Digital Media

Dr. Jim Rowan

ITEC 2110

Animation

Two ways to create moving images

• Capture using a camera

• Create using animation techniques

Using iMovie...

QuickTime™ and aPhoto - JPEG decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Capture images using miniDV cameraManipulate using iMovie

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

– cell animation – cut-out manipulation – clayMation or modeling clay manipulation – mixed cell and film

Cell Animation...

• 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-ink-and-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...

• 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...

• 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...

• Create drawings by some means..

• 3-D model producing 2-D images?• Two approaches, both have these elements

– produce the model– manipulate the model– define light source– define camera position and angle

Animation 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– 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

• Using a computer-based 3-D model (in Blender)

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)– 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

Blender

• Open Source software• Powerful but complex• Available at: blender.org

– download Blender to your machine– will work on a PC if you like

• Need to know the acronyms & shorthand– the link to them is bottom of fall2007 page– you will need to build these as you go

• Get your feet wet this week... build the heart!– http://www.blendernation.com/tutorials/

Animation and Blender• Build a model to animate

– 3-D vector graphics modeling– defines the structure– provides a means of manipulation– allows application of surface texture

• Specify light source• Specify camera position, direction & movement• Manipulate the model by specifying motion tracks• Render the model to produce an image

– as viewed from the camera– as lit by specified lighting

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 aPhoto - JPEG decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime™ and aPhoto - 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

• 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 animationThe 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• 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-Dcomputer-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 motion-capture

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– not immersive (you aren’t in them directly)– not stereo vision– viewed on a screen– you can navigate through them

Questions?