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Seminar Computer Animation

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

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Seminar Computer Animation

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  1. Seminar Computer Animation Arjan Egges Lecture #2: History of Animation

  2. Introduction • Animate = “Give life to” • Adding the dimension of time to graphics • Animator specifies movement of objects through time and space

  3. 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

  4. 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 physically-based motion

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. The early days • Persistence of vision: discovered in the 1800s. • Zoetrope • Flipbook • Thaumatrope

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. Multiplane Camera • Move scene layers independently of camera • Six directions of movement for each plane

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. MGM and Warner Brothers, etc.

  17. 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)

  18. Other Media Animation • Claymation • Sand animation Physical object is manipulated, image captured, repeat

  19. Production of Animation • Preliminary story • Story board • Detailed story • Key Frames • Test shot • Pencil test • Inbetweening • Inking • Coloring Computer Animation basically follows this pipeline

  20. 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)

  21. Computer Animation Research In Research labs • NYIT Still frame from Gumby animation by Hank Grebe and Dick Lundin, 1984.

  22. 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)

  23. 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)

  24. 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

  25. 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

  26. 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)

  27. More recent movies with CG • Final fantasy (2001) • Fully 3D simulated environment • Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) • One of the first movies using crowds (Massive) • Polar express (2004) • Fully motion-capture based • The Shrek movies (2001, 2004, 2007) • Avatar (2009)

  28. Resources • Milestones of the animation industry in the 20th Century • http://www.awn.com/mag/issue4.10/4.10pages/cohenmilestones6.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/HyperGraph/animation/rick_parent/Intr.html

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