2D animation probably doesn’t need much of an explanation. It’s used to create flat, 2D characters and environments. While this is one of the oldest animation styles, its flexibility makes it a prominent choice for a variety of applications, including cartoons, promotional videos, explainer videos, and more.

In traditional animation, each frame was meticulously hand drawn, which can be very time-consuming. Today, animators have access to digital tools and techniques that help to streamline the 2D animation process.

3D animation was quite revolutionary when it was introduced. Not only has 3D animation allowed animators to create more immersive, realistic animated experiences, but 3D animation also has practical applications in industries like medicine and architecture.

3D animation is often used for full-length movies, interactive advertisements, commercials, and other marketing materials. However, for simple explainer videos and similar projects, 3D animation isn’t always the best option as it can be much more time and labor-intensive.

This is a kind of dynamic graphic design that uses shapes and text to tell a story or convey a message. Created using digital tools with a flowing mix of text, charts and graphs combining to engage and entertain. It’s an ideal way to turn dry data into a visually stimulating film that communicates your core message.

The use of dynamic text, fonts and simple shapes along with smart use of music and narration that are in sync with the visuals can make something that gets noticed.

Animation created by tracing human movements from film images to create naturalistic animations. It’s a technique that packs a visual punch, capturing the kind of realistic movements that would take weeks to create from scratch.

Digital tools are used to automate the ‘tracing’ process with movements from video footage automatically tacked and turned into animations. Using this method, 2D sequences can be created that look as if they are in a 3D world.

Stop motion animation is when images are captured one frame at time, with physical objects that are moved between frames. When you play back the sequence of images rapidly, it creates the illusion of movement.

The basic process of animation involves taking a photograph of objects or characters, moving them slightly, and taking another photograph. When images are played back consecutively, the objects or characters appear to move.

Cut out animation, sometimes styled as cut-out animation and/or cutout animation, is one of the most accessible, basic and most importantly, fun forms of stop motion animation there is.

The beauty of cut out animation lies in the simple art, design materials and techniques used. But it can be used for more complex animation too.

Cut out animation involves making 2D animation using characters, props and scenes from materials including paper, card and fabric.

Whiteboard animation is a process where a story or a storyboard with pictures gets drawn on a whiteboard or something that looks like a whiteboard (hence the name). They are videos that draw themselves.

Originally, animators would record themselves in the process of creating such animations. Viewers would follow all their steps and see the story unfold. The production process now does not require actual drawing and can easily be handled with whiteboard animation software.

Mechanical animation will typically show how something works. It does this with a 3D visual representation of a product, device or service. It can delve inside the mechanisms, stripping away any visual clutter to clearly show what’s going on.

The obvious use case is to demonstrate technical products and services. It’s a way to quickly explain how engineering solutions enhance performance or to tackle a problem. It can convey complex technical information in a matter of seconds.

Screencast animations give a way to turn screen captures into fun, engaging and informative videos. Packaged with overlays and narration to explain what’s happening and to create a more engaging experience than simply watching a screen.

It’s a ‘show, don’t tell’ approach that’s ideal for demonstrating digital services. Being able to see something in use can have a powerful impact on conversion rates and it’s ideal for any kind of informational or tutorial needs.

Clay animation, or Claymation, is a type of stop-motion animation that involves creating characters with clay and photographing their movements in sequences, just as you would with traditional stop-motion animation.

Claymation has been most popularly used in classic children’s movies like Chicken Run, as its unique, playful style is appealing to children. It can also be used to create unique shorts and commercials. Claymation is very time-consuming and is often best suited for short projects.

This integrates digital images with real-world footage. This could be adding a floating label to an object or using animated arrows and markers to help explain what’s being seen in real-world footage.

On-screen images can be tagged with graphical elements – as the camera moves, so do the attached graphic elements. Digital and real-world elements can work perfectly together. Embedding the information into a real-world setting can bring infographic data to life or help to visually explain how a product works.

This technique blends digital images with live real-world footage.

Allows the digital world to connect to the real world. An example would be bringing a product to life with animations triggered when a label or logo is viewed through a camera phone.

It’s still a fairly new technology but augmented reality animation has already established itself as a format within children’s books, allowing story characters to jump out from the page.

Traditional animation, also known as cel animation, or hand-drawn animation, is an animation technique where each frame of the film is drawn by hand, and was - until the arrival of computer animation - the dominant form used in cinema.

The process begins with producing a series of storyboards that are then synced with the film's pre-recorded soundtrack. Character designers then work on creating model sheets, to ensure there is consistency in terms of appearance and movement across the board.