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The Evolution of Animation, Timeline and Industry Growth

history of animation

Animation is one of the most integral and household concepts for the kids in more or less every house. The kids are very fascinated by cartoon films. The animated characters attract the kid’s section of the viewers to a large extent. Even some people of the older sections are also very excited about this genre of entertainment.

Well, the development or evolution of animation has been one of its own kind with a vast history. The traditional to modern animation evolution has been a remarkable achievement in the field of animation so far. This has been possible due to the certain advancement of technology and also due to the involvement of some great minds behind this.

We will further discuss how the animation technology evolution took place with all sorts of technological up-gradations and changes all these years.

The history of Animation

The evolution of animation started way back before the incoming of the genre of cinematography. The initial concept of animation lies in the fact that you have to project or depict motion on a projected screen due to manipulation via hand or any other minor mechanical process.

The very initial advancement of animation is the practice of shadowgraphy in the 18th century. The main concept of this practice is the depiction of certain stories via hand-drawn shadows. Another important part of the early evolution of animation is the magic lantern which was actually used to project moving objects or images.

If you say about the first-ever animated device, it is known as the Phenakistoscope which was discovered in 1832. This device could create the fluid illusion of animation. The later part of the animation technology evolution is known as the celluloid shift (1888-1914) where the animated films were considered as of very poor quality due to the use of very simple and primordial animation devices.

Traditional Animation

The era from the year of 1914 to 1967 is termed the Traditional Animation era. This type of animation involved the creation of hand-drawn animation using the Cel Animation technique. Talking about Cel, it was actually a transparent sheet which is associated with the inclusion of cellulose nitrate and camphor in it.

Cel was used to create hand-drawn objects. The procedure was very simple; the cel was used as a canvas in order to draw characters on it and was superimposed on common background images in order to diminish the number of frames and of course production time. Many animated films or motion pictures were made with the theory of this technique.

Well, another method of traditional animation was stop-motion animation where the jerks in the object movement in a motion picture were created. These jerks were caused in order to provide a perception of movement in the object.

Modern Animation

After the era of Traditional Animation, the evolution of animation took a drastic turn as a revolution was created as soon as the computerized motion graphic came into the picture. In spite of being very basic, the initial computer-animated films or motion pictures actually changed the path of the animation technology evolution and how the animation was done.

In recent days, the frame-to-frame animation of characters in 2D can be done easily via computers. It paved the way for a new style of storytelling without the inclusion of any actors on screen. It also gave the graphic artists the flexibility to produce new and exciting content without using any expensive sets or props to be precise. Further, we will see some facts about traditional vs modern animation in a while.

CGI (Computer Generated Imagery)

animation industry evolution
The stop motion technique was actually the path shower of modern computer animation. Modern computer graphic motion pictures generally deal with the 2D and 3D animated graphics which are operated by either frame-by-frame or the rigging technique. These as a whole are a part of the CGI or computer-generated imagery.
There are certain movies and web series that have been made with the help of this kind of work. This animation technology evolution technique ensures that the films are actually created and rendered faster.

Traditional vs Modern Animation

There are certain ways in which traditional vs modern animation can be summarized as per the animation technology evolution over the years. The traditional to modern animation evolution has marked a new chapter in the history of animation and that is digital animation. The basic points involving traditional vs modern animation are:

● Traditional animation artists require a lot of stationary objects including cell paper, collage, colors, and many more. This is not at all required for a computer graphics designer as the computer on which he is working provides all the necessary tools required for the design.

● The cost of traditional animation is much higher than digital or computerized animation. This is because of the external tools that are used in traditional animation. Computer animation does not require such tools. This is thus one of the most important traditional vs modern animation points that must be considered.

● In traditional animations, there is hardly room for any mistakes. If you undergo any mistake, you have to again do the task from the very beginning. The best thing about the traditional to modern animation evolution is that if there is any error, you can simply undo the action and carry forward the task thereafter.

Industrial Effect of Animation

Due to the rapid evolution of animation, the animation industry is actually a very booming one, especially in India. Maximum featured films are dependent upon the VFX and other graphics design which is eventually a part of the traditional to modern animation evolution. Thus, in order to conclude, we can say that this was all about the basic idea of the evolution of animation and the history of its development through these years. The animation industry is gradually on the verge of setting up milestones in case of developing business all over the world. Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics or MAAC Girish Park offers a wide range of courses in animation that will help you to cover all the skills.

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