Scientific Visualization I – Unit 6 animation techniques Scientific Visualization I – Unit 6

early animation processes Still images are played in rapid succession so that they produce the appearance of a moving image Animation appears as continuous motion because our brain holds on to each image briefly and the image is still their when the next image appears Timing between images must be fast enough for the sequence to appear smooth

early animation processes NTSC National Television Standards Committee 30 frames per second North America & Japan PAL Phase Alternate Line 25 frames per second Europe Standard Rate for Film 24 frames per second One minute of animation at 30 fps would require 1800 images (30 fps x 60s)

early animation processes Zoetrope Used in the 1800s to produce animation Circular Frames held sequenced images that were viewed as the device spun in circles Movies Term was coined from the moving images produced by the Zoetrope

early animation processes Walt Disney Studios Developed the modern art of animation in the 1930’s and 1940’s The various “layers” of the animated scene were painted on transparent sheets called cels A hierarchy was developed for the different artists for drawing and painting the sequences of images

early animation processes Key frames Most important frames Developed by the master artist Tweens “in between” frames Developed by less skilled artists Other artists would paint, fill, or outline as needed Stop Action Animation Uses clay or other models to create sequential photos of movement that are then combined

computer animation Computer animation allows us to do less and get more We define points in time (key frames) and the computer draws all of the in between frames

computer animation Steps Position object(s) where animation will begin. This is the first key frame. Set the number of frames for the sequence. Move/scale/deform the object(s) to become the next key frame

computer animation Steps The computer will fill in all of the transformation between each key frame specified by the user The “in-between” images that are created by the computer program are called tweens 28 tweens are created for each needed second of animation. The start and end key frames that the user created total 30 for each second of animation

storyboarding A graphic, sequential, depiction of an animation that is going to be created A visual script Identifies major event in the story and illustrates them in cells that are drawn out in a sequential pattern

storyboarding Used for movies, TV, commercials, and animation The artwork does not have to be pretty or complex, but it should be neat and easy to understand The pictures should be accompanied by text describing the scene.