About 2D and 3D animation

Animation is a field of art or science that has the capability to impart life and zeal to non living characters. Basically it is based on the phenomenon of persistence of vision that allows the visual illusion of the objects. It is a phenomenon of an eye in which an image continues to appear in one's vision after the exposure to the original image has ceased. This happens for about one twenty-fifth of a second. In early days animation was restricted to only hand drawings. But with the advent of technological know how animation has got a new face that is known as two dimensional and three dimensional animations. A three dimensional animation is far better than two dimensional. It adds more vigor and vivacity to animation.

Animation is simulation of movement created by a series of pictures or frames. It starts with drawing independent pictures and putting them together in a frame to form the illusion of continuous motion. Two dimension means that the picture is drawn with help of two coordinates of geometry. These are designated as x (horizontal) coordinate and y (vertical) coordinate. 2D is flat which means that if a picture is turned to the side then it becomes a line. Whereas 3D includes an extra dimension known as z coordinate which stands for rotation and depth. The basic difference between 2d and 3d can be illustrated by drawing a rectangle and a cube. Rectangle is a 2D figure whereas cube is a 3D figure. 3D presents the object from every possible direction like in real life. 2D bitmap or vector graphics are used to create 2D animation figures.

Various techniques that are used in creating 2D figures are morphing, twining, onion skinning and interpolated rot scoping. Whereas 3D animation involves digital modeling of characters. Various steps that are involved in 3D animation are character sketching, character modeling, scene building, textured, lightening and camera setup, rendering, lightening and camera setup, rendering, editing and mixing etc. Other techniques that can be applied are the use of mathematical functions, simulated fur or hair and the use of motion capture. In this way we can extract greater use of multimedia through 2D and 3D animation.