Animation Post #6-The Pitfalls of Animation [And what to do to avoid them]

Animation Post #6

        With your early testmations, you may have been displeased by several things which plague all of us animators.

LIGHT FLASH--Aaaaghhh!!! It's the worst! Light flash is what will show up in your animation where a single frame will have a different light tone than the rest, resulting in a light 'flicker'. This is very obnoxious and will probably have you tearing your hair out with frustration if you're a perfectionist. To avoid this never use natural sunlight in your animation. Natural light [the sun, for example] is constantly changing in just how 'yellow' its light is, based on where it is in the sky. For good animations, you must use lamps. I recommend crane-neck lamps because they can be bent and stretched to angle toward your objects. Some of the best crane-necks can be bought at Wal-Mart, because the lamps they sell are cheap and don't overheat. [pictured below right]

CAMERA SHAKE--Also a major problem to us animators. Be sure to use a tripod to hold the camera still. I recommend getting a Gorillapod--a super-flexible little tripod [pictured below left]. I bought mine at Sports Authority for about $20. You can also get rid of camera shake in iMovie by using the 'stabilize video' function.
      

   Using these tools, you can be a whole lot more successful in your animations.

 

These are the two main things that will really be a problem during early animation. Camera shake is almost unavoidable if you're clicking the camera manually for every frame. Light flash can be reduced also by wearing dark-colored clothing and not moving about much while animating. By following these rules, you'll be much more productive.

     In the next post, I'll go over video sharing to popular media websites.

---Noah Master, 2011