Computer Game and Animation Techniques – a brief history Matt Boggus CSE 3451/5541

Computer – using a computer Game – a form of play with rules and an objective Animation – moving things that can’t move themselves Motion techniques Procedural Geometry transformations Physically based Behaviorally based Artist driven Data-driven Computer graphics more precisely defined later, but good to mention here too.

Heritage of animation Early devices Conventional animation Disney and the 12 basic principles of animation Stop motion animation Computer graphics animation

Early animation devices Thaumatrop Flipbook and Zoetrope – Pixar example Thaumatrop video for reference ; watch outside of class Show the Pixar example video in class

Conventional animation Winsor McCay Gertie the Dinosaur How much effort to make this film? Number of frames * time per frame Making a Hand Drawn Animated 16mm film Layering, cells, etc. Compare to the use of sprites Show first couple of minutes for Gertie the Dinosaur video in class Other videos provided for reference ; watch outside of class

12 Principles of Animation Squash and stretch Arcs Secondary action Slow in & slow out Anticipation Exaggeration Solid drawing Appeal In-between v. straight ahead Follow-through Staging Timing As articulated by Disney’s “9 old men” To summarize: Simulate physics Make it appealing Effective presentation Production alternatives Rotoscoping Animation reuse Rotoscoping video for reference ; watch outside of class Show some of Animation reuse video in class Draw from scratch vs. tracing ; http://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/is-it-ok-to-trace-in-art

Principles of Filmmaking 180 degree rule rule of thirds types of shots 3-point lighting tilt framing focus the viewer’s attention Provided for reference and flavor, no details discussed in class meeting ; reinforces the idea of professions using standard tools and terms

Animation production Production->sequence->shot->frame Storyboard: the proposal Model sheet: consistency Animatic: storyboard with timing Key frames & in-betweens Test shot Pencil tests Inking: drawings onto cells Painting: coloring in Sound: voice, body, special effects, background Production pipeline ; rough work first Creation of assets, some reusable

Storyboard Example of student work from CSE 682

Production Pencil tests – examples For 3d animations – allow rendering controls Shadows Physics Articulation Textures Facial animation Interpolation Pencil test video for reference ; watch outside of class Compare to expectations of graphical detail for lab assignments – grey boxes demos are acceptable for most of them

Production tasks Story Dept. Art Dept. Modeling Dept. Lighting Dept. Note the specialization areas relevant for software development Animation Dept. Rendering Dept.

Computer graphics and animation pervade film Video linked for outside of class For another look at the history of animation, check out The Art of Animation and Motion Graphics | Off Book | PBS

Computer game history eras First games, consoles Video game crash 8 and 16 bit eras 32 and 64 bit eras Current era Video linked for outside of class For more on the history of games, check out The Video Game Revolution | PBS

Game development process Concept Design document Prototype Production Design, Levels Programming Art, Audio Testing Deployment Maintenance Production pipeline ; again note that rough work is made first

Types of game programming Game engine Graphics Animation Artificial Intelligence Sound Game logic / scripts User Interfaces Networking Databases Development tools Systems/Parallel programming Note the specialization areas

Motivates research area of procedural content (As of Au’16 haven’t come across updated study or data, but $50-60M for biggest titles is accurate) http://www.newgamernation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vgdevcost.jpg Read more at: http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/Video_game_costs http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/19/ps3-xbox360-costs-tech-cx_rr_game06_1219expensivegames.html

(Data from Forbes 2006 study) Note the three biggest cost areas and practices to reduce those costs http://www.newgamernation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/game-cost.jpg (Data from Forbes 2006 study)

List of games with now open-source code id software titles ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/source/ Duke Nukem 3D http://www.eduke32.com/ Serious Sam http://www.croteam.com/serious-sam-source-code-released/ Penumbra: Overture http://frictionalgames.blogspot.com/2010/05/penumbra-overture-goes-open-source.html To provide examples of what finished assets and code can look like