Animation

Pre-calculated Animation

Do more now, less later.

Pre-calculated Animation

Pre-calculated, stored, static animation information such as:

Image flipping; Video; Image Sequences

Positioning

object property changes on a time schedule

Easier to program

No limits on creation software

roundhouse1.gif roundhouse2.gif roundhouse3.gif

roundhouse4.gif roundhouse5.gif roundhouse6.gif

Uses for pre-calculated data

-Images & Videos

-3D is too much data: vertices

-Motion capture data

-CAD software (not entirely)

-Old video games, for everything

-Movie Special Effects

-ALL MAPS

-A.I. (pre-trained)

Pitfalls of Pre-Calculated Animation

LARGE amounts of data

storage + bandwidth + access/load delays

Can not change; not dynamic:

Adjusting timing realistically is not possible

speed of playback is all you get

Data is fixed, the content can't be altered like it was when being created

Data Caching / Pre-load

It takes TIME to load Huge amounts of data

Solutions:

1.Pre-load it into RAM before it will be needed

Buffering: Loading just enough in advance and keep loading it in the background while you use up the buffer

Example: Highway ramp stop-light queues

2.Keep used data in RAM for when it is used later = THIS IS CALLED A CACHE

Procedural Animation

Do less now, more later.

Calculated AnimationProcedural Animation

Less data, CPU intensive, harder to program

Object Properties are still changed over time, like pre-calculated animation

Procedure generated and/or procedure driven

Changes are calculated as opposed to just pulled from data storage

No fixed timing schedule required; maybe no scheduling at all

MouseOutMouseOut MouseOverMouseOver MouseDownMouseDown MouseUpMouseUp

AAnalogy: Bit Map vs Vector

Uses for real time calculations

-Interactive: interfaces, games

-Procedural textures: 3D effects

-Rendering 3D

-Simulation: Physics, Behavior, AI

-CAD software

-Compression:

approximate data with a calculation

"tweening" and other tools

Math !@#!$@!#?

Animation involves lots of math.

Fixed animations can avoid math, but anything that is dynamic, requires math, even if you put your stuff into 1 loop, you still have to do something with that iterator (i)’s value.

Basic Algebra is a must, Physics is nice.

Graphing calculator can help illustrate function values

Motions end up being math functions

You can recycle motions

“Behaviors” are procedural animations

common name for animation software

program functions, which apply math

you can recycle these too!

Procedural graphics (textures)

Fractals; moss on the north side of 3D trees

Modified graphics - shading, distortion, filtering

Pitfalls of Procedural Graphics and Animation

CPU load; GPU load - battery life

May still use a lot of RAM

PROGRAMMER LABOR COSTS

More bugs possible; more things to go wrong

Difficult to abstractly model natural things

Results may be less predictable (errors amplify)

Terms

Keyframes

Starting Keyframe

Ending Keyframe"Tweened" Animation

Timelines and keyframes