Ask HN: How to author animation like today's Google Doodle?

6 points by portman 15y ago ↗ HN

Today's (2011-05-11) Google Doodle is an elegant animation in honor of Martha Graham.

The source of the animation is some JavaScript and a large .png sprite: http://www.google.com/logos/2011/graham11-hp-sprite.png

What kinds of tools are used to create animations like this?

(I assume this was made by a tool or framework, but I guess there's always a chance that this was lovingly constructed by hand.)

4 comments

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dailygrind 15y ago ↗

it might be some swfsheet (http://www.bit-101.com/blog/?p=2948) type of software. Having that sprite (what a design!!!), you can animate it with jquery easily...

maxbrown 15y ago ↗

My guess is that this was done mostly by hand during Google 20% time. That said, I know there are a number of javascript/jQuery animation frameworks (http://bit.ly/FpVAM)

fractallyte 15y ago ↗

One could use animation software like TVPaint (http://www.tvpaint.com/v2/content/article/home/), or any number of other high-end packages.

Then there's the legendary, zephr-like LivingCels, a revolutionary vector animation package that was briefly available as a free beta download - then Microsoft bought the company (Creature House) and it vanished forever...

briansage 15y ago ↗

Here's code to re-animate the exact dancing Google doodle: http://www.acumenholdings.com/blog/?p=64

However, I've been looking for software to do the same thing, and I haven't seen anything that takes all the pain out of mapping all the image coordinates.