A report on Limited animation

A GIF-based example of limited animation in the Japanese style: the mouth, eyes, arms and shadow are moving in a looping manner.

Process in the overall technique of traditional animation of creating animations that does not redraw entire frames but variably reuses common parts between frames.

- Limited animation
A GIF-based example of limited animation in the Japanese style: the mouth, eyes, arms and shadow are moving in a looping manner.

15 related topics with Alpha

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Title card used 1946–1954

Tom and Jerry

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American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

American animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera.

Title card used 1946–1954
Frame from the short The Truce Hurts. The characters in this shot have turned into black stereotypes after a passing car splashed mud on their faces. Scenes such as this are frequently highly edited or cut from modern broadcasts of Tom and Jerry.
Mammy Two Shoes in a scene from the Tom and Jerry short Saturday Evening Puss, in which her full face was shown for the first time.

The animation was limited and jerky in movement compared to the more fluid Hanna-Barbera shorts, and often utilized motion blur.

Nr. 10 in the reworked second series of Stampfer's stroboscopic discs published by Trentsensky & Vieweg in 1833.

Animation

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Method in which figures are manipulated to appear as moving images.

Method in which figures are manipulated to appear as moving images.

Nr. 10 in the reworked second series of Stampfer's stroboscopic discs published by Trentsensky & Vieweg in 1833.
A projecting praxinoscope, from 1882, here shown superimposing an animated figure on a separately projected background scene
Fantasmagorie (1908) by Émile Cohl
Italian-Argentine cartoonist Quirino Cristiani showing the cut and articulated figure of his satirical character El Peludo (based on President Yrigoyen) patented in 1916 for the realization of his films, including the world's first animated feature film El Apóstol.
An example of traditional animation, a horse animated by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's 19th-century photos.
A clay animation scene from a Finnish television commercial
A 2D animation of two circles joined by a chain
World of Color hydrotechnics at Disney California Adventure creates the illusion of motion using 1,200 fountains with high-definition projections on mist screens.

China, Czechoslovakia / Czech Republic, Italy, France, and Belgium were other countries that more than occasionally released feature films, while Japan became a true powerhouse of animation production, with its own recognizable and influential anime style of effective limited animation.

Hanna-Barbera

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American animation studio and production company that produced animated and live-action programming until 2001.

American animation studio and production company that produced animated and live-action programming until 2001.

The former Hanna-Barbera building at 3400 Cahuenga Boulevard West in Hollywood, seen in a 2007 photograph: The small yellow structure (lower right) was originally the "guard shack" for the property entrance to the east of the building.
Sherman Oaks Galleria in 2002. The building where Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. Animation were located from 1998 to 2001 is visible on the right.
Logo used on Warner Bros.-branded HB material since 2001

To keep within these tighter budgets, Hanna-Barbera furthered the concept of limited animation (also called "planned animation") practiced and popularized by the United Productions of America (UPA) studio, which also once had a partnership with Columbia Pictures.

Painting with acrylic paint on the reverse side of an already inked cel, here placed on the original animation drawing

Traditional animation

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Animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand.

Animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand.

Painting with acrylic paint on the reverse side of an already inked cel, here placed on the original animation drawing
Sketch of an animation peg bar, and measurements of three types, Acme being the most common.
A camera used for shooting traditional animation. See also Aerial image.
This image shows how two transparent cels, each with a different character drawn on them, and an opaque background are photographed together to form the composite image.
A horse animated by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's 19th-century photos. The animation consists of 8 drawings which are "looped", i.e. repeated over and over. This example is also "shot on twos", i.e. shown at 12 drawings per second.

This is known as limited animation. The process was popularized in theatrical cartoons by United Productions of America and used in most television animation, especially that of Hanna-Barbera.

Filmation

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American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989.

American production company that produced animation and live-action programming for television from 1963 until 1989.

From left to right: Norm Prescott, Hal Sutherland and Lou Scheimer
Layout artist Lindsay Dawson working on a key-frame of animation for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. This was a typical working desk for animators, layout artists, and background designers at Filmation in 1983.

Filmation had a reputation for exploiting the technique of limited animation to produce a number of animated series with a distinct look.

Hanna in 1977

William Hanna

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American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of Tom and Jerry as well as the creator of the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

American animator and cartoonist who was the creator of Tom and Jerry as well as the creator of the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

Hanna in 1977
Hanna (right) and Joseph Barbera from a television special for the premiere of their new Secret Squirrel/Atom Ant television program

Hanna-Barbera was key in the development of limited animation, which allowed television animation to be more cost-effective, but also reduced quality.

Jones in 1978

Chuck Jones

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American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of shorts.

American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of shorts.

Jones in 1978
Jones in 1976

Released the same year, it noticeably featured quickly-timed gags and extensive use of limited animation.

Barbera in 1993

Joseph Barbera

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American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera.

Barbera in 1993
Barbera (left) and William Hanna from a television special for the premiere of their new Secret Squirrel/Atom Ant television program

Hanna-Barbera was key in the development of an animation technique known as limited animation, which allowed television animation to be more cost-effective, but often reduced quality.

The Dover Boys at Pimento University; or, The Rivals of Roquefort Hall

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1942 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones.

1942 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Chuck Jones.

The cartoon was a parody of 1910s book series The Rover Boys; above is an illustration from the book. The cartoon's background art may be inspired by the book's illustrations.

It is one of the first cartoons to make extensive use of limited animation, as well as other techniques that would only be more broadly popularized in the 1950s.

Saturday-morning cartoon

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Colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks.

Colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks.

Furthermore, limited animation, such as that produced by such studios as Filmation, DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, Total Television, Jay Ward Productions and Hanna-Barbera, was economical enough to produce in sufficient quantity to fill the five-hour block of time, as compared to live-action programming.