Animation

Sometimes, adding a little bit of motion to visual information results in more engaging, more meaningful, and better communication. When elements of visual storytelling/explanation are enhanced with motion, the intended audience can't help but look and learn. This category calls for students to develop an original design with the primary purpose for allowing the motion of objects. Software/resources used to generate animated design includes but is not limited to:

• Animatic by Inkboard
• Blender (for creating 3D model animations)
• Bloop Animation
• Dragonframe's concise Introduction to Stop Motion is a great starting point for understanding the basics of stop motion animation.
• GIMP
• Paint
• Paint.Net
• Scratch
• Scratch Jr.
• Stop Motion Studio, an iOS app to get you into stop motion moviemaking (also available for Windows)

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you are considering submitting a project in this category:

• Animation takes time. Be ready to give up time doing other things.
• Animation requires patience. Many animation projects require animators to repeat the same steps over and over again.

You may have up to 2 people on a team but teams and individuals will compete against each other within each grade grouping. Regardless of the length of the project, judging time is 15 minutes. Judges may only view a portion of the actual project.

Judges will use the Animation category rubric as a guideline for exemplary characteristics of projects in this category. Students should use the rubric as a guide for what judges are looking for.