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Best 53 Animation Research Topics ideas with examples

Are you struggling with your decision? Can’t manage it along with your work life? Hire us. We offer exceptional dissertation writing services. We’ve got a list of animation research topics and research proposal topics. Check these and choose the best one for your undergrad and master’s programs. We can also help in marketing and advertising […]

Best Animation research topics and ideas for master’s and undergraduate students

Here is the list of best animation research topics:

Exploring the effects of Kinematics methods on Animation
To study Animation and facial effects.
Does the study of filmmaking on the internet help students?
How do enhance the addition of emotional effects on Animation?
The survey on Animation Art and how many students are willing to make a career in this field.
To study the concept of 3D Animation and how it has transformed the world of animation in the last 10 years.
To analyze the Dynamic methods of Animation and compare them with the traditional ones.
What is the difference between Kinematics and Dynamic Animation?
To study the origin of Animation: how and when?
To use the texting art in Animated games.
The use of 3D in printing and the advancement in technology can bring more enhancement.
Studying the concept of animation editing and formatting – a literature review.
The role of Visual effects on Video albums and how they can grab the attention of users?
The idea of 3D animated short films and online streaming
What are the impacts of Animations on Viewers?
To analyze the new areas related to illustrations in the past 5 years
To study the idea of Digital illustration and its impact on an appealing visual element
To analyze the advanced narrative illustrations and how it benefits movie-making.
To explore the role of social networking in society.
To evaluate the research on fluid animations.
To evaluate the application of Animation in total packing.
To analyze the two-dimensional application of advertising and promotions.
To analyze the innovation in the Animations and how it benefits green packaging.
To explore some inspiring ideas for Animation for creative visuals.
To study the development in Animation over the last ten years.
To study the effects of animated cartoons on children.
An analysis of the integration of Animation in Advertisements and explore how it affects consumer behaviour.
How Animated movies grab the audience’s attention?
To explore the development of technology in art-making and study how it has improved results since 2015.
Examining the use of Animation in school to teach children: examining the positive and negative effects.
The use of Animation in good stories for people to learn good things from it.
How do you evaluate the future of Animation?
To study the History of American Animation.
To explore the purpose of digital Animation and the use of AI.
Why does your Animation become important?
What concepts are mainly used in Animation?
What are the advantages of Animation for brand managers?
To study the different types of Animations.
Is Animation a good career to choose? An analysis of the market situation.
Do animators have to draw every frame? What is best?
What are the skills an Animator required?
What makes an Animater skilled in Animation?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of Animation techniques?
The importance of Animation in the 21 st century based on a comparative industrial review
Why do you think Animation is so popular?
What are the effects of Animation in your daily life?
To study the use of Animation in the Entertainment Industry.
To study the use of Animation in Marketing and how it adds an appealing factor
Why do you like Animation? Would you like to make a career in this field?
To explore the Importance of breakdown Animation.

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Psychological Impact and Influence of Animation on Viewer's Visual Attention and Cognition: A Systematic Literature Review, Open Challenges, and Future Research Directions

C. k. praveen.

1 VIT School of Design, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632 014, India

Kathiravan Srinivasan

2 School of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632 014, India

Associated Data

The original contributions generated for this study are included in the article; further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Animation is an excellent method to associate with the audience in a fun and innovative manner. In recent span, animation has been employed in various fields to enhance knowledge, marketing, advertisement, and age groups from infants to adults. The present communication expounds the systematic review on the impact created by animation on the viewer's visual attention. For this review, a database such as Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis, and IEEE Xplore were pursued for publications on the impact of animation on viewer's visual attention from January 2015 to December 2021. The search results showcased 175 titles with 114 full articles, out of which 35 were related to viewers' visual attention towards animation. These reviewed studies comprised of physical outcome ( n = 9), psychological outcome ( n = 15), and cognitive outcome ( n = 11) from which the attention-related factors, physical effects, and cognitive effects of animation were assessed. The animation has influenced the viewer's visual attention through the integration of the different stimuli and the highly organized presentation. Furthermore, the animation has also aided the viewer in attaining greater conceptual understanding, thereby facilitating their cognitive response. As a result, the animation was found to be helpful in enhancing learning skills, food marketing, and teaching strategy. Furthermore, the drawbacks and future recommendations of the studies were elaborated. In addition, challenges and open issues faced during the studies were discussed. Finally, the priority areas in animation identified for promising future directions to visualize large pool data, provide smart communication, and design 3D modeling structures were highlighted.

1. Introduction

Animation is a comprehensive introduction to animated films, from cartoons to computer animation. In layman's terms, it can be described as a state of being full of life. It brings the life of unanimated objects to moving objects, thereby attracting the modern world with its features [ 1 ]. In other words, it is a form of pictorial presentation that has become the most prominent feature of technology-based learning environments. In the modern world, it has become an essential tool for presenting multimedia materials for learners to understand them better [ 2 ].

Animation techniques have been developed over a while, either in 2D drawings or 3D objects like clay, stop motion, or motion graphics. It has become a reliable and significant platform for various fields that have impacted viewers' visual attention through its magic. The animation need not be a full-length movie to attract the viewers' visual attention; rather, it can be a clip of a few seconds comprised of just a few frames. The animation videos can be processed as represented in Figure 1 .

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Process of animation.

An idea of integrating traditional animation with the digital 2D animation technique was proposed by Purwaningsih [ 3 ]. It provides an alternative pipeline for hand-drawn 2D animation shorts, thereby optimizing the production time.

The impact of animation on viewer's visual attention and attention span was reviewed and reported either with respect to animated characters or character motion. The research on considering both as influencing factors for viewer's visual attention is insignificant. The present survey focuses on how animated characters and their motions create an impact on the viewer's visual attention. Also, it emphasizes the physiological and cognitive impact created by the animation on the viewers.

1.1. Need and Objectives of the Study

Animation is capable of attracting a large audience in every field. As a result, most people are exposed to this interesting field of knowledge. The major objectives of this systematic review are summarized as follows:

To exemplify the impact and influence of animation and animated characters on viewers visual attention and cognition
To elucidate the various approaches and techniques used in attention based animation studies
To elicit the standards, regulations, guidelines, and best practices that could assist the animation professionals in understanding the viewers' cognitive behavior
To exemplify the current trends and open issues of the impact of animation on viewers' attention and cognition
To elucidate the future research directions in animation-based attention studies

1.2. Related Work

Etemad et al. [ 4 ] have analyzed the motivating factors for processing motion features and their relative degrees of significance in a general paradigm called the perceptual validity (PV) model. The PV consists of four components: association, contextual dependency, internal consistency, and external consistency with underlying elements (bodily action, bodily expressions, facial action, and facial expression). A case study was conducted with this paradigm based on the contextual dependency and finally discussed with Disney's principles of animation. Zong et al. [ 5 ] have discussed the importance of character expression shaping in animated films. The features of facial expression design, such as exaggeration, accuracy, and virtuality, were briefed. Likewise, the expression techniques such as association, personification, exaggeration, and deformation were discussed. Finally, a case analysis of animation expression shaping with respect to every character depicted in the Kung Fu Panda film was carried out in-depth.

Kim et al. [ 6 ] studied character-audience similarity's impact on evaluating public service announcements (PSAs). The characters of smokers and persuaders are differentiated to explore their different roles in message effectiveness. Shao [ 7 ] has discussed the performance of visual humor in animation from the point of view of image, color, action, and rhythm. The image of an animated character is suggested as a bearer of visual humor. It suggested that the humor can be enhanced/created either in the form of body proportion (genius rat in Ratatouille) or structural reorganization (Pigsy's head in Journey to the West). The animated character's color is considered to render emotional visual humor (Panda Po in Kung Fu Panda). The action of the animated character is proposed to be surreal humor (Tom cat and Jerry mouse in Tom and Jerry). Finally, the rhythm of animated films was proposed to affect the audience's visual and psychological feelings.

Shah et al. [ 8 ] studied the application of animation in pharmaceutical advertisements and its impact on consumer perception of the risks and benefits of the drug. Two sets of studies have been carried out for the analysis. Rotoscoping was used to test the effects of animation in this study. Study 1 was carried out to assess whether any shift in perception exists and whether it agrees with a memory effect. In study 2, the findings from study 1 were extended by including consumer implications in order to demonstrate the downstream consequences of the use of animation in pharmaceutical advertisements. Smith and Neff [ 9 ] have investigated the influence of animated gestures in controlling personality perception. A sequence of four diverse gestures with twelve motion adjustments was selected as stimuli for the study. The correlation in personality perception was determined. In addition, the potential and possible limits of motion editing approaches were discussed. Two constellations of motion adjustments were selected for the study.

Vijayakrishnan et al. [ 10 ] analyzed the importance of animated cartoon characters in product marketing through advertisement. The preference of children over products having cartoon characters was scrutinized. The strategies used in the global market for selling the products using animated characters were also discussed. Geal [ 11 ] has explored how animation can manipulate a reflexive intertextual framework related to religious prohibitions on artistic mimesis that might replicate and threaten God's creative act. The limitations of the existing survey are listed briefly in Table 1 .

Comparison of existing surveys with the current review (✓: yes; x: no).

This paper is divided into seven sections and its general layout is depicted in Figure 2 . The first section introduces the animation, its impact on the viewer's psychology, and attention span. It also briefs the objective of this study, the limitations of the existing research, and the present study's contribution. The second section explains the application of the PRISMA protocol to evaluate the reviewing of other types of research. The evaluation is based on the survey's selection criteria, its information sources and search strategies, data collection process, and risk of bias in individual studies. The third section elaborates on the selection of the present study, its characteristics, selected data items, and the risk of bias within the studies. It also assesses animation's attention-related factors and physical and cognitive effects. The fourth section briefly presents the summary along with the limitations and recommendations. The fifth section elaborates on the challenges and open issues the researchers face during the study. The sixth section highlights the future research directions in the field of animation. Finally, the last section summarizes all the facts and concludes the reviewed results.

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Structure of this review.

2. Methodology

2.1. prisma protocol.

The present study is reviewed based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) Protocol [ 22 , 23 ]. It is a set of recommendations designed for reporting systematic reviews. These guidelines aid authors in improving the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses and ensuring the accuracy and transparency of the studies reported [ 24 ]. The present study's reporting quality can be optimized by completing the review report based on the PRISMA–P statement and checklist. Moreover, it also improves the efficiency of the peer review process and enables the readers to get a clear view of the author's work.

The steps followed in the PRISMA protocol are represented in Figure 3 . It is provided briefly as follows: (a) Identification, the records are identified through database searching and additional sources. (b) Removal of duplicates, the records that appear more than once should be removed to avoid reviewing the duplicate records. The entire list of records is exported to a citation manager to remove the duplicate records. The remaining records are entered in the second top box. (c) Screening, the number of screened articles are entered in the following box. Furthermore, this value will be the same as that of the number entered in the duplicate removed box. Further, the articles are screened based on their titles and abstracts. The number of articles excluded in this screening process is recorded in the relevant box. (d) Eligibility, the number of excluded articles after the screening process is subtracted from the total number of records screened. Full-text articles are assessed for eligibility. All these full-text articles are eligible for the final reviewing process. The number of excluded articles at this point is recorded in the appropriate box. (e) Inclusion, the number of excluded articles is subtracted from the total number of articles reviewed for eligibility. Furthermore, this number is entered in the qualitative analysis box. The number of studies list is entered in the quantitative synthesis box to perform the meta-analysis.

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Flow diagram of PRISMA protocol.

2.1.1. Selection Criteria/Eligibility Criteria

The criteria selected were defined before undergoing screening of any articles. The selection criteria are listed in Table 2 .

Selection criteria.

The criteria selection helps to limit the broad topic to direct relevance for the research questions. The language is selected as English as it is the primary publication language for scientific articles. The year of publication is limited to providing a review based on recently published research works. Finally, peer-reviewed articles are considered to provide good quality of work and confirmed results. Also, published thesis work is considered, providing more detail about the research work introduced in peer-reviewed articles by the same or similar authors. Animation-based attention-creating articles were selected for the reviewing process.

2.1.2. Information Sources and Search Strategies

The search databases selected for article retrieval should have good coverage of the body of the relevant work. For this purpose, the two major exiting multidisciplinary databases, Web of Science and Scopus, were selected. Also, scientific databases like Google Scholar and ResearchGate are included as they cover good reporting of animation-related attention-creating articles. In recent times, these research articles can also be retrieved from general databases. However, Google Scholar gains superiority due to its positive correlation with the citation counts from various sources. Many of the works relevant to animation-based attention-creating articles can be retrieved from this database. The publishers such as IEEE, ScienceDirect, Springer, and SAGE also provide direct access to their publications, and their databases were also assessed for their yield of additional relevant results. All the relevant papers can be expected to be available online as the year of publication selection is from 2015 and above. So the analogue search was not conducted separately. Therefore, the electronic database searches were executed from January 2015 to the year 2021 until the preparation of the review. The reference list of all the relevant articles was analyzed for their significance with the research objectives and screened accordingly. The same selection criteria were applied here.

The search strategies need to be fine-tuned to get a better search of articles. Meanwhile, it should expose all relevant research works under a manageable level with no increase in the overall workload of the reviewing process. For the given research objective, the attention-creating articles published in the field of animation were chosen. The research terms for the search were used in either form of individual keywords or a combination of keywords. And specifically, the research terms used were ‘animation' OR ‘impact of animation' ‘Animation' AND ‘psychology' OR ‘animation' AND ‘audience' OR ‘animation' AND ‘cognitive psychology' OR ‘animation' AND ‘audience visual attention'.

2.1.3. Data Collection Process/Data Extraction Process

The title of the articles retrieved from the databases is evaluated for their significant relevance to the research objectives. Furthermore, their respective abstracts are read thoroughly. Based on this, the most relevant articles were segregated and organized in a Microsoft Excel sheet.

(1) Inclusion Criteria . Inclusion criteria for this study include the year of publication, country of origin, methodological base, experimental context, sample characteristics, study duration of existing articles, outcome measures, and exposure to animation duration.

(2) Exclusion Criteria . The criteria excluded for this study comprise lack of access to the full article, unsuitable research articles, letters to the editor, and retraction articles review articles.

The study's key findings mainly focused on how effective the animation in the existing articles. And no attempts are made to contact the authors for missing details in their respective articles.

2.1.4. Risk of Bias in Individual Studies

All the articles were independently evaluated based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria to assess the risk of bias in individual studies. The information extracted from each study is evaluated using the quality assessment tool. For the effective quality assessment, the checklist is made based on the following criteria: yes, no, not applicable (NA), and not reported (NR). The checklist of quality assessment tools includes the following criteria mentioned in Table 3 .

Design quality analysis.

3.1. Selection of the Study

3.1.1. summary of retrieved articles.

The summary of the search databases visited and the number of articles obtained from the respective sources is presented in Table 4 . Further, this table shows the percentage of articles retrieved from each academic database and reveals that the highest number of articles were retrieved from Google Scholar ( n = 199). It comprises research articles, conference papers, and students' dissertations. Other databases like Springer, Science Direct, and Taylor and Francis account for 6.76%, 6.41%, and 6.05% of the total number of articles. The rest of the articles were retrieved from IEEE Xplore (4.27%), ResearchGate (3.20%), and Wiley Online Library (2.49%).

Article sources and number of articles.

3.1.2. Exclusion of Retrieved Articles

The number of articles retrieved from the search database was reduced with the following eliminated procedure based on PRISMA protocol.

(i) Elimination of the articles based on language ( n = 6), irrelevant titles ( n = 75), and reduction of duplication ( n = 25) from various search databases, leading to reduction from 281 to 175
(ii) Elimination of articles after the examination of abstracts, leading to the reduction of articles from 175 to 114
Report on animation impact, 37
Not focused on animation, 18
Report on animation application, 14
Case study, review, and others, 5
Not enough information, 5

The procedure flow for selecting articles for the study is depicted in Figure 4 , which shows the elimination procedure.

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Elimination process of articles based on PRISMA protocol.

3.2. Characteristics of the Study

Based on the selection process, 35 articles were shortlisted for the systematic review. Each article was reviewed, and the information gathered from it was tabulated. The following information was extracted from the articles: description of the study, sample and design applied in the study, type and duration of animation used in the study, and outcome and findings of the study and case-control applied within the study. The study's characteristics, as itemized above, are summarized in Table 5 .

Summary of animation studies.

3.3. Data Items

The study participants' ages ranged from 30 months to 30 years, and most of the studies included both sex samples, with the exception of three studies with female samples alone and gender not mentioned in eight studies. In addition, most of the studies included 3D animation ( n = 10) followed by 2D animation ( n = 6) and flash ( n = 4), and the remaining studies included motion graphics, VR, and AR. Further, the outcomes reviewed from all these studies, namely, physical outcome ( n = 9), psychological outcome ( n = 15), and cognitive outcome ( n = 11), are presented in Table 5 .

3.3.1. Physical Outcome

The importance and necessity of physical exercise was easily delivered to the primary grade students. The results showed a significant difference in self-efficacy, learning, benefits, importance, personal best, and fun between the control and experimental groups ( p ≤ 0.05) [ 31 ]. The hand manipulative tasks was made better with the help of animation. The results showed that the animation groups ranked their difficulty levels (cognitive load) significantly lower than the static groups. Moreover, viewing hand or not made no difference for the animation group [ 36 ].

The effects of visual cueing depend on the subject matter and the learner's learning strategies [ 40 ]. The pretest scores revealed insignificant scores between the test and control groups. However, there is a significant difference between the test and control group in the sequential memory test [ 55 ]. The microintervention study revealed the positive impact of animation on creating awareness on body image among the adolescents. It helped them to understand the importance of telling a bully to stop. The study results showed a significant difference in body satisfaction between the groups. However, it is insignificant to media literacy and self-efficacy [ 29 ]. There is a significant difference in the learning outcomes between each PK (prior knowledge) group for reading comprehension. The animation annotation was easily noticed by the low PK group, whereas the text zone was noticed by the high PK group [ 38 ]. The results obtained from SPQ and BMI revealed the following results: Pororo - So-Yang type boy, Petty - So-Yang type girl, Loopy - So-Eum type girl, Pobby & Harry -most obvious contrast [ 50 ]. There is a significant difference between lip-syncing and gaze to target for perceived speech intelligibility [ 43 ].

3.3.2. Psychological Outcome

Food marketing industries have efficiently utilizing animation as a tool to attract the children, and they were assessing their attention towards healthy/unhealthy food items. Children are attracted to the food and beverages product with or without animated characters. Children were significantly chosen the less healthy product with or without character. Children significantly preferred more or less healthier products irrespective of character [ 51 ]. Children's pupil diameter increased on watching the candy condition. However, no significant difference was observed in the children's visual attention or emotional arousal towards candy or food conditions. There is a significant difference in children's emotional arousal to unhealthy products due to the parent's restriction of candy at home [ 32 ].

The children recalled the story and more content words significantly from animated conditions than a static conditions. Children's visual attention was significant with animated conditions compared to static conditions [ 57 ]. The children were able to recognize the facial identity through dynamic facial animation. However, they failed to learn the facial expression. There is no significant difference observed between the pre- and post-familiarization tests [ 47 ].

The animation has delivered a better opportunity to have self-awareness and knowledge on the health issues without any hesitation. The implementation of computer-animated agent provides assistance to deliver personally relevant information on breast cancer. It helps to reduce anxiety, support psychological needs, and boost confidence. The results showed a significant difference in the proportion of participants with unanswered questions for the post-intervention period [ 30 ]. The health awareness regarding the conditions of glaucoma was perceived by the patients through animation video. There is a significant difference in the patients' knowledge scores between pre- and post-intervention ( p ≤ 0.001). Rural residence, low income, and unemployment were identified as influencing factors for acquiring glaucoma knowledge [ 45 ].

There is a positive correlation between the learning experience between the VR simulation and traditional practice [ 52 ]. There is no significant difference between the real and hybrid CG characters ( p = 1.00). A less significant difference existed between real and CG characters ( p < .001) as well as between CG and hybrid characters ( p < .001). The CGI could feature the actor those who are alive or dead and are capable of enhancing the parasocial interaction and relatability [ 25 ]. The animated character influenced the viewer's attention. There is a significant difference in eeriness between the Pixar character and the Toon character ( p < 0.05). There is a significant difference in eeriness between the photorealistic human character and the Toon character ( p < 0.05) [ 48 ].

The prior knowledge about the techniques behind the making of stop motion films may influence the impact of viewer's attention towards the technical aspects rather than focusing on the story. However, the viewer's attention can be engrossed in the film, and it may develop a deeper connection with the story [ 26 ]. The level of exaggeration in animated cat is insignificant to the audience's perception of the appeal of the realistic feline character. Moreover, the significance of believability is higher for high exaggeration clips than for low exaggeration clips [ 37 ]. The frequency of exposure to animated television cartoons is higher among females, and it is greatly influenced based on their level of education. The perception of such cartoons varies with the level of education [ 56 ]. The viewer's pleasantness feeling toward animated character design aesthetics is insignificant to their gender and age group [ 44 ].

The animated virtual ads attracted the participants than the static ads. The virtual ads presented in the nonbattle scene attracted the participants than those ads in the battle scene. The interaction effect between ad animation and in-game context on fixation count is insignificant [ 41 ]. The animation intensity and animation color on the sponsorship signage showed negative effect on the viewer's attention. The arousal of the viewer's confusion due to increased levels of animation intensity was explored. And the results showed an insignificant effect of animation intensity on viewer confusion [ 46 ]. Also, there is no significant difference in color [ 59 ].

3.3.3. Cognitive Outcome

The studies reported that animation played an essential role in the cognitive development of children ( n = 6). The children who read the AR storybook were more confident in retelling and recalling the story when compared to those who read its printed version [ 27 ]. The mother's video prompted larger pupil dilations and a more smiling and cheerful eye blinking rate among the infants. The highest value cartoons prompted long looking time, reduced blinking, but no increased smiling or pupil dilation [ 34 , 40 ]. Animated films positively affect a child's involvement in symbolic mediation and the level of arbitrary behavior [ 54 ]. Also, it was observed that the executive functions of the preschoolers were disrupted after watching the animated fantastical events [ 28 ]. A significant effect of animated features in ebooks (motion and sound) was observed on children's vocabulary acquisition, story retelling, and visual attention [ 35 ]. There is no significant difference in birth weight, age, parental educational level, or preintervention performance levels between the groups. The trained group showed tremendous results immediately after the training and at 6 weeks follow-up [ 42 ].

Some of the studies reported the role of animation in the teaching field ( n = 5). The adoption of 3D animation as a teaching tool for illustrating surgical skills in medical education was investigated. The test scores showed higher significance for the 3D animation group when compared to the traditional teaching group ( p < 0.0001) [ 33 ]. The animation lecture with instructional design helps in guiding learner's attention, thereby making them focus on the important instructions in the instructions. The animated group required less cognitive load, and they outperformed on the open-ended questions. It was further confirmed with insignificant differences between the two groups in the Genetic Foundation Test [ 39 ]. Idioms learning can be made easier by watching an English animated movies. There is a significant effect on learning idioms through English animated movies ( p < 0.05) [ 49 ]. The spatial features of the animations and the simulations facilitated the development of spatial ability of the 12th grade students. The experimental group's spatial ability and reasoning skills have higher significance than the control group ( p < 0.05) [ 53 ]. The cueing by pedagogical agents positively affected learning performance and instructional efficiency. The cognitive load measures between the two groups were insignificant [ 58 ].

3.4. Risk of Bias within the Study

The risk of bias assessment within the studies is summarized in Table 6 . The criteria for the assessment were based on the study design and data analysis. Nearly all the study participants were randomly selected ( n = 28) with control group ( n = 15) assigned. Some of the studies were conducted in isolation ( n = 31), and the pretest and post-test ( n = 16) method was employed to assess the significance of the hypothesis developed. The participants' visual perception of the animation was determined by their capability to recall or retell ( n = 27). The data obtained in most of the studies were analyzed using power analysis ( n = 12), validity measures ( n = 10), and baseline comparisons ( n = 7) and were employed in some studies. Follow-up on the influence of the animation was further assessed in a few studies ( n = 3), and missing data were reported in a few studies ( n = 5).

Risk of bias within the studies.

3.5. Attention-Related Factors

Some of the studies reported in this review are solely concentrated on the visual attention of the participant's towards animation ( n = 12). The attention-related factors among these studies are animation's interactive features ( n = 3), intensity ( n = 1), design ( n = 1), motion ( n = 3), sound ( n = 1), annotation ( n = 1), and character ( n = 3). The factors that are insignificant with the viewer's visual attention was animation's color.

In twelve out of thirty-five papers, eye-tracking technology was employed to assess the participants' visual attention to the animation. The pupil movement and fixation time was observed to assess the viewer's attention towards the animation.

3.6. Physical Effects of Animation

Animation has created awareness among adolescents about their body images and provided knowledge about the necessity of physical activity. It also helped women get a detailed report on mammographic procedures without hesitation. Moreover, it also delivered a knowledge on the health issues related to glaucoma.

3.7. Cognitive Effects of Animation

As mentioned earlier, the animation has created some cognitive effects towards infants to adults. The animated ebook has helped the children understand the story's structure and content. Furthermore, animation made it easy to learn the surgical procedures like intercostal drain insertion and suprapubic catheter insertion. Also, the concepts of genetics, such as cell division, mitosis, and meiosis, were presented in animation, and the participant's performance was found to be improved. Moreover, the student's spatial ability and reasoning skills were improved by watching the animation lectures.

4. Discussion

4.1. evidence summary.

From the overall studies, it was evident that the animation was employed in various applications to attract and assess the viewer's attention. Among thirty-five studies, five briefed about the animated characters and one study about the animation motion.

The rest of the studies described the perception of audience towards implementing animation in the following phenomenon: learning skill improvement ( n = 15), teaching strategy ( n = 2), health awareness ( n = 5), advertisement ( n = 3), food marketing ( n = 2), validating hearing aid ( n = 1), and political awareness ( n = 1).

4.2. Limitations and Recommendations

Although the studies reported in this survey showed a significant difference and the hypothesis generated was accepted, some limitations still exist. The common limitations identified in the studies are short period of time for implementation [ 53 ], smaller sample size [ 27 , 37 ], nongeneralizability [ 25 , 27 , 32 , 39 , 53 ], nonrandomization trials [ 52 ], and no control group and post only group [ 45 ]. Few other studies have reported the possibility of cross-contamination among the control and experimental group [ 33 ], increased dropout of participants before completing the post-test questionnaire [ 52 ], and underestimation of participant's knowledge of expressing words which might directly affect the animation [ 57 ].

Arshad et al. [ 44 ] have examined the “Pleasure” as a sole emotional response to describe the pleasure level of human emotion towards the Malaysian animation cartoon characters. In contrast, the PAD (pleasure, arousal, and dominance) model utilized in the study has two other dimensions: arousal and dominance.

The audience could not feel the warmth of the real human character in the animated short film as the animation span is too short [ 48 ]. In another study, there is a possible way for the audience to have different perceptions regarding the meaning of the word “believability.” Moreover, the cat's exaggerated motion alone studied might express the intrinsic characteristics of its particular character design [ 37 ]. While studying the viewer/character relationships, the PSI (parasocial interaction) scores remained low, which may be due to the cause that it features nonhuman characters in all-CGI conditions. At the same time, the other conditions featured only humans [ 25 ].

Some of the typical future recommendations mentioned in the studies are an extension of the study period [ 53 ], increasing the study sample size [ 37 ] and implementing a randomized sample approach from various situations to overcome the limitation of result generalization [ 37 , 52 , 53 ].

The audience's perception of various anthropomorphic animal characters performing various actions in different situations should be examined [ 37 ]. In addition to the animation, the story's narration is more concentrated when designing a storybook app [ 57 ]. Moreover, TV animated cartoons can be designed to attract people with tertiary education for political promotions and political mobilization [ 56 ].

5. Challenges and Open Issues

The challenges and open issues faced by the researchers during the study are elaborated in this section, and it is shown in Figure 5 .

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Challenges and open issues.

5.1. Methodological Issues in Data Interpretation

The methodological issues in data interpretation may occur due to animation completion time, fixation duration, and other confounding variables. Fixation duration may be employed to determine the participant's eye or head movements. Mostly eye-tracking devices and gaze movement trackers are utilized for this purpose. Any fault with these devices will affect the data quality, data loss, and data interpretation bias. Li et al. [ 28 ] have suggested that fixation data points showed the preschooler's more significant mobilization and limited processing capacity. Tummeltshammer et al. [ 34 ] have determined the unfiltered eye movement data using SMI's BeGaze analysis software to overcome the error caused by the tracking device or participants in attention.

5.2. Results Generalization Based on Small Sample Sizes

The generalization of results based on small sample sizes may not be appropriate for all the cases. Most of the studies mentioned it as a limitation due to various concerns such as participants' demographical features and socio-economical features. Al-Balushi et al. [ 53 ] have reported improving logical thinking and spatial thinking skills of 12th grade students of Oman. He has also stated that further investigations are required due to the small sample size. Danaei et al. [ 27 ] have reported that the children who read the AR storybook were more confident in retelling and recalling the story.

The specific format or instructions employed in the research can also affect the generalization among the same or different populations. For instance, a specific pedagogical agent format that shows attraction towards the younger population might not show the same effects on adolescents and adults [ 58 ]. Similarly, the instructions designed to visualize in animation may not be appropriate for visualizing the same in real phenomena [ 39 ]. Binder et al. [ 32 ] suggested conducting more eye-tracking experiments with integrated food cues to attract children's attention toward healthy foods.

5.3. Loss of Participants' Data due to the Restless Audience

The audience becomes restless when the study duration is too long. This may be overcome by regular contact with them or follow-up studies. In some cases, participants find it difficult to spare their free time voluntarily. For instance, many students find it difficult to complete the questionnaire in their free time due to the stressful semester [ 52 ]. Sometimes, it is difficult to compel the participants to make things if they are children or infants. Among 39 children, one refused to retell the comprehensive stories learned through animated storybooks, so the corresponding data was removed from the study [ 57 ]. Two children in an experimental group refused to participate during the middle of the study [ 55 ].

In some cases, the data will be collected indirectly through random websites or by issuing pamphlets to random people. For example, Okoro and Onakpa [ 56 ] have collected data from selected towns in North Central Nigeria by issuing 385 copies of the questionnaire. Among these, 2% of the questionnaire were not received due to the restless audience.

5.4. Issues Associated with Calibration

The calibration of devices employed for measuring participants' visual attention plays a vital role in acquiring good quality data and aids in providing a better focus on the participants. Unfortunately, due to poor calibration (> 1) of the eye-tracking device, deviated results were obtained from five children, which may negatively impact the overall results [ 32 ].

5.5. Audience Requiring Assistance

The most important challenge faced in the study is to find the audience who requires assistance to participate in the study. Furthermore, this might help in acquiring better and more appropriate results. For example, Danaei et al. [ 27 ] have identified and helped the children who had struggled to start retelling the story learned through AR story book. And they were encouraged to continue the story.

5.6. Technology Issues and Mechanical Constraints

The technological issues may be caused due to unavoidable faults in the devices employed in the study. Due to this issue, the data points measured will be low, resulting in removing those data points. For example, in a study by Hendrikse et al. [ 43 ], the electrodes reached saturation due to the loose connection in the EOG (electrooculogram) electrodes for some participants. This, in turn, affected the data quality, and the corresponding data point was removed until it was adjusted to drift compensation. Similarly, two children were excluded from the study due to the problem that occurred in the stimulus presentation of fruit and candy [ 32 ].

5.7. Anxiety among Audience

Anxiety among the audience is another challenge faced during experimenting with new ideas. For example, al-Balushi et al. [ 53 ] have attempted to teach the critical concepts of 12th grade chemistry through animation. However, the students facing stressful periods due to the important exam in 12th grade made them anxious about the adoption of new teaching technology, which negatively affected the results. Nevertheless, the study still showed healthier results with improved spatial ability and reasoning skills of those students.

5.8. Maintaining Audience Attention

Another challenge in making animation successful is maintaining the viewer's attention. Attention can be influenced by various factors like animation span, animation intensity, animated character, the motion of the animated character, and sound. Likewise, it may be affected by intervening factors such as restlessness of the audience in the real-time study settings and eye irritation. This situation can be overcome by conducting studies in a silent room where the audience can focus on the visual animation without getting distracted by external factors [ 49 ]. In some cases, the audience may get distracted by the instructions provided in the animation video [ 39 ].

5.9. Issue of Data Quality

One of the significant issues faced while carrying out studies is the quality of data obtained. And it may be influenced by the missing data due to an error in the instruments employed. It can either affect the result or may be corrected. For instance, due to the eye-tracking device's problem, children's eye movements were not clearly captured, which resulted in extremely low fixation time [ 57 ]. Similarly, 31.4% of EOG data were missing due to some error in the device. However, the missing data points are adjusted by entering them as not-a-number in the analysis [ 43 ]. Figure 5 illustrates the open challenges associated with this research.

6. Future Research Directions

The priority areas identified for future research directions are elaborated to strengthen the body of evidence. These include the advanced applications of animations that may make life easier and are listed in Figure 6 and are elaborated below.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is CMMM2022-8802542.006.jpg

Future research directions.

The foremost application could include artificial intelligence (AI) that may generate 3D motion from video without any capture equipment [ 60 ]. The AI and advanced hardware can bring breathing life into animation by blurring the lines between the virtual and real characters. The application of AI into animation has reduced the post-production time, limited the need for character design, and aids in improved lip-syncing [ 61 ]. The explainable AI is an artificial intelligence operation that runs on deep neural networks. The practical applicability and promotion of the AI tool are enhanced by developing computational help [ 62 ]. The major challenges in AI are to succeed explainability in its program, which can be facilitated with animation techniques [ 63 ]. The explainable AI can be adopted in autonomous car decision-making and energy efficiency in smart homes [ 64 ] and medical imaging [ 65 , 66 ]. Meanwhile, generative AI is a machine learning algorithm that can generate new content through text, images, and audio content. In addition, it can generate human-like language output [ 67 ].

Analyzing a large amount of fragmented data can be simplified by converging the big data and augmented analytics. Moreover, it helps to provide simplified statements to the customers in an understandable manner [ 68 ]. The visualization of a large pool of data can be made easier with the help of animation. Moreover, the data visualization can be integrated with augmented and virtual reality [ 69 ]. The big data and augmented analytics play a major role in video gaming. For instance, Pokemon Go is a location-based Japanese video game franchise. This game transforms the gamer's physical location into an augmented world where the characters are superimposed on the reality seen through their mobiles. The Global Positioning System (GPS), a major staple of big data, makes this possible by allowing data collection and storing it upon the crowd-sourced data [ 70 ].

Quantum computing deals with pulling together the theoretical ideas of computer science and fundamental physics. It has been the focus of many large companies such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft. The algorithm created from quantum computing concepts can be employed to design a 3D modeling [ 71 ]. It is based on the qubits that give rise to new logic gates, which enable constructing a new algorithm. However, it is still in its emerging phase, and for future development, it is necessary to overcome the obstacles like decoherence and scalability issues [ 72 ].

The collaboration of robots and machines to perform a day-to-day task will be the perception of the modern era. However, its ethical issues are yet to be analyzed and eradicated [ 73 ]. Internet of Everything (IoE) provides interconnection of physical items to frame an information network that provides smart communication services to the users. The IoE finds applications in the fields like health care, smart grids, smart cities, smart homes, manufacturing, and transport [ 74 ].

Digital twin technology provides a virtual representation of a physical product consisting of information from the product's origin to its life cycle management. The general applicability of the digital twin lies in physical entities like agricultural supply chains, automotive wiring harnesses, smart cars, and farms, and virtual entities like health monitoring and scheduling [ 75 ]. The animation concepts play a vital role in mirroring the design concepts and visualizing them during the conceptual designing stage of the digital twin [ 76 ]. For instance, while designing the speed of the machines, synchronization can be achieved by controlling the rate of animation frames [ 77 ].

Another major industrial revolution is the cyber-physical system (CPS), composed of highly integrated computation, communication, control, and physical elements. The CPS research is emerging in education [ 78 ], agriculture [ 79 ], and manufacturing. For instance, in the manufacturing sector, the CPS may bridge the gap between design and manufacturing [ 80 ]. It extends the manufacturing process with a communication interface that mimics the worker assistance system. Furthermore, the animation is used to assist the operation flow of instruments in the worker assistance system [ 81 ]. However, the CPS development is still in the embryonic stage as it faces challenges such as security, privacy, efficiency, and interoperability [ 82 ].

The interaction and fusion between the physical space and virtual space are facilitated with the advancements in the 3R technology (virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR)). The VR is a simulated environment designed in real time using computer graphics and pictures of the scene in 3D. It will immerse the viewer into the virtual environment, closing them completely away from the outside world. Meanwhile, AR is an interactive environment that is designed by increasing this fusion between the physical and virtual space. The viewers can interact with the animated data and instructional information superimposed over the real-world view through devices such as mobile phones or tablets. At the same time, the MR simulation environment is designed from the fusion of real-world and virtual space comprising the co-existence interaction of physical objects and digital objects. Two or more viewers can be networked together in a virtual environment where they can interact with computer-generated objects on the real world [ 83 , 84 ]. In recent span, the AR, VR and MR applications have been widely used in health-care monitoring [ 84 , 85 ], clinical applications in oral and maxillofacial surgery [ 86 , 87 ], improvising nursing skills [ 52 ], and enhanced teaching strategy [ 27 ].

7. Conclusions

This paper highlighted a systematic review of 35 publications about animation's importance and its impact on viewer's visual attention and cognition. These publications were collected from 2015 to 2021 and are grouped into 3 categories. The risk of bias in the study design carried out in these publications was briefed. The attention-related factors such as animation motion, animated character, color, and intensity were assessed in the field of food marketing, teaching, entertainment, and advertisement. The animation motion and animated character are significant, whereas color and intensity are insignificant. The cognitive effects developed in the viewers are executive function, comprehension, spatial ability, and symbolic mediation. Meanwhile, the physical effects included confidence in their own body image and the importance of physical exercise. The limitations and recommendations associated with these 35 publications were elaborated. Also, the open challenges and issues under each category were summarized. The identified future research directions ideas may further strengthen the necessity for improving the visual quality of the animation.

The major limitation of this study is that the recently published articles were not included (i.e., publications in 2022). Several important animation research fields, such as gaming, medical, and entertainment, were not covered in this paper. Future research should include the recently published articles to enhance the quality and validate the findings in this study. In addition, the future study focuses on assessing the influence of animation motion and animated characters on the viewer's visual attention.

Data Availability

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

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07 January 2022

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Animation Research Guide: Selected Journals

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Animation : an interdisciplinary journal Provides the first cohesive, international peer-reviewed publishing platform for animation that unites contributions from a wide range of research agendas and creative practice.
Animation Magazine Contains articles on animation in feature films, games, and television; the level of technical detail should make it useful to practitioners as well as those with a general interest.
Animation Practice, Process & Production Covers topics that are engaged with the practice, process and production of animation.
Animation Studies Animation Studies is the Society for Animation Studies’ peer-reviewed online journal. It publishes the society’s conference proceedings and is open to submissions from SAS members.
Computer The flagship publication of the IEEE Computer Society.
Computer Animation & Virtual Worlds Includes topics that range from scenario making to postproduction for those who apply animation techniques to science and art.
Journal of the Association for Computing Machinery 'Provides coverage of the most significant work going on in computer science, broadly construed.'
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Home » Blog » Dissertation » Topics » Animation » Animation Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Your Academic Research

Animation Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Your Academic Research

Mark May 2, 2020 Jun 5, 2020 Animation No Comments

We are aware that searching for a right and interesting dissertation topic becomes a nightmare for students. If you are also stuck in finding the best animation dissertation topics, you have visited the right site. We offer a list of animation dissertation topics, which can be worked on. The research topics on animation and project […]

The research topics on animation and project topics on animation are also included to help you in choosing a topic that you find interesting. You can also check the film dissertation topics to get more ideas on conventional and digital media. The list of animation dissertation topics includes all the latest and modern time topics.

Animation dissertation topics

To study how to illustrate the solution of a problem through images.

Analyzing the new areas related to illustration.

Examining the concept of digital illustration – a thematic analysis.

To investigate the ethics that an illustrator should always follow while fulfilling role and responsibilities.

A literature review on the advanced narrative illustration.

Exploring the evolution and development of 3D in printing.

To study the concept of animation editing and formatting.

How is the internet facilitating the film making?

Examining the role of social networking in society.

What is the role of visual effects in video album?

Studying the stop-motion and matte painting in live-action.

An analysis of creating photo-realistic objects in computer programming.

To investigate the mobile game, growth, and technological advancement.

Analyzing the concept of secure payment gateways.

Explaining the importance of Disney to the lives of young children in the 21st century.

Comparing and contrasting the unrealistic beauty as portrayed in the Disney films.

Studying the code development and technology development in Art Making.

Evaluating the technology art and culture in America.

A literature review on hypermedia – interaction and artwork.

Exploring the field of animation studies and its development in the past 10 years.

Evaluating the animation as a means of enhancing the learning of individuals with special needs.

Studying the integration of animation in learning fundamentals of entrepreneurship.

An analysis of the animal production testing model based on design-oriented learning.

Examining the area of emotional semantic recognition of visual scene in flash animation.

To investigate the concept of development 3D animated story as interactive learning media.

An evaluation of the squash and stretch in 3D animated short films.

Studying the animation as a visual indicator of positional uncertain in geographic information.

An assessment of the effects of animation and pictographs on viewer engagement.

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Influence of 3D models and animations on students in natural subjects

Milada Teplá 1 ,
Pavel Teplý ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2180-510X 1 &
Petr Šmejkal 1

International Journal of STEM Education volume 9 , Article number: 65 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Studies comparing the effect of dynamic and static visualization suggest a predominantly positive effect of dynamic visualization. However, the results of individual comparisons are highly heterogeneous. In this study, we assess whether dynamic visualization (3D models and animations) used in the experimental group has a stronger positive influence on the intrinsic motivation and learning outcomes of science students (Biology, Chemistry and Geology) than static visualization used in the control group, and whether selected variables (students’ gender, age, educational level, learning domain, and teacher personality) significantly affect the results.

This study was conducted in 2019 with a sample of 565 students from Czech middle (aged 11–15 years) and high (aged 15–19 years) schools using the following research tools: Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, Intrinsic Motivation Inventory and knowledge tests. The results show that using 3D models and animations in the teaching process significantly increased the students’ intrinsic motivation for learning natural sciences (more specifically, its components (1) interest, (2) effort to actively participate in the educational process, (3) perceived competence and (4) understanding the usefulness of the subject matter), with a mean Hedges’ g = 0.38. In addition, students in the experimental group reached a significantly higher level of Chemistry knowledge than their peers in the control group. Furthermore, by moderator analysis, we identified three moderator variables, namely student age, instructional domain and teacher personality. These variables significantly affect intrinsic motivation in different ways. The strongest positive effect of dynamic visualizations was found among students aged 11–13, whereas the weakest positive effect was identified among students aged 14–16. Regarding instructional domain animations and 3D models, the strongest positive effect is found in Chemistry ( g = 0.74) and Biology ( g = 0.72), whereas the positive impact on Geology is significantly weaker ( g = 0.45). Teacher personality was found to be a major moderator in student motivation, with significant differences ( g = 0.40—1.24). Teachers’ attitude towards modern technology plays an important role concerning this effect.

Conclusions

Based on these findings, we conclude that 3D models and animations have a positive effect on students and that teachers should include these visual aids in their lessons. For this reason, teachers are encouraged to implement these dynamic visual aids in their lessons regardless of their beliefs, and to get an adequate support in the process of implementation if necessary.

Introduction

A lack of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduates has long troubled the European Union in general, and the Czech Republic in particular (Gago et al., 2005 ). Despite the growing number of scientific publications in the STEM field (Li, 2021 ; Takeuchi et al., 2020 ) there is a current shortage of STEM graduates resulting from the relatively low number of high school students who enroll in science and technology degrees at universities (Eurostat, 2020 ), mostly due to the low popularity of some subjects. For example, Chemistry is an unpopular subject based on the results of student surveys (Beauchamp & Parkinson, 2008 ; Pavelková et al., 2010 ) because this subject is apparently too abstract for students who struggle to visualize some fundamental concepts, such as an atomic orbital (Chen et al., 2015 ), and to understand the particulate nature of matter (Williamson & Abraham, 1995 ). Even Biology, which is regarded as an easy subject (Hanzalová, 2019 ), covers numerous topics requiring a high level of abstraction, including anatomic structures (Mitsuhashi et al., 2009 ) and cellular biology (Jenkinson, 2018 ), as well as molecular genetics concepts and processes (Malacinski & Zell, 1996 ; Rotbain et al., 2006 ). It is therefore necessary that students are sufficiently motivated to study science subjects, which means increasing students ’ interest in the topics taught, along with overcoming challenging (mostly abstract) topics.

Visual representations have been developed to aid thinking and we generally use it to better understand various data (Mazza, 2009 ; Ware, 2004 ). The goal is to visually represent data in such a way that the most important patterns are clearly distinguishable from their surroundings (Mazza, 2009 ) to enable us capturing and incorporating a new piece of information into the long-term memory (Craik & Lockhart, 1972 ). This predetermines visualizations to be used in teaching these particular abstract topics.

Visualization can be divided into static visualizations (e.g., still illustrations, slides and photographs) and dynamic visualizations (e.g., animations, three-dimensional rotating models, simulations and videos). The latter have been gaining popularity as the use of graphics in computer-based educational environments has increasingly become commonplace (Lin & Atkinson, 2011 ).

Yet individual comparisons between the differential effects of static and dynamic visualization have yielded highly heterogeneous results (Kaushal & Panda, 2019 ).

Considering the above, this study aims to identify the best approach to increase students’ internal motivation for science subjects, because students who are more interested in natural sciences are also more motivated to study these subjects (Berg et al., 2003 ; Klahr & Nigam, 2004 ) and to understand them (Khishfe & Abd-El-Khalick, 2002 ). For this purpose, we assess the influence of dynamic visualization on primary and secondary school students in comparison with static visualization in science subjects (biology, chemistry and geology). More specifically, we examine the influence of static and dynamic visualization on students’ internal motivation (interest/enjoyment, effort, perceived competence, value/usefulness) and on the level of acquired knowledge on the subject matter.

One way to increase students’ interest in science subjects and to support their cognitive processes is to use visualization aids (Bilbokaitė, 2015 ; Nodzyńska, 2012 ; Popelka et al., 2019 ; Rotbain et al., 2006 ; Ryoo & Linn, 2012 ; Wu et al., 2001 ). Visual aids can help students understand particularly difficult and abstract topics (Bunce & Gabel, 2002 ; Harrison & Treagust, 2006 ) by stimulating their imagination and enhancing their ability to understand the subject matter, thereby improving the memorization of these concepts. Visualization can also enable students to adequately understand preconcepts (Tarmizi, 2010 ) while preventing the formation of misconcepts. Generally, visualization plays a key role in explaining the subject matter, focusing on features of microelements invisible to the naked eye (DiSpezio, 2010 ; Gomez-Zwiep, 2008 ; Herman et al., 2011 ). Some subjects, such as Biochemistry (Schönborn & Anderson, 2006) and closely related molecular biology (Jenkinson, 2018 ; Marbach-Ad et al., 2008 ), cannot be effectively taught without visualization. Therefore, visualization tools are crucial for understanding and research in the molecular and cellular biological sciences (Schönborn & Anderson, 2006).

The benefits of visualization tools lie in facilitating the understanding process best described by the so-called scaffolding theory (Eshach et al., 2011 ; Wood et al., 1976 ). “The scaffolding metaphor means that given appropriate assistance, a learner can perform a task otherwise outside his/her independent reach” (Eshach et al., 2011 , p. 552). The scaffolding theory, originally requiring an adult to assist and help students (Wood et al., 1976 ), has been subsequently extended by Puntambekar and Hübscher ( 2005 ) to teaching tools able to control and measure the amount of information given, thus reducing the number of acts needed to reach understanding (Puntambekar & Hübscher, 2005 ; Tabak, 2004 ; Wood et al., 1976 ). More recently, Chang and Linn ( 2013 ) showed that interactions with visualization tools are even more beneficial than visualization itself. Therefore, visualization aids that promote further interactions aim to be more effective.

Dynamic visualization

Dynamic visualization aids (e.g., animations, simulations, three-dimensional rotating models and videos) can be used in the teaching process for several purposes. First, animations can serve as a means of gaining attention. This category includes various animated arrows or highlights (Berney & Bétrancourt, 2016 ). Secondly, animation may be used to demonstrate concrete or abstract procedures required to be memorized and performed by the learner, such as tying nautical knots (Ayres et al., 2009 ; Schwan & Riempp, 2004 ). Thirdly, animation-based teaching is effective in describing processes that change over time and space (Ainsworth & VanLabeke, 2004 ; Rieber, 1990 ; Schnotz & Lowe, 2003 ). Dynamic visualization is especially suitable for dynamically visualizing abstract objects which students cannot easily imagine. Therefore, teaching through dynamic visualization is significantly more effective, especially in difficult scientific disciplines in which dynamic visualization can support the students’ cognitive processes (Bilbokaite, 2015 ; McElhaney et al., 2015 ).

This correlation is evident in processes that change over time (Ainsworth & VanLabeke, 2004 ; Rieber, 1990 ). For this reason, visualization is widely used in areas related to physical, chemical or biological disciplines. McElhaney et al. ( 2015 ) specifically mention that dynamic visualization can help pupils/students visualize unobservable dynamic phenomena, such as global climate change, tectonic plate motion, heat transfer, gene expression, cellular respiration and other cellular processes (e.g., cell division)—i.e., topics taught in science subjects such as geology, biology and chemistry.

Advantages and disadvantages of dynamic visualization

Both advantages and disadvantages of using dynamic visualization in teaching have been reported in comparison with static visualization. The benefits of dynamic visualization include enabling and facilitating effects (Kühl et al., 2011 ; Schnotz, 2005 ; Schnotz & Rasch, 2005 ) because the continuous representation of changes supports the perceptual and conceptual processing of dynamic information (Berney & Bétrancourt, 2016 ), in addition to preventing students from developing misconceptions and drawing erroneous conclusions from a mere static representation of the curriculum (e.g., misinterpreting a picture), which is related to an unnecessary cognitive load (Bétrancourt et al., 2001 ; Kühl et al., 2011 ). Dynamic visualization also reduces cognitive load associated with gradual steps (Berney & Bétrancourt, 2016 ), by helping students contextualize separate knowledge, for example relationships among pictures or schemes, which subsequently reduces working memory demands. Another benefit of dynamic visualization includes the ability to control its pace, such as pausing, rewinding or replaying (McElhaney et al., 2015 ).

Conversely, a disadvantage of dynamic visualization is the great amount of information given (Ainsworth & VanLabeke, 2004 ; Bétrancourt & Réalini, 2005 ), all of which (even transient) is processed and stored in the working memory, which could potentially lead to cognitive overload (Chandler, 2004 ; Chandler & Sweller, 1991 ; Jones & Scaife, 2000 ; Lowe, 1999 ; Mayer & Moreno, 2002 ). Dynamic visualization offers only temporary information, which (due to working memory overload) can be replaced by subsequent information (Bétrancourt & Tversky, 2000 ). By contrast, static images presenting different states or steps allow students to examine and compare these states, whereas dynamic visualization provides one step at a time. This stepwise presentation results in another disadvantage of dynamic visualization, which is the inability to compare individual steps (Bétrancourt et al., 2001 ). Another disadvantage of dynamic visualization is the split attention effect. When multiple events overlap in dynamic visualization (animation), attention fragmentation may occur, causing imperfect information acquisition (Löwe, 2003 ). Other disadvantages include oversimplifying a curriculum problem, which may give students a false impression that they understand the problem (Schnotz & Rasch, 2005 ).

Dynamic vs static visualization impact

Considering the widespread use of dynamic visualization, researchers have sought to study its impact on students. In 2000, a review conducted by Bétrancourt and Tversky ( 2000 ) compared 17 studies on the differences between common educational methods (extrapolation and analysis, among others) and the educational process supported by animations. Most studies (10 of 17) showed a positive impact of using animations, but the remaining 7 found no effect or only non-significant effects of incorporating animations into the educational process. In 2007, Höffler and Leutner conducted a meta-analysis of 26 studies published in 1973–2003 (Höffler & Leutner, 2007 ), including 76 pairwise comparisons of the effect between dynamic visualizations and static visualizations. This meta-analysis showed a positive effect of the animations compared with the static visualizations, with an average effect size d = 0.37, which indicates a small to medium effect. However, the authors also included video-based visualization in their study. Even studies comparing static to video-based visualization have shown a significantly higher effect on average ( d = 0.76; a total of 12 comparisons) than other comparisons based on computer graphics ( d = 0.36; a total of 64 comparisons). The total number of participants was not specified.

The research of Höffler and Leutner was closely followed by a similar review study by Berney and Bétrancourt ( 2016 ), who also analyzed research articles published up to 2013, and focused on comparing differences in the benefits of static and dynamic visualization. The authors included 61 published studies, totaling 140 pairwise comparisons of dynamic and static visualizations intended for teaching. In contrast to the previous study, which assessed effect size based on Cohen’s d (Cohen, 1988 ), the magnitude of the effect was expressed as Hedges’ g (Hedges, 1981 ) in this meta-analysis, but the results confirmed the positive effect of animations when compared with static visualizations, with a difference in effect magnitude g = 0.23, which represents a small effect. As the studies included more than 7000 subjects, the results can be considered reliable. The comparison between Cohen’s d of the previous meta-analysis and Hedges’ g of this analysis shows a decrease in effect size. The authors explain that the effect size is smaller because they included more total and pairwise comparisons in the analysis. The authors further highlight that, although the overall effect was positive, almost 60% of the studies did not show significant differences between dynamic and static visualization.

The results from the aforementioned meta-analyses suggest a predominant, albeit slight, positive effect of dynamic visualization (most often in the form of animation). Moreover, the results from individual comparisons are highly heterogeneous. Some studies show the positive influence of animations on the educational process (Lin & Atkinson, 2011 ; Marbach-Ad et al., 2008 ; Özmen, 2011 ), whereas others are less clear in their conclusions (Boucheix & Schneider, 2009 ; Bulman & Fairlie, 2016 ; Mayer et al., 2007 ; Tversky et al., 2002 ).

Moderator variables influencing the effect of dynamic visualization on students

As detailed in the section above, previous empirical studies exploring the influence of animations lack uniform results (Kaushal & Panda, 2019 ). These disparities have led researchers to search for potential moderators of the effect of using dynamic visual aids on student performance. These factors, which our study also addressed, include the instructional domain (subject), student gender and education level.

Instructional domain (subject)

The influence of the instructional domain, for which animation was created, was studied in the meta-analysis by Höffler and Leutner, ( 2007 ). The results showed that the instructional domain in which the analysis is performed is a determining factor of the effect size. The highest magnitude of the effect was measured in chemistry ( d = 0.75; a total of 7 comparisons), followed by mathematics ( d = 0.62; 5 comparisons) and physics ( d = 0.28; 39 comparisons). The smallest effect was found surprisingly in biology ( d = 0.13; 12 comparisons). However, due to the low number of comparisons, whose final effect size has been included in the overall result, the statistical power of this comparison was low (Höffler & Leutner, 2007 ).

The meta-analysis conducted by Berney and Bétrancourt ( 2016 ) also examined the influence of moderating variables that affect the effectiveness of animations in the teaching process. This meta-analysis among other things showed the subject in which the analysis is performed is a determinant of effect size as well. The highest effect was measured in “natural sciences” ( g = 1.26; 8 comparisons), with a relatively large effect in chemistry as well (g = 0.77; 8 comparisons), but with a low effect size in biology (g = 0.20; 33 comparisons). However, even in these results, only a few subjects were compared, which reduced the statistical power of the results.

In the meta-analysis by Castro-Alonso et al. ( 2019 ), the influence of the subject on the effectiveness of dynamic visualization (animation) in teaching was also investigated. The authors focused on STEM and found that the dynamic type of visualization is more effective in geology and other sciences ( g = 0.38; 11 comparisons) and subsequently in biology and medical sciences ( g = 0.27; 11 comparisons) than in technical or mathematical subjects ( g = 0.15; 15 comparisons) or even physics and chemistry ( g = 0.19; 23 comparisons). Nevertheless, the number of overall comparisons was relatively low, which reduces the statistical power of the results.

The division into the instructional domain also entails some difficulties, which may be, for example, the attractiveness of the discussed topic. The whole content of individual scientific disciplines is not homogeneous, and one chapter may be more attractive for students than another, which has a great influence on the overall results.

Student gender

In their meta-analysis, Castro-Alonso et al. ( 2019 ) found that student gender is a key factor because dynamic visualizations are less effective in a sample of participants with fewer females than males. In particular, studies involving fewer than 59% of females showed a moderately positive effect of dynamic visualization ( g = 0.36, 35 comparisons) and studies involving 60% or more females did not show any dynamic visualization effect (g = 0.07, 47 comparisons). The authors suggested that the unequal ratio of females to males, in some studies, may be a significant factor in explaining variations in effect size across studies.

Unfortunately, student gender factor has been overlooked in many studies (Garland & Sanchez, 2013 ; Schnotz et al., 1999 ; Wang et al., 2011 ), and most of which do not even provide gender ratios for the whole sample (Castro-Alonso et al., 2019 ). In addition, many studies are conducted with undergraduate pedagogy and psychology students, and males are markedly under-represented in these degrees (Castro-Alonso et al., 2019 ).

Gender has a strong influence on cognitive load (Bevilacqua, 2017 ). Thus, this factor must be analyzed. In their meta-analysis, Zell et al. ( 2015 ) concluded that gender has a significant effect on attention, memory and problem solving ( d = 0.22), especially among the participants with the best results. Gender can also affect the participants’ perceptions of spatial imagination (Höffler, 2010 ; Ikwuka & Samuel, 2017 ; Wong et al., 2018 ; Zell et al., 2015 ).

Education level

Level of education plays a huge role, mainly because cognitive ability correlates with age (within individual differences) (Damon et al., 2006 ). This is reflected not only in different subjects (instructional domain), but more specifically in individual topics. The level of education must also be taken into account when choosing teaching methods, because it is at the age of middle school students when abstract and scientific thinking gradually develops (Damon et al., 2006 ; Goswami, 2010 ).

The literature shows that dynamic visualizations and animations have a positive impact on school children (Bétrancourt & Chassot, 2008 ), university students (Jaffar, 2012 ) and adults (Türkay, 2016 ). McElhaney et al. ( 2015 ) assessed, whether the effect of dynamic visualization depended on education level, and found that the difference between the effects of dynamic and static visualizations is higher in primary and secondary school students ( g = 0.27; 10 comparisons) than in post-secondary level students ( g = 0.07; 37 comparisons), which showed almost no effect.

The variable education level was also examined by Castro-Alonso et al. ( 2019 ), who concluded that the use of dynamic visualization is most effective among primary school students ( g = 0.53), followed by secondary school students ( g = 0.44), and the least effective among university students ( g = 0.19) (Castro-Alonso et al., 2019 ).

Teacher personality

A substantial amount of variance in instructional quality can be explained by teacher characteristics such as cognitive ability, personality, professional knowledge, constructivist beliefs, enthusiasm and instructional quality (Baier et al., 2019 ). Teacher personality plays an important role in the educational process and should not be omitted. Kim et al. ( 2018 ) showed that even though domains of teacher personality do not predict academic achievement, they are able to predict subjective measures of teacher effectiveness as well as evaluation of teaching (Kim et al., 2019 ). Especially extraversion and enthusiasm have been identified as very strong predictors of instructional quality (Baier et al., 2019 ). Some of these domains are also crucial factors in the implementation and acceptance of technology in education (Tzima et al., 2019 ).

Objectives, hypothesis and research questions

The results from empirical studies are not uniform. Thus, further research is required to determine when animations are more effective than static visual aids (Kaushal & Panda, 2019 ) by continuously exploring dynamic visualizations and by defining potential moderators, which may significantly affect the potential impact of these aids on students.

Currently, many ongoing discussions (especially among teachers and politicians) address the use of dynamic visualizations (e.g., animations, simulations, three-dimensional rotating model, and videos) and their impact on the quality of the education process. Furthermore, the Strategy of Digital Education of the Czech Republic has already been approved since 2014 (MEYS, 2020 ). This strategy, aimed at the digitalization of education in middle and high schools, prioritized opening up the education system to new teaching methods through the use of digital technologies. Accordingly, new visualization equipment was purchased for 60 Czech schools. However, the effectiveness of these visual aids, their impact on the quality of educational process and the influence of potential moderator variables must be evaluated before expanding this strategy to the entire country.

Considering the above, we conducted a proof-of-concept study to assess whether using visual aids positively influenced students. The basic research method was a comparative study in the form of a pedagogical experiment, which investigated the impact of dynamic visualization as a teaching tool on chemistry students (and students of other science subjects) in comparison with those taught using static representations. A different representation of the curriculum was chosen as the independent variable, and it was investigated as to whether the difference could cause a change in both the intrinsic motivation of the students as well as the level of acquired knowledge (dependent variable). Thus, this is research in science didactics using ICT technology to serve as a teaching tool, delivering teaching content and motivating students in the process. Our study was designed and conducted at middle and high schools and mainly focused on the influence of using 3D models and animations in lessons of natural sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Geology)—more specifically on students’ intrinsic motivation and on their level of knowledge. Furthermore, the roles of potential moderator variables, such as gender, level of education, instructional domains and teacher personality, are discussed in our research.

The aim of our research was to assess the effect of 3D models and animations used in natural science classes on students. The size effect was measured on Hedges’ g scale.

The following research questions were developed:

How does the use of 3D models and animations affect students’ intrinsic motivation—more specifically students’: (1) interest; (2) effort to actively participate in the educational process; (3) perceived competence; (4) understanding of the usefulness of the subject matter?

How does this effect change after the intervention time (three months) of regular usage of 3D models and animations?

What is the effect of using 3D models and animations on acquired knowledge in Chemistry and Biology?

What roles do potential moderators (instructional domains, gender, level of education and teacher personality) play in the effectiveness of 3D models and animations?

Based on the results mentioned in the previous section, we set the following hypothesis:

3D models and animations have a positive influence on the intrinsic motivation of students in comparison with static visualization.

3D models and animations have a positive effect on learning outcomes in comparison with static visualization.

The variables of gender, age, educational level, learning domain, and teacher personality significantly affect the results.

The first and second hypotheses are based on the assumption that visualization can serve as a scaffolding tool for learners (Puntambekar & Hübscher, 2005 ). These hypotheses are supported by the benefits of dynamic visualization reported in Chapters 1.1 and 1.2, i.e., dynamic visualization helps students visualize abstract objects that they struggled to imagine (Bilbokaite, 2015 ; McElhaney et al., 2015 ) and unobservable dynamic phenomena (McElhaney et al., 2015 ), preventing misconceptions (Bétrancourt et al., 2001 ; Kühl et al., 2011 ) and reducing cognitive load (Berney & Bétrancourt, 2016 ). The hypotheses are contradicted by the findings of several meta-analyses (e.g., Berney & Bétrancourt, 2016 ; Castro-Alonso et al., 2019 ; Höffler & Leutner, 2007 ; McElhaney et al., 2015 ), as summarized in more detail in Chapters 1.3 and 1.4.

Participants

In total, 565 (middle and high school) students (321 females and 238 males; 6 students omitted this information), aged 11 to 20, were included in this study and divided into two groups (242 students in the control group and 323 students in the experimental group). Most of them were Biology students (350), in addition to Chemistry (124) and Geology (70) students. All students of both groups had similar educational and socioeconomic backgrounds.

In accordance with the precepts of a proof-of-concept study, the teachers and consequently their students who participated in this research were randomly selected. The teachers involved in this research were required to teach the same subject (Chemistry, Biology or Geology) in two classes of the same grade so that each teacher taught students in both the experimental class and control class, that is, to enable a direct comparison between the two classes. Of the 50 teachers who met the criteria for participation in this study, 11 were randomly selected to participate in this research. The teachers were employed at a middle or high school and had a master’s degree. The median years of experience in teaching science was 15.5 years, and all teachers agreed to use 3D models and visualizations in some of their classes.

As explained above, all teachers taught in two classes of the same grade, an experimental class and a control class. All students of the experimental classes formed the experimental group (EG), whereas all students of the control classes formed the control group (CG).

In this article, experimental teaching is teaching in which EG students were taught using dynamic visualization aids. The teachers incorporated dynamic visualizations (three-dimensional rotating models and animations) into the lessons in the experimental class for 3 months, without changing their teaching methods. Teachers were instructed to use dynamic visualization in almost every lesson depending on the topic under discussion.

In turn, control teaching herein is classical (traditional) teaching in which the traditional way of teaching (thus far) was followed, i.e., in the same way as in the experimental group, albeit without dynamic visualization aids. The teacher could use visual aids in the control class as well (pictures and schemes, among others), but not dynamic visualizations (three-dimensional rotating models or animations).

Each teacher taught the same topics in both control and experimental classes.

Topics from general chemistry (the state of substances, the formation of chemical bonds, ions and acid–base reactions) and organic chemistry (hybridization, stereochemistry, the structure of hydrocarbons and their derivatives) were taught in chemistry. In turn, Biology introduced mainly topics from human biology (human anatomy, muscles, blood circulation, the human skeleton and digestive system), zoology (differences in systems and body structure), general biology (prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell) and botany. Lastly, in Geology, mainly external and internal geological processes were taught.

Learning environment

The application software Corinth was used as the source of 3D models and animations. This app was developed by experts from several universities and is designed to support the digitalization of the educational process at middle and high schools (Corinth s.r.o., 2020). In addition, Charles University, primarily experts in didactics of natural sciences (including authors of this article), helped to develop this application. Corinth is mainly intended for lessons of natural sciences and offers various visual aids for the educational process. The software consists of a library with 1500 visual objects—mostly 3D models, microscope images, videos, photo galleries and animations (Fig. 1 ). The following topics are covered in this application: Biology, Geology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Geometry and a few cultural and historical topics. In contrast to common textbooks, online videos or presentations, students can manipulate the object as if they were holding the actual object in their own hands. Therefore, each student can focus on specific details overlooked in 2D images. Moreover, students can turn the 3D models around, zoom in or out on the picture, highlight the objects or look inside them and pause the animations. All models also provide a short description of individual parts, as well as other important comments and notes—for example visualization in augmented reality (AR). This function uses the camera of the equipment to project the chosen 3D model or animation on real time captured backgroud. Application Corinth is known in the US thanks to the educational platform Lifeliqe, which received the 2017 Best App for Teaching and Learning award from the American Association of School Librarians (ALA, 2017).

One of the models used in experimental teaching—a 3D model of the heart (Corinth s.r.o., 2020)

Measures, knowledge test and questionnaires

Several research tools were used in the preliminary study and subsequent research.

Two types of research tools were used to determine the effect on students’ motivational orientation:

Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) (Pintrich et al., 1991 ) Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) (McAuley et al., 1989 ; Ryan, 1982 ).

The level of knowledge was determined through knowledge pretests and posttests.

At the beginning of the research, each teacher was interviewed to assess their expectations and experience. At the end of the research, each teacher was interviewed, providing feedback on the lessons taught in this project.

Standardized questionnaires: MSLQ and IMI

The MSLQ (Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire) is a tool for identifying students’ motivational strategies in the learning process, compiled by Pintrich, Smith, Garcia and McKeachie, and serves to identify and evaluate students’ motivational orientations and their use of different strategies for self-learning, i.e., in the process of self-regulation (Pintrich et al., 1991 ). Based on this questionnaire, a Pre-questionnaire was designed by selecting 16 statements from the four following scales:

intrinsic goal motivation (e.g., “in a class like this, I prefer course material that really challenges me so I can learn new things. The most satisfying thing for me in this course is trying to understand the content as thoroughly as possible.”);

self-efficacy for learning and performance (e.g., “I’m confident I can do an excellent job on the assignments and tests in this course. Considering the difficulty of this course, the teacher, and my skills, I think I will do well in this class.”);

extrinsic goal motivation (e.g., “Getting a good grade in this class is the most satisfying thing for me right now. If I can, I want to get better grades in this class than most of the other students.”);

control beliefs (e.g., “It is my own fault if I don’t learn the material in this course. If I don’t understand the course material, it is because I didn’t try hard enough.”).

This Pre-questionnaire was used in both the experimental and control classes at the beginning of the second lesson—before using the experimental teaching methods for the first time.

The IMI (Intrinsic Motivation Inventory) tool is an internal motivation questionnaire based on Ryan’s research ( 1982 ), but its final form was compiled by McAuley et al. ( 1989 ) and is used to assess the subjective experience related to the student’s internal motivation and personal self-reflection. Based on IMI, three questionnaires (Post-questionnaire 1, Post-questionnaire 2_1 and Post-questionnaire 2_2) were created, each of which consisted of 25 statements from the four following scales:

interest/enjoyment (e.g., “This activity was fun to do. I enjoyed doing this activity very much.”);

effort/importance (e.g., “I put a lot of effort into this. I tried very hard on this activity.”);

perceived competence (e.g., “I was pretty skilled at this activity. I am satisfied with my performance on this task.”);

value/usefulness (e.g., “I think this is an important activity. I believe doing this activity could be beneficial to me.”).

Both tools use a seven-item Likert’s scale for each statement (Likert, 1932 ) enabling participants to express their level of agreement with each statement from “strongly agree” = 1 to “strongly disagree” = 7 (Pintrich et al., 1991 ; Ryan, 1982 ). Both tools have been used in many earlier studies in the field of intrinsic motivation and self-regulation (Monetti, 2002 ; Niemi et al., 2003 ; Wolters, 2004 ). These tools were also used to measure intrinsic motivation for natural sciences (Šmejkal et al., 2016 ). An advantage of such research tools is their flexibility as modular aids adaptable to specific research needs. Therefore, they do not require using their full versions (Markland & Hardy, 1997 ; Pintrich et al., 1991 ; Rotgans & Schmidt, 2010 ).

Knowledge tests

The acquired knowledge was evaluated using knowledge tests. Due to the difficult process of developing these tests, this analysis was performed only at randomly selected schools and in randomly selected classes of those schools, totaling 4 tests (2 Chemistry tests and 2 Biology tests). The tests were created specifically for each school and class by a panel of experts, more specifically two experts in didactics and three teachers of the subject (Chemistry/ Biology). The tests were compiled based on the curriculum and on the goals set by the teacher, in line with the revised version of Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive goals (Airasian et al., 2001 ). In chemistry in particular, we were able to include a larger number of tasks focused on engaging of higher level thinking skills, such as conceptual and procedural knowledge in Knowledge Dimension and remembering, understanding and application in Cognitive Process Dimension. Each knowledge test was administered twice, once during the first lesson (Pretest) and then during the penultimate lesson (Posttest). The tests were identical for the experimental and control groups.

The research survey was performed in 2019. All teachers involved in the research completed a 2-day training course before the research survey to acquaint themselves with the educational aid, its content and technical aspects (e.g., how to install Corinth software on their mobile device or how to incorporate educational content in presentations and other educational materials). Throughout this study, the teachers were in contact with the researchers and with the Corinth technical support as well. All teachers were also familiarized in detail with the course of the research, all research tools and their purpose in the research, and with the way in which students were supposed to fill in the questionnaires. Students were informed about the pedagogical research, and the research questionnaires were filled in anonymously.

The pedagogical experiment proceeded as follows. Before the actual start of the experiment, an initial interview was conducted with all the teachers. The aim of the initial interview was to find out what the teachers’ expectations are in relation to the implementation of dynamic visualization, specifically the implementation of Corinth in the classroom. The interview included a total of 17 questions, which were thematically divided into four areas: teacher-oriented questions (5), student-oriented questions (4), questions oriented to the content of the Corinth application (5), questions oriented to the school’s attitude towards the implementation of the Corinth application in the classroom (3).

In the first to third lessons, both the experimental and control groups used the classical teaching style. All students filled the Pretest during the first lesson, the Pre-questionnaire at the beginning of the second lesson, and the Post-Questionnaire 1 at the end of the third lesson. From the fourth lesson onward, control group (CG) students were taught using a classical teaching style, whereas the experimental teaching style was implemented in the experimental group (EG). The EG students filled in Post-Questionnaire 2_1 after the first experimental lesson. The same questionnaire, Post-Questionnaire 2_2, was filled in by the EG students again in the last lesson, after three months of intensive learning using dynamic visualizations. In the penultimate lesson of the pedagogical experiment, the students filled in the posttests. After the pedagogical experiment, an output interview was conducted with the teachers.

Figure 2 schematically shows the time course of research and the sequence of research tools.

Diagram showing the timeline of the implementation of each research tool

Results and discussion

Data from 565 students were used in the statistical analysis. The anonymized data were processed in the statistical software IBM SPSS using appropriate statistical methods. Significance was assessed using both parametric and non-parametric tests, setting the significance level at α = 0.05. Initially, the effect size was calculated based on Hedges’ g (Hedges & Olkin, 1985 ).

Reliability of the data from the questionnaires and calculation of the study variables

In all scales, the reliability of each questionnaire mentioned above was assessed by calculating the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (Cronbach, 1951 ).

Almost all values of reliability exceeded the generally accepted minimum of 0.70 (Nunnally, 1978 ), except for the Cronbach’s alpha of “control beliefs” of the Pre-Questionnaire, which was 0.60 (see Table 1 ). This value was nevertheless close to the required level and was therefore accepted. In conclusion, the data are internally consistent and reliable. Based on this model approved by confirmation analysis (Šmejkal et al., 2016 ), new variables were calculated as an average of each item from one of the scales described in Methodology.

The influence of 3D models and animations on students’ intrinsic motivation

To assess the influence of using 3D models and animations on students (RQ1), specifically: (1) interest in the subject matter; (2) effort during the educational process; (3) perceived competence; (4) usefulness of the subject matter, two statistical tests were performed.

First, the students’ motivation in the control lesson was evaluated using data from the Pre-Questionnaire and from the Post-Questionnaire 1. Based on the data, we assessed whether the CG and EG significantly differed. Because the data did not conclusively show a normal distribution, the Mann–Whitney U test was used as the appropriate statistical test, albeit showing no significant difference between the CG and the EG. The significance level of all scales exceeded 0.05, except for “self-efficacy for learning and performance”. Although a significant difference was found in this scale, the Hedges’ g demonstrated that the difference was very small (Table 2 ). Therefore, the students of the EG and CG reached similar values of intrinsic motivation in most scales.

Second, we assessed whether the perception of control and experimental lessons significantly differed among students who had experienced both teaching styles (only students in the EG). The corresponding data were retrieved from the Post-Questionnaire 1 and Post-Questionnaire 2_1 and analyzed statistically. For this purpose, the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used because some of the data did not show a normal distribution. The results from the test highlighted significant differences between the students’ evaluation of the control and the first experimental lessons in all scales ( p -values were significantly lower than 0.05 in all scales, see Table 3 ). The values of Hedges’ g also suggested that using 3D models and animations had a strong positive effect on the students’ intrinsic motivation, particularly in their interest/enjoyment of the teaching process ( g = 1.05) and perceived value/usefulness of the subject matter ( g = 1.02), in addition to a medium positive effect on perceived competence ( g = 0.41) and a low, albeit positive influence on effort/ importance ( g = 0.27). In short, after the first experimental lesson the students’ motivation (more specifically their interest in the subject matter, their effort to understand the subject matter and their perceived teacher competence and subject matter importance) significantly differed between the control and experimental lessons, with a large weighted mean effect size ( g = 0.69). It can be concluded that 3D models and animations have a significant, positive effect on all components of intrinsic motivation, thus corroborating the findings of Berney and Bétrancourt ( 2016 ). All components of intrinsic motivation are positively influenced by the use of 3D models and animations when comparing experimental and control lessons. Overall, owing to the incorporation of 3D models and animations into the educational process, students are more interested in the subject matter and therefore willing to put more effort into learning new skills, thereby improving their learning outcomes.

To assess whether the positive effect of the application decreases with the intervention time of its incorporation into the educational process over time (3 months) (RQ2), data from the Post-Questionnaire 2_1 were compared with data from the Post-Questionnaire 2_2. Based on the character of the data, the non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for this analysis, rejecting the null hypothesis in 3 of the 4 scales because significant differences were found between the answers of the two questionnaires (see Table 4 ). The comparison of the effect size showed that the decreases in the scales were low ( g = 0.32) in perceived competence, medium ( g = 0.41) in value/usefulness and medium/large ( g = 0.60) in interest/enjoyment. However, no significant decrease was found in effort/importance over time. As in similar cases it can be expected that after starting to use 3D dynamic animations, the so-called “Novelty Effect” (Clark & Sugrue, 1988 ) may be observed. Therefore, a study was carried out to monitor changes (in motivation, knowledge) depending on the intervention time of using dynamic 3D animations, for it has been shown that the intervention time of using the aid can lead to a decrease in students attention and motivation (Tsay et al., 2018 ).

The comparison between the traditional teaching style and the experimental method after 3 months of intensive use of 3D models and animations in the lessons showed a consistently significant difference in 3 of the 4 scales (based on the Wilcoxon signed-rank test on the data from the Post-Questionnaire 1 and Post-Questionnaire 2_2, Table 5 and Fig. 3 ), with a medium/large positive effect size in the value/usefulness scale ( g = 0.64), a medium effect size in the interest/enjoyment scale ( g = 0.49) and a small but positive effect size in the effort/importance scale ( g = 0.26). Based on the results, using 3D models and animations primarily affects the students’ interest and perceived value of the subject matter. The overall positive effect was evident, even after three months of using the 3D models and animations, as shown by the weighted mean effect size ( g = 0.38). In other words, the use of 3D models and animations enhances the perceived importance of the subject matter, most likely by lowering the level of cognitive processes and abstraction necessary for understanding the concepts of phenomena studied in natural sciences (Chandler & Sweller, 1991 ), which proves a scaffolding potential of used visualization. This experimental approach to teaching prevents the decrease (and in some cases even leads to an increase) in the students’ interest in the subject matter. Furthermore, the students are also willing to put more effort into understanding a given topic. From a long-term perspective, these two trends are crucial because effort/importance reach the same values over time. Accordingly, the occasional use of 3D models and animations helps students understand the importance of the subject, thereby increasing the long-term efforts that they put into the educational process (Ryan & Deci, 2000 ). Based on the above stated findings, it can be declared that the first hypothesis was confirmed.

The bar chart illustrates the medians of the components of intrinsic motivation after the control lesson, after the first experimental lesson and after the last experimental lesson (seven-item Likert’s scale)

In comparison with the findings of previous studies, our positive effects of the use of 3D models and animations are significantly stronger than the results from the meta-analysis performed by Berney and Bétrancourt ( 2016 ) and by Castro-Alonso et al. ( 2019 ), with an average effect size of 0.23 (Hedges’ g ). In turn, the results from this study are similar to those of the meta-analysis by Höffler and Leutner ( 2007 ), who reported an average effect size of 0.37 (Cohen’s d ). The differences in results of the studies may be caused by the heterogeneity of the studies included in the analyses. Moreover, Castro-Alonso et al. ( 2019 ) also address this issue in their meta-analysis where they observed a significant heterogeneity between effect sizes. Therefore, they recommend focusing on different variables influencing these results.

The effect of using 3D models and animations on the level of acquired knowledge

The effect of using 3D models and animations on the level of acquired knowledge (RQ3) was assessed based on the results from knowledge tests.

The reliability of each knowledge test was determined by calculating the corresponding Cronbach’s alpha (see Table 6 for results). The required value of reliability of the test used for individual pedagogical diagnosis is 0.8 (Chráska, 1999 ). According to George and Mallery ( 2003 ), a Cronbach’s alpha value between 0.7 and 0.8 is also acceptable. Therefore, based on the Cronbach’s alpha values calculated in this study, the knowledge tests meet the required reliability standards.

The data were analyzed using the parametric, two-tailed t -test. The results showed no significant difference in the Pretest between the CG and EG at the beginning of the research (Pretest Chemistry: t = -0.192, df = 54, p = 0.848, M control = 4.29, SD = 2.532, M experimental = 4.44, SD = 3.292, g = 0.050; Pretest Biology: t = − 1.283, df = 54, p = 0.205, M control = 15.55; SD = 5.954; M experimental = 17.52; SD = 5.402, g = 0.342).

At the end of the research, the students were asked to complete the same knowledge tests (Posttests). The results from the two-tailed t -test conclusively demonstrate that Chemistry students in the EG performed better than their peers in the CG. The calculated difference was significant and deemed large (Posttest Chemistry: t = − 3.601, df = 58, p = 0.001, M control = 16.531, SD = 7.326, M experimental = 23.839, SD = 8.394, g = 0.916). Furthermore, in the Biology tests, students in the EG also performed better than the students in the CG (Posttest Biology: t = − 1.189, df = 50, p = 0.240, M control = 25.92, SD = 10.488, M experimental = 29.04, SD = 8.373, g = 0.322), albeit non-significantly. One of the possible explanations is the higher level of abstraction and visualization required in Chemistry. Considering the individual development of visual orientation and abstract thinking, 3D models require a lower level of visual orientation from students, and animations can support the understanding of abstract concepts. Thus, the combination of these tools improves the understanding of the subject matter and therefore the results from the evaluation phase of the educational process. The second hypothesis (H2) was as well as confirmed. The higher level of visual orientation and abstract thinking necessary for understanding Chemistry may account for the stronger impact of using visual aids in the educational process. The results from this analysis are in line with the Cognitive Load Theory (Chandler & Sweller, 1991 ), according to which visualization decreases the cognitive load and therefore lowers the total cognitive steps necessary for succeeding in a given task. The combination of this factor with the significant, positive influence on the students’ interest is one of the signs of scientific literacy, as defined by PISA (OECD, 2006), thus opening up new research opportunities.

The results from knowledge pretests and posttests are summarized in Fig. 4 . The chart shows box diagrams of the results of 4 tests (2 pretests and 2 posttests) separately for both subjects, that is, chemistry and natural sciences. The comparison of the box diagrams shows no significant differences between CG and EG in knowledge pretests (especially in chemistry), but the differences become more pronounced in knowledge posttests (again, mainly in chemistry).

Results from the knowledge tests in CG and EG

The results shown above are in line with the outcomes of the teacher interviews. The teachers reported increased interest and motivation of the students during the lessons with 3D models and animations.

“The pupils ’ interest increased, they were drawn into the lessons, everyone was paying attention, they were enjoying it. The lessons were more interesting for the them. Thank you.”

Furthermore, the teachers also reported that passive students were more easily activated.

“The pupils were curious what new things they would see.”

Moreover, the improvements in illustration of the subject matter facilitated the explanation and understanding of abstract concepts for teachers and students, respectively.

“Teaching has become more interesting and students ’ imagination and understanding of the subject matter has improved.”

Educators also mentioned that incorporating 3D models and animations is helpful, especially for students with a lower level of visual orientation or abstract thinking.

The influence of potential moderators on dynamic visualizations

The next step of our research was the analysis of the impact of the following potential moderators of the effect of using animations and 3D models on the students’ motivation: student gender, level of education, student age, instructional domain and teacher personality (RQ4). However, the obtained conclusions did not fully confirm the third hypothesis (H3).

Based on the results from the Mann–Whitney U test, student gender played no role in the evaluation of the first experimental lesson ( g = 0.10, N female = 151, N male = 104), and all intrinsic motivation components were equal between male and female students in the first experimental lesson. Similar results were found when comparing the corresponding data from the first experimental lesson with the data from the control lesson (separately for each gender). The weighted mean effect size on female students ( g = 0.69, N = 129) and the weighted mean effect size on male students ( g = 0.68, N = 91) were virtually equal (see Table 7 ). In our study, student gender is not a moderator variable of intrinsic motivation. In contrast, other studies have shown that student gender is a strong moderator variable of the effect of dynamic visualizations on learning (Castro-Alonso et al., 2019 ). The variability in the findings of these studies may be caused by the differences in individual methodologies, learning environments and male:female ratios of participants. Therefore, this potential moderator must be further explored to find more evidence about its role.

Level of education

The results from the Mann–Whitney U test showed no level-of-education effect on the results of the students ( g = 0.13, N middle school = 128, N high school = 129) in the first experimental lesson. Similar results were found when comparing the corresponding data from the first experimental lessons with the data from the control lessons (separately for middle and high school students), as shown by the weighted mean effect sizes for middle ( g = 0.67, N = 108) and high school ( g = 0.70, N = 112) students (see Table 7 ). The level of education shows no effect on the results of our study, despite the findings of Castro-Alonso et al. ( 2019 ), who reported that dynamic visualizations were more effective among middle school students than among high school students, but the difference was quite small. This finding could be caused by the non-linear variation of the results with student age.

Student age

The first experimental lesson was attended by 257 students aged 11 to 20. Data analysis highlighted a significant, quadratic relationship between student age and all components of intrinsic motivation [interest: F (255) = 5.07, p = 0.007; effort: F (255) = 9.08, p = 0.000, competence F (255) = 4.60, p = 0.011: value: F (255) = 3.34, p = 0.037, see Fig. 5 ]. Based on the relationship between these pairs of variables, a few general trends can be described, for example: younger students (11–12 years of age) perceive the incorporation of dynamic visualizations into the teaching process highly positively. However, as the students become older, they gradually evaluate the use of animations and 3D models in the educational process less favorably—the students’ evaluation is the least positive among 15-year-old students (at the age when they graduate from middle school in the Czech Republic). However, student feedback becomes more positive among high school students aged 16–18. Unfortunately, the sample of students older than 18 years was too small to enable any prediction. In any case, the power of the models is low.

Fitted line plot of the quadratic model for the relationship between student age and interest, effort, competence or value

Instructional domain

The Kruskal–Wallis test showed a significant influence of the subject Biology ( N = 154), Chemistry ( N = 64) or Geology ( N = 36) on two components of intrinsic motivation, interest/ enjoyment ( η 2 = 0.079) and value/usefulness ( η 2 = 0.066) in the first experimental lesson. Biology students showed the highest interest in the subject, whereas the lowest interest was found among Geology students. Furthermore, the same trend was observed in the scale value/ usefulness. As for the other components of intrinsic motivation (effort/ importance and perceived competence), the students in the first experimental lesson reached similar values in each school subject.

Comparing the data from the first experimental lesson with those from the control lesson (separately for each subject), we can summarize the results as follows: animations and 3D models have the strongest positive effect on Chemistry ( g = 0.74, N = 56) and Biology ( g = 0.72, N Biology = 133), whereas the positive impact on Geology is significantly weaker ( g = 0.45, N Geology = 31) than on the other subjects (see Table 7 ). Considering these results, the instructional domain is a significant moderator variable. Given the limited number of questionnaires from the experimental lessons in Geology and Chemistry, and since only selected topics were taught, the results cannot be generalized. However, based on our findings, we assume that including dynamic visualization (3D models and animations) in biological, chemical and geological disciplines is beneficial, as evidenced by other authors (Jenkinson, 2018 ; McElhaney et al., 2015 ; Mitsuhashi et al., 2009 ).

In total, 11 teachers (9 females and 2 males) participated in this study. Using the Kruskal–Wallis test, we found a significant influence of teacher personality on all components of intrinsic motivation ( η 2 is between 0.070 and 0.132) in the first experimental lesson.

The overall effect of animations and 3D models on the students’ intrinsic motivation was evaluated based on the comparison between the data from the first experimental lesson and the data from the first control lesson. The calculated values of the weighted mean effect sizes (Hedges’ g ) ranged from 0.40 to 1.21 (see Table 7 ).

The largest differences in size effect were found between individual teachers. Therefore, teacher personality is a significant moderator variable. However, due to the limited number of questionnaires from the experimental lesson, the power of the test comparing subgroups is low. The analysis of structured interviews with teachers shows that students whose teachers worry about the failure of the educational application, and question the positive effect of visualization on learning, evaluate the experimental lesson less positively than students whose teachers are more confident about the experimental teaching process. In their interviews, all teachers also mentioned the time needed to adjust their lesson plans to incorporate visual aids appropriately.

“Initially, I spent more time and put more effort into lesson preparation process because I wanted the app to fit into my teaching plan.”

This concern was justified because many teachers had to learn how to work with the application software before they could use its visual aids in the teaching process. Based on these results, teachers must have a positive attitude towards modern technology, as innovators and early adopters, according to Aldunate and Nussbaum ( 2013 ), in addition to adequate technical support at schools in case of any technical difficulties. Furthermore, teachers should be familiar not only with the teaching content of the application software but also with all technical issues. However, teacher personality was not analyzed as a moderator variable of the effectiveness of dynamic visualizations in the teaching process, and therefore should be the subject of further studies.

Study limitations

The main limitation of this study is that all data reflect only the students’ attitude towards the teaching process and their own level of understanding of the subject matter. Therefore, the students’ level of self-confidence also interferes with the results. Nevertheless, this effect is partly compensated for by structured interviews with the teachers, who also evaluated the teaching process from their perspective. The data collected from students and teachers matched. During the interviews, teachers stated that the incorporation of 3D models and animations into the teaching process had a positive impact on their students, who found the models interesting, entertaining and attractive. Therefore, the students appeared more motivated to learn and interested in the subject matter. Furthermore, the teachers expressed a deeper interest in 3D models and animations of physiological processes in plants and humans from not only a biological but also a chemical standpoint (reaction mechanisms, for example).

The effect of teacher personality on the results of the experiment was also partly compensated for by the fact that all teachers taught both groups (experimental and control classes of the same grade). Moreover, the teachers included the same topics in the teaching process in both classes, further offsetting this factor. The generalizability of the results might be limited also by the small sample size. Especially small number of teachers with different teaching styles and personality characteristics may have influenced some of the research results. In this regard, the findings of the present study may provide a good starting point for the design of such studies in a larger scale aiming toward equal sample sizes and similar education level.

The use of 3D models and animations in lessons of natural sciences is positively perceived by students at both middle and high schools. These conclusions are supported by the positive impact of dynamic visualizations on intrinsic motivation in comparison with static images of 3 subject matters (Biology, Chemistry and Geology), as shown by the weighted mean effect size (Hedges’ g = 0.38). Accordingly, the Czech educational system must respond to the specific needs of the current generation, by updating education materials in lockstep with the most recent advances in technology, and by introducing subject matter topics in a more dynamic, realistic and effective way. Our research demonstrates that appropriately incorporating visual aids simplifies abstract processes and enhances understanding. As a result, students may be more interested in learning and may even consider studying the subject matter at a higher level (for example at university). For this reason, teachers should include these visual aids in their lessons regardless of their age or beliefs. Similarly, university educators should also train future teachers in working with digital technologies (Evagorou et al., 2015 ), so that they are more confident in using them without fear of potential technical failures.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all the collaborating teachers in this research for their enthusiasm and valuable feedback. The authors also thank Dr. Carlos V. Melo for editing the manuscript.

This work was supported by University research centres of Charles University: UNCE/HUM/024 and funding project Progres Q17 .

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Teplá, M., Teplý, P. & Šmejkal, P. Influence of 3D models and animations on students in natural subjects. IJ STEM Ed 9 , 65 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-022-00382-8

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Traditional animation'

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Lee, Sung Hwa. "Automated gait generation based on traditional animation." Texas A&M University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/2405.

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Corrigan, Nicholas C. "Outta This World: Merging Classic Animation Styles with Modern Technologies and Designs." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1503320474232437.

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謝長臻. "The study and creation of anti-traditional folktale by 2D animation - Take the Thief Chi legend as an example." Thesis, 2009. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/76fukg.

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But which was our favourite science animation from last year? 🤔

That’s the question that prompted this blog!

How could we choose when there were so many stand-out animations? From eye-catching video abstracts to captivating explainer videos, we just couldn’t decide.

So welcome to the AYS Animation Awards! 🏆

This is where we roll out the red carpet and announce our personal favourite animation for each category, awarding each star their very own trophy.

So buckle up and join us as we journey through last year's best video abstracts and custom animations , uncovering the magic and artistry behind each one.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the AYS Animation Awards! 🏆

Sit back, relax and enjoy as we celebrate the best of the best.

Wonderful whiteboard

Our first category up in tonight's awards personifies the saying ‘simple is best’! Using a hand-drawn whiteboard style, a basic colour palette , and a great analogy , you can convey complex research in a simple and engaging way . We love a good whiteboard video!

So, it is my great pleasure to announce the winner of the 'Best Whiteboard Video Abstract' award.

And the award goes to...

*Drumroll* 🥁🥁🥁

Protecting our cellular treasures from SARS-CoV-2 ! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Congratulations! Come on up and collect your award.

We collaborated with Prof David Alsteen from UCLouvain to produce a captivating video abstract that focuses on the notorious pirate, COVID-19, who navigates the seas in search of treasure. Treasure that’s locked away in your cells. This animation shows how we can keep our treasures just a little bit safer.

This novel research was published in Nature Communications and provides insight into how to stop COVID-19 from unlocking the door into our cells.

This animation had us on the edge of our seats, as we took a thrilling journey through the microscopic world of cells and viruses. With stunning visuals, an infamous main character, and captivating storytelling, "Protecting our Cellular Treasures" delivers an engaging and informative video. 🎬

It was a close race, with two other video abstracts coming in just behind.

So let’s give a hand to Parental Incarceration and Surveillance in video games: Cyborg Vision . Better luck next time.

Motion Mastery

Next up we have the 2D motion graphic category. This animation style uses movement to enhance visual explanations of a scientific research paper . Combining flat 2D vector images , with motion to capture the audience's attention, this style has a greater level of creative freedom.

Please give a warm round of applause to the winner of the 'Best Motion Graphic Video Abstract’. And the winner is...

*envelope opens* ✉️

Plastic waste into building materials !

With its vibrant animation style and smooth narration, this video abstract showed us that even the most mundane things, like rubbish, can be given a new lease of life with a bit of creativity and scientific ingenuity. ♻️

From trash to treasure, researchers from Covenant University in Nigeria looked into how to recycle various types of non-biodegradable plastics into sustainable, eco-friendly building materials.

This animation showed us how plastic waste, something we thought was just clogging up our oceans and landfills, can actually be transformed into a useful building material. Read more about this incredible research in the full paper .

And to the other nominees, A Tale of Vikings and Biofilms and New polymer made from recycled waste has real magnetic appeal . Don't worry, there's always next year!

Brilliant Bronze

Moving on to our custom animations, we had so many great nominees. But unfortunately only one can win.

Whilst a video abstract communicates the key finding of a research paper, our custom animations can be used to visualise pretty much anything. From a product, to a process, to an idea or raising awareness, the options are endless!

Needless to say picking a winner for each category of our custom animations was difficult indeed. 🙈

For the award 'Best Custom Whiteboard Animation', please put your fins together for… * dramatic pause*

Flow and Fishes of the Murray River ! 🐠

You just blew us out of the water!

This stunning animation took us on a journey through the freshwater ecosystems of the Lower Murray River , featuring a grandfather and his two grandkids fishing on the river bank and a cast of beautiful Murray river cod. 🎣

The power of this animation lies in its simplicity. By using a minimalist approach and a hand-drawn aesthetic, the concepts and ideas were crystal-clear and just flowed.😉 The artistic style was quite unique, showcasing authentic, playful illustrations that were only semi-coloured in.

Throughout this animation we discover the importance of flowing water in sustaining the delicate ecosystem of the river. And how, over the years there has been an alarming decline in the flow of water, which has had a devastating impact on the aquatic life. But with some time and new measures, we can restore the river's flow and rejuvenate its once-thriving ecosystem!

So, here’s to ‘Flow and Fishes of the Murray River' for a true masterpiece that was both educational and entertaining. 👏🏼

To our runner-up International education event . You also blew us away, but just didn’t quite have the same flow.

Shining Silver

Next up, our silver tier custom animations. 🥈

These animations can be quite diverse, falling under two very distinct styles. Either a hybrid whiteboard style which honours the hand-drawn whiteboard style, while including motion elements to improve clarity of the message. Or a standard 2D motion graphic style, which has a more traditional vector graphic approach.

As you can imagine, picking a winner for this category was immensely difficult, due to the range in style.

So, without further ado, let's give a round of applause to the winner of the "Best Silver Tier Custom Animation" award.

*trophy revealed* 🏆

And the winner is… You Are What You Eat 🥦👏🏼

This cute and creative video stood out from the competition with an elegant story, bright, contrasting colours and a fun and informative approach to explaining the inner workings of the gut.

This animation features beautiful illustrations with simple yet refined backgrounds, and clever animations that simplify complex scientific concepts and delivers a powerful message in an entertaining way.

The Alyce Martin Gut Lab focuses on understanding how the gut responds to the foods we consume, and how this impacts our gut function and metabolism. This video weaves together the story of the food we eat, the importance of a healthy gut, and the impact of gut bacteria on our mental and physical health.

But, the real hero of this animation was the little bacteria! They send signals to the cells lining our gut, to produce hormones that benefit our whole body.

Congratulations to ' You Are What You Eat ' for a well-deserved win!

We were beyond impressed by so many of our Silver Tier animations we wish you could all have a trophy! To the Power of us series and Sinking Dead , we secretly love you all. ❤️

Ah…. Our gold tier custom animations! 🤩

Our gold tier animations offer a touch of elegance with detailed assets, complex backgrounds and smooth animation.

Ladies and gentlemen, esteemed colleagues, it is my great pleasure to present the award for 'Best Gold Tier Custom Animation' to...

Drumroll, please... 🥁🥁🥁

The Journey to Australian Physiotherapy: An Animated Adventure !

This animation truly captured the essence of the Australian Physiotherapy Council assessment. From the detailed graphics and dynamic animation, it was an informative journey into the Australian physiotherapy profession.

Throughout this animation we follow the journey of a physiotherapist as they navigate the assessment processes and requirements to meet the Australian physiotherapy standards and working environments.

So, let's raise a glass and give one more round of applause to the winner! 🥂

To our close runner-up Urinary Tract Infections: 3 Facts about UTIs you MUST Know , we are so happy to have you here.

Perfectly Platinum

The crème de la crème! 😚✨

Could animation be any more beautiful?! Our platinum tier pushes-the-envelope, with stunning assets, detailed backgrounds, textured effects and dynamic animation. Down to the lighting and shadows our platinum animations are practically flawless.

Unfortunately, we are unable to share our custom platinum tier animations, so no award ceremony here!

But don’t worry, we will leave you with a lasting impression of a stunning platinum level animation, our explainer video. Whilst this video has been around for a few years now, we still absolutely love everything about this video.

And fun fact: The video was modelled after our Director and his now wife. 🤫

A showcase of our best animations from 2022

Animation has become a beloved form of communication, captivating audiences of all ages with its vivid storytelling and stunning scientific illustrations .

At Animate Your Science, we've been blown away by the outstanding research being done throughout many fields across the world. And we are so fortunate to be a part of showcasing this research to the broader community through our animations.

Check out our showreel 👇 or head to our Animate Your Science YouTube to browse more amazing science videos!

Thanks for joining us as we celebrated the best of the best from 2022. It was an event full of excitement, laughter, and maybe even a few tears (I’m looking at you COVID 😢), as we highlight the amazing plethora of animations produced over the past year.

Want to see your research on the big screen too?

Bring your ideas to life with our professional animation and video abstract services.

From captivating explainer videos to eye-catching video abstracts, our team of skilled animators can help you communicate your research in a visually compelling way to make it stand out from the crowd!

Whether you're looking to showcase a new product, explain a complex scientific concept, or add some pizzazz to your lab website, don't let your research go unnoticed!

🗨️ “ The way AYS extracted the information needed for our video made the whole process very clear and very easy. Our whole team was rapt with the end result and feedback from the public has been excellent. Highly recommended!

Prof. Gretta Pecl University of Tasmania

The 8 Science Video Types Every Researcher Should Master

How to create a science animation: Behind the scenes at Animate Your Science

How do science animations enhance eLearning?

How to Design an Award-Winning Scientific Poster - Animate Your Science Online Course

In the ever-evolving field of animation and the cinematic arts, creative and technical innovation continues to expand the meaning of the art form and establish new ways to perceive, understand and express the world around us.

Animation is integral to twenty-first century organic and digital art practice. From motion pictures, to streaming, immersive and AI networks to gallery artists and cutting-edge scientific research, nearly every field is finding that animation can contribute and enhance communication and research across industry, academia, and the arts.

Unique in its ability to visually communicate complex ideas and unseen worlds, animation is ubiquitous in creative and information rich fields. How does animation penetrate these fields? What is the future of animation? How can we apply our art practice in an ethical and socially responsible manner?

The Expanded Animation Research + Practice (XA) program incorporates practice in traditional and digital media ranging from works of metaphysical expression and perceptual experience, to the exploration of dreams and narrative storytelling, visualizing science, and documentary animation. XA invites an international community of students, scholars, researchers, and artists to study, present, and explore the expanding art form across disparate media, philosophies, and ideas. Our goal is to nurture unique creative content and voices that can expand the field and innovate new research.

Partnerships include Hanson Robotics, Adobe Systems Inc. Lowell Observatory, Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, Dr Judith Lovell and Batchelor Institute Alice Springs Australia, Desert Knowledge Australia, Nvidia Deep Learning, USC Research Collaborations Fund, and IBM Time Capsule 2050.

Possible Areas of Research

voicemail: (213) 764-3332

Film Research Topics: 140+ Interesting Ideas

The film industry includes a variety of fields that you can explore in your research paper. These include producing, directing, art direction, documentary films, screenwriting, cinematography, digital cinema, and more. Throughout their academic years, students get to learn and understand an array of such aspects. However, because of this extensive range of varieties, students often need help choosing the correct film research topic for their papers.

Think about something that would most effectively showcase your critical thinking and expertise. However, aside from the interest factor, there are numerous other things that you should always pay attention to. That is why, to guide you on this daunting journey, we have compiled a comprehensive list of film topics to write about. Furthermore, to help students, we have also shared some essential tips to help you pick the right topic. So, without any further delay, let’s get started!

Table of Contents

Choosing the Best Film Topic for Writing

Do you want to find the perfect topic? Don’t worry! We’ve got your back! We have enumerated a few tips you can use for selecting the right topic that perfectly fits your requirements:

Think about your favorite films, filmmakers, or genres: You can quickly narrow down the best options when you chase after the movies or filmmakers you’re passionate about. A positive attitude would give you an advantage.
Consider picking a topic from a historical era: You can choose a specific chronological age of the film industry to analyze themes, movies, techniques, etc., used in that period. Historical eras shed light on hidden or contradictory histories that either contradict or support established narratives. Thus, choosing a film topic from a significant historical era will help you frame an out-of-the-box research paper.
Choose a film genre: Choosing your favorite film genre will help you narrow down a few research topics of your interest.
Research previous scholarly articles: Research previous academic essays and papers would help you gain a significant perspective on the topic you want to use in your research paper and how you want to take it further. You can use credible sources such as published research papers, literature, media platforms, etc.
Brainstorm the ideal topics: Armed with credible sources, you can come up with the most intriguing film research topics that pique your interest. Ensure that the topic is narrow enough and establish relevant values.
Narrow down the most relevant topics. Narrowing down your good topics would make the selection process easier for you. This way, you can eliminate unnecessary topics and can analyze and select the best topic among them. Students must do an in-depth study on various film research topics. In this case, your objective is to comprehensively analyze multiple film industry aspects. Furthermore, understand the abovementioned tips before jumping on the topic selection process.

140+ Film Research Paper Topics

Movie-making is the ideal form of art that requires the correct combination of creativity and techniques. Much effort is needed to shoot the scenes and turn the big picture into reality. It is why film studies can be both interesting as well as complex at the same time. One must combine extensive research with creativity to frame their research paper. Here are some original and exciting film research topics for your academic papers to lessen your difficulties. Let’s get started!

Most Promising Film Research Topics

The most exciting film paper topics are included in the following list. When choosing a topic for your research, make sure you choose the one that will pique your interest the most. These film research topics will help you put your most professional foot forward.

You can also look at our research topics; you might get something that can correlate with your film research. So, why give it a try?

The role of censorship in the film industry
Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies
The American film industry
The Life Struggle Of Hazel And August In The Fault In Our Stars Movie: An Individual Psychological Approach
Bringing Ideas into Life Through Animation
A detailed study of the cultural impact of war movies
Comics and Superheroes in Cinematography
Films Seen Through the Directors’ Eyes
The vitality of color in the film industry
Animals in Movies and on TV: Cruelty Behind the Scenes
Video editing: the vitality of visual effects in movies
Daily Soap is the New Film Franchise
The Psychosocial Implications of Walt Disney Movies
Books vs screenplays
Documentary movies: The Power to Change the World
Indie Movies: A Genre or an Attitude?
Analyzing the art and science of crafting screenplays
A detailed study of ethical issues in documentary filmmaking
The role of film directors in bringing stories to life
The impact of movie genres on different audiences
Personality Traits of the Best Film Directors
Digital Storytelling: Narrative Elements from Hollywood
The social, psychological, and cultural influence of movies
The psychological impact of masculinity and violence on youth
Exposure and Ethnocentrism in Foreign Cinematography
The Notion of Mainstream Film in Contemporary Cinema
The cultural phenomenon of drama in movies
Freudian practice in cinematography
A detailed study of the technical evaluation of the film industry

Read Also – 120+ Journalism Research Topics

Music and Sound Research Topics in the Film Industry

Music in films can stir emotions and develop an excellent experience for viewers long after watching any movie. Musicians, especially those working in cinema, experiment extensively with the film’s background score, sound design, and songs to give the whole thing a unique experience. Occasionally, a movie scene is elevated and supported by nothing but music. If you enjoy listening to music, you can research any of the film music research topics listed below.

Contemporary opera and classical crossover
The Works of Sam Raimi and John Carpenter: A Comparative Analysis
The evolution of the music industry
A detailed study of the essential aspects of film theory
Understanding the psychological impact of music on audiences
The art of sound design in movies
The effect of music on contemporary cinema
Musicals: from stage to screen
An introduction to music therapy: theory and practice
The evolution of film music: using a theme for storytelling
Movies Based on Broadway Shows
The influence of music on movie perceptions
Musical development and performance: the 20th century and beyond
Classical opera versus modern music on screen
Ambient sound in film and media production
Constructing music: an art beyond words
The structure of the popular music industry
Innovation and diversity in the popular music industry, 1969–1990
The impact of brand sponsorship on music festivals
A comprehensive study on the art of film music

Riveting Horror Film Research Paper to Consider

Horror is one of the most intriguing film genres for most of us. Some horror and thrilling movies linger for a long time for various viewers. These horror films can keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Here are some enticing horror film research paper topics to consider:

The psychology of horror movies
Use of mythology in horror movies
The life and works of Alfred Hitchcock: the master of suspense
Horror movies reflect cultural fears: a critical review
The Place of Horror Movies in Today’s Cinematography
The aesthetics and psychology behind horror movies
The concept of suspense behind the making of horror movies
Racial discrimination in horror movies
US vs European horror movies: a comparative analysis
Evaluation of Horror Cinematography Through the Centuries
A detailed study of the elements of fear in horror movies
Religion and mythology in horror movies
Use of special effects and cinematography in horror movies
Horror-comedy: the chaotic spectrum and cinematic synthesis
The chaotic fusion of horror and comedy: why do we love it?
The perception of youth toward horror movies
A Brief History of Gothic Horror
The dark side and comparative mythology in screenwriting
How Horror Reflects Societal Fears
The Holocaust as horror in American film

Film History Research Paper Topics

The history of cinema is so vast that using this as your research topic would open a world of opportunities for students. Using the history of cinema as your research paper topic would be an excellent way to earn bonus points from your committee members.

So, let’s look at the below-listed film history research topics.

Music and Multimedia: Theory and History
Globalization of popular culture: from Hollywood to Bollywood
Evolution of the film industry over centuries
The technological evolution of the film industry
The history of motion pictures
The depression years, as depicted by the American theatre
Filmmaking and its history in the United States
A detailed study of early cinema
A Brief History of Special Effects in Film
A detailed history of science fiction movies
The globalization of popular film industries
The Golden Era of Cinematography: A Complete Historical Guide
Charlie Chaplin and the Silent Film Era
Representation of African-Americans in American Movies
The contribution of women to the film industry
War justification in American cinema
Pioneers of the Moving Picture
Hollywood’s dominance of the movie industry
Movies Transformation From B&W to Color
History of the horror film genre

Brilliant Film Research Topics for Monster Movies

Just like horror movies, audiences also like watching monster movies. Compared to fictional characters such as vampires, werewolves, monsters, or zombies, those with human characteristics provide audiences a terrifying experience. Thus, if monster movies intrigue you, this would be a worthwhile research topic for your upcoming project. Familiarization with these research topics would give you a significant perspective on what research topic you want to pursue. Check them out below:

A detailed analysis of a monster culture in the 21st century
Why do we still love Universal movies about monsters?
The science behind bringing monsters to life through cinematic effects
The psychological appeal of movie monsters
The mythology of monster movies
A brief history of monsters in movies
In the true meaning of Frankenstein, who was the monster?
Aspects of horror in the films
The Monsters Within Gothic Monstrosities in Dracula
Exploring Humanity Through Monster Movies
Monsters in Our Midst: An Examination of Human Monstrosities in Fiction
Zombies in Film: The Evolution of the Zombie in Contemporary Cinema
Vampires in Hollywood: The Undead’s Evolution
Exploration of movie monsters through the years
The psychological impact of monster movies on children
The culture of fictional monsters in the 21st century
Zombies and vampires in the contemporary film industry
Understanding the relationship between myth and anomalies in the film industry
Discomforting Creatures: Monstrous Natures in Recent Film
The Monster Movies of Universal Studios

Read Also – 180+ Immigration Research Topics

Animation Research Paper Topic Ideas

Are you still struggling with your decision? We understand choosing the correct film research topic can be overwhelming, but you don’t have to worry anymore. We can help. In this section, we have prepared a list of the best film paper topics related to animation.

Advanced narrative illustration: an overview
Mapping the evolution and development of 3D in printing
A thematic analysis of digital illustration
Organizational creativity in heterarchies: The case of VFX production
Analyzing the new developments in the area of illustrations
The role of ethics, culture, and artistry in scientific illustration
Analyzing Hidden Elements in Disney Movies and Effects on Children
Exploring the progress in animation films in the past ten years
Exploring the effects of Kinematics methods on animation
Animation Character Detection Algorithm Based on Clustering and Cascaded SSD
History of the Japanese Animation Industry and New Technology
Scotland’s History of Animation: An Exploratory Account of the Key Figures and Influential Events
The history and developments of 2D animation
Analysis Of Finding Nemo Through Mythological, Theological, And Ideological Criticisms
Bringing a story to life: For programmers, animators, VFX artists, and interactive designers
Design and Realization of Animation Composition and Tone Space Conversion Algorithm
Scotland’s History of Animation
Anime: A Style of Japanese Film and Television
A comparative analysis between Kinematics and Dynamic Animation
Animated vs Static graphics in a video game
Analyzing the use of texting art in animated games.
The idea of Digital illustration and its impact on an appealing visual element
An Analysis of Animation in the Movies Frozen and Zootopia
Aesthetics and design in the three-dimensional animation process
The uses and abuses of cartoon style in animation

Read Also – A List of 100+ Research Topics in Education

Movies Research Paper Topics About Production Houses

If you are still looking for the best film topics to write about, we suggest you look at the topics below about production houses. This list includes essential research topics about film production houses and their roles in the film industry. Let’s have a look!

The risk environment of filmmaking: Warner Bros in the inter-war years
Stardom and the profitability of filmmaking: Warner Bros. in the 1930s
A Comparison in the Movie Studios Sector
Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group
Disney’s Marvel acquisition: a strategic financial analysis
A research study on the 20th Century Studios
Marvel, DC, and sport: Investigating rivalry in the sport and comic settings
Walt Disney Animation Studios: a detailed analysis
Historical and Mythical Time in the Marvel and DC Series
Hollywood’s attempt to appropriate television: The case of Paramount Pictures
TSG Entertainment Production Company Box Office History
A measurement study of Netflix, Hulu, and a tale of three CDNs
The Powerful Influence of Netflix and Amazon Studios
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures: a research analysis
Can Netflix Take Over Hollywood

Final Words

Film studies generally examine the film industry’s historical, critical, and theoretical aspects. You can easily select the perfect research topic that matches your interests from the above-provided lists of film research topics. However, there’s still an option if you need help with these. You can contact our writing services and get quick assistance. At Edumagnate.com , we provide brilliant research papers and research proposal writing services to students from all domains. You can contact us and share your requirements to get a high-quality, plagiarism-free research paper quickly.

By Alex Brown

I'm an ambitious, seasoned, and versatile author. I am experienced in proposing, outlining, and writing engaging assignments. Developing contagious academic work is always my top priority. I have a keen eye for detail and diligence in producing exceptional academic writing work. I work hard daily to help students with their assignments and projects. Experimenting with creative writing styles while maintaining a solid and informative voice is what I enjoy the most.

30 Creative and Unique CSS Animation Examples to Inspire Your Own

Published: April 02, 2024

Whether it’s making a button more clickable, adding some flair to a landing page, or entertaining a visitor while a page loads, CSS animations are an effective way to delight viewers on your website.

person viewing css animation examples on a laptop

In this post, we’ll check out 30 of my favorite successful uses of CSS animation. As someone who spends a lot of time studying websites and how they capture visitors’ attention, I know a good animation when I see one, and I’m stoked to share them with you.

But first, a brief review of the topic at hand ...

How do CSS animations work?

CSS animation is a feature of CSS that allows you to animate a change in one or more style properties of an element . Pure CSS animations require no additional code (e.g. JavaScript) or media (e.g. GIFs) — everything is done with HTML and CSS.

To make a simple CSS animation, you need three things: an HTML element to animate, a CSS rule that binds the animation to this element, and a group of keyframes that defines the styles at the start and end of the animation. You can also add declarations to further customize your animation, like speed and delay .

To demonstrate, here’s a simple example of a CSS animation:

See the Pen CSS Animation Example by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

In this CSS keyframes animation, div is the element we’re animating. Looking at the CSS, we see that the animation declarations are associated with the div selector. The most important declaration here is animation-name , which binds the keyframe my-animation to our div element. Below this are several additional declarations that affect the timing and behavior of the animation.

The animation itself is created with a keyframe, indicated by the @keyframes rule. A keyframe defines the animation’s starting state (inside from{ } ) and its end state (inside to{ } ). The keyframe my-animation changes three style properties of our div: background-color , width , and top . When these three properties are animated at once, it produces a coherent animation.

In our example, we only have one keyframe. Documents with multiple types of animations may have multiple keyframes, each bound to a different element.

CSS Keyframe Animation Examples

Below, we’ve compiled examples ranging from basic interaction effects to works of art (at least according to me). These examples are from CodePen , a website for creating and sharing code snippets in HTML and CSS. If you’re in need of inspiration, CodePen is a great place to help get the creative juices flowing.

We’ll start with examples that use the traditional keyframes approach described in the section above. These examples are, generally, easier to replicate in your own projects.

1. Simple Loading Spinners

CSS animations can be used to create effects that we’re all familiar with — these spinning load icons are one such example. Their meaning is almost universally understood, and they’re light on code as well. This particular example also shows how to achieve a similar effect with a scalable vector graphic .

See the Pen Simple HTML & SVG Loading Spinners by Stephen Delaney ( @sdelaney ) on CodePen .

View the code here .

2. Simple CSS Loaders

Here are some more loading animations to try out, presented in a handy grid. Each one is smooth and elegant, so you can pick out the ones that most appeal to you.

See the Pen Simple CSS loaders by Jenning ( @jenning ) on CodePen .

3. Rotating Changing Shapes

Here’s a good example to dissect for practice — notice how each of the transitions applies at different keyframes throughout the animation:

See the Pen CSS Animate by Matthew Dordal ( @mdd ) on CodePen .

4. Scrolling Text Animation

Another cool way to enhance your text, this code snippet applies a slot-machine-like effect that rotates words in and out of view. This is a common technique on websites that need to convey the versatility of their creations. Is your product efficient, user-friendly, and sustainable? Plug those words into an animation like this one.

See the Pen Text animation by Yoann ( @yoannhel ) on CodePen .

5. Animated Submit Button

I always enjoy the small, unexpected delight moments that savvy designers like to sprinkle throughout their web pages. This submit button is a clean, pleasing way to provide visual feedback indicating that an action has been completed, such as a form being submitted.

See the Pen Submit Button pure css animation by Dead Pixel ( @dead_pixel ) on CodePen .

6. Hot Coffee

The snippet below shows how simple, stripped-back animations can go a long way. In this case, applying CSS animation to translation, scale, and opacity fade adds life to an otherwise basic drawing.

See the Pen Hot Coffee by Zane Wesley ( @zanewesley ) on CodePen .

7. Coffee Machine

We love our coffee on the HubSpot Blog, so here’s another. In this case, the animation doesn’t steal focus. Rather, it enhances the design around it to make the whole element feel more immersive. It’s something users will just barely notice, but appreciate regardless.

50 Free Coding Templates

Free code snippet templates for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript -- Plus access to GitHub.

Navigation Menus & Breadcrumbs Templates
Button Transition Templates
CSS Effects Templates

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

8. Button Wiggle

Need to draw a user to a CTA? In lieu of a color flash or a modal, consider adding a quirky wiggle effect to a button like this one. I like that this effect can capture attention without seeming invasive or significantly disrupting the visitor’s flow. Instead, it’s playful and friendly.

See the Pen Save button wiggle by Donovan Hutchinson ( @donovanh ) on CodePen .

I don’t recommend placing this one on your site for risk of copyright infringement, but it’s fun to watch.

See the Pen Pacman by Riccardo ( @Ferie ) on CodePen .

10. Three Dots Loading

Another instance of CSS animation being used to create a loading effect that many of us are familiar with. A simple scale change is all that’s needed to say, “Just a moment, please.”

See the Pen CSS Loader with dots by Aliaksei Peterson ( @petersonby ) on CodePen .

11. Never-ending Box

Evoking Sisyphus, this animation shows a box continuously trying to climb a slope, only to inevitably fall back down. I could see this being used as a loading animation — imagine the animation ending with the box toppling over the other side. So satisfying!

See the Pen Never-ending box by Pawel ( @pawelqcm ) on CodePen .

12. Color Fan

I think this next example works especially well for design-centric business websites — try animating your color palettes to create a fan-out effect, and change things up from basic colored squares.

See the Pen Color Palette with Pure CSS Animation by Nitish Khagwal ( @nitishkmrk ) on CodePen .

13. Ants On a Sugar Cube

If you’re not a fan of bugs, I won’t be offended if you skip this one. It’s a clever implementation of animation on the left , bottom , and transform properties. All the keyframes are doing is changing the location of each “ant” SVG element.

See the Pen Ants on Sugar CSS Animation by Stephen Fairbanks ( @thathurtabit ) on CodePen .

14. 3D Toggle Switch

The toggle switch is a staple of UI design. This example puts a three-dimensional spin on the concept, complete with a smooth animation for the toggling state. Here, the developer has modified the CSS checkbox input element into something more interesting.

See the Pen Toggle Switch with a Hole Handle by Jon Kantner ( @jkantner ) on CodePen .

15. Submarine

CSS works well for flat, colorful illustrations and animations. The code below combines several effects to draw a — quite frankly — adorable submarine. The only change I would suggest is making it yellow to honor the Beatles.

See the Pen Submarine with CSS by Alberto Jerez ( @ajerez ) on CodePen .

16. Animated Title Text on Hover

Olivia Ng’s “Hover Effect for Headers” example explores several ways to add dynamism to the title text. It shows how just a couple of keyframes can elevate your headings.

See the Pen Hover Effect for Headers by Olivia Ng ( @oliviale ) on CodePen .

17. Minimal Cat

I like that this example makes clever use of negative space combined with some well-timed CSS animations. It’s a simple design that conveys a lot of personality with the CSS transform property alone.

See the Pen Pure CSS cat animation by Johan Mouchet ( @johanmouchet ) on CodePen .

18. Growing/Shrinking Bars

CSS animations can help add flair to data visualizations. This example shows how colors and speed can create different feels for dynamic bar graphs — CSS animations let you change the speed and number of repetitions in your animations.

See the Pen Logo playtime by Dan Peddle ( @dazld ) on CodePen .

19. Twisting Squares

Here’s a deceptively simple example that creates a trippy effect. The same rotation effect is applied to all the square divs on the page. Their differences in size cause them to rotate at different speeds, creating the illusion.

See the Pen Twisty by Mike King ( @micjamking ) on CodePen .

20. Laser Tag

I’ll say that this is one of the more complex examples in this list. However, it makes for a unique and captivating loading display to hold attention for a brief period.

See the Pen The Glowing Loader - Pure CSS Animation by Maxime Rossignol ( @Maxoor ) on CodePen .

21. Candles

I love this brilliant example of how CSS animations can tell a story. You’ll likely need a lot of practice to pull something like this off, but it’s sure to stick out to those visiting your site for the first time.

See the Pen Funny Candle Pure CSS Animation by Kevin David ( @kevin_David_k ) on CodePen .

22. Speedy Truck

Chris Johnson’s “Speedy Truck” makes smart use of parallax to simulate a truck’s drive through a natural setting. While minimal in appearance, this pen packs in details with several creative uses of the transform property — there’s even a little bump in the road.

See the Pen Speedy truck by Tippy Fodder ( @tippyfodder ) on CodePen .

23. Snow Globe

The coziest example we could find, this snow globe animation, adds an ambiance to your page that you won’t get with a still image. Notice how the snow animates only within the confines of the “glass” globe.

See the Pen Christmas Snow Globe Animation by Coding Artist ( @Coding-Artist ) on CodePen .

Other CSS Animation Examples

Here are some more examples that don’t use keyframes (or use them very minimally) for animations. Instead, they leverage other more complex techniques to achieve the effect.

24. Floating Image

The “floating” effect is a subtle, simple, and effective use of animation. In this case, it’s used to display an icon with excellent results.

See the Pen Floating Animation - CSS by Mario Duarte ( @MarioDesigns ) on CodePen .

25. CSS Mouse Hover Transition Effect

This animation shows a simple but effective text highlight effect triggered by a mouseover action . I think it’s a great way to add some extra style to your page links.

See the Pen CSS mouse-out transition effect by Adam Argyle ( @argyleink ) on CodePen .

26. Hover-Responsive Logo

Check out the logo in the bottom right corner of the pen below — this animation applies a subtle animation on mouse-hover. It’s another visual cue for users that makes navigating your website a tad more enjoyable.

See the Pen Hover-Responsive Logo by Yorick Shan ( @yorickshan ) on CodePen .

27. Rotating Text

Okay, this example is cheating a bit since it uses JavaScript. However, imagine this on a homepage. Its transitions are incredibly smooth, and you have the option to customize which effects you use to transition between different words.

See the Pen Rotating Text by alphardex ( @alphardex ) on CodePen .

28. Opening Envelope

One of my favorite examples, this elegant animation pays close attention to detail. From the downward movement as the envelope opens, to the details on the paper, to the shadow underneath, it’s clear how small touches add up to one smooth, coherent animation. This would make a great button or scroll animation.

See the Pen Animated CSS Mail Button by Jake Giles-Phillips ( @jakegilesphillips ) on CodePen .

29. File Drawers

To liven up your menus, consider something like the pure CSS file drawers below. Its cabinets open slightly on mouse hover, helping your primary navigation stand out from others.

See the Pen Pure CSS Drawers by Jhey ( @jh3y ) on CodePen .

30. Astronaut

Here’s another smart use of the floating effect, paired with a friendly out-of-this-world illustration. Yet another instance of a subtle CSS animation effect to enhance the feel of a page element.

See the Pen Pure Css Astronaut Animated by Coding Artist ( @Coding-Artist ) on CodePen .

One Final Example

As we’ve seen, just a touch of CSS animation can go a very long way in crafting a more immersive experience for your visitors. The best animations serve your content and experience without distracting or appearing gimmicky — all of the above examples strike this balance remarkably well.

However, we couldn’t resist adding one last example that blew us away. This “Watch Tower” example is probably beyond the scope of this piece in its complexity, but it’s also a testament to what CSS and HTML alone can accomplish.

See the Pen Watch Tower Pure CSS Animation by Travis Doughty ( @tdoughty ) on CodePen .

For more of these awesome vignettes like this one, check out the creator’s CodePen profile and start thinking up ideas for yourself.

Don't forget to share this post!

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When the Earth, Moon, and Sun line up in space, we can see an eclipse. NASA studies eclipses from the ground, in our atmosphere, and in space, influencing solar, planetary, and Earth science.

A purple Moon with a bright white, wispy solar atmosphere billowing out around it. It fills the red and purple background.

Get ready for the 2024 total solar eclipse!

Against a black background, the Sun shines out around a black circle. The Sun appears as wispy white streams of light.

2024 Total Solar Eclipse

On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross North America, passing over Mexico, the United States, and Canada.

How the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Is Different than the 2017 Eclipse

On April 8, the Moon’s shadow will sweep across the United States, as millions will view a total solar eclipse.…

A map of North America. Sweeping from Oregon to South Carolina is a thin, gray path labeled 2017. Sweeping from Mazatlan, Mexico, through Texas, across the U.S., and entering Canada through Maine is a wider gray path labeled 2024.

About Eclipses

An eclipse is an awe-inspiring celestial event that drastically changes the appearance of the two biggest objects we see in our sky: our Sun and Moon. On Earth, people can experience solar and lunar eclipses when Earth, the Moon, and the Sun line up. Safety is the number one priority when viewing a solar eclipse. Be sure to follow these safety guidelines when viewing a solar eclipse .

Quick Facts

Parts of the U.S. will experience a total eclipse in April 2024.

Two eclipse paths intersecting to make an "X" across the globe.

After the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, the next total solar eclipse that can be seen from the contiguous United States will be on Aug. 23, 2044.

A bright flash of white appears at the top of a black circle, showing a solar eclipse. It appears like the diamond on top of a ring.

We can't normally see the corona – the Sun's outer atmosphere – because Sun's surface below it is so much brighter. But during a total solar eclipse, the corona emerges, offering unique opportunities to study it.

sun blocked by moon in total eclipse, with just corona visible

An eclipse season is one of only two periods during each year when the Sun, the Moon and Earth are aligned, allowing eclipses to occur. Each season lasts about 35 days and repeats just short of six months later!

Reflected on a calendar are crescents of the Sun during a solar eclipse.

Citizen Science
Eclipse Types

Eye Safety During an Eclipse

Observing our star, the Sun, can be safe and inspirational.

Except for a specific and brief period of time during a total solar eclipse, you must never look directly at the Sun without proper eye protection, such as safe solar viewing glasses (eclipse glasses). Eclipse glasses are NOT the same as regular sunglasses; regular sunglasses are not safe for viewing the Sun. During a total solar eclipse, you must wear your eclipse glasses (or use other solar filters) to view the Sun directly during the partial eclipse phase. You can only take your glasses off during the short time when the Moon completely obscures the Sun – known as the period of totality. If you don’t have eclipse glasses, you can use an indirect viewing method , such as a pinhole projector, which projects an image of the Sun onto a nearby surface. It is safe to look at the Moon with unprotected eyes or through a telescope during all types and during all stages of a lunar eclipse.

A family wearing eclipse glasses watches the total solar eclipse

Citizen Science Projects

Observing a solar eclipse is one of many ways to get in on the fun of doing science.

You can get involved with NASA science by participating in a number of NASA-funded citizen science projects. Citizen science projects are collaborations between scientists and interested members of the public. Through these collaborations, volunteers (known as citizen scientists) have helped make thousands of important scientific discoveries.

Know your eclipses!

There are four types of solar eclipses: Total, partial, hybrid, and annular.

The type of eclipse that people get to see depends on how the Moon aligns with Earth and the Sun, and how far away the Moon is from Earth. There are three types of lunar eclipses: total, partial, and penumbral. At least two partial lunar eclipses happen every year, but total lunar eclipses are rare. Unlike a solar eclipse, it is always safe to look at a lunar eclipse with the naked eye.

From left to right, this image shows a total solar eclipse, annular solar eclipse, and partial solar eclipse. A hybrid eclipse can appear as either a total or annular eclipse (the left and middle images) depending on the viewer's location.

Science of Eclipses

Eclipses aren’t just beautiful – they’re great for science.

In addition to inspiring artists and musicians, eclipses have driven numerous scientific discoveries. For over a century, solar eclipses helped scientists decipher the Sun’s structure and explosive events, find evidence for the theory of general relativity, discover a new element, and much more. NASA scientists still study eclipses to make new discoveries about the Sun, Earth, and our space environment. Total solar eclipses are particularly important because they allow scientists to see a part of the Sun’s atmosphere – known as the corona – which is too faint to see except when the bright light of the Sun’s surface is blocked.

History of the Eclipse

Eclipses have fascinated humans from the beginning.

Throughout time, humans have had different interpretations of and reactions to these striking celestial events. In fact, historical records of eclipses from scribes in Anyang, China, helped astronomers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to determine how Earth’s rotation has changed over time. Determining exactly when the eclipse was seen and where the Moon's shadow fell on Earth helped the scientists calculate the rate of Earth's spin. The eclipses they used for this research were in 1226 B.C.E., 1198 B.C.E., 1172 B.C.E., 1163 B.C.E., and 1161 B.C.E.

This composite image shows the progression of a partial solar eclipse over Ross Lake, in Northern Cascades National Park, Washington, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2017.

Eclipse Stories

Sun Series: Minisode! Countdown to Total Solar Eclipse 2024

Astronauts Protect Their Eyes with Eclipse Glasses

Eclipse Across North America 2024

Harnessing the 2024 Eclipse for Ionospheric Discovery with HamSCI

The Sun, seen in red with bright orange area, partially covered by black circle coming from the top left – the Moon.

Scientists Pursue the Total Solar Eclipse with NASA Jet Planes

NASA Partnerships Bring 2024 Total Solar Eclipse to Everyone

Artist's concept shows the red-dwarf star, TRAPPIST-1, at the upper left, with two large dots on the face of the disk representing transiting planets; five more planets are shown at varying positions descending toward the lower right as they orbit the star. Artist's concept shows the TRAPPIST-1 planets as they might be seen from Earth using an extremely powerful – and fictional – telescope. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

That Starry Night Sky? It’s Full of Eclipses

A model showing the evolution of the solar corona prediction for April 8, 2024. It shows the solar corona as white light with defined structure encircling a black disk. The structured light ripples and changes throughout the animation, which represents coronal predictions.

Scientists Use NASA Data to Predict Solar Corona Before Eclipse

Eclipses Gallery

Discover More Topics From NASA

Tendrils of hot plasma stream from the Sun.

2024 Total Eclipse

Skywatching

A man looks through a telescope at twilight.

IMAGES

💐 Animation research paper topics. Stop motion animation Research Paper
53 Best Animation research topics
Animation Dissertation Ideas and Topics with examples
Animation Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Your Academic Research
When to Use Animation in Your Research Website
Animation Project Research Book on Behance

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Animate your research with Sci Ani
What is research?
RESEARCH Animation (EN)
Observation
What is social science?
What is Operation Research?

COMMENTS

53 Best Animation research topics
Doctoral: £60.95. You will get the topics first and then the mini proposal which includes: An explanation why we choose this topic. 2-3 research questions. Key literature resources identification. Suitable methodology including raw sample size and data collection method.
Psychological Impact and Influence of Animation on Viewer's Visual
The criteria selection helps to limit the broad topic to direct relevance for the research questions. The language is selected as English as it is the primary publication language for scientific articles. ... the research terms used were 'animation' OR 'impact of animation' 'Animation' AND 'psychology' OR 'animation' AND 'audience ...
Animation and research
Look for "animation: an interdisciplinary journal" in your academic library! Animation is increasingly pervasive and implemented in many ways in many disciplines. Animation: an interdisciplinary journal provides the first cohesive, international peer-reviewed publishing platform for animation that unites contributions from a wide range of research agendas and creative practice.
animation industry Latest Research Papers
Find the latest published documents for animation industry, Related hot topics, top authors, the most cited documents, and related journals. ... Thus, how to carry out sustainable development has become an important research topic for the Chinese animation industry. This study probed into the challenges and problems faced by China′s animation ...
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Explore the latest full-text research PDFs, articles, conference papers, preprints and more on 3D-ANIMATION. Find methods information, sources, references or conduct a literature review on 3D ...
Animation: Sage Journals
Animation is increasingly pervasive and implemented in many ways in many disciplines. Animation: an interdisciplinary journal provides the first cohesive, international peer-reviewed publishing platform for animation that unites contributions from a wide range of research agendas and creative practice. View full journal description
Stop-motion storytelling: Exploring methods for animating the worlds of
In this paper, we trace how participatory animation offers opportunities for enlivening qualitative research. We discuss and explain how we facilitated a series of workshops taking participants through producing their own stop-motion animation film, the value creating-together brought about, and how watching these films as a group produced novel conversations.
Reviewing and Updating the 12 Principles of Animation
Thomas P Thesen has worked for animation companies such as Pixar, DreamWorks Animation and Sprite Animation Studios as computer-animator and visual development artist (Ratatouille, Shrek 2, Bee Movie and others). He has also done illustration for print media for many publications and projects. For the last 10 years, he has been teaching animation at Nanyang Technological University, Sheffield ...
Broaden your scientific audience with video animation
Broaden your scientific audience with video animation. Academic writing can go only so far. Use video and animations in plain language to explain why your research matters, says Alvina Lai. Alvina ...
Animation Research Guide: Key Resources
Dates Covered: 1984-Present. Provides indexing, abstracts, and some full-text access to academic journals, professional publications, and other reference sources covering the research and development spectrum of the computing and applied sciences disciplines. A collection of full-text and bibliographic coverage from scholarly and popular ...
(Pdf) Transformative Effects of Animation, Virtual Reality, and
This research project delves into the importance of animation This paper attempts to understand the links between culture and animation, how animation has taken place during (covid-19), how ...
Film Studies Research Guide: Research Topics
This section of the Film Studies Research Guide provides assistance in many of the particular subjects in Film Studies. The pages discuss particular issues and list key resources on those topics. You can get to the topical pages from the main navigation bar above or from the links below. The links are listed alphabetically. Animation
Animation Research Guide: Selected Journals
Covers topics that are engaged with the practice, process and production of animation. Animation Studies is the Society for Animation Studies' peer-reviewed online journal. It publishes the society's conference proceedings and is open to submissions from SAS members. The flagship publication of the IEEE Computer Society.
Animation Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Your Academic Research
Topic With Mini-Proposal (Paid Service) Undergraduate: £30 (250 Words) Master: £45 (400 Words) Doctoral: £70 (600 Words) Along with a topic, you will also get; An explanation why we choose this topic. 2-3 research questions. Key literature resources identification. Suitable methodology with identification of raw sample size, and data ...
Influence of 3D models and animations on students in ...
Studies comparing the effect of dynamic and static visualization suggest a predominantly positive effect of dynamic visualization. However, the results of individual comparisons are highly heterogeneous. In this study, we assess whether dynamic visualization (3D models and animations) used in the experimental group has a stronger positive influence on the intrinsic motivation and learning ...
Animation News, Research and Analysis
The Boy and the Heron: Hayao Miyazaki's latest Studio Ghibli film is a skilled remix of his greatest hits. Rayna Denison, University of Bristol. The 82-year-old Japanese director brings over ...
Film Studies Research Guide: Animation
A guide to conducting research in Film Studies at Yale University, including key resources and crucial search strategies. News, history and "how-to's." The development of early American animation is represented by this collection of 21 animated films and 2 fragments, spanning the years 1900 to 1921. The films include clay, puppet, and cut-out ...
Researching Animation: Going through Layers to Find New Meanings
Abstract. A short course on how good research could contribute towards the creative process in animation production. Using an actual case study of one of projects during the graduate study, it ...
Dissertations / Theses: 'Traditional animation'
Video (online) Consult the top 26 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Traditional animation.'. Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA ...
Best science animations of 2022
Flow and Fishes of the Murray River. Throughout this animation we discover the importance of flowing water in sustaining the delicate ecosystem of the river. And how, over the years there has been an alarming decline in the flow of water, which has had a devastating impact on the aquatic life. But with some time and new measures, we can restore ...
Research
The Expanded Animation Research + Practice (XA) program incorporates practice in traditional and digital media ranging from works of metaphysical expression and perceptual experience, to the exploration of dreams and narrative storytelling, visualizing science, and documentary animation.XA invites an international community of students, scholars, researchers, and artists to study, present, and ...
Film Research Topics: 140+ Interesting Ideas
Read Also -180+ Immigration Research Topics. Animation Research Paper Topic Ideas. Are you still struggling with your decision? We understand choosing the correct film research topic can be overwhelming, but you don't have to worry anymore. We can help. In this section, we have prepared a list of the best film paper topics related to animation.
30 Creative and Unique CSS Animation Examples to Inspire Your Own
28. Opening Envelope. One of my favorite examples, this elegant animation pays close attention to detail. From the downward movement as the envelope opens, to the details on the paper, to the shadow underneath, it's clear how small touches add up to one smooth, coherent animation.
Eclipses
About Eclipses. An eclipse is an awe-inspiring celestial event that drastically changes the appearance of the two biggest objects we see in our sky: our Sun and Moon. On Earth, people can experience solar and lunar eclipses when Earth, the Moon, and the Sun line up. Safety is the number one priority when viewing a solar eclipse.