Animation creates the appearance of movement from a sequence of images. This topic covers planning, creating and rendering an animation.
A frame is one image in a sequence, and frame rate is the number shown each second, measured in frames per second. An animation at 24 frames per second lasting 2 seconds contains 48 frames.
A keyframe stores an object’s state at a particular frame, and tweening generates the frames between two keyframes automatically. The timeline shows frame tracks arranged over time, with start and end frames setting where playback begins and ends.
Easing controls how motion speeds up and slows down. Onion skinning shows neighbouring frames while drawing, and a sprite sheet holds many frames in one image.
Objects are positioned with translate, rotate and scale, and parenting links objects so a child follows its parent. Rendering produces the final image or video.
The camera sets the viewpoint, lighting controls brightness and shadow, and an object’s material controls its surface appearance. Consistent timing makes movement read as smooth rather than jerky.
A storyboard plans the scenes and their order before any animation is made. An animatic is a storyboard timed to sound, which tests the pacing early.
Stop-motion works differently, photographing small changes to physical objects one frame at a time.
