Exceptional Technical Animations
Exceptional Technical Animations
Technical animations aid in comprehension and simplify understanding
Jacob O’Neal is my favorite technical animator. I’ve been admiring his work from afar for years. I could spend hours watching the fantastic technical animations he shares on his YouTube channel, Animagraphs (the name of his company).
Technical animations are dynamic visual representations that explain complex and complicated processes, human anatomy, wild animals, sporting equipment, historical timelines, machinery, computer hardware, musical instruments, automobiles, dance moves, systems, technologies, concepts, and more.
They utilize movement (and sometimes sound) to demonstrate how something works, unfolds, or is structured, often step-by-step.
Technical animations help people quickly get what a product is all about
Some of the most impressive examples are 3D animations. Unlike traditional 2D animations, 3D animations provide a more realistic and spatially accurate depiction.
Animations are significantly better than static images in helping consumers understand the nuances of how things work, say researchers studying when animations and static pictures are most suitable for learning. Unlike static pictures that illustrate where things are, animations show how things move and change in a place over time.
Producing technical animations can be challenging, time-consuming, and costly for tech docs shops to produce if they lack staff experienced in creating these information products. Hiring the services of a consultant like O’Neal is a strategy many organizations use to improve their capabilities.
Where might we use technical animations?
Technical animations are common in engineering, medical science, manufacturing, transportation, education, and healthcare. Training materials, product demonstrations, help content, virtual simulations, and marketing information commonly feature these animations.
Unlike static illustrations, technical animations offer a time-based perspective, showing how components interact with each other over time or how a process evolves. They are superior to static graphics in representing dynamic content, particularly useful when subject matter changes over time, and especially promising in communicating spatial configurations.
Technical animations have been found to capture interest (compared to static images or a series of static images) even in a world full of countless distractions.
I use O’Neal’s visually stunning technical animations to teach technical communication teams how they can improve their online content. Adding high-quality animations to your knowledge portal (a unified product information and support site) provides your visitors with an engaging, sophisticated, and immersive experience while differentiating your brand.
Enhancing engagement with interactive animations
Increasingly, animators produce interactive technical animations that allow consumers to manipulate the product virtually. Providing access to interactive technical animations helps visitors quickly understand complicated systems and makes that information accessible to people who may prefer to learn by viewing. Interactive technical animations can be used to build online quizzes and other information products.
The Animation Processing Model
The Animation Processing Model (APM) from Lowe and Boucheix is a set of five essential things to consider when determining whether and how to incorporate animation.
People learn more effectively from animations when:
There's a clear definition of the instructional purpose of the animation
The right balance is struck between spatial and temporal information
The visual features match the mental demands or cognitive requirements
There is proper visual perception and mental understanding support
The opportunities for interaction match the goals and expertise of the learner
Lowe and Boucheix's model shows the ability of animations to aid learning while also pointing out the complexity of creating effective animations.
We must create animations thoughtfully, considering the content learners need to understand, the characteristics and needs of those learners, and the learning environment (context). The AMP becomes especially relevant in instructional design and technical documentation, where complex scientific and technical concepts require explanation. The AMP approach guides animation creation, helping us understand how they function and why they can be valuable learning tools.
A few of my favorite technical animation examples
History lesson: In 1877, Emil Reynaud introduced traditional animation to the world by showing an apparatus that demonstrated moving drawings.