animation

Animated GIFs -- short sequences of images that act like tiny moving pictures -- have been around since Netscape Navigator 2.0 (!), but thanks to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and particularly Tumblr, these little slices of Internet hilarity have exploded in recent years. By this point, even your mom knows what they are (see Jennifer Lawrence at the 2013 Oscars for a major mainstream-media example), but it's not too late for you to get in on the craze. One of the best things about animated GIFs is that they're easy to make, especially with tools like Any GIF … Read more

Although it didn't earn the critical acclaim of "Toy Story 3," "Up," or "Ratatouille," Pixar's 2012 film "Brave" joined those three hits, as well as three other Pixar predecessors, in winning the Oscar for best animated feature.

Beating out fellow nominees "Wreck-it Ralph," "Frankenweenie," "ParaNorman," and "The Pirates! Band of Misfits," "Brave" became the seventh Pixar film to nab the Oscar since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences began awarding the honor in 2002. No other studio has … Read more

Taiwanese animator Next Media Animation is taking yesterday's Sony PlayStation 4 event to task.

Sony announced its next-generation video game console at a press event in New York, but the PS4 itself was a no-show.

Sony says the PS4 features a PC-like body architecture, x86 CPU, enhanced PS GPU, 8GB of unified memory, a local storage hard drive, and an updated DualShock 4 controller.

The animation group created a video mocking the PS4 at yesterday's press event. Sony treated members of the press to experience what using the next-generation console might feel like with live demonstrations, but did … Read more

Vimeo has brought aboard a new app (and new people) that can transform your videos into animations.

The company announced today that it now owns Echograph, an app that lets iPhone and iPad users create animations by blending together different parts of a video clip.

Purchased from Clear-Media, the Echograph app previously cost $3 but is now available free.

As described in a promotional video (see embedded clip below), an Echograph is a photograph that contains small slices of animation. You start off by selecting a video and then trimming it to 5 seconds. You then pick a single still frame from the clip. From there, you actually paint over an area of that still frame with a moving element from the video, creating an image with touches of animation.… Read more

With "House of Cards" now officially a smashing success for Netflix, it's no surprise the company is looking to expand its programming.

The company announced today that it has teamed up with DreamWorks Animation to launch another original series on its streaming service. The show, "Turbo: F.A.S.T." will debut in December and is a spin-off of "Turbo," the DreamWorks Animation film premiering in theaters July 19.

Netflix's first original series, "House of Cards," starring Kevin Spacey, has been critically acclaimed for its depiction of U.S. politics. … Read more

Alas for those excited by a video seemingly showing an eagle's unsuccessful attempt to carry off a child: it's not real.

"A shadow analysis revealed some pretty severe inconsistencies," said Kevin Connor, president of Fourandsix, an imaging forensics specialist. "It appears to be a fake."

Just as Fourandsix was digging into the matter, a Montreal school said animation students were behind the video. It "was made by Normand Archambault, Loic Mireault, and Felix Marquis-Poulin, students at Centre NAD, in the production simulation workshop class of the Bachelors degree in 3D Animation and Digital Design," a statement from the center said. "Hoaxes produced in this class have already garnered attention, amongst others a video of a penguin having escaped the Montreal Biodome." … Read more

Dream Wallpaper is a free screensaver that rotates a series of stunning high-resolution desktop background images. You can choose from regular and widescreen images in a range of categories, and download more wallpaper images online, too.

Dream Wallpaper set its first image as our desktop background as soon as we installed the program. Unlike many single screensavers, Dream Wallpaper has a user interface you can open from a system tray icon that also accesses the previous and next wallpapers. Dream Wallpaper's main view displays six or more wallpaper images in each of its Local Wallpaper and Network Wallpaper categories, … Read more

With its many pedestrians and subway users, New York seems like one of the greener cities in the U.S. But it still produced a gob-smacking mountain of carbon emissions in 2010.

In the vid below from graphics firm Carbon Visuals, the 54 million tons of CO2 is illustrated as a mass of spheres that tower over the city, engulfing its buildings.

Some 75 percent of the pollution came from buildings, with the bulk of the rest from transport, according to the firm, which used city data. … Read more

To GIF or not to GIF. That is the question for many Internet denizens these days, especially if they frequent Tumblr or Reddit. At the moment, it's the easiest way to share a quick animation, thanks in part to its compatibility with nearly every Internet browser ever made.

As the GIF (graphic interchange format) turns 25 this year, what better way to celebrate -- aside from GIFing it -- than Oxford American Dictionaries announcing that the acronym has been named 2012's "Word of the Year. … Read more