Today you can create cartoons without leaving your home. There are a lot of special software products with which you, having mastered a little, can easily create an animated film. This is a very exciting experience. You can create animations for both professional use and just as a hobby. This article discusses only some of the possibilities of computer animation. In fact, this area is constantly evolving: new programs are being released or existing ones in the field are being updated. The market offers many software products, including without payment, but in no way inferior to paid ones.
Occupation for children
There are many activities for children. You can walk, read books, go to sports sections, watch cartoons, finally. But why only watch? After all, you can create them yourself and please your friends and relatives with your work. This type of activity develops children's imagination, fine motor skills, and increases the level of computer literacy. To do this, you must:
- come up with a plot;
- take plasticine and mold characters;
- using the stop-motion technique to revive them;
- follow the instructions of the software product;
- parents can be assistants for their animated child.
For example, a good animation program is the Movavi video editor. It can be downloaded in the Windows and Mac versions. In order to make sure that creating cartoons at home is easy, you need to start doing it. This video editor has the ability to zoom in and out, crop and paste videos, voice acting, effects of an old movie, etc.
Computer program Pencil
If you seriously want to start creating cartoons, then it's worth exploring the technical solutions developed for this. For example, the Pencil animation program translates the author’s fantasies into reality. It makes it possible to work with raster and vector graphics. The editor itself has an English interface. However, it is intuitive to the user. Pencil drawing tools are standard. There is a panel of options that serves to change the diameter of the tool, color, blur the borders, etc. There is a scale for cropping - timeline. To create a cartoon, they draw frames one by one and assign them numbers from the last, i.e., in the reverse order. For example, if there are 5 fragments in the video, then we assign the first number 5, then press + in keys on the scale and draw the second. We assign the second frame number 4, then +, etc. Thus, we get a cartoon with a countdown. Pencil is a program for animation, allowing you to edit the created frame series of the cartoon by adding or removing fragments. For voice acting there is a horn button, in the same section change the frame rate. Using the classic Saveas save the cartoon to your computer.
Software solutions
There are a number of programs that can be used to create different animations. Programs in Russian: Movavi, CartoonMaker-constructor “My favorite heroes”, Aurora 3D, Synfig Studio, “Multimedia Studio 3D”, Anime Studio Pro with a Russian key and others. For example, “My Favorite Heroes” is a great solution for small animators. Having mastered the program, the child will be able to create his own cartoon world in 20 minutes, which will give him the opportunity to feel like a creator. He will be able to create not only cartoons, but also comics. As a rule, children are interested in animation and animation. Programs that make it possible to fulfill a childhood dream are designed in such a way that it will be interesting to create animated films not only for children, but also for parents. In the editor of CartoonMaker, the young animator is accompanied by his favorite fairy-tale characters: Robin Hood, Munchausen, King Arthur and others. In its arsenal there are one hundred and fifty different animation options, thirty background scenery, fifteen characters, more than two hundred sound effects, the possibility of a format in .avi, the creation of titles and many other functions. Synfig Studio is a free and convenient program for creating vector two-dimensional graphics. Suitable for Windows, Linux and Mac.
Which program to choose?
Autodesk leads the animation software maker. Packages such as 3ds Mach, Maya, and Softimage XSI are related to it. Great product from the German developer Cinema 4D. He has the ability to work in many languages, including Russian. A very interesting Canadian solution is Houdini. It is difficult to say which animation program is the most successful development. Each of them has its own advantages and, of course, disadvantages. However, all of the listed software, and not only it, but also other programs, have found their niche in the CG market. It makes no sense to single out any of them, but consider some as an example. Three-dimensional graphics are in demand everywhere today: television, the film industry, advertising, video clips, games, design, architecture, printing, medicine, forensics, mechanical engineering, etc. Everyone chooses which computer animation program is right for him, based on the OS version, technical PC characteristics, their financial capabilities and professional activities.
Animation technology
Animation is a very time-consuming process. Its technology is to make inanimate images move on the screen, thereby obtaining an animated film. When using hand-drawn animation, frames are composed of drawings, each of which displays the movement of an object. For example, in the first, the figure is standing straight, in the second, it has already tilted its head slightly, in the third, the tilt of the head has become even greater, etc. As a result, when you connect them, you get a video where the figure bowed its head. Pictures are photographed frame-by-frame and projected onto the screen. For an audio video, this is twenty-four frames per minute, for a silent one, sixteen. Thanks to the animation, you can create effects that cannot be realized in real life: the characters will move in space and time, a house will be built from the grains of sand, the characters walk through the air, transform into different personalities or animals, etc. In addition to the hand-drawn, there is plasticine and puppet animation, silhouette and collage ... There are such programs for 3D animation, which make it possible to create projects worthy of high professionalism.
How to make animation in Morfeus
This editor is very easy to use and perfect for a beginner animator. After downloading and installing the program, launch it using the shortcut on the desktop. After follow the instructions:
- Choose the option of working with the desired image.
- Click on the “Next” button.
- The editor will offer to download the desired image for subsequent modification.
- Specify the path to the image (click on Load Picture).
- Again "Next."
- The main editing window starts.
- Set the range of modification of the picture using Add Dots.
- We put points along the contour (or in places where you do not need to change the image).
- Drag the direction of the picture.
- Click on Preview to see the result.
- Save the modified image (File menu - export movie and Export button).
- A couple of seconds, and the animation is ready!
- We look through the drawing using standard system tools.
Flash Cartoon Tips
- We create images for the cartoon (preferably in a different program - for example, Photoshop).
- For the first steps we use editors such as gif (you can Easy GIF Animator Pro), which have all the basic features for creating the first simple cartoon, even from two frames.
- One of the best programs for flash animation is Macromedia Flash Professional, which allows you to create drawings, add sounds, banners and much more.
- Interesting: to create all kinds of animation effects, use the program Easy GIF Animator, Corel Photo Paint, Ulead GIF Animator ...
- It is important to use clear images for work! Blurry impossible to edit clearly!
Technology for creating a puppet cartoon
To create a good puppet cartoon, you will need considerable talent and skill. The viewer is very demanding on how the dolls look on the screen. Characters of such animated films can be made of plasticine, paper, plastic, wood, rags ... The task of the master is to make them very realistic. When creating puppet animation, heroes, similarly to drawn ones, change their position frame by frame. The doll is carefully placed in the desired position and the frame is shot. To change emotions, several heads, individual parts of the face, etc. are specially made. Thanks to modern technologies for filming such a cartoon, there is a special program. Puppet animation with modern computer technology has become much simpler, while the possibilities of cartoon artists and cameramen in translating their ideas have expanded.
3D education
Modern society is technologically advanced and is not going to stop there. Animation and the film industry today can not do without computer specialists in this field. Therefore, computer education has become relevant since the first grades of a comprehensive school. There are enough courses and circles where animation for children is studied. The program in such courses is distinguished by its focus, so you can choose the appropriate one. The production of three-dimensional animation has its own areas of technical specialization: modeler, setuper, texture designer, visualizer, animator. If you want to become a animator or a 3D animator, you need to decide in which direction to develop. To develop professionalism in this area, there are also a number of programs both on a paid and on a free basis. Many free editors are not inferior to paid ones in their functions. These include the simple animation program Synfig Studio. A great product for solving many 3D problems is Blender. Although among the commercial decisions regarding the functionality, the choice is still much wider.