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During the last few decades, 3D animation had slowly, but inevitably pushed aside its older brother, the traditional, hand drawn 2D animation, and established itself as the most popular, and probably the only animation technique used for serious commercial projects, such as movies, video games etc.

There are many reasons for this turn of events. First of all, we should point out that although 3D animation is not necessarily created with the help of computers, it is the use of computers that pushed 3D animation into the spotlight. With the help of computers, it has become much easier to create 3D images, and to make these images lifelike.

Even before the use of computers, 3D animation was possible. It used to be created by taking pictures of an inanimate object, like clay figurines, for example, and then moving the object slightly, in order to take another picture of it. By taking about 24 pictures of an object like this, it was possible to create the illusion of movement, i.e. animation. This animation technique was known as the “stop motion animation.”

Modern, computer created 3D animation uses that exact technique for creating the illusion of movement. However, the difference is that the 3D objects used for computer based 3D animation aren`t really 3D objects. They can be better described as images, which are created on the computer monitor, and which are rigged with a virtual skeleton. This skeleton is a simplified representation of the objects structure. With the help of this skeleton, the people who are creating, let’s say, 3D animation movies, can manipulate the created images at their will. And by taking pictures of these images at different positions, usually 24-30 pictures for one second of movement, 3D animation movies are created.

The advantages of 3D computer animation are numerous. The main advantage is that with this technique it is much easier to create animations, as it is much easier to manipulate images on the computer, then real 3D objects. Furthermore, a lot of the work necessary for creating 3D animation can be automated, with the help of modern computer software.

If you are interested in 3D animation, but didn`t know how it works, hopefully this little 3D animation tutorial explained to you some of the basics of this animation technique.