Animation and/or

Computer Animation
Dr. Stephania Loizidou Himona
Associate Professor
Frederick Institute of Technology

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Computer Graphics
deals with

 Geometric Modeling

 Rendering

 Animation ***

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What is Animation?
 One-word definition : Vision
 The illusion of motion created by the consecutive
display of images of static elements : Persistence of
Vision
 The process of bringing life through the use of
motion to lifeless things : e.g. Virtual Reality
 The “copying” of the real world, to enhance and to
take the essence of the motion that is there : Level
of Art
 The technique by which each frame is produced
individually : In film/video production
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 Form generation Form
system Selection

Coloring
Animation Timings

Texture Lighting

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What is Computer
Animation?
 The art of creating moving images via
the use of computers
 The use of computers to create
animations : also referred to as CGI
(Computer Generated Imagery) –
especially when used in movies

 The modeling, motion generation,

addition of surfaces and then
rendering 5
Thus,
Computer Graphics vs Animation
(or, Computer Animation, a subfield)

 Inter-related issues

– Difficult to distinguish one from the other.

– Their improvements are done in parallel!
– Their effects …

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However,

 Major Part of their difference is that

Animation involves basically and
primarily the concept of

Motion Control

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Different ways of basic CGI

 3D Animations, create objects and

then render them
 Use standard computer painting tools
to paint single frames and composite
them
 Use morphing : modify existing images
and video
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 Its Applications

 A variety of uses of C.A.

Fun Practical Educational

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Examples :
- Medicine
- Advertising
- Film
- Flight Simulation
- Television
- Simulation
- Entertainment
- Video

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The possibilities
(of the applications) are endless

Architecture, Multimedia, Engineering,

Archeology, Chemistry, Art, Education,
Scientific Visualization, Space Exploration

+anything that you can think of !!!

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 How is it done?

 Aim : 24 distinct drawings for one

second of animation
produces realistic enough movement!

i.e. perceivable due to way the eye and brain process images
e.g. Human-Body Movement
A Bouncing Ball
A Horse Galloping
etc.
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But, such a process,

 Very time-consuming
– Creating the characters
– Programmed the movement(s)
– Rendering (a lot of time)

 Very expensive to produce, and often,

 Very labor intensive as well as tedious

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Styles and techniques of Animation
 Traditional Animation
Character Animation
Limited Animation
Rotoscoping
 Computer Animation
Multi-Sketching
Skeletal Animation
Morph-target Animation
Cel-shaded Animation
Onion Skinning
Analogue Computer Animation
Motion Capture
Tradigital Animation
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Styles and techniques of Animation
(continued)

 Drawn on Film

 Special effects Animation

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To allow Animation to be
viewed on a computer
 Graphics file formats exist such as

– GIF
– MNG
– SVG
– Flash (SWF)

etc.
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How is it done
(continued)
Sophisticated mathematics and/or
constructive solid geometry are used
 To manipulate complex 3D polygons
 To apply textures
 To apply lighting
 To apply other effects to the polygon
and finally,
 To render the complete image

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Sophisticated Graphical
User Interface (GUI)

is used, usually, to create the

animation

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Some examples
(of CGI short films)
 Finding Nemo  Shrek 1 & 2
 ReBoot (the 1st one!)  Veggie Tales
 Robots  Animusic
 Chicken Little  Bratz
 Toy Story 1 & 2  Ice Age
 Waking Life  Father of the Bride

and many-many more!

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Cartoons Without Politics
(since 2001)
(some more recent examples!)
Films that used CGI,
nominated for Academic Awards :

 The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

 Corpse Bride
 Moving Castle

In the future, films with excellent animated

features, but perhaps without CGI!
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What is Rendering?

 The process a computer uses to create

an image from a data file
 The process of generating the pixels of
an image based on a high-level
description of its components
 The process of cutting a
character/object from an image so
that it can be used in designs
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Rendering (continued)

A user handles a mesh – a rough

representation of an object

When s/he is satisfied with the mesh s/he

renders the image

i.e. every section of the mesh gets colored

also, inclusion of hidden-line removal
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Rendering – a lengthy
process
Different methods :
– Flat shading
– Gourad
– Phong
– Ray Tracing
– Radiosity

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 Anti-aliasing  Inverse Kinematics
 Articulations  Inverse Dynamics
 Binary system  Keyframing
 Bitmap  Modeling
 Contouring
 Morphing
 Coordinate systems
 Mesh
 Digitizing
 Direct Kinematics  Onion skinning
 Direct Dynamics  Pixels
 Face  Primitives
 Fractals  Rendering
 Human-figure  Resolution
animation  Surface Mapping
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Some examples !

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The future. What awaits us?
What is expected : The current level of
animation (2D, 3D) to be replaced
with Virtual Reality

i.e. the person watching a movie to see

himself in the movie as a person
watching from the side

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Computer Animation
to become the standard
way of making every
kind of a movie, not just
animated movies

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Realistic simulation of Humans
Photorealistic human characters
Undergoing physically-correct motion
(with clothes, hair, interaction with
other human characters
That is,
No difference from real actors

No difference from the real world

The possibilities are endless!!!

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Art and science meet when
they both seek accuracy

Etienne-Jules Marey (1888)

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