Animation

The word “animation,” derived from the Latin word animare (to give breath to), is frequently associated with web and entertainment industries such as film, television, and (→) game design. Animations can also be used to instruct and inform, particularly when a process is communicated more easily through (→) visualization than through the written or spoken word (in contexts where language constraints are an issue, for example).

Simply put, an animation is comprised of a sequence of static images, strung together to provide the illusion of movement. Stop-motion animation, one of the simplest forms of animation, typically makes use of puppets, clay figures, photos, cutouts, or drawings. The process involves shooting individual photographs frame-by-frame while making very minimal physical changes to the object or scene after each shot. When viewed, a continuous sequence of 24 of these single images per second creates the illusion of movement.

2-D and 3-D computer animation today uses a...