An animation stand is a device assembled for the filming of any kind of animation that is placed on a flat surface, including cel animation, graphic animation

Graphic animation

Graphic animation is a variation of stop motion consisting of the animation of photographs and other non-drawn flat visual graphic material, such as newspaper and magazine clippings.In its simpliest form,...

, clay animation

Clay animation

Clay animation or claymation is one of many forms of stop motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually Plasticine clay....

, and silhouette animation

Silhouette animation

Silhouette animation is animation in which the characters are only visible as black silhouettes. This is usually accomplished by backlighting articulated cardboard cut-outs, though other methods exist...

.

Traditionally, the flat surface that the animation rests on is some kind of table that the animator

Animator

An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...

 sits at. Pegs made specifically for animation are embedded into the table, in at least two slots allowing the pegs to slide from side to side, permitting horizontal movement of images, but can also be easily fixed into position for the accurate positioning ("registration") of the artwork.

Opposite the animator is a series of supporting arms and supports, on top of which is mounted a film or video camera, pointing down toward the artwork, which films the artwork, frame-by-frame, as it is slowly moved and changed by the operator.

The vertical positioning of the animation camera

Animation camera

An animation camera, a type of rostrum camera, is a movie camera specially adapted for frame-by-frame shooting animation or stop motion. It consists of a camera body with lens and film magazines, a stand that allows the camera to be raised and lowered, and a table, often with both top and...

, always shooting down, is the main component that defines an animation stand, as opposed to a stop motion

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

 set-up, or other equipment arrangements for animation production.

Animation stands can be home made, from metal or wood, such as that owned by Los Angeles animator Mike Jittlov

Mike Jittlov

Mike Jittlov is an American animator and the creator of short films and one feature length movie using forms of special effects animation, including stop-motion animation, rotoscoping, and pixilation...

, and still accomplish impressive animation production; or they can be elaborate (and expensive) professionally made precision systems that allow for the computerised movements of both the art and the camera, as has been traditionally used by professional animation studios and special effects facilities such as the Walt Disney studio (famous for their Multiplane camera

Multiplane camera

The multiplane camera is a special motion picture camera used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another...

) and George Lucas

George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. is an American film producer, screenwriter, and director, and entrepreneur. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive of Lucasfilm. He is best known as the creator of the space opera franchise Star Wars and the archaeologist-adventurer character Indiana Jones...

's Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) facilities.