Seminar Computer Animation
Arjan Egges
Lecture #2: History of Animation
Introduction
• Animate = “Give life to”
• Adding the dimension of time to graphics
• Animator specifies movement of objects
through time and space
Two main categories
• Computer-assisted animation
– 2D & 2 1/2 D
– Inbetweening
– Inking, virtual camera, managing
data, etc
• Computer generated animation
– Low level techniques
• Precisely specifying motion
– High level techniques
• Describe general motion behavior
Introduction
• Low-level techniques
– Shape interpolation
– Helps the animator fill in the details of the motion
given enough information
– Animator has a fairly specific idea of target motion
• High-level techniques
– Generate a motion given a set of rules or constraints
– Object motion is controlled by a model/algorithm
– Fairly sophisticated computation, such as physicallybased motion
Introduction
• Another way of looking at this: level of
abstraction
• Very low-level: animator colours every
pixel individually in every frame
• Very-high level: tell the computer “make a
movie about a dog”
• Challenge lies in developing tools that
allow animators to animate on different
levels
Perception
• Eye/brain assembles images and interprets
them as continuous movement
• Persistence of vision: sequence of still images
shown at a fast enough rate to induce sensation
of continuous imagery
• Eye retains visual imprint once stimulus is
removed
– “positive afterimages”
• Persistence of vision is not persistence of motion
Perception
• Persistence of vision lower bound:
– Playback rate of images
– Critical flicker frequency
• Persistence of motion has an upper bound:
– Object moves too quickly
– Motion blur
• Two important rates:
– Playback/refresh rate
– Sampling/update rate
The early days
• Persistence of vision: discovered in the
1800s.
– Zoetrope
– Flipbook
– Thaumatrope
The early days
• End of the 19th centure introduced moving
image by using a projector.
– Magic Lantern and shadow puppets
– Zoopraxinoscope (zoetrope + projector)
– Kinetograph
• First motion picture viewer
The early days
• Animation movie pioneers
– J. Stuart Blackton (smoke effect, 1900)
• First animated cartoon in 1906
• Used a chalkboard for drawing and erasing frames
– Emile Cohl (Fantasmogorie,
1908)
– Winsor McCay (Little Nemo)
• Each image redrawn on rice paper and then filmed
The early days
• Major technical developments by John Bray
(1910):
– compositing multiple layers of drawings into a final
image (celluloid)
– using grayscale
– Drawing background on long sheet of paper for
panning
• Max Fleischer (Betty Boop), Walter Lantz
(Woody Woodpecker)
• Fleischer patented rotoscoping in 1915
The early days
• First animated character: Felix the Cat
(Otto Messmer) in early 1920s.
• Disney came around end 1920s,
introducing a number of innovations
– Storyboards
– Pencil sketches for reviewing motion
– Multiplane camera
– Using sound & colour
Multiplane Camera
• Move scene layers independently of
camera
• Six directions of movement for each plane
Multiplane camera
• Powerful tool:
– More effective zoom
• Move foreground image to the side
– Parallax effect
• Moving planes at different rates
– Adding depth cues
• Blur the images on more distant planes
– Introduce motion blur by fast moving planes
The early days
• Sound was added for the first time in
Steamboat Willie (1928)
• Disney promoted idea that mind of the
character was the driving force of the
action
– Analysis of real-life motion
MGM and Warner Brothers, etc.
Other Media Animation
• Computer animation is
often compared to
stop motion animation
– Puppet animation
• Willis O’Brian (King
Kong)
• Ray Harryhausen (Might
joe Yong, Jason and the
Argonauts)
Other Media Animation
• Claymation
• Sand animation
Physical object is manipulated, image
captured, repeat
Production of Animation
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Preliminary story
Story board
Detailed story
Key Frames
Test shot
Pencil test
Inbetweening
Inking
Coloring
Computer Animation
basically follows this
pipeline
Computer Animation as
Animation
• Lasseter translated traditional principles of
animation to computer animation
– Lasseter is conventionally trained animator
• Worked at Disney before going to Pixar
• Many celebrated animations
• Knick-knack (oscar-winning)
Computer Animation Research
In Research labs
• NYIT
Still frame from Gumby animation by Hank Grebe and Dick Lundin, 1984.
Computer Animation Research
• University of Utah
– Films on walking and talking
figure
– Animated hand and animated
face (1972)
• University of Pennsylvania
– Human figure animation (Norm
Badler)
• MIRALab, Geneva
– Virtual Humans (Daniel & Nadia
Thalmann)
Pioneering animation movies
Pixar
• Luxo Jr. (1986)
– first computer animation to be
nominated for an Academy
Award
• Red's Dream (1987)
• Tin Toy (1988)
– first computer animation to win
an Academy Award
• Knick Knack (1989)
Early CG in film
• Future World (1976)
• Star Wars (1977)
• Tron (1982, MAGI)
– Supposed to look like a computer
• The Last Starfighter (1984)
– Use CG in place of models
• Willow (1988, ILM)
– Morphing video
– First digital blue screen matte extraction
• The Abyss (1989, ILM)
• Lawnmower man (1992, Xaos, Angel Studios)
• Hollywood’s view of VR
Early CG in film
• Jurassic Park (1993, ILM)
• Forrest Gump (1994, Digital
Domain)
– Insert CG ping pong ball
• Babe (1995, Rhythm &
Hues)
– Move mouths of animals & fill
in background
• Toy Story (1995, Pixar &
Disney)
– First full length fully CG 3D
animation
Early CG on TV
• Reboot (1995, Limelight
Ltd. BLT Productions)
– Similar intention of “inside
computer”
– First fully 3D Sat. morning
cartoon
• Babylon 5 (1995)
– Routinely used CG models
as regular features
• Simpsons (1995 PDI)
More recent movies with CG
• Final fantasy (2001)
– Fully 3D simulated
environment
• Lord of the Rings (20012003)
– One of the first movies
using crowds (Massive)
• Polar express (2004)
– Fully motion-capture
based
• The Shrek movies
(2001, 2004, 2007)
• Avatar (2009)
Resources
• Milestones of the animation industry in the 20th
Century
– http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.10/4.10pages/cohen
milestones6.php3
• Brief History of NYIT Computer Graphics Lab
– http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ph/nyit/masson/nyit.html
• Rick Parent
– http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/~parent
– http://old.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGrap
h/animation/rick_parent/Intr.html