Picasso Animation College, Lucknow

PowerPoint animation is a form of animation which uses Microsoft PowerPoint and similar programs to create a game or movie. These animations are created slide-by-slide or by using PowerPoint’s Custom Animation feature. Using Custom Animation, drawing tools and slides within PowerPoint, the animator makes a game or movie.

Custom Animation

Custom Animation is a set of effects which can be applied to objects in PowerPoint so that they will animate in the Slide Show. They can be added under the Custom Animation function (Slide Show | Custom Animation) or through the use of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). PowerPoint 2000 and earlier versions introduced basic effects such as Appear, Dissolve, Fly In and so forth. In PowerPoint 2002/XP and later versions, the Custom Animation feature was improved, adding new animation effects grouped into four categories: Entrance, Emphasis, Exit and Motion Paths.

Transitions are effects similar to Custom Animation, but are different in that they can only be applied singularly to individual slides as they change from one slide to another and are limited in options.

Entrance effects can be set to objects so that they enter with animations during Slide Show. Emphasis effects animate the objects on the spot. Exit effects allow objects to leave the Slide Show with animations. Motion Paths allow objects to move around the Slide Show. Each effect contains variables such as start (On click, with previous, after previous), delay, speed, repeat and trigger. This makes animations more flexible and interactive, similar to Adobe Flash.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 adds new transitions and animations, and makes changes to previously added animations, adding Fade effects to animations such as Wipe.

Animation Trigger

Animation Trigger is another feature introduced in Microsoft PowerPoint 2002/XP and the later versions (but, to date, not for Macintosh). This feature allows animators to apply effects that can be triggered when a specific object on the Slide Show is clicked. This feature is the basis for the majority of PowerPoint games, which usually involve clicking objects to advance in the game.

Games

Using hyperlinks and Animation Triggers, one can create games such as Jeopardy, using the tools to maneuver from question to answer. Taking this same principle, the animator can also make more complex games similar to a dungeon game or escape-the-room game. In this format, the animator can create a domain where the player chooses to go right or left, or pick up objects, and so forth. The process takes time, but is generally cheaper and easier than using multimedia software such as Adobe Flash.

For more experienced users, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is also commonly used in PowerPoint to keep scores, enter inputs and so forth. With the help of VBA, animations can be programmed with more flexibility.

Movies

A battle scene in the PowerPoint short movie, Shadow Fighter: The Movie, produced by PowerPoint Heaven

PowerPoint can also function as a movie maker program. The animator using PowerPoint works similarly to an animator using cels, using a succession of slides to create the illusion of movement. Many tools within the PowerPoint program can be easily used for maximum effect. Drawing tools such as AutoShapes, contains lines, connectors, basic shapes, block arrows, flowchart components, ‘freeforms’ (AutoShapes drawn by the mouse on pen tool) and banners, callouts and action buttons, help draw out a slide. Custom Animations and sound tools can also be used to help add excitement to the project and create interest in what might have been an otherwise dull presentation. The process of drawing out multiple slides takes time, but, again, it is considered to be less expensive and easier to use than buying and using professional graphics animation software.

Another way to produce these animations is by animating a cartoon as a single slide acting as a frame of film. This allows the slide show to run like an animated film. This is time consuming, but the artist has much more control and can do much more detailed and precise animation. It also allows control over the timing of the animation. This also makes editing of the animation easier afterwards. On average, month’s work of such animation usually ends up at about a minute in length. A three minute animation can take around three to four months to complete depending on the amount of detail, these lengthy cartoons usually run around 1,800 slides.

Using Custom Animation, cartoons or movies similar to those created in Adobe Flash can be done with PowerPoint. With minimum time, an animator can produce a simple show similar to a stick figure movie, where the body movements are animated using Motion Paths and Emphasis effects. An example released under PowerPoint Heaven, has a section called the Shadow Fighter series which demonstrates PowerPoint movies.

Distribution

While PowerPoint offers various distribution formats, notably in PowerPoint Show (.pps, .ppsx) and web page (.html), not all animation functions work accurately when saved as a web page or executed with a PowerPoint Viewer. Standalone EXE is also an alternate way for a creator to distribute his work with PowerPoint Viewer embedded. This allows for the audience without access to PowerPoint to view these works, as well. Animation works can be easily created by amateur artists which are then distributed on the web, though technical knowledge is required to create a notable work. A screen capture can also be used to manually convert a PowerPoint movie into a more viable format (e.g. WMV).

Drawbacks

Though animations can be created easily using Custom Animations provided in Microsoft PowerPoint, it may be much more tedious to complete a project in PowerPoint than in professional animation programs such as Adobe Flash due to the absence of key frames and tweening.

When effects such as Emphasis Grow/Shrink and Spin are applied to objects, they may appear to be jagged or pixilated when previewing in the slide show. In addition, excessive use of these effects may degrade the slide show’s performance. (PowerPoint’s built in Hardware Graphics Acceleration feature does help in minimizing these setbacks; however which requires a video card that supports Microsoft Direct3D.)

PowerPoint 2000 and later versions introduced macro security to help protect computers from malicious code within a PowerPoint presentation. This led to disabling all VBA or macro code by default, causing presentations containing codes unable to run properly. This complication can be easily fixed by adjusting the macro security settings to Low.[10] Security Warning in PowerPoint 2007 alerts the user of macros in a presentation as soon as it is opened, giving the option to run the presentation with or without the macros enabled.

Compositing is layering two separate still/motion images together for animation. Imagine an object like a ball that you want to show moving in a zero gravity environment. You can shoot this ball on a timeline with a pure green background. You can shoot an space ship like environment separately. You can then take the two footage and work in softwares like Combustion. You can select and delete all the green from the Ball footage and just composite it on top of the space ship footage. This is process is called compositing.

A compositor’s role

Every facility is different, but they are all similar in that the compositing is at the end of the digital pipeline, meaning you are one of the last members of the team to touch the shot before it gets recorded to film. Also, compositors are generally the last to get hired and the last to get released from a project as well.

The compositor’s job is an important one. I always like to use the analogy that the compositor is the equivalent to a sound mixer or recording engineer of a recording studio. As a recording engineer is technically responsible for weaving all of the different pieces of music together, so that they make sense to the ear, the compositor is responsible for weaving all of the pieces of visuals together so that they make sense to the eye.

What skills are needed to become a compositor?

1) Become a problem solver

Probably the most important skill you can possess, and I can’t emphasize this enough, is the ability to problem solve and be resourceful. Often times on a project, image elements are assigned to you that don’t fit together at all and it’s the compositor’s responsibility to make them seamless and believable when they are composited. Elements might come to you in a different color space, resolution, or format than what you are presently working in, and you have to make adjustments as needed. Objects may need to be rotoscoped or painted out of a shot, which in a smaller facility, where you are more of a generalist, you would be responsible for doing this. In a larger facility, the roles are more specialized and you would most likely be compositing only.

2) Train your eye

If you are the type of person that has a knack and a passion for painting, photography and other 2D fine arts, then you will probably make a good compositor. Like a painter painting a landscape, a compositor typically works from the back and then forward. He/she also has to be familiar with camera movement (matching it or stabilizing it), depth-of-field shifts, lighting, shadows, keying, color (grading and matching), contrast, atmospheric perspective, (objects closer to camera have more contrast than objects in the distance, where blacks appear more gray), composition, key-framing and animation, motion blur, grain, etc.

Compositors are experts at mimicking the world around us. Casually take a moment to observe your environment, ie: how transparent a reflection is on a car windshield, or how a sun casts a warm orangey hue on everything as it sets, or how the trees that whiz by you while driving in your car are motion blurred, but the car beside you, going the same rate of speed as you, is not motion blurred.

By the way, the compositing techniques are not only limited to use in films, but they can also be applied to video and games production as well.

From:-

Shazia Raza

9795460063

Academic Counsellor

Picasso Animation College, Lucknow

Animation in TV commercials was brought into action way after animated movies were made. Right from the start advertisers were quick to grab the various possibilities that TV commercial animation had to offer to them. Eg: Kellogg’s started this trend in 1955 along with Murray mints.

The packaging of Kellogg’s had a hand drawn characters and that still runs till date. Kellogg’s took the same design forward for the commercial as well. Animators and Advertisers were both equally keen to work with each other. Both the industries formed a synonymous bond with each other and a whole new industry emerged with new technology coming in and creative ideas splashing across television screens. This gave rise to various new opportunities in the field of animation as viewers got hold of more than what they saw on the theatre screen. New experiments started taking place with respect to ad films and a clutter of animated ads took place which led to immense amount of competition.

Animated commercials were not only a hit with the children but at the same time advertisers started to use animation in ad’s for adults too. In India, Pilsbury atta was a very famous ad where a small pilsbury boy would help a lady in making roti’s and another ad that was a rage was sunflower oil where a small boy was seen running around freshly made puri’s and jalebis. Though this fad in India came quite late but it proved effective and now we see a hoard of animated advertisements.

The association between model animation and the actual world in which the movie is made means that it has to confine itself to the laws of the actual world so that it looks believable and real. But it’s obvious that these laws can be modified a little in order to get the message of the ad across. The actors or characters in the ad can walk and talk like normal public but if it tends to look like it’s actually there and happening it’s a great achievement.

One of the best things about using animation in TV commercials is that its gives an ability to advertisers to create a different world altogether which is not possible in real world using live actions. You can let your imagination run wild and have a situation which you could possibly imagine happening but it wouldn’t happen in reality. It helps in making the viewers get transported in an altogether new world which they can possibly just imagine and can this helps them live the moment. Kids especially being a great audience to animated commercials are always in awe of such stupendous things and getting an animated commercial does not always guarantee sale of the product but it at least guarantees interest of the viewer. Animation is also highly used in the case of toothpastes where a company tries to show the parent brand and a competitor brand and compare the usefulness of the brand against the other.

Animation in TV commercials was brought into action way after animated movies were made. Whistling Woods International School of Animation creates an excellent platform for students in animation.

The Increasing Role of Character Animation in Video Games.

Video Games have certainly evolved since the arrival of one of the earliest video games, Pong by Atari, more than 30 years ago. Back in the day, people were content to play this two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis. Gamers today, however, are demanding an increasingly more immersive gaming experience, one that the industry is constantly seeking to meet.

Almost every video game today uses character animation. It’s become a standard element in modern entertainment software.

Today, gamers find themselves in fully rendered CG worlds, competing in increasingly complex missions with more believable characters. This is where character animation specifically comes in to play: By creating greater empathy for the character, gamers become more involved in the game.

The uniqueness of gaming compared with other media is that we cannot just relate to the hero, but we actually become the hero.

As technological parameters, have increased and technology has become more sophisticated, game developers are using more complicated characters that allow the gamer to more fully connect with the gaming experience.

A Good Game Needs a Good Story

Technological advances also allow for increased intricacies of storyline. In this way, animators say that we start to see an overlap between the film and gaming industries.

Scriptwriters concentrate on storytelling and character development. If a game looks great,sounds great and is marketed well, it still won’t sell if the content doesn’t keep the

player involved, challenged, and wanting more.adding that after the content has been created, it’s the animators who are responsible for bringing it all to life. As a result, animation is playing a bigger role than ever.

To further involve gamers in the plot, more cinematics are being used so that gamers can see exchanges between characters and the subtext of what a character is thinking. It’s in a cinematic where an animator must control how users see the scene and where the animation is created through the lens of a camera shot, which is similar to watching a small ‘movie’ unfold.

A Big Demand for Character Animators

Character animators are in high demand in the gaming and the feature film industries because of their ability to bring characters to life. And animators say that creating empathy for the character is still the No. 1 objective in games and films.

As games become more sophisticated and technology advances, plot-driven games with more real and believable characters is where the gaming industry is headed.
Creating the animation for the video characters can be challenging, but is also rewarding and fun.

Whatever the future holds for the gaming industry, it is clear that character animators are in demand more than ever. Though the tools and technology are constantly changing, the core of what you do as animators remains the same.

From:-

Shazia Raza

30/7/2010
Academic Counselor,
Picasso Animation College, Lucknow.
Mobile: +919795460063
E.mail: shaziya@lucknowpicasso.com