The History of Computer Animation

Computer animation is fascinating and has a long history that will interest anyone that wants to be involved with this style of animation. The animation in America was highly influenced by European animators during the 19th century. As the popularity of the motion picture increased, animation was developed further. 3D animation took the level of animation one step further, and helped to enhance the overall experience.

The basic concept of the comic strip can be seen as far back as 2000 BC on many Egyptian walls as decoration. Throughout successive panels, the pictures would tell a story, and have exciting graphics ensuring that you can fully understand the story. There were many different styles of basic animation used for several years. However, the invention of the motion camera and projector brought animation to life.

During the early years, the animation was incredibly basic, and nothing like the incredible animation we have today. Although the designs were simple, audiences were fascinated with the fact that basic drawings could come to life. The instant appeal soon wore off and during the early twenties people were tired of this style of animation. Movie makers looked for fresh, new ideas, to capture the audiences.

The concept of key frame was soon developed and what was considered as the first motion picture was made. The concept of key frame was developed and improved rapidly, allowing the speed rate and animation that was seen to be quicker. Computer animation was still a long way off; however, significant developments were taking place.

Walt Disney is of course the person who changed the direction of animation. His creative side allowed developments to be made that people never thought were possible. Through the ability to develop computer animation, people could enhance 3D computer animation. Walt Disney produced he first ever feature length animated movie, and never looked back.

The industry took a gigantic leap and was revolutionized in the early 1970's and continued to improve in leaps and bounds. The first movie to use computer animation was Westworld in 1973, which was incredible to watch. The technology and process behind the animation was developed even further by Pixar. This incredible company ensured that by the time they released their first animated movie, it was destined to be an enormous success.

Pixar soon became the pioneering company within the industry, and anyone who wanted to be a part of the new generation of computer animation wanted to work for this company. Pixar always aspired for greater things, and their goal was developing the animation even further. 3D computer animation was not simply a dream to them, and the process was always being developed. Following the impressive success of Toy Story, Pixar quickly went onto make more 3D computer animated movies.

Computers and imaginations have both developed and grown to ensure that future animations are incredible. From the humble beginnings of the animations that were so popular, they are now spectacular. There are very few movie companies that do not use computer animation in some form in their movies.

Animation has a long history in entertaining us. Click here for more information on computer animation. Here you will also find information on course in Photoshop, tools, history, movies and more.

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The History of Japanese Anime

In 1854, with the opening of Japan to foreign trade, the technologies developed in the West were introduced to and quickly adopted by many in Japan. That ushers in the era of Japanese animation in 1914 with the earliest anime being first screened in 1917 with a two minute clip of a folk tale and comedy about a samurai warrior.

By the 1930s, the anime industry has gained a significant amount of interest in Japan. Unfortunately, the local Japanese animators had to deal with a lot of competition, both from foreign and local animators. As a result, Japanese animators were forced to work cheaply and therefore, they opted for the animation technique called cutout animation, instead of the more expensive cel animation. However, with cutout animation, Japanese animators such as Yasuji Murata were still able to create wonders. Later on, animators such as Masaoka and Mitsuyo Seo improved the Japanese animation industry, among others, by using cel animation and by introducing sound.

In 1933, Masaoka has produced the first talkie anime called "Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka". This was succeeded in 1945 by Seo's direction of "Momotaro's Devine Sea Warriors", which was the first anime film with feature length. The achievement of these Japanese animators was even more commendable because it was difficult to survive commercially. They also had to rely heavily on the support of government, which entails an obligation to include educational and militaristic propaganda. Besides, Japanese animation was greatly influenced by the success of the 1937 feature film by the Walt Disney Company, called "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". For instance, Osamu Tezuka started to mimic American style cartoons to reduce costs and limit the number of frames in production and with that created the popular graphic novel known as "Shintakarajima" in 1947.

In the 1970s, the Japanese film market shrunk due to the increased competition from television which eventually led to the bankruptcy of Mushi Productions. However, the work of Osamu Tezuka was able to survive this competition. In fact, his work was so impressive that he was often credited as the "god of manga". His distinctive "large eyes" style in animation still remains as one of the fundamental elements of anime today. During this difficult era, a genre known as Mecha has also been introduced whose animation films include "Mazinger Z" (1972-74), "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman" (1972-74), "Space Battleship Yamato" (1974-75) and "Mobile Suit Gundam" (1979-80).

Other notable milestones for the Japanese animation industry include the release of "Akira" in the 1980s that has found huge success in both the Japanese and foreign market, and the boom in production in the 1990s due to the release of "Ghost in the Shell". Furthermore, in 2008, Doraemon has been officially appointed as the first Anime Ambassador by Japanese government in order to promote anime worldwide. All these led to the success of the animation industry of Japan that we know today.

For more information, please visit http://www.anixekai.com/ for our Anime Website and http://www.anixekai.com/forum for our Anime Forum.

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