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FOCUS: This page delivers essential introduction on 2-dimentional vector images and 2d animation.

2-DIMENTIONAL / VECTOR IMAGES:

A two dimensional geometrical plane contains x and y axis, representing both width and height respectively. Any point that can be represented on the 2-D plane will have x and y values, which are called as coordinates of that particular point. Two or more points can be connected via straight line or a curve that covers all the intermediate points with distinct co-ordinate values in-order to form a particular shape. The formed path is called ‘locus’ of the points that are connected together to form a shape. All these coordinate points can be mathematically represented as vector values.

We may use the 2-dimentioanl plane to draw a line or a curve or even an image that can be formed by combining more than one line. We calculate the ‘image size’ based on the width and height of the plane where the particular locus is located. Due to the vector method of saving an image, key points that make lines and images are stored in the form of a matrix to create a particular shape. When we try to scale the image directly, all the key values will be multiplied in the matrix resulting to a bigger size of the image based on the manipulation but with the same quality. We call these images as ‘Vector images’ that never lose their quality if they are scaled big or small, as every manipulation is mathematically calculated and applied resulting in ‘Resolution-independent’ images.  

2D ANIMATION:

2D animation is nothing but playing a sequence of images together at rapid speed in order to create an illusion of movement that creates a moving picture in a two dimensional environment. The most common methods of presenting these animations are motion pictures, video programs or web animations.

2D animation can be categorized into two major methods:

1. Cell animation (will be hand-drawn on celluloid sheets with the help of a light board, and processed through traditional art skills to create an animation).
2. Digital 2D animation (will be directly created digitally with the help of a 2d tool; flash animations are best examples of digital 2D works).

Images kept as a sequence to form an animation.