The Making of Game Animation

  Arjun       December 22, 2020

Games are meant to be interactive. While playing a game, you are in control of the character and camera. The story is told from your viewpoint while you make your moves. So it is very much important that the animation should be good from every possible angle. Like, If the game runs from a third-person point of view they will see the visuals and movements from a different angle. A game animator should be aware of all these factors so that their animations stand up to all those possibilities. Unlike animation in a movie where the animator doesn't need to bother about whether it will be the look from a side view or behind, creating animations for games needs to look good from any angle.

What is Animation?

Animation is a process where multiple images are aligned and displayed in a rapid order which creates the illusion that they are moving. This is done by using the help of drawings, computer images, etc. Earlier, the method of choice for animation was drawings, which were drawn on transparent sheets and then photographed. But today animations are created using computer-generated imagery, also known as CGI.

What Are the Different Types of Animation?

Animation can be created using numerous techniques. Some of the different types of the animation below.

Traditional/Classical 2D - This method was employed in the first days of animation and was achieved using hand-drawn images for every frame of the story. Subjects were painted onto plastic cells, and people's images were captured individually ahead of painted backgrounds to form scenes. 

Digital 2D - This method uses digital technology to create images in a 2D space, almost like drawing them by hand. However, the technology enables animators to finish the method more quickly. Some actions can be performed in batches rather than individually, while others are often narrowed down and simplified. For instance, a computer image of a person waving is often manipulated to vary only the hand motion in each image, instead of completely re-drawing the whole form. Changes can also be made more easily, like the color of a dress.

Digital 3D -This type of animation uses 3D models that are created and manipulated digitally, which is way easier and faster than changing individual images.

Stop-Motion -  Stop-motion animation uses tangible objects, like clay models. One frame is captured, models are moved ever slightly, and another frame is captured. Many hours of labor are spent creating only minutes of recorded motion.

Mechanical - Rather than actual moving robots interacting with other characters, a machine is often manipulated using the methods described above so as to form it appear as though the machine moves on its own.

Puppetry - Puppets are used, often with interchangeable heads for various expressions, and captured employing a stop-motion technique.

Claymation - Clay models are employed during a stop-motion filming process.

Zoetrope - Images are adhered to within a spinning cylinder that resembles a drum. When the cylinder spins, the picture appears to be moving. This method is great for brief animation, like gifs.

Cut-Out - Paper drawings are cut out and put ahead of background settings, then captured using stop-motion animation.

Sand - This method is arguably one among the foremost difficult, and thus most artistically challenging. Sand is about on a lighted table and artists to draw images within the sand, erasing and beginning again for every frame with a shocking outcome.

Paint-on-Glass - Almost like sand,  images must be at least partially cleared between each frame using turpentine. Each frame is photographed, then the subsequent is painted.

Pin-Screen - Pins are accustomed to poking a screen, softer for lighter impressions, and harder for larger holes. Light is filtered through to point out the image.

Typography - This method is employed for images of words and letters, typically title sequences.

Drawn-on-Film - Images are drawn directly onto reels of film, sometimes in a darkroom.

 

Creating Game Animation

As a game animator, you have the chance to view several sorts of animations than what is typically found in a movie as Pixar or DreamWorks produces. You may create animations for fantasy creatures, giants, other figures, etc. For instance, most games will have a breathing cycle, an idle stance cycle (when the character is standing still) crouching, walking forward while aiming a gun, laying down and crawling forward, etc.

 Since most games are driven by body mechanics you need to spend a lot of time perfecting body mechanics in the game. That's not to say you won't be animating any acting scenes, but if you remember the last video game you played, you will likely see just how heavy body mechanics are.

The timing for animations in games is usually determined by the requirements of the player inputs. But those reload animations have been timed perfectly to reinforce the gameplay. For instance, you would like a reload animation to be fast enough therefore, the player can revisit the action, but also slow enough to be realistic, and add a challenge for the player.

Working with Motion Capture

While there's an enormous emphasis on body mechanics in-game animation, there's still a requirement to push the story forward, and as hardware progresses games are becoming even more story-driven. as an example, inspect the Uncharted series or The Last folks as great samples of story-driven games. Video games are typically how more realistic kind of animation, rather than something like Toy Story or Megamind, actually there are more stylized animations in games like Wildstar apart from the foremost part games plan to be grounded in realism to help keep the player engrossed within the gameplay. to make sure the game could also be as realistic as possible motion capture may be a technique that's getting used more often, especially for the more subtle acting cut scenes like you'd find within the Last folks.

 
As a video game animator motion capture are some things you'll need to become familiar with because more studios are implementing it into their pipeline. This does not mean traditional animation isn't needed, but you need to use motion caption data as a start line in your animations. Animating for games can bring a whole new set of challenges to the table, but it's also very rewarding.