Moving images come in two formats, animations or video images. Animations have to be created using animation software, whereas video images are captured from a video camera. Animation Software Animations are a series of still images changed very slightly and shown one after the other. Because the human eye retains an image for a short time after viewing, it gives the appearance of movement. Each image is known as a frame. Professional animations, as created by Disney, play twenty-four frames per second. Therefore a minute of animation could use as many as 1440 different frames. You should be able to see why it takes such a long time to create a feature length film. Animations need not only be for pictures. Many packages allow text or graphs to be animated. Recently animated buttons on web pages have become more common.
Answer the following questions in your jotter. 1. Give two reasons why movie studios are now producing animated movies completely on the computer, e.g. Toy Story, Monsters Inc. 2. Name a program that can be used for producing animated GIFs. 3. Why are animated images popular on Internet banner ads? 4. Are there any disadvantages in including lots of animated gifs on your website? 5. Rollovers are also common on web pages. These are images that change when your mouse passes over them. Why have these become common? |
