Digital Media

Lecture 11: Animation

Georgia Gwinnett CollegeSchool of Science and Technology

Dr. Jim Rowan

But first…a bit about video capture

Capture images using a camera Edit them in a video editor

– Quicktime– iMovie– Windows MovieMaker– Final Cut Pro

Image Capture and iMovie...

Capture images using miniDV cameraManipulate using iMovie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFMp_2TBhBM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONP-Dv7G_Hc

Physical animation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i02K9jrPnpg

Physical animation

Animated GIFs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx8V3SyCB7E&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQO4sLQtSI&feature=youtu.be

Animation

“Bring to life” using still images to create frames

Many techniques

– draw each frame individually (FlipBook)– cell animation – cut-out manipulation – clayMation or modeling clay manipulation– 3D model animation

Cell Animation...

Only have to re-create the parts that change

Use paintings on clear plastic

Can have a background that is larger than the frame and “slides” past

Cell Animation...

Disney had an army of excellent painters

More skilled painters painted key frames

Less skilled filled in between the key frames– Known as “tweeners”

Shadows had to be individually painted

• Disney’s original cells sell for a fortune

• So... what about “Simpsons?”

Simpsons

• Cell animation

• First 14 episodes were hand painted

• Subsequent episodes used digital-ink-and-paint to mimic hand-painted cells

• So... what about “South Park?”

Monty Python before South ParkPilot was cut-out animation in the

style of Terry Gilliam of Monty Python’s Flying Circus fame

South Park

• After the pilot, episodes used computer animation that mimicked cut-outs

• So… why cut-outs?

Simpsons vs Southpark

• Simpsons takes 6-8 Months per episode– produces reasonably high quality animations

• South Park takes 6 weeks– so... if you want to have a plot that is derived

from very current events, cut out animation allows you to get it produced before it becomes dated

Animation Process...

You need to create drawings by some means...– 2D model to 2D frame

• hand drawn• cell• cutout

– 3D model to 2D frame• physical model manipulation

– aka stop motion clay-mation• 3D computer modeling

Animation Process Examples

2D model producing 2D images?– South Park (cutout)– Simpsons (cell)

3D model producing 2D images?– 3D model manipulation

• Gumby• Wallace and Gromit

– 3D computer modeling• Toy Story• Up

3D model producing 2D images

Two approaches -physical model manipulation-3D animation models

both have these elements• produce the model (the hard part)• move the model • define light source• define camera position and angle• take a picture

Physical model manipulation

build the model set the lighting set the camera position and angle make a frame move the model make a frame move the model... Very time-consuming! Wallace and Gromit

– 30 frames per day, 5 years to produce

Vector-based 3D model (Blender)

build the model (time consuming) define light source(s) (in the computer) define camera position and angle (in the

computer) move the model… a bit different for 3D vector-

based • set start and stop key frames• computer generates intervening frames• this is called rendering

render the frames (computationally expensive)

Key Frames

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG0s5RpGVKU&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yadixAn_Nos

Key Frame Interpolation

This is natural since the model is in the computer as numbers already

Forms of interpolation– linear... motion follows a straight line

• velocity is constant • moves same distance for each unit of time• not natural... instantly starts, instantly stops

– quadratic... motion follows a curve• acceleration (deceleration) is constant• “easing in” and “easing out”

Motion Capture

Achieving natural human motion

This is REALLY hard to do unless you use motion-capture

Motion Capture

Giant Studios

Making of AVATARhttp://www.popfi.com/wp-content/uploads/avatar-motion-capture.jpg

Making of AVATAR

Making of AVATAR

Making of AVATAR

Making of AVATAR

Virtual Reality

Total immersive VR (full 3 dimensions)– Stereo head mounted display– sensors to detect your position

• on your head• on your hands (or any other part that will be in the

scene)

Quicktime VR and VRML (3D on 2D screen)– not immersive (you aren’t in them directly)– not stereo vision– viewed on a 2D screen– you are given navigation tools

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JWk_JIE3Ow&feature=related

Augmented Reality

Yoda Hallmark card demo