3D Modelling & Animation , Motion Graphics

Sample of practices

What is animation?

Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to stop motion techniques, but using 3D models, and traditional animation techniques using frame-by-frame

animation of 2D illustrations. Computer-generated animations are more controllable than other, more physically based processes, like constructing miniatures for effects shots,

or hiring extras for crowd scenes, because it allows the creation of images that would not be feasible using any other technology. It can also allow a single graphic artist

to produce such content without the use of actors, expensive set pieces, or props. To create the illusion of movement, an image is displayed on the computer monitor and repeatedly replaced by a new image that is similar to it but advanced slightly in time (usually at a rate of 24, 25, or 30 frames/second). This technique is identical to how

the illusion of movement is achieved with television and motion pictures. For 3D animations, objects (models) are built on the computer monitor (modeled) and 3D figures are

rigged with a virtual skeleton. For 2D figure animations, separate objects (illustrations) and separate transparent layers are used with or without that virtual skeleton.

Then the limbs, eyes, mouth, clothes, etc. of the figure are moved by the animator on keyframes. The differences in appearance between keyframes are automatically

calculated by the computer in a process known as tweening or morphing. Finally, the animation is rendered.

What was the past?

Early digital computer animation was developed at Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1960s by Edward E. Zajac, Frank W. Sinden, Kenneth C. Knowlton, and A. Michael Noll.[4]

Another digital animation was also practiced at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.[5]

In 1967, a computer animation named "Hummingbird" was created by Charles Csuri and James Shaffer.[6]

In 1968, a computer animation called "Kitty" was created with BESM-4 by Nikolai Konstantinov, depicting a cat moving around.[7]

In 1971, a computer animation called "Metadata" was created, showing various shapes.[8]

An early step in the history of computer animation was the sequel to the 1973 film Westworld, a science-fiction film about a society in which robots live and work among

humans.[9] The sequel, Futureworld (1976), used the 3D wire-frame imagery, which featured a computer-animated hand and face both created by University of Utah graduates Edwin

Catmull and Fred Parke.[10] This imagery originally appeared in their student film A Computer Animated Hand, which they completed in 1972.[11][12]

Developments in CGI technologies are reported each year at SIGGRAPH,[13] an annual conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques that is attended by thousands of

computer professionals each year.[14] Developers of computer games and 3D video cards strive to achieve the same visual quality on personal computers in real-time as is

possible for CGI films and animation. With the rapid advancement of real-time rendering quality, artists began to use game engines to render non-interactive movies, which led

to the art form Machinima.

The very first full-length computer-animated television series was ReBoot,[15] which debuted in September 1994; the series followed the adventures of characters who lived

inside a computer.[16] The first feature-length computer-animated film was Toy Story (1995), which was made by Pixar.[17][18][19] It followed an adventure centered around toys and their owners. This groundbreaking film was also the first of many fully computer-animated movies.

Animation methods

In this .gif of a 2D Flash animation, each 'stick' of the figure is keyframed over time to create motion.

In most 3D computer animation systems, an animator creates a simplified representation of a character's anatomy, which is analogous to a skeleton or stick figure.[20] They

are arranged into a default position known as a bind pose or T-Pose. The position of each segment of the skeletal model is defined by animation variables or Avars for short.

In human and animal characters, many parts of the skeletal model correspond to the actual bones, but skeletal animation is also used to animate other things, with facial features

(though other methods for facial animation exist).[21] The character "Woody" in Toy Story, for example, uses 700 Avars (100 in the face alone). The computer doesn't usually render

the skeletal model directly (it is invisible), but it does use the skeletal model to compute the exact position and orientation of that certain character, which is eventually

rendered into an image.

Thus by changing the values of Avars over time, the animator creates motion by making the character move from frame to frame.

There are several methods for generating the Avar values to obtain realistic motion. Traditionally, animators manipulate the Avars directly.[22] Rather than set Avars for

every frame, they usually set Avars at strategic points (frames) in time and let the computer interpolate or tween between them in a process called keyframing. Keyframing

puts the control in the hands of the animator and has roots in hand-drawn traditional animation.[23]

In contrast, a newer method called motion capture makes use of live-action footage.[24] When computer animation is driven by motion capture, a real performer acts out the

scene as if they were the character to be animated.[25] His/her motion is recorded to a computer using video cameras and markers and that performance is then applied to the

animated character.[26]

Each method has its advantages and as of 2007, games and films are using either or both of these methods in productions. Keyframe animation can produce motions that would be

difficult or impossible to act out, while motion capture can reproduce the subtleties of a particular actor.[27] For example, in the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead

Man's Chest, Bill Nighy provided the performance for the character Davy Jones. Even though Nighy doesn't appear in the movie himself, the movie benefited from his performance

by recording the nuances of his body language, posture, facial expressions, etc. Thus motion capture is appropriate in situations where believable, realistic behavior and

action are required, but the types of characters required exceed what can be done throughout the conventional costuming.