Digital Animation - Then and Now

Then:
Flip Book Effect

This YouTube link shows the very early stages of digital art in the making of Walt Disney movies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfp6Z8z1cI

It shows the processes of how cartoons were transformed from hand drawn sketches on paper to a movable story on a screen. Each frame of the movie is hand drawn out and made into a very large flip book. It just goes to show you how much digital art has evolved over the decades, especially in movies.


Now:
The advancement of technology has opened many more doors for digital animation methods. As seen above it used to just be limited to hand drawn pictures put together in a sequence or set up in frames and the sequence would be projected at very high speeds causing motion within the drawings. Now it has evolved into much more complex methods that require special computer programs and digital effects engines to accomplish more fascinating methods of digital animation. Below are examples and links to some of the methods used today:

Digital Effects and Compositing:

This is a method that takes animated characters or computer generated assets and combines them in a real world environment or vice versa. For example, most of the newer films like Michael Bay's Transformers (2007) used this method where they shoot a scene without the alien robots in it and then design or create the robots in special programs and combine them with the real world shot. This link shows the original shot and then when compositing is added in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW4ghsZ_16A

Flash Animation:

Flash animation is another way in which motion is created in digital pictures. This method is more or less used in cartoon animation as opposed to compositing. This takes drawn images, primarily drawn on the computer in a program called Adobe Flash, and certain codes and commands are applied to the image in order for it to move and complete desired tasks. Unlike digital effects and compositing and 3D modelling this is only in two dimensions most of the time. Most flash animations are fairly simple and humorous. They are also used as a very effective marketing tool to add a cuteness effect as well as a humorous effect. For example, this next link is a small flash animation of a tree growing. Flash animation is a great tool used today for marketing and advertising firms who use digital animation and art to grab the attention of consumers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDB47ZwI7sw&feature=related

3D Modeling and Animation:

3D modeling and animation is starting to take over the cartoon industry. This is the advancement of the two dimensional cartoon era into the three dimensional realm. This method is becoming very popular method in the new Disney, Dream Works, and Pixar movies that have been released for the past fifteen years. This is the computer generated creation of characters, environments, or other surrounding assets. Not only is it becoming very popular in the film industry but also in the video game industry as well. The following link shows a 3D modelers demo reel of some of their 3D modeling and texturing work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfhrEG_kdT0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaoypChuU1U&feature=feedrec_grec_index