Digital Media
Dr. Jim Rowan
ITEC 2110
Animation
Two ways to create moving images
• Capture using a camera
– edit in a video editor like iMovie
• Create using animation techniques
• today we will spend most of our time here
Two ways to create moving images
• Capture using a camera
– edit in a video editor like iMovie
• Create using animation techniques
Image Capture and iMovie...
Capture images using miniDV camera
Manipulate using iMovie
Two ways to create moving images
• Capture using a camera
– edit in a video editor like iMovie
• Create using animation techniques
Animation
• “Bring to life” using still images to create frames
• Many techniques
– draw each frame individually (FlipBook)
– paint on (or otherwise modify) existing video or film
• rotoscope changes frames of an existing film
– Trace some portion of a frame and delete it
– Add something drawn-in later
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cell animation
cut-out manipulation
clayMation or modeling clay manipulation
mixed cell and film
Cell Animation...
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Only have to re-create the parts that change
Disney, Snow White 1937
Use paintings on clear plastic
Can have a background that is larger than the
frame and “slides” past
• Disney had an army of excellent painters
• 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-inkand-paint to mimic hand-painted cells
• So... what about “South Park?”
South Park
• Pilot was cut-out animation in the style
of Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame
(197-)
• Subsequent episodes used computer
animation that mimicked cut-outs
• Added some live film in later episodes
• Late added some shadowing effects
• Why cut-outs?
South Park vs Simpsons
• 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...
• Create drawings by some means...
– 2-D model to 2-D frame
• hand drawn
• cell
• cutout
– 3-D model to 2-D frame
• physical model manipulation
• stop motion clay-mation
• 3-D computer modeling
Animation Process...
Examples
• 2-D model producing 2-D images?
– South Park (cutout)
– Simpsons (cell)
• 3-D model producing 2-D images?
– 3-D model manipulation
• Gumby
• Wallace and Gromit
– 3-D computer modeling
• Toy Story
• Up
Animation Process...
The Process
• Create drawings by some means…
– 2-D model producing 2-D images
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simple, really
create the image
store the image as a frame
create another image...
Animation Process...
The Process
• Create drawings by some means..
– 3-D model producing 2-D images
– Two approaches (physical model and vector models)
– both have these elements
• produce the model
• manipulate the model
• define light source
• define camera position and angle
Animation Process...
The Process
• 3-D model producing 2-D images?
• Using a physical 3-D model
– Move the model
– Capture the frame
– Very time-consuming!
• Wallace and Gromit
– 30 frames per day, 5 years to produce
• Using a vector-based 3-D model
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Toy Story, Up, A Bug’s Life, Monsters
Build the model (takes a lot of time for the human)
Move the model (not too bad for the human)
Render frame (time consuming for the computer
but not the human)
3-D model, 2-D images
• Use a physical 3-D model
– build the model
– set the lighting
– set the camera position and angle
– make a frame
– move the model
– make a frame
– move the model...
3-D model, 2-D images
Using a vector-based 3-D model (like Blender)
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build the model (in the computer)
define light source(s) (in the computer)
define camera position and angle (in the computer)
define the object(s) movement (in the computer)
render the frames
Other Computer Animation
Techniques
Create a series of image files and import
them to Quicktime
Build an animated GIF
Directly manipulate cutouts
Build an animated GIF
• Allows for sequences of images to be
placed in one “image” that, when
displayed, shows movement
Directly Manipulate Cutouts
Computer-Based Animation
Processes
• We’ve seen 3-D to 2-D
– physical modeling (claymation)
– computer modeling (like Blender)
• We’ve seen 2-D to 2-D
– physical modeling (flipBook, cutouts, cell)
• Let’s look at 2-D to 2-D
– computer-based modeling
2D to 2D
Digital Cell and Vector animation
• 2-D model
• Works on the idea of layers
– like bitmapped image layers
• One layer is the background
• Other layers are of the different parts that will move
• By moving each part a little bit you create frames of
an animation
2D to 2D
Digital Cell and Vector animation
• Works on the idea of objects that are automated
– A file of vector objects
– A file of movement and morphing vectors that move and
transform the objects
• Minimizes the amount of information that needs to be
transmitted
– Good for the web
• Flash is an example
– refer to the book for further detail
Key Frames
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Came from Disney following Ford’s ideas
Break production into simpler tasks
Assign tasks to less skilled labor
At Disney, Key Frames, the important frames,
– done by skilled animators
– came at important portions of the action
– came at scene changes
• Less skilled labor connected the action
– key-frame to key frame (in-betweeners)
• Process is similar to interpolation
Key Frame Interpolation
• This is natural since 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”
Achieving
natural
human
motion
This is REALLY
hard to do unless
you use motioncapture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_capture
A word about...
Virtual Reality
• Total immersive VR
– 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
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not immersive (you aren’t in them directly)
not stereo vision
viewed on a screen
you can navigate through them
Questions?