Computer graphic (CG) animation refers to the process of animating or creating an illusion of movement of computer generated imagery and graphics with the help of various software applications. CG animation has evolved considerably in the modern times. Nowadays, 3D CG animation is widely used in almost all the industries; though 2D CG animation is not obsolete.
In this modern time, CG animation is not only used in movies and television programs, but also in short films and commercial advertisements. Moreover, it is also used in various other industries such as architectural industry, automobile industry, video games, space application, scientific research, etc.
Computer animation is a tough task and involves many processes before getting the final animated product. CG animation includes:
1. Rough Sketches – a series of rough sketches are drawn from a vague description of a character, model and background environment.
2. Finalising Art – from the series of rough sketches, a character, model or / and background environment is finalised. Then the artist creates an illustrative art of the character and the world filling in with visual details like colours of landscape, characters, etc.
3. Convert 2D art into 3D – the final two dimensional arts is fed into the computer software applications and transformed into three dimensional models. Then after the transformation, models are given hinges or Avars that will be used by animator to make the character or object move.
4. Actual Animation – a 3D model of a character or an object are choreographed into pre defined movement using various computer graphic animation software applications such as 3dmax, Maya, cinema 4D, Mudbox, Zbrush, etc. This software application creates in between frames that can be adjusted by an animator as necessary.
5. Shading Set and Characters – shader refers to the process of adding colours and textures to the character and sets. With the help of shader software application, customized effects can be applied to the characters or sets such as shining effects, blur effects, etc.
6. Digital Lighting – a digital lighting creates the same effect as real stage lighting. Digital lighting highlights the mood and emotions of the character.
7. Rendering – rendering refers to the processing of all the information of the file that makes up 3D model, colours, sets, digital lighting, etc. into a single frame of animation.
8. Quality Check – after the rendering is done, the animation is almost complete. The only thing remaining is the quality check for glitches if any.
CG animation is a creative process. It takes considerable time to complete an entire project, but once it is done, it will have a mesmerising viewing experience for the viewer.