Digital Media
Dr. Jim Rowan
ITEC 2110
Animation
Two ways to create moving images
• Capture using a camera
• Create using animation techniques
Using iMovie...
Capture images using miniDV camera
Manipulate using iMovie
QuickTime™ and a
Photo - JPEG decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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
• South Park takes 6 weeks
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
• Jimmy Neutron
Animation Process...
The Process
• Create drawings by some means...
• 2-D model producing 2-D images?
– 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, both have these elements
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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 computer-based 3-D model
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Toy Story, 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 computer-based 3-D model (in 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
QuickTime™ and a
Photo - JPEG decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime™ and a
Photo - JPEG decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Computer-Based Animation
Processes
• We’ve seen 3-D to 2-D
– physical modeling (claymation)
– computer modeling (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
Digital Cell and Digital Sprite
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
Digital Cell and Digital Sprite
animation
• Works on the idea of layers that are automated
– a sprite can be thought of as an automated layer
– it’s motion is driven by a program
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One layer is the background
Sprites are over that
Sprites can have faces
Sprites can move and show different faces as they
move...
Digital Sprite animation
The running headless man!
• Three sprites
– A body and two legs
• A body and two legs
• Here the green leg sprite has 5 “faces”
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
– remember Blender IPO? InterPOlation
2-D to 2-D
computer-based
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”
Flash Animation
• Briefly...
• Flash
– Has a stage & characters
– Follows a timeline
– Supports their form of interpolation called
“tweening”
– Action is driven by scripts
• See pp 254-260 for details
Motion Graphics (AfterEffects)
• 2D model to 2D image
• Takes the photoshop image with all its
layers
• Provides a means of manipulating the
images to make motion
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?