1. Dr. Jim Rowan ITEC 2110 Animation
Digital Media
Dr. Jim Rowan
ITEC 2110
Animation

2. Two ways to create moving images
Capture using a camera
edit in a video editor like iMovie
Create using animation techniques
today we will spend most of our time here

3. Two ways to create moving images
Capture using a camera
edit in a video editor like iMovie
Create using animation techniques

4. Image Capture and iMovie...
Capture images using miniDV camera
Manipulate using iMovie

5. Two ways to create moving images
Capture using a camera
edit in a video editor like iMovie
Create using animation techniques

6. 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

7. Walt Disney
Snow White
1937

8. Cell Animation... Only have to re-create the parts that change
Use paintings on clear plastic
Can have a background that is larger than the frame and “slides” past

9. Cell Animation... Disney had an army of excellent painters
More skilled painters painted key frames
Less skilled filled in between the key frames
Known as “tweeners”
Shadows had to be individually painted

10. Disney’s original cells sell for a fortune
So... what about “Simpsons?”

11. 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?”

12. South Park
Pilot was cut-out animation in the style of Terry Gilliam of Monty Python’s Flying Circus fame

13. South Park
After the pilot, episodes used computer animation that mimicked cut-outs
So… why cut-outs?

14. Simpsons vs Southpark Simpsons takes 6-8 Months per episode
produces reasonably high quality animations
South Park takes 6 weeks
so... if you want to have a plot that is derived from very current events, cut out animation allows you to get it produced before it becomes dated

15. either 2D model or 3D model
Animation Process...
You need to create drawings by some means...
either 2D model or 3D model
2D model to 2D frame
hand drawn
cell
cutout
3D model to 2D frame
physical model manipulation
aka stop motion clay-mation
3D computer modeling

16. Animation Process Examples
2D model producing 2D images?
South Park (cutout)
Simpsons (cell)
3D model producing 2D images?
3D model manipulation
Gumby
Wallace and Gromit
3D computer modeling
Toy Story Up

17. Animation Process Create drawings by some means…
2D model producing 2D images
create an image
store the image as a frame
create another image...

18. Animation Process Create drawings by some means..
3D model producing 2D images
Two approaches
-physical model manipulation
-3D animation models
both have these elements
produce the model
move the model
define light source
define camera position and angle
take a picture

19. 3D model, 2D images Physical model
Use a physical 3D model
build the model
set the lighting
set the camera position and angle
make a frame
move the model
move the model...
Very time-consuming!
Wallace and Gromit
30 frames per day, 5 years to produce

20. 3D model, 2D images 3D vector-based
Using a vector-based 3D model (like Blender)
build the model: time consuming
define light source(s) (in the computer)
define camera position and angle (in the computer)
move the model… a bit different for 3D vector-based
set key frames and time frame
computer generates intervening frames
this is called rendering
render the frames: computationally expensive

21. Other Computer Animation Techniques
Create a series of image files and import them to Quicktime
Build an animated GIF
Directly manipulate cutouts

22. Build an animated GIF You can do this with GIMP
Allows for sequences of images to be placed in one “image” that, when displayed, shows movement

23. Directly Manipulate Cutouts Created as part of a self-promotional piece

24. Key Frames Came from Disney following Henry 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

25. 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”

26. Achieving natural human motion
Motion Capture
Achieving natural human motion
This is REALLY hard to do unless you use motion-capture

27. Motion Capture Giant Studios

28. Making of AVATAR

29. Making of AVATAR

30. Making of AVATAR

31. Making of AVATAR

32. Making of AVATAR

33. Making of AVATAR Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KezEULMEvhQ

34. Virtual Reality Total immersive VR (full 3 dimensions)
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 (3D on 2D screen)
not immersive (you aren’t in them directly)
not stereo vision
viewed on a 2D screen
you are given navigation tools

35. Adding computer-based data to the real world

36. Augmented Reality

37. Augmented Reality

38. Augmented Reality

39. Augmented Reality

40. URLs for images used

41. Questions?