2D Animation: How to Select the Right Software and Technique

To complete 2D animation projects at hand with efficiency, you require 2D animation software with a long tool chain. Just make sure the tool chain is an extensive one and has adequate support options. Any program that you choose for 2D animation should meet certain criteria.

The software should have enough features to make the graphics powerful. Look for features like Advanced Animation Curves, Natural Deformations, Weight Painting, Automatic Weight Calculation, High Fidelity Auto-Meshing, Web Player for Sharing, Animation FX, Animation Kinematics, HD Format Export, Games Engines Integration, Impact Vector Drawings, etc.

The program is likely to be used by animation experts with an artistic mind. Some of them may also be technologically savvy. Settle for a program that has all the features needed for quality animation. That said, the software should not have bloated features that are of little practical use.

Working on the animation, you will need to import and export files in various formats with ease. Features like HD Format Export have become a sort of imperative on your animation software.

Animation is a complex process and you are likely to consume plenty of hours before even completing a fraction of your project. Many features on the software may be new. It is important that the users be taught using these features with as less pain as possible. You need to see whether the software in question has proper support regarding learning and clearing the doubts.

The software you get should also be able to conduct all sort of animation:

Cel: Objects are redrawn on each consecutive frame or cel to portray motion. The word cel is derived from the word celluloid.

Digital Animation: This is the paperless version of conventional animation where drawings are made straight onto the computer.

Path Animation: Simple to make, path based animation involves moving an object along a predetermined path on the computer screen. The path could be a curve or a straight line.

Stop Motion Animation: This animation would work well with 2D objects like illustration and photos.

Sand Animation: Animation artist would move the sand around on a piece of glass to create frames, thus creating an animated effect with the light contrast.

Cut-out Animation: Objects are placed under the glass and a frame is taken. Thereafter, the cut out is moved slightly to take another frame.

Now let us take into account the techniques in animation:

Onion Skinning: Used when making cel animations, this method enables you to view a faint outline of the previous cel. This allows you to draw the changes you require next.

Tweening: You would select the first cel and the last cel of animation while the animation software would calculate all the cells in between.

Mechanical: This technique is useful for explaining the functioning of machines.

Chuckimation: An amalgamation of stop frame animation and live shots, this technique involves dropping of characters into a particular frame.

Puppetry: Life like puppets are created in place of objects. Every possible emotion can be expressed with this technique.

Summing Up

For creating animation that adheres to the highest quality standards, you need to hire top-of-the-line 2D animation services. It is important that you do proper research when outsourcing 2D animation services to get the expected results.

Watson Ray is a famous content writer in Delhi NCR. Currently I am working for Multimedia Animators as a senior content writer.