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Unit: Animation

About this unit

Whether it’s hand-drawn or done using a computer, animation always has the same goal: to take a series of images and play them back in a sequence. At Pixar, computers help fill in the gaps in those sequences, using mathematical functions – and you’ll get to try this too, by animating a bouncing ball.

Introduction to animation

In this lesson, you'll use animation tools to bring a ball to life. Along the way, you'll learn some basic principles of animation. This lesson is appropriate for all ages and takes 45-60 minutes to complete.

Learn

Start here!
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Math meets artistry
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1. Straight ahead animation
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Straight ahead animation
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2. Linear interpolation
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Animation with linear interpolation
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3. Bezier curves
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Animation with Bezier curves
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4. Squash and stretch
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Squash and stretch animation with Bezier curves
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Getting to know Rob Jensen
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Save your animation
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Hands-on activity: animating Luxo Jr.
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Practice

Animation 101
7 questions

Mathematics of animation curves

This lesson begins with linear interpolation and builds to Bezier curves using de Casteljau's algorithm. It's great to try after you have finished the "Environment Modeling" topic. This lesson takes 30-40 minutes to complete.