Animation is a series of steps and techniques which is used to create the illusion of motions. It is mainly used by entrepreneurs, business owners, and video marketing agencies. Using animation process requires a lot of creative thinking.  Animation can help you to understand the brand of your company. No matter how complex your product and service is. An animation process can help to define the business product and service. At last this is the reason why customers are more attracted to your business. Animation can create some cartoon characters that help to attract the customer easily. 

Let’s take an example of Amul in 1966, launched its advertising campaign which featured the Amul Girl for the first time. Because the girl in the cartoon looks chubby-cheeked and naughty holding a piece of bread with butter on top. At that time this girl won the hearts of many. When the Amul company did this animation, people started purchasing  more because of it.

What Are the Main Steps in the Animation Process?

• Research:-  Making animated videos is not only about character design and script. In fact the first thing is understanding of your business first. That’s why the animation can take lots of time.  Firstly , they can understand the product and service of your business. The animator can always think about their brands, value, identity, and target audience. Getting to know your brand is very important in the animation process. 

• Script:-  The second animation step is to write the catchy lines. That’s why they can easily attract customers. What’s the message you want the video to transmit? Let’s continue with the example. The first ad, with the word ‘Thoroughbread’ along with Amul’s slogan ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’, first appeared in March 1966, with the Amul girl riding a horse. The slogan ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’ got imprinted in everyone’s mind. Script is very important for any animation, the animator always tries to imprint the script along with the image in the mind of the people. They always develop a clear and simple script that’s easy to understand and lets your message shine through. Defining the concept is sometimes very needed. It is not necessary to understand everything from the video every time, sometimes having a script is also very important.

• Storyboard:-  In the next step, it’s time to Visualize the script. A storyboard consists of a series of sketches or drawings. That helps you organize a visual narrative and break it down into individual parts. It includes notes about shot specs, camera direction, dialogue, and any other relevant details regarding how the story in your video will unfold. Basically , it’s a roadmap that the production team will follow to effectively produce. In this, a check is done by the client and if any changes are made then it is done by the animator.

• Art direction:- Now, it’s time to decide the visual style. In this stage of the 2D animation process, they focus on creating your video’s style frames. Which are a series of illustrations that reflect the piece’s overall aesthetic. It includes the art design of every important element. That appears on screen such as the characters, product, color palette, typography, and the keyframes of the video.

• Voice-over Narration:-  The next  animation step involves bringing the script to life with the help of the right narrator. It is very important to choose the professional voiceover talent. They can set the tone of the video. In the animation production process, clients can choose their favorite  one. It’s a fun part of the animation process. Animators always suggest that you first think about whether you want a more masculine or feminine voice. Then, choose the actor whose style you believe represents your brand’s attitude more accurately.

• Illustration:- Once the animator gets approval, on the style frame and  all the previous animation steps.  Now it’s time to work on the design of the different graphic steps. Animators can perform the illustration stage of the animation process using traditional methods, such as the hand-drawn technique. But in modern animation methods using computer software such as Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop or both. When illustrating with digital tools, the artist can sketch their character and background ideas using various digital brushes provided by the software. Once the client approves the sketch, the artist can refine the line art and start coloring, shading, and adding texture to the illustrations.

• Animation:- The animation process is highly technical and dependent on the tools, programs, and processes we use. Now the animator can give the natural movement in the cartoon character. Movements are a key part of animated video. They give the animation life. Getting character movements can decide if this video is going to be high-quality or not. Animators can also use the lighting effect , it can help to showcase which things are in focus, which things are out of focus. 

• Adding Sound Effects:- The visual part of the video is over. Now, to decide which piece of music to include and which sound effects to use while taking into account the tone, script, and flow of the animation. If you are new to this, there are some great platform where  you can find free sound effects and music. 

 Explain some type of Animation Process:- 

• 2D (Vector):- 2D Vector animation  is a style of animation that creates motions, and visual effects using two-dimensional vector graphics. Images with familiar formats like JPG, GIF, BMP, are pixel images. Furthermore, mathematical vectors also define it. Which are points, lines, curves, and shapes described by mathematical equations. They can be easily scaled up and down without affecting the image quality. People know vector animations for their smooth and fluid motion. 2D vector animation is frequently used in explainer videos to simplify complex concepts or products. It is especially popular in industries such as entertainment, advertising, education, and multimedia design.

• 3D:- Nowadays, 3D animation or computer animation is one of the most common types of animation. In 3D animated movies, animators use a program to manipulate the character’s body parts. They place their digital frames when all the character’s parts are in the correct position. In 3D, the entire body needs to be visible. In 3D animation, animators use specialized 3D modeling software to create objects, characters, and environments as three-dimensional models. They often texture 3D models with images to add surface details such as color and shininess.

• Motion Graphics:- Digital graphics create the illusion of motion in motion graphics. They are  usually for ads, title sequences in films. Ultimately, they exist to communicate something to the viewer, and they are a type of animation mostly used in business. Motion graphics focus on conveying information, concepts, or messages in a brief and visually attractive manner. 

• Stop Motion:- Stop-motion animation is a unique and attractive form of animation. It involves animators photographing a sequence of still images or frames, wherein they incrementally move and adjust physical objects or characters by hand to create the illusion of movement. This process relies on the use of tangible physical objects, puppets, or models.

Animation can play an important role in the business field. With the help of animation, it educates the audience through entertainment. Animations can attract people to the product and service. As a result many times there are emotions in the animation, due to which people become eager to purchase that product. In this way, we can say that animation can be very important.