How to Do Whiteboard Animation
by
Carol Adams, eHow Contributor
Animation is one of the most popular of all entertainment genres.
Animation is seen in movies, on television and in Web site videos. It is also used directly on Web pages in ads and banners. There are many type, but one of the older forms is known as stop motion. Recently, some people have done a variation of this type known as whiteboard animation. In this format, individual image frames are drawn one by one on a whiteboard and photographed to then be turned into an animated sequence. Usually, these are stick figure animations. If you are organized and have an artistic bent, you should have no trouble doing this yourself.
Instructions
things you’ll need:
· Digital Camera
· Tripod
· Whiteboard
· Pencil
· Erasable markers
· Thin tracing paper
· Tape
1. Draw a grid pattern on a sheet of tracing paper the same size of the whiteboard you will be using.
Repeat this to produce as many grid sheets as the number of frames you will have in your animation.
For example, if you want a five-second animation for the Internet, each second should have 14 frames, since Internet animation is displayed at 14 frames per second. This means you will need 70 sheets. Other formats, like television and film, have different frame rates.
2 Use a pencil to lightly draw the stick figure or figures onto the first tracing sheet to create your first frame. Repeat this with the following sheets to create all of the other frames. Use the grid on the previous sheet to help you position the arms and legs in the next one. This will let you create smoother, more natural motion.
3 Set up your camera on your tripod and position it so you are focused on the surface of the whiteboard without showing its edges. Make sure you have enough lighting in the room to take a good picture of the surface.
Whiteboard Animation 2
4 Tape the first sheet in place on the board. Mark the position of the corners with a red marker. Do not erase these marks.
5 Use a black erasable marker to trace the sheet. The ink should seep through onto the surface. Remove the sheet and take a single photo of the whiteboard. Erase the drawing and put the next sheet up, making sure you place it in exactly the same position relative to the marks you drew.
6 Repeat Step 5 with all of your sheets.
7 Transfer the images to your computer, saving them all to the same folder. Number them sequentially.
8 Open a graphics application capable of exporting animated GIFs (such as Photoshop, Photoshop
Elements or GIMP) and import each of the frames. Then save out the document as an animated GIF
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