What is Computer Animation?
Animate = “to give life to”Specify, directly or indirectly, how ‘thing’ moves in time and space
Anything to do with visual representations on a computer
Includes 2D graphics and 3D graphics modeling and rendering
The term Computer Graphics was created by William Fetter of Boeing in 1960
SketchPad: first interactive graphics (1961)
Spacewars: first computer graphics game (MIT 1961)
Whirlwind: early graphics using VectorScope (1951)
first CAD system (IBM 1959)
ComputerGraphics
Image SynthesisGenerate Images(Realistic or not)
AnimationGenerate Motion(Realistic or not)
Image ProcessingManipulate Images
• Computer-assisted animation– 2D & 2 1/2 D– Inbetweening– Inking, virtual camera,
managing data, etc
• Computer generated animation– Low level techniques
• Precisely specifying motion
– High level techniques• Describe general motion
behavior
1. Modelling: creating and representing the geometry of objects in the 3D world
2. Rendering: creating a image in 2D of these objects
3. Animation: describing how objects change in time
• Describes the motion algorithmically
• Example: a clock with second, minute and hour hands– hands should rotate together– express the clock motions in terms of a
“seconds” variable– the clock is animated by varying the seconds
parameter
Types of Animation
• Assign physical properties to objects (masses & forces)
• Simulate physics by solving equations• Realistic but difficult to control
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Types of Animation
• Usually uses optical markers and multiple high-speed cameras
• Triangulate to get marker 3D position
• Faces or joints• Captures style and realism• You must observe someone do
something