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What is Animation?

Animation is the illusion of motion, created through a series of still drawings, poses, or images. They are captured, strung together in a sequence, and viewed rapidly, one after another. The Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a series of hand drawings strung together to create the illusion of motion.

There are two basic types of animation software. The first is 2-dimensional, or 2D. This type represents everything in a cell as having only a width and a height. In other words, everything is flat. This type also has little in the way of shadows, shading, and perspective. Some examples of this type of animation software can be seen in the The Simpsons, and The Lion King.

The second is 3-dimensional, or 3D. This type represents everything in a cell as having a width, a height, and a depth. In other words, it tries to mimic real-life. This type also has shadows, shading, and perspective. This type of animation software can be seen in Finding Dory, The Lego Movie, Kung Fu Panda starts out with a 2D dream scene, then moves to 3D.


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