Literature Review

The 12 principles of animation

“Back when video games were still in the Pac Man era, Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston introduced (in their 1981 book, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation)1 what are now widely held to be the core tenets of all animation, the 12 basic principles of animation. (Jonathan 2019) ”
Thomas P Thesen (2020) proposed the Reviewing and Updating of the 12 principles of animation in his journal. “The expansion of the 12 principles of animation into the various animation techniques requires a consideration of their development, which, in the 1930s and 1940s was sufficient for animation’s hand-drawn animation needs; since then, the principles have proven themselves accurate and incredibly helpful for subsequent decades. Nevertheless, this article indicates that a refinement of the principles is required to accommodate a broader range of animation techniques. The great advantage of the 12 principles of animation is their simplicity and logic; however, they do not apply in their entirety (as the full set of 12) to hand-drawn digital animation, stop-motion animation, experimental or digitally animated media.”

Since this theory was written in the era of purely hand-drawn 2d animation, although Thomas P Thesen (2020) has upgraded and supplemented this, the 12 principles of animation and game animation are in the process of evolving from 2d traditional animation to 3d computer animation. The association with other interactive media is not obvious.” Game and Animation are considered as two different fields. The definition of animation is “moving picture” and game is a kind of animation which can be controlled by users. Actually, many principles of animation are applied to the production of games, and are even more emphasized in the game contents (Hyeon, Nam-Kook, 2006, p25) ” My goal is to re-examine The 12 principles of animation from the perspective of 3D game animation.

5 fundamentals of game animation

This concept was proposed by Jonathan Cooper, which is different from traditional animation and perfectly applicable to the 5 fundamentals of game animation. “The 12 animation principles are a great foundation for any animator to understand, and failure to do so will result in missing some of the underlying fundamentals of animation—visible in many a junior’s work. Ultimately, however, they were written with the concept of linear entertainment like TV and film in mind, and the move to 3D kept all of these elements intact due to the purely aesthetic change in the medium. Three-dimensional animated cartoons and visual effects are still part of a linear medium, so they will translate only to certain elements of video game animation—often only if the game is cartoony in style. (Jonathan 2019) “

It is a supplement to the 12 principles of animation, not a replacement. My aim is to summarize my overall understanding of the five principles of game animation based on the theory proposed by Jonathan Cooper, and to illustrate why these five principles are so important.

Motion capture

“In considering computer animation techniques, there are basically three general approaches to motion control. The first is artistic animation in which the animator has the prime responsibility for crafting the motion. The foundation of artistic animation is interpolation. The second is data-driven animation, in which live motion is digitized and then mapped onto graphical objects. The primary technology for data-driven animation is referred to as motion capture. The third is procedural animation, in which there is a computational model that is used to control the motion. (Parent, 2009, p.4) ”

As one of the core technologies of game character animation, Mocap plays an important role in the game industry. I searched a lot of literature, most of the technical application of mocap is in the production of movies, and now the game industry needs this technology more than any movie production. In this chapter, my goal is to take the online game Moonlight Blade as an example to analyze the advantages, disadvantages and irreplaceability of mocap in the production of 3d game animation.

Bibliography:

Jonathan, C. (2019) Game AnimVideo Game Animation Explained America: CRC Press. Available at: https://ereader.perlego.com/1/book/1578667/2 (Accessed 05 October 2021).

Thomas P, T. (2020) Reviewing and Updating the 12 Principles of Animation Singapore: Nanyang Technological University. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1746847720969919  (Accessed 14 October 2021).

Seon-Young, L. (2016) A Study on Realization of In-game Animation Korea: Korean Society of Cartoon Animation Studies. Available at: https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO201613360957505.page  (Accessed 25 October 2021).

Hyeon K., Nam-Kook L. (2006) The Study about Application of Animation 12 principles on 3D Mobile Game -With Game [Fly to The Music] Korea: The Korea Contents Association. 2 (2), pp. 25.

Parent, R. (2009) Computer animation complete: all-in-one : learn motion capture, characteristic, point-based, and Maya winning techniques America: Morgan Kaufmann, pp. 69-88.

Alberto M. (2000) Understanding Motion Capture for Computer Animation and Video Games America: Academic Press.

Tom S. (2013) Moving Innovation: A History of Computer Animation Cambridge: The MIT Press pp, 171-217.

Andrade, D. (2016) 12 Principles of Animation for CG Animators. Available at: https://www.lynda.com/3ds-Max-tutorials/Principle-11-Solid-drawing/474685/542366-4.html?org=shu.ac.uk (Accessed 28 October 2021).

Furniss, M. (Ed.). (2009) Animation: Art and industry America: Indiana University Press.

Blair, P. (1994) Cartoon Animation America: Walter Foster Publishing.

Lasseter, J. (1987) Principles of traditional animation applied to 3D computer animation America: Computer Graphics 21(4), pp. 35–44.

Lord, P., Sibley, B. (1998) Cracking Animation: The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation London: Thames & Hudson.

Thomas, F., Johnston, O. (1981) The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation White Plains, NY: Disney Editions.

Webster, C. (2012) Action Analysis for Animators Waltham, MA: Focal Press.

Wells, P. (1998) Understanding Animation London: Routledge.

Williams, R. (2001) The Animator’s Survival Kit London: Faber & Faber.

McGillivray, C. (2007) How psychophysical perception of motion and image relates to animation practice. Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualisation (CGIV), pp. 81–88.

Williams, R. (2012) The Animator’s Survival Kit New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

O’Connor, D. (2018) The 21 Foundations of Animation. Available at: http://www.angryanimator.com/word/?fbclid=IwAR0miCy-DA-NBjtYJWbBPxEYPtDuMT2CYrz3tmJwHNqxErOc5MU1S-zNGVE (Accessed 12 November 2018).

INDEX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIYC6zG265E

How to write a literature review

Published on 22 February 2019 by Shona McCombes. Revised on 3 May 2021.

A literature review is a survey of scholarly sources on a specific topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant theories, methods, and gaps in the existing research.

Conducting a literature review involves collecting, evaluating and analysing publications (such as books and journal articles) that relate to your research question. There are five main steps in the process of writing a literature review:

1. Search for relevant literature
2. Evaluate sources
3. Identify themes, debates and gaps
4. Outline the structure
5. Write your literature review

A good literature review doesn’t just summarise sources – it analyses, synthesises, and critically evaluates to give a clear picture of the state of knowledge on the subject.

Table of contents

1. Why write a literature review?
2. Search for relevant literature
3. Evaluate and select sources
4. Identify themes, debates and gaps
5. Outline your literature review’s structure
6. Write your literature review
7. Frequently asked questions about literature reviews

Why write a literature review?

When you write a dissertation or thesis, you will have to conduct a literature review to situate your research within existing knowledge. The literature review gives you a chance to:

• Demonstrate your familiarity with the topic and scholarly context
• Develop a theoretical framework and methodology for your research
• Position yourself in relation to other researchers and theorists
• Show how your dissertation addresses a gap or contributes to a debate

You might also have to write a literature review as a stand-alone assignment. In this case, the purpose is to evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of scholarly debates around a topic.

The content will look slightly different in each case, but the process of conducting a literature review follows the same steps.

Step 1: Search for relevant literature

Before you begin searching for literature, you need a clearly defined topic.

If you are writing the literature review section of a dissertation or research paper, you will search for literature related to your research objectives and questions.

If you are writing a literature review as a stand-alone assignment, you will have to choose a focus and develop a central question to direct your search. Unlike a dissertation research question, this question has to be answerable without collecting original data. You should be able to answer it based only on a review of existing publications.Research question exampleWhat is the impact of social media on body image among Generation Z?

Make a list of keywords

Start by creating a list of keywords related to your research topic. Include each of the key concepts or variables you’re interested in, and list any synonyms and related terms. You can add to this list if you discover new keywords in the process of your literature search.Keywords example

• Social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok
• Body image, self-perception, self-esteem, mental health
• Generation Z, teenagers, adolescents, youth

Search for relevant sources

Use your keywords to begin searching for sources. Some databases to search for journals and articles include:

• Your university’s library catalogue
• Google Scholar
• JSTOR
• EBSCO
• Project Muse (humanities and social sciences)
• Medline (life sciences and biomedicine)
• EconLit (economics)
• Inspec (physics, engineering and computer science)

You can use boolean operators to help narrow down your search:

• AND to find sources that contain more than one keyword (e.g. social media AND body image AND generation Z
• OR to find sources that contain one of a range of synonyms (e.g. generation Z OR teenagers OR adolescents)
• NOT to exclude results containing certain terms (e.g. apple NOT fruit)

Read the abstract to find out whether an article is relevant to your question. When you find a useful book or article, you can check the bibliography to find other relevant sources.

To identify the most important publications on your topic, take note of recurring citations. If the same authors, books or articles keep appearing in your reading, make sure to seek them out.

Step 2: Evaluate and select sources

You probably won’t be able to read absolutely everything that has been written on the topic – you’ll have to evaluate which sources are most relevant to your questions.

For each publication, ask yourself:

• What question or problem is the author addressing?
• What are the key concepts and how are they defined?
• What are the key theories, models and methods? Does the research use established frameworks or take an innovative approach?
• What are the results and conclusions of the study?
• How does the publication relate to other literature in the field? Does it confirm, add to, or challenge established knowledge?
• How does the publication contribute to your understanding of the topic? What are its key insights and arguments?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the research?

Make sure the sources you use are credible, and make sure you read any landmark studies and major theories in your field of research.

You can find out how many times an article has been cited on Google Scholar – a high citation count means the article has been influential in the field, and should certainly be included in your literature review.

The scope of your review will depend on your topic and discipline: in the sciences you usually only review recent literature, but in the humanities you might take a long historical perspective (for example, to trace how a concept has changed in meaning over time).

Take notes and cite your sources

As you read, you should also begin the writing process. Take notes that you can later incorporate into the text of your literature review.

It’s important to keep track of your sources with references to avoid plagiarism. It can be helpful to make an annotated bibliography, where you compile full reference information and write a paragraph of summary and analysis for each source. This helps you remember what you read and saves time later in the process.

You can use our free APA Reference Generator for quick, correct, consistent citations.

Step 3: Identify themes, debates and gaps

To begin organising your literature review’s argument and structure, you need to understand the connections and relationships between the sources you’ve read. Based on your reading and notes, you can look for:

• Trends and patterns (in theory, method or results): do certain approaches become more or less popular over time?
• Themes: what questions or concepts recur across the literature?
• Debates, conflicts and contradictions: where do sources disagree?
• Pivotal publications: are there any influential theories or studies that changed the direction of the field?
• Gaps: what is missing from the literature? Are there weaknesses that need to be addressed?

This step will help you work out the structure of your literature review and (if applicable) show how your own research will contribute to existing knowledge.Example of trends and gapsIn reviewing the literature on social media and body image, you note that:

• Most research has focused on young women.
• There is an increasing interest in the visual aspects of social media.
• But there is still a lack of robust research on highly-visual platforms like Instagram and Snapchat – this is a gap that you could address in your own research.

Step 4: Outline your literature review’s structure

There are various approaches to organising the body of a literature review. You should have a rough idea of your strategy before you start writing.

Depending on the length of your literature review, you can combine several of these strategies (for example, your overall structure might be thematic, but each theme is discussed chronologically).

Chronological

The simplest approach is to trace the development of the topic over time. However, if you choose this strategy, be careful to avoid simply listing and summarising sources in order.

Try to analyse patterns, turning points and key debates that have shaped the direction of the field. Give your interpretation of how and why certain developments occurred.

Thematic

If you have found some recurring central themes, you can organise your literature review into subsections that address different aspects of the topic.

For example, if you are reviewing literature about inequalities in migrant health outcomes, key themes might include healthcare policy, language barriers, cultural attitudes, legal status, and economic access.

Methodological

If you draw your sources from different disciplines or fields that use a variety of research methods, you might want to compare the results and conclusions that emerge from different approaches. For example:

• Look at what results have emerged in qualitative versus quantitative research
• Discuss how the topic has been approached by empirical versus theoretical scholarship
• Divide the literature into sociological, historical, and cultural sources

Theoretical

A literature review is often the foundation for a theoretical framework. You can use it to discuss various theories, models, and definitions of key concepts.

You might argue for the relevance of a specific theoretical approach, or combine various theoretical concepts to create a framework for your research.

Step 5: Write your literature review

Like any other academic text, your literature review should have an introduction, a main body, and a conclusion. What you include in each depends on the objective of your literature review.

Introduction

The introduction should clearly establish the focus and purpose of the literature review.

Dissertation literature review

If you are writing the literature review as part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate your central problem or research question and give a brief summary of the scholarly context. You can emphasise the timeliness of the topic (“many recent studies have focused on the problem of x”) or highlight a gap in the literature (“while there has been much research on x, few researchers have taken y into consideration”).

Stand-alone literature review

If you are writing a stand-alone paper, give some background on the topic and its importance, discuss the scope of the literature you will review (for example, the time period of your sources), and state your objective. What new insight will you draw from the literature?

Body

Depending on the length of your literature review, you might want to divide the body into subsections. You can use a subheading for each theme, time period, or methodological approach.

As you write, make sure to follow these tips:

• Summarise and synthesise: give an overview of the main points of each source and combine them into a coherent whole.
• Analyse and interpret: don’t just paraphrase other researchers – add your own interpretations, discussing the significance of findings in relation to the literature as a whole.
• Critically evaluate: mention the strengths and weaknesses of your sources.
• Write in well-structured paragraphs: use transitions and topic sentences to draw connections, comparisons and contrasts.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, you should summarise the key findings you have taken from the literature and emphasise their significance.

Dissertation literature review

If the literature review is part of your dissertation or thesis, reiterate how your research addresses gaps and contributes new knowledge, or discuss how you have drawn on existing theories and methods to build a framework for your research. This can lead directly into your methodology section.

Stand-alone literature review

If you are writing a stand-alone paper, you can discuss the overall implications of the literature or make suggestions for future research based on the gaps you have identified.