Cut-out animation is one of the oldest forms of animation and in pre computer days, probably the easiest to create. As its name implies, cut-out animation involves moving cut-out shapes in small steps and taking a picture at each stage, this is a lot less work than having to draw every single frame of the animation.

Of course, some form of capture device is required, and at one time, the ideal tool for this type of work was any cine camera that was capable of shooting single pictures. I can remember spending many happy hours moving bits of painted cardboard around, snapping each frame as I went using my super eight movie camera. The biggest problem was waiting to see the results, as the film had to be sent away for processing, which could take a week or more.

These days, the computer has pervaded all forms of animation and cut-out animation is no exception. There are even programs available specifically aimed at producing cut-out animations. An example of this is "Creatoon", more information can be found at the Creatoon web site and the UK based The Cut-Out Animation Company is one of many using this software to produce professional work.

You don't need a program designed for cut-out animation to try it out, as you can emulate the process using software such as Flash, Moho or ToonBoom Studio. In fact by using motion tweens and symbols, you can avoid having to manually set up every frame.

I started this example by creating a graphic symbol for the leg, below. At this stage the leg need not be very complex, just enough to create and test the animation. I created the symbol, so that the hot spot was near the top of the leg, as this becomes the rotation point later.

Because I am using symbols, I can modify the leg later and everything else will update automatically.