Character animation has been amongst the living for more than 5,000 years. Even though the images did not move back then, animated characters and retelling of stories was still found on the walls of the cavemen, the tombs of Egypt, and on pottery bowls dating back 5,200 years. As time progressed so did the technology.

Inventors began to develop methods to display pictures in motion through technologies such as the zoetrope and the praxinoscope. Gradually, silent pictures came on the big screen, followed by black and white movies with sound, and finally, the big kingpin, Walt Disney made its entry, hence changing the animated movie scene forever.

The Evolving Animation Industry

Animation evolved because technology evolved. The two go hand-in-hand, as one without the other is impossible. You wouldn't have motion-capture animation if it was for the technology that made it a reality.

We have gone from viewing 2D animations to viewing 3D animation. Some of the tools to make an impact on the evolution of the animation industry include the tablet, digital pen, and digital sculpting tools. That is only telling half the story of the ever-changing character animation.

Animators have been able to produce high quality and high-resolution character is because they have access to the latest 3D software. The software allows animators to design, render, animate, and color the character with precision.

In the award-winning movie Inside Out, the entire cast of animated characters, from the facial features to the body movements looked uncannily real. Then there is that secret ingredient to add that extra punch to make the character animation truly brilliant.

The Secret Ingredient

Big budget film studios supply their animators with free reign to whatever they require to make the character animation superior. They give them the opportunity to create tailor-made software to include that additional element to the movie to make it great.

In Every Medium, You Can See Technology at Play

From video games, TV, to movies, you can tell the reason behind the effortless animation is technology. Before animators drew characters by hand, drawing each animated sequence by hand, and then keeping track of it, but now, computers have changed the entire process. They have made it better. It has given us animated movies such as Tangled, Princess and the Frog, Up, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Monsters University, and many more.

If you compare modern animation movies with movies such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty, you will instantly be able to tell how much technology has influenced the final product of films you see today.

Furthermore, included in the modern technology is 3D software, allowing animators to create tigers such as in the movie Life of Pi. They generate it from their computers, using the high-end software, to create a realistic presentation of a tiger. When watching the movie, it is hard to distinguish if that is a computer-generated tiger or the real thing.

Animation has become more crisp, more clear, and more real!