Course: Computer Animation

Understand the origins and types of animation  (Learning Outcome 1 in Spec.)

P1 describe how persistence of vision is used in animation

P2 describe three applications for animations

See below, side panel and Further Reading for ideas.

About the Animation industry

A paramedic suction unit used to teach in Second Life - click to expand

Reference for Making Movies Move, Animated Movies, Computer Effects in films and Computer Cartoons: OXDALE, C, (1996) 'Making Science Work: The Movies', Heinemann, Oxford, UK, ISBN 0-431-06448-2

P3 describe the features, advantages and limitations of animated GIfs and one other animation format

See Fireworks Handouts for How to Create an animated GIF and how to optimise it.

M1 compare two different animation formats

Web Optimisation

P5 Describe the special factors that need to be taken into account when creating animations for the web

Things to cover:

File size, use of colour, sound, video, bitmaps, the media the animation is to play on. i.e. PC, PDA, Web TV, Mobile phones. Browser support for animation formats. Accessibility considerations.

M4 explain particular techniques that are used to minimise the file size of animations

Techniques for keeping file sizes small: Essential for the web - Publish Options Resource

Try out alternative animation software here:

Pencil Animation tool - click to see full size