LESSON 3
USES OF HAND TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT
PRETEST
1. Animation work is concerned with the slight change of
movement from drawing to drawing. Therefore, it is
necessary to see two or more drawings in relation to
each other. Which of these equipment has the feature of
having the light shine through different layers?
A. Graphic tablet C. Animation Light Box
B. Drawing light table D. all of the above
2. It is a traditional animation tool that enables an animator to
organize his/her thinking and give instructions to the cameramen
on the shots needed. Which of the following consists of five
sections, usually A4 paper in size, and every eight line of this is
marked thicker than the others because it shows half foot of film?
A. Exposure sheet C. Paper and cel punch
B. Bond paper D. Bar sheet
3. Some of the lightboxes has this attached so that the
paper will not move as the animator is doing the work.
This is usually made of plastic and can actually be
improvised using a three-hole punched paper.
A. graticule C. animation paper holder
B. paper and cel punch D. peg bar
TWO TYPES OF ANIMATION
Traditional Computer
Animation Generated
Animation
TRADITIONAL ANIMATION
An animation technique where each frame
is drawn by hand, this is also called
classical animation or cel animation. This
type of animation uses specialized
materials and equipment for artists and
animators.
COMPUTER GENERATED
ANIMATION
An animation technique that is purely
digital and created primarily with
computers. Computer generated
animators use-high powered computers
to create 3D animations.
TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT IN ANIMATION
ANIMATION LIGTHBOX Drawing Kit
PEG BAR Non-Photo Blue Pencils
Paper and Cel / Transparencies Drawing Pencils
Paper and Cel Punch Paint, Brush, Pastel, and Watercolor
Graticule or 12” field Chart Art Gum Eraser
Exposure Sheet, Bar Sheet and Dope Sheet Digital Camera and Video Camera
Production Folder Pen Tablet
ANIMATION LIGHTBOX
•The essential features of this
equipment is to have the light shine
through different layer of paper for
tracing the in-between.
PEG BAR
• A peg bar is a small plastic strip the length of an 8.5-
inch-by-11-inch piece of paper with three small pegs
on it spaced at the same intervals as the holes in the
paper. You can tape or glue the peg bar to the top of
the light table and lay the copy paper over it to hold
it securely in place.
PAPER AND CEL / TRANSPARENCIES
(ACETATE)
• There is no specific paper on which animation should be
drawn as long as it big enough to flip. After your
drawings are complete, you transfer your artwork from
plain paper onto cells, so they can be painted and then
placed against a separately drawn background. It's
difficult to find anything packaged as "cels." What you
need are copy-safe transparency films.
PAPER AND CEL PUNCH
• Each animation is registered by placing
each sheet or cel consecutively on
standardize registration pegs so it does not
move in relation to other sheets
GRATICULE OR 12” FIELD CHART
• The grid system of the graticule is used to accurately
create field guides in the layout department. These
field guides are what the camera will see in the scene.
The graticule grid system can be purchased at a 12
Field (FLD) maximum, a 16 FLD maximum and at a 32
FLD maximum sizes. There are larger units but they
are rarely used in traditionally drawn layouts.
EXPOSURE SHEET, BAR SHEET AND
DOPE SHEET
• A traditional animation tool that enables an
animator to organize his/her thinking and give
instructions to the cameraman on the shots
needed. This is what the director plans for the
entire picture, tying everything together for all
departments to see and coordinate with each
other.
PRODUCTION FOLDER
• It is an essential for large-scale studio productions that
the dope sheet instructions for each scene be kept
separate from each other. To keep track of all the paper
being added during this process, you will need to keep
folders for each scene. Here is a label which you can put
on each scene folder to keep track of what stage of
production the scene is in as well as other useful
information.
DRAWING KIT
• There are different kinds of pencil that you may use in
the drawing stage of the animation process. A set of
drawing pencils is essential. Usually, a regular wooden
pencil works best. When you're retracing animation, 2B
pencils are good choices. They are soft enough to give
for a varied line but hard enough to make dark clean
lines.
NON-PHOTO BLUE PENCILS
•Great for initial sketches. The right
shade of pale blue tend do not show
up on copies when transferred from
paper to clear cels.
DRAWING PENCILS
•Mechanical pencils may be used but
for animation work, a regular wooden
pencil is best. 2B is usually the best
hardness and are good for making
dark lines.
PAINT, BRUSH, PASTEL, AND WATERCOLOR
• You need a set of paintbrushes that range from midsize to a fine
hairline. When you work on letter-size transparencies, you won't
have much need for a large brush to fill in enormous areas, but
you do need fine brushes for getting smaller details just right.
• Colored pencils, pastels, watercolors, and markers are used on
backgrounds, which are drawn on the same size paper as the
animation.
• Static backgrounds for a single motion sequence only have to be
drawn once.
ART GUM ERASER
•These erasers are far superior to
standard erasers because they rub out
lead cleanly without smudging away
actual paper surface.
DIGITAL CAMERA AND
VIDEO CAMERA
• A digital camera is a hardware device that takes photographs and stores the
image as data on a memory card.
• Unlike an analog camera, which exposes the chemicals on film to light
• a digital camera uses digital optical components to register the intensity and
color of light, and converts it into pixel data.
• While a video camera is a camera used for electronic motion picture
acquisition (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film),
initially developed for the television industry but now common in other
applications as well.
PEN TABLET
• A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, drawing
tablet, drawing pad, digital drawing tablet, pen tablet, or
digital art board)
• is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-
draw images, animations and graphics, with a special
pen-like stylus, similar to the way a person draws
images with a pencil and paper.
ACTIVITY TIME
ACTIVITY A
Simple Animation
1. Put a mobile phone or digital camera in a stable
position.
2. Choose a moving object you can see.
3. Take 10 consecutive photos of the object, on that
same position.
4. Play the picture.
5. Explain what you have seen.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
ACTIVITY B
• In order to be a good animator, a learner should start from the Traditional animation.
And one of the basic things to know is the materials and equipment used. These tools
are used by animators to create poses and in-betweens that make up the movement.
Can you identify each one of them and give a short description?
____________ _____________ _______________ ______________ ____________
ACTIVITY C
• Do you believe that a good foundation of a man starts
at home? Why?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
