Framework for 2D animation jitter

• Main Author: Lee, Pui Kuan.
• Other Authors: Seah Hock Soon
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Computing methodologies::Computer graphics
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48573
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Animation has a long and rich history that allows animators the freedom to do anything. It has changed in many ways by experimentation and innovation to reach what it is today through using computer animation technology. Traditional animation is one of the animation techniques. In traditional animation process, each of the frames was drawn one at a time by hand before it can be individually tape as a frame of film. As each of the drawings will differ slightly from the one before it, a jitter effect is produced when the frames are animated at a rapid rate. The purpose of this project is to develop a 2D jitter framework for supporting and optimizing the drawing process of traditional animation using computer animation technology. This framework is developed using NetBeans and Java programming language. The information and material used for this project were gathered from various sources like internet and reference books for providing guidelines in designing, programming, analysing and understanding. Research background was first carried out about animation and how traditional animation work. Several principles for graphical user interface were also applied while designing the layout for the 2D jitter framework such that the framework is adaptable to the changing user needs through its usability and overall usefulness. One of the greatest challenges was to examine and create the jitter effect that is apparent when the series of frames are drawn manually. Constraints were identified while developing the jitter effect. We will also look at various techniques such as Catmull-Rom spline and data structure used in implementing the framework and reasons why they are adopted for use. The implementation details for the framework were also provided in this report. A usability test was also conducted to find errors and improvements for the 2D jitter framework. The result shows that the participants are pleasant with the overall experience of Jitter Application and was able to assist them in understanding how 2D animation work. Recommendations for future works were also taken into consideration such as include more user tool functions that can assist them in their drawing.