Animation - Simple Directory

Simple directory > Arts > Animation
Animation techniques
Traditional animation began with each frame being painted and then filmed. Cel animation, developed by Bray and Hurd in the 1910s, sped up the process by using transparent overlays so that characters could be moved without the need to repaint the background for every frame. More recently, styles of animation based on painting and drawing have evolved, such as the minimalist Simpsons cartoons, or the roughly sketched The Snowman. Computer animation has advanced rapidly, and is now approaching the point where movies can be created with characters so lifelike as to be hard to distinguish from real actors. This involved a move from 2D to 3D, the difference being that in 2D animation the effect of perspective is created artistically, but in 3D objects are modeled in an internal 3D representation within the computer, and are then 'lit' and 'shot' from chosen angles, just as in real life, before being 'rendered' to a 2D bitmapped frame. Predictions that famous dead actors might even be 'brought back to life' to play in new movies before long have led to speculation about the moral and copyright issues involved. The use of computer animation as a way of achieving the otherwise impossible in conventionally shot movies has led to the term "computer generated imagery" being used, though the term has become hard to distinguish from computer animation as it is now used in referring to 3D movies that are entirely animated. Computer animation involves modelling, motion generation, followed by the addition of surfaces and then rendering. Surfaces are programmed to stretch and bend automatically in response to movements of a 'wire frame model', and the final rendering converts such movements to a bitmap image. It is the recent developments in rendering complex surfaces like fur and clothing textures that have enabled stunningly life-like character models, including surfaces that even ripple, fold and blow in the wind, with every fibre or hair individually calculated for rendering. However, that actually has little to do with the animation itself. Animation is the process of bringing a lifeless puppet to life through the use of motion. Many people confuse fancy effects and high-res textures with animation, but in fact life-like motion can be created using the simplest of models. Pixar's work is a testament to this. The goal of an animator is not simply to "copy" the real world, but to enhance and to take the essence of the motion that is there, and this is how animation can be elevated to the level of art. There is a large misconception in the public mind that computers create animation today. This couldn't be further from the truth. A computer is nothing more (though also nothing less) than a very expensive fancy pencil, and has to be treated as such for any quality work to be achieved. The choices a computer makes when interpolating motion are almost always the wrong ones, because the computer does not know what you are trying to create. Even if a complex physics system were created complete enough to exactly mimic the real world, the end result would not be the desirable one, because a large part of animation concerns the choices an animator makes. When a computer tries to make the choices for you, disaster is the general result.