Explainer Video: 6 Amazing Types of Animation Styles
Welcome to the world of animations and graphics! Do you want to produce an amazing explainer video for your business but do not know precisely what should it look like? What style to choose? What mood to set? We have decided to walk you through the intricacies of the seven most incredible and beautiful animation styles and types one by one.
3D Animation
3D animation has marked a real breakthrough in the animation industry. Who could ever imagine that we will be able to create an object in the three-dimensional space, rotate, and move it as we want?
To manipulate with a character in 3D, you should perfectly sculpt it, create its skeleton, and model the appearance. An animator will need to pose the model at certain frames and wait for the computer to take care of the rest.
3D animation is the most selling animation style because it is more sophisticated and visually richer. It makes this animation style one of the most effective tools for explaining complicated concepts, ideas, products, and services.
Designing in 3D space allows us to create complex objects and rotate them (or their separate parts) in the video. The most complicated movements (which are impossible in 2D), such as twisting, twirling and rotating at different speeds become possible if they are designed in 3D.
2D Animation
2D animation is a traditional hand-drawn technique that is all about freedom in styling. It means operating only with the two values, height and weight, in the two-dimensional world. The main task of 2D animation is to create characters, storyboards, and backgrounds in 2D space.
2D animation is commonly filled with colors and detailed environments, which you could see earlier in animated cartoons. It is widely used for creating promotional videos, advertisements, educational films, explainer videos, and so on.
In 2D space, animators can generate the illusion of movement, creating drawings and sequencing them together. One second of animation usually has 24 frames. 24 is the largest number of drawings per second and commonly applied to the highest-quality animation. However, if you reduce the number of frames to 12 per second, the quality will not suffer much, but the animation cost may be significantly decreased. It is a common practice suggested by a motion design studio to the clients who have a limited budget.
Whiteboard Animation
Whiteboard animation is one of the subtypes of 2D animation. It is one of the simplest animation forms used in explainer videos. Its main peculiarity is that drawn objects are depicted on the white surface in the video. They perform certain actions and explain the concepts sequentially.
This type of animation looks very simple, minimalist, and clean. It could be a great option for different types of businesses since it is characterized by a straightforward style. The object and characters are portrayed on white background what allows viewers not to be distracted by any other details and decorations in the video. Whiteboard animation helps keep viewers engaged and focused on the main idea and message.
Stop Motion Animation
Stop motion or stop-frame animation is produced when animators manipulate objects in the real-world to create an effect that looks like they are moving on their own. They create a precise sequence of frames that are played back, creating an illusion of action and movement.
Stop motion animation works similarly to 2D animation, it’s captured one frame at a time, with objects that are moved between frames. The only difference is that, in 2D, you are operating with drawings while in stop motion animation, you manipulate physical objects.
It is not as popular as a 2D animation since it needs hundreds of photos to be taken before you gather them into one animated story about a brand, its products, or services. However, it creates a distinctive style for the video and will help your company stand out from others.
Cutout Animation
Cutout animation is one of the oldest animation techniques and has many forms and variations. As you might guess it from the name, the cutout animation involves the characters and objects that are cut out from a piece of paper or fabric. It is one of the stop motion animation types.
One of the biggest advantages of cutout animation is that it has a really unusual look. Paper cutout characters are moving in front of the camera and telling viewers a beautiful and exciting story. You might hear this saying before in different life contexts: some things don’t need words. It precisely describes the essence of great animation, particularly when it comes to cutout animation. Sometimes, you only need to see it! Cutout animation perfectly performs this function.
Typography Animation
In its essence, this type of animation is a combination of typography and motion. It is especially popular due to the frequent use of it in cinematography. It is usually used in the titles part of a movie.
If you are fond of beautiful fonts and want to use them in an animated video, then typography animation is a perfect option for you. Animated typography is referred to any text that is combined with motion design.
From movies to TV commercials, this animation type has been very popular for many years. However, recently, designers have also started using it in web design and explainer videos. Commonly, text animations are used to emphasize the meaning of the text and convey an emotion-filled message.
Conclusion
These are the six most frequently applied types of animation. From 2D animation to animated typography, we have overviewed each of them in detail. Our team hopes this article will help you get a clearer vision of the future animated video for your business and inspire you for new ideas for your marketing.
