Anime Studio. Toon Boom allows for cut-out animation, but the real strength is the ability to draw frames as in traditional animation. Anime Studio on the other hand is a cut-out animation powerhouse, allowing the animator to rig and manipulate characters with an internal bone structure and vector graphics directly in the timeline.

Depending on your personal style, there is not much you can’t create with these products. They both offer different price levels for introductory versions and the full featured versions and both are also used by professional animation studios. Introductory versions start around $50 and go from there.

But, maybe that is still too expensive. Well there is good news as there are many free options to create 2D animation as well. Creatoon was once a competitor for Anime studio in the cut-out animation field, but the producers stopped development of the software. The good news is they left the final version for download free of charge. They no longer support the product, but there are many online tutorials that show how to create animation with Creatoon. This is not a second rate product, but a very powerful tool and a real bargain.

3D Software

Here is where things get fun. The trend in animation is 3D CGI, with studios like Pixar leading the pack. The software used can get prohibitively expensive, such as Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max, and Pixar Studio’s own Renderman. 3ds Max alone is just under $4000.

But, there are many cheaper, or even free alternatives.

E-frontier not only makes Anime Studio for 2D work, but they also make Poser, which is a 3D character program that allows for character creation and animation. Poser costs around $250.

There are even cheaper options. For around $200, you can get Reallusion iClone. This program is very powerful as it not only allows for custom character creation, but is also a 3D virtual movie studio complete with motion control, lip synching, 3D sets and props, and full camera control. You can make a full movie inside this one program. It even comes with stock motions for characters that can be used until comfortable with the program.

Even $200 is a bit much for some burgeoning producers, so how about free? This is where Movie Storm comes in. This bit of free software shares a lot of features with iClone. You can make full movies, but you are limited to the characters, props, and sets that come with the program and have a bit less control over the 3D environment. Other than that, this is a very powerful tool to create 3D animated movies.

So there is a brief overview of the programs to help you break into animation, without breaking the bank. The great thing about the programs above is that they are not toys, but powerful animation systems. All can produce high quality animation and bring stories to life.

It is fun and rewarding to make films, so give animation a try. Everyone has stories to tell, but not everyone has a studio behind them. Now, that no longer matters. With video sharing sites like Youtube, you can create your movies and share them with the entire world. So get animating!

Finding the titles in the article is just a quick web search away.

Internet marketing guru Ryan Even has been experimenting with using animation and video in his internet marketing. Read more about how to Succeed In Internet Marketing…

There are ten million film makers in America today. Most of them are amateurs, but the number who migrates to professional ranks grows constantly as television enlarges its demands for motion pictures of all kinds.

Pictorial continuity is the indispensable framework of every soundly constructed motion picture, whether it is a Hollywood epic, TV film, newsreel, documentary, cartoon or home movie.

Without it, any movie, no matter how elaborately or expensively made, is amateurish; but with it, the raw beginner can achieve a professional touch. It is the answer to how to shoot a movie story.

The Meaning of Continuity

Pictorial continuity is a rather fancy term, but we like it, because it states so precisely what we’re out to describe. The dictionary explains “continuity” as an “uninterrupted, close union of separate parts”. Pictorial continuity, therefore, in a fully rounded definition, would be the proper development and connection of motion-picture sequences to create a smoothly joined, coherent motion-picture story.

The Long Shot

We say these elements are simple and that they correspond to the stages by which the human eye views action.

This first shot which establishes the scene is the long shot, the “LS”.

Well, then, take your first long shot. Pick up your camera and guided by what your eye sees in the viewfinder, shoot.

Right now, your LS can be taken from a nice, steady, stationary position. From where you stand in the doorway, you are far enough back to take in your subject and a great deal of his surroundings - enough to establish the locale.

You and your eye want to get as close to your subject as you can. As you move in toward your subject, your eye instantly, automatically, and continuously keeps readjusting itself to the changing perspective and proportions of the scene. It takes in increasingly more and more of your subject’s face, hair, shoulders, tie, shirt, the articles on his desk and less and less of the rest of his surroundings, such as the wall, the window, and the body of the desk

This is the way you want it. After all, the vital part of the scene is your subject, not his location. You want to cut out as much of the extraneous, distracting locale as you can, and come as close to his face as your eye, and politeness, will allow. This is your close-up, the heart of your picture.

The Medium Shot

But before discussing the close-up, we must look at the technique by which we duplicate the eye’s transition from long shot to close-up with the camera. This brings forth the inevitable question. Why is a transition shot needed at all?

The argument is a follows: We say that the close-up is the heart of the picture. We take the LS, which no one disputes is essential for establishing the location of the scene. So, once the scene is established, why waste the audience’s time and the photographer’s film on a transition shot, why not go directly to the close-up?

A great jump will not do. It is too abrupt. There must be a midway or transition shot - the medium shot.

The medium shot, or “MS”, is transition shot bridging the jump from long shot to close-up, and building up the subject.

The Close-up

It is the close-up, the “CU”, to which the LS and MS, properly executed, pave the way.

When your camera takes its close-up. your audience will see your subject’s face, his head and shoulders filling the screen, his every expression vivid and alive. In the full meaning of the term, he will be “big as life”.

It is sadly neglected by the home movie cameraman today.

Now you know the basics of continuity, which will make your movie “come alive”.

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