Smear frames
In animation, smear frames are animation frames that create the illusion of motion blur. Smear frames are used in between key frames.[1] This animation technique has been used since the 1940s.[1] Smear frames are used to stylistically visualize fast movement along a path of motion.[2][3][4]
History
The earliest, most notable use of smear frames was in the 1942 film The Dover Boys at Pimento University.[3] The nature of smear frames helped to reduce production costs of other motion blur techniques used in earlier cartoons.[3]
Developed for 2D animation, smear frames did not evolve much even with the emergence of CG animated films in the 1990s.[3] The more sophisticated, rigged style of animation for CG films was not conducive to smear frames at the time.[3]
The earliest most notable use of recognized smear frames in a CG film was 2012’s Hotel Transylvania in which Tartakovsky’s 2D design philosophies were used to guide the 3D shots.[3]
Types of smear frames
Elongated inbetween
Movement of the subject between key poses by distorting it over 1-2 frames.[2][3][4] The term first emerged in reference to this type of smear in Richard Williams’ The Animator’s Survival Kit.[3]
Multiples
Duplication of the subject or parts of the subject along a path of motion.[2][3] Does not distort the subject and is used for repeated actions like walk cycles.[3][4]
Smear frames in different media
While developed for 2D animation, smear frames can be seen in other mediums that employ the use of animation.
In 2D animation
• Chuck Jones’ Roadrunner.[3]
• An example of a smear can be found in Williams’ The Animator’s Survival Kit.[4]
• The Legend of Korra combined slight smears with motion blur to emulate a fast motion without distorting the realistic art style.[3]
• Animated with 2D puppetry, YouTube’s Super Science Friends used multiples as to not distort their models.[3]
In 3D animation
• 2012 Hotel Transylvania employed the use of both elongated in-betweens and multiples, depending on the motion of the shot.[4]
• 2014 The Lego Movie used Lego shapes in the same color as the character to simulate a smear.[3]
• 2018 Into the Spider-verse used squash and stretch with overlayed 2D effects to create smears.[3]
In Stop-motion
• Laika’s ParaNorman used 3D printed head replacements that were modeled in various smear shapes.[3]
• Wallace and Gromit used multiples to visualize quick action.[3]
In Video games
Much like 3D animation, smear frames were rarely seen in early video games due to the lack of power in gaming systems.[3] Visually stylistic games with fixed cameras were more likely to have smears.[3]
• 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog smeared Sonic’s feet in his run cycle.[3]
• Crash Bandicoot used multiples and blur on Crash’s spin. According to Lendenfeld, this is the first notable use of smears in a 3D game.[3]
• 2001 Jak and Daxter used elongated inbetweens, though they were limited in how far they could distort the model.[3]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Santucci, Walter (2009). The Guerrilla Guide to Animation: Making Animated Films Outside the Mainstream. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 49. ISBN 9780826429858.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Drury, Matthew R., "Creating 3D Smear Frames for Animation" (2016). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 348. https://dc.etsu.edu/ honors/348
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 Lendenfeld, Christoph (2018). Smearframes in Video Games. Masterabeit Digital Arts in Hagenberg. pp. 1–26. https://theses.fh-hagenberg.at/system/files/pdf/Lendenfeld18.pdf.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Carter, Chris (October 2019). "Exaggerated Cartoon Style Motion In Hotel Transylvania". International Journal of Computer Graphics & Animation 9 (4). https://aircconline.com/ijcga/V9N4/9419ijcga03.pdf.
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