Animation without technology (Flipbooks) October 7, 2009
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedOkay in order for you to start thinking about how animation works we will do a quick session on making flipbooks, this will get you thinking about time and motion.
12 Priciples of Animation October 7, 2009
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedIf you look on the lovely web these “priciples” are all about in one form or another, these are taken from here
- Squash and Stretch - defining the rigidity and mass of an object by distorting its shape during an action
- Timing and Motion - spacing actions to define the weight and size of objects and the personality of characters
- Anticipation - the preparation for an action
- Staging - presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably clear
- Follow Through and Overlapping Action - the termination of an action and establishing its relationship to the next action
- Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose Action - The two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement
- Slow In and Out - the spacing of the in-between frames to achieve subtlety of timing and movement
- Arcs - the visual path of action for natural movement
- Exaggeration - Accentuating the essence of an idea via the design and the action
- Secondary Action - the action of an object resulting from another action
- Appeal - creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys watching
Thoughts on early 3D computer graphics October 7, 2009
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedEalry 3D CG was simple, pretty much drawing lines on a screen
70’s the idea that computer graphics could be part of a film or animation developed
80’s the move from wireframe to shaded models, the use of animation, the development of lighting models and digital compositing
90’s the lid comes off, photorealism is perued heavily, techniques for character animation are developed, CGI goes mainstream.
00’s its get difficult to tell what is CGI, development of AI and physics grow apace
Early CG in films tended to be as a prop rather than as part of the actual feature, for example the wire frame used in Star Wars. Films like Tron came along in the 80’s and began the use of saded 3D as part of the narrative (Notice though that most plots are sci fi or fantasy, its a long time before CG is used invisibly).
Luxo Junior is counted as one of the first 3D CG animations to be comparable to traditional animation techniques.
Traditional animation of facial expression and speech October 13, 2008
Posted by admin in : Principles, Software, Uncategorized , comments closedTraditionally in an animation of someone speaking you would make an animation by creating a set of facial expressions for individual speech sounds (not quite)
Here is this approach to animation done in Maya done with MAYA
And another example here
Basic Polygon Modeling October 13, 2008
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedOK for making the face we are going to use polygons as our starting point for a whole host f reason that will become clearer as we go on. The first movie is a bit slow but deals with selecting an manipulating the basic elements of the polygon.
Polygons create blocky or sure looking representations of objects however as you build up shapes they will look smoother (you can also use the smooth tool, look at the lat movie in this post)
The following movie then deals with extruding faces which is a way to create more geometry (this can also be very easliy done in surface subdivisions (I will put up a post).
Story telling September 30, 2008
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedStoryboarding September 30, 2008
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedA storyboard is the process by which you plan your action, think about the production process and develop you story, lot of examples on the web below are a couple.
Maya PLE September 30, 2008
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedMaya Personal Learning Edition is a free version of Maya that you can use to learn Maya, it cannot be used to create final pieces and it put text in each render.
About the unit September 29, 2008
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedThe goal of this unit is to give you a basic understanding of the principles of computer graphics for animation and film. The focus will be 3D computer graphics though much of the unit content will be applicable to 2D animation.
Computer Graphics in Film September 24, 2008
Posted by admin in : Uncategorized , comments closedOn you tube do a keyword search for Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr Calligari, Star War etc….
Computer graphics in film is a much more complex proposition, the whole process requires that you match whatever you generate in the computer to the real world. The more as you pursue the real the more you see the errors and problems.
There is however a whole legacy of special effects prior to the computer going back a very, long way, in Metropolis you see some amazing special effects but you might also recognise the story of the the Matrix
Have things moved on that much? We are still telling the same old Stories, the relationship between man an machine, is constantly being explored.
But What about Blade Runner? Both Blade Runner and I-robot were written by Philip K Dick and are really not about robots at all but about what it means to be human.