Contents
For you designers, you may be very familiar with these two phrases ANIMATION AND MOTION GRAPHICS, so am I, because I have been pursuing it for a while, at that time I could not distinguish these two concepts. and practical experience while working, I also understood more about the field of animation, motion graphics and combined it into a marketing video.
(The article is collected from internet sources and author LeoDinh combined with experience in self-study and doing some Animation and video marketing projects starting 3 years ago. This is one of my hobbies. mine that I want to share with you. )
I. HOW DIFFERENT ANIMATION AND MOTION GRAPHICS?
Generality
Animation is a vast world that includes many forms of Animation. However, when it comes to Animation, people often only think of Character Animation and overlook or indistinguishable from other forms. New trends and separate needs have gradually separated the two concepts of Motion Graphics and Animation. For those of you who are looking to choose a path as a professional Animator, understanding each of the different types will help you build the right direction for yourself.
Although Motion Graphics and Animation both share the same fundamentals of Animation, they both require different specific techniques. Motion Graphics is more about animation effects than character acting. Most Motion Graphic projects have few characters, or if they do, the acting is simpler than Character Animation projects. In Character Animation, the soul is the character of the story. Without the characters, the audience has nothing to see. But in Motion Graphics, without characters you can still tell the story with graphic elements.
1.Motion Graphics
As the name suggests, Motion Graphics is Graphics made with motion (Motion). To pursue this field for a long time you need to have a good knowledge of Graphics. Graphic design courses will help you a lot to equip a solid knowledge base of Graphics. You will learn how to use images to convey messages, the principles of graphic design: layout, color, image orientation, rhythm, typography are all important knowledge that a Motion Designer must grasp. However, that knowledge is not enough for you to tell a perfect story in motion, but you also have to practice creative thinking, know how to build a story structure, build a script, and transfer the script into a storyboard. , the knowledge of camera angles, how to build situations seamlessly through transitions all need to be mastered. Sound is also an extremely important factor determining the success of a Motion Graphics product.
Because Motion Graphics is a combination of Motion and Graphics, new design trends affect Motion a lot. Nowadays, Motion Graphics projects have more characters, but the characters are often simpler and have less complicated motion than traditional animation. The interesting point of Motion Graphics does not stop there, but also in the flexible combination of different design styles, including 2D and 3D. In addition, you can also combine Motion Graphics with Live Action (real movie shooting). Motion Graphics are also used on the Web or in mobile applications. With Motion Graphics, the applicability is endless and it’s a “tumbling” trend. So if you’ve fallen in love with Motion Graphics, don’t panic about the future! Surely there are many opportunities for you to seize!
2. Animation
If you love characters, like to create thrilling actions or all sorts of angry expressions like the hundreds of thousands of cartoons you’ve watched since you were a kid until now, welcome to Character Animation, or often called Animation! This is a traditional field but has never ceased to be hot. However, this road is not easy and smooth! Read on. 😉
- Traditional Animation, Handrawn Animation, Classical Animation:
If you pursue this 2D Animation path, that means you must be very good at drawing. This is also the path that the father of cartoon Walt Disney went through and built his empire. The creators of Bambi the deer, the sleeping princess in the forest, or the lovely Snow White are all genius artists. If you are a fan of Japanese animation such as Totoro, Spirited Away, Grave of the Fireflies, or if you are a fan of Anime on manga versions like One Piece, Dragon Ball, Pokemon, you will have to admire the artists who did it. so these movies are all hand-drawn! According to the traditional method, before the advent of computer software tools, artists would draw characters on transparent sheets of paper called cels. There are about 25 such cels every second of the character’s movement. These cels are placed on the backgrounds and photographed individually. The whole process is done manually like that. Every 60 minutes of the film, more than 90,000 drawings are drawn. Exactly the number 90,000, guys! Too massive and impressive right?
– 2D Computer Animation:
Today Animation is “assisted” by a lot of software but the way to do it is the same. Instead of having to draw on paper, you draw on a computer, saving paper a lot. Newly born tools like Wacom (drawing board + link), tablet have made it possible for animators to draw anytime, anywhere, but it feels like drawing on paper, so 2D Computer Animation has become popular. What if you are not good at drawing? The new minimalist design trend has become one of the choices of Animators who were originally Designers. Here’s an example for you of how effective a minimalist design style is with a cute message:
To make projects like this, you don’t need to draw well, or have to draw frame by frame like traditional animation, but software like After Effects can make it easier for you to animate. However, regardless of the method, the most important thing is that you must have a basic knowledge of Animation.
8 BASIC STEPS IN ANIMATION AND MOTION GRAPHICS PROCESS
#1. VIDEO BRIEF (IDEAS)
Brainstorming, this is the most important step in animation. If an idea isn’t good, your product isn’t that good either. You often focus too much on the details of the effects in your videos, but accidentally forget that your ideas are good and focused on your target audience or not.
#2. SCRIPT
After you have an idea, you need to write a script for your video, you can write down ideas or just sketches
- You don’t need to write a professional script
- You can write each small idea
- After writing down each small idea, go back and review the logical sequence of the ideas
- Don’t be afraid to write, because if you don’t write it down, you won’t be able to visualize your ideas in general. After I have a detailed script, I follow the next step.
#3. STYLE FRAMES
Style Frames Will help you visualize how your final product will feel, what colors will be, Style frames will help you shape your animation style.
#4. STORYBOARD
Based on the style frame, I started to make storyboard _ now Storyboard is the place to create the scenes in my animation, clearly illustrate the character’s movements (how the camera is, how the transition is, as well as all all movements taking place in the animation).
#5. Voice
Once we’ve finished the Storuboard step, we start the Voice mail for our product. Depending on the project, there can be Voice, there is no Voice project, there is music.
#6. GRAPHICS
After completing the steps, now we draw the Storyboard on the computer. Can draw with illustration software, Photoshop…
#7. ANIMATION
When finished drawing on the computer. I start animating the character after all these steps are approved by the client we move on to the next step.
#8 SFX AND RENDER
After the animation has been approved by the customer, we begin to insert sound effects and export the complete file.
NOTE
The more you finalize the idea and animation style from the beginning, the best you can do later to avoid editing if the customer changes his mind. When embarking on an animation, that’s when the image is definitely the best and most detailed with the script. When you finish the animation, but when the customer just doesn’t like a certain scene in your video, it’s very laborious to edit and cut the scene. I encountered this situation while working. because at that time it was still young (hi).
Thanks everyone!
Reference source: Author_ Leodinh (Redcatmotion)