Computer Graphics for Animation and Film

Animation without technology (Flipbooks)

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:22:30 +0000

Okay 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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

12 Priciples of Animation

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:03:23 +0000

If 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

admin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:04:05 +0000

Ealry 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).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Luxo Junior is counted as one of the first 3D CG animations to be comparable to traditional animation techniques.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Plugins for everything..

admin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:09:38 +0000

Look here to find plugins for just about all the motion graphics applications we use.

http://toolfarm.stores.yahoo.net/plugins.html

http://www.learningmaya.com/

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:28:01 +0000

For a great set of tutorials Learning Maya

Mouth Shapes for Animation

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:25:47 +0000

http://www.garycmartin.com/mouth_shapes.html

Spatialised audio in Maya

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:03:47 +0000

All sound changes as you move through space, to give a cinematic experience greater depth and interest spacialised audio can be simulated.

Soundrenderer

Maya Plugins for sound

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:00:45 +0000

There are a range of plugins that provide automated ways for you to trigger animation based on sound, these have a range of capabilities. Note: I have not tried any of these out as yet.

Sonica (still in Beta)

Sound in Maya (Basics)

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:42:59 +0000

Pre build IK rigs

admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:39:23 +0000

Full body rigs are complex and take a lot of time and experience to put together, if you want to practice animation of a character you should have a look at one of the prebuilt rigs in this list.

Human type rigs

Maya does have the facility to generate a ‘Full Body IK’ rig for you but you will need to create a skellton wth psecific joint and a naming schema.