intro to animation what is animation? a drawing that moves, or bringing the drawing to “life”...
TRANSCRIPT
Intro to Animation What is animation?
A drawing that moves, or bringing the drawing to “life” moving something which can't move itself
Animation is a powerful tool capable of communicating complex ideas
How the heart beats Adds visual impact to MM project
Intro to Animation Animation is used for:
Entertainment (action, realism) Education (visualization,
demonstration)
Why Use Animation? Rely on animations “moving images” for
effective communication It helps to illustrate what you are
explaining Overcomes learning disabilities Simulating scientific phenomena Increase of the interest of viewer and
create a lasting impressions Easier to show somebody how something
works then to try and explain it
Four Stroke Engine
Animation: how it works?
Simulation of movement through a series of pictures that have objects in slightly different positions
Each drawing is called a Frame
Required Frames Per Second FPS? 24
Animated Cartoons I In animation, each frame overlaps the previous one
Animated Cartoons II
Dialogue Animated Cartoons
Movements Of The Two Legged Figure
More movement examples
Examples of AnimationComputer Based Training Programs Demonstrate the way
something works ie. assemble parts, adjust controls, perform surgery. Example
Education: Teach applied and hands-on skills • Spelling and foreign language programs for school children• Programs that prepare high school students for college exams• Learning to play an instrument• Athletes learning techniques in their sport
Games: All games on the market ie. Playstation, Nintendo, Xbox, gameboys
Web:Animated buttons, banners, text, and characters are used for visual
appeal for example to market/advertise services and information.
Animation and Authoring systems Authoring systems provides several visual effects
such as: wipes, fades, zooms and dissolves. For example in Director there are many effects.
To add transition in Director: Select Modify > Frame > Transition Double-click the frame in the transition channel Right Click on the transition channel
A transition always takes place between the end of the current frame and the beginning of the frame where the transition is set
Sources of Animation Animation clip art websites available on Internet for free or at
cost: http://www.animation-central.com/misc.htm Purchase more professional and creative Create each image that corresponds to a frame using a draw
or paint program Create animations with software Enhance using an editing program such as Adobe Photoshop Multimedia authoring programs like Macromedia Director allow
you to easily create path animations
Creating animation logical steps
Gather all the activities you wish to provide in the animation
Choose the animation tool best suited Build and try your sequences with
lighting effects Post process your animation: do any
special rendering and adding sound
Animation techniques: Cel animation
Traditional animation (Cel Animation) : It is labor intensive Start with story board (set of drawing outlining
the clip). Master artist draw key frames to define
action. Other artists (cheaper) draw in between frames
to complete animation all line drawings are painted on cels
2-D Animation Cel-Based “Cel” clear sheet material on which images were
drawn by movie animators images placed on a stationary background. Background remains unchanged Object changes position
Animation techniques: Cont. Cel animation
Film runs at 24 fps. Thus minute of
animation requires 1440 hand-drawn pictures
Animation techniques: Computer Assisted Animation
Computer-assisted systems are now quite common to do traditional animation more economically We can use computers to help expedite
the animation process Draw sketches with digital systems &
use digital paint programs for coloring Can even try to automatically generate
in-betweens (tweening) Widely used in production
Path-Based
Moves object along Path: straight or any curvesOften object does not change (but resized
or rotated)Path animation easier to create than cel
based animationSpecify beginning and end position
Tweening
Animation techniques: Computer Animation start with some model of the scene (a set of parameters
are associated with the model such as joint angles, positions, etc.)
view each of these parameters as a function of time
vary parameters to generate desired pose for all objects
render scene to produce one frame
repeat for all frames (roughly 130,000 frames for 1.5 hour movie)
So how will we control these parameters?
So how will we control these parameters? manually set them for each frame key-framing: specify parameter values at
specific times generate them procedurally: the computer
interpolate the in-between values execute behavioral scripts (e.g., follow the
fish in front of you) motion capture physical simulation
Key-Framing
Associate a set of parameters with the model: joint angles and positions.
View each of these as a function of time.
In key-framing, we specify parameter values at specific times and let the computer interpolate the in-between values.
Key-Framing In key-framing, we specify parameter
values at specific times
Interpolating Motion Parameters
For a given parameter, we’ve specified some fixed values: these are the key frame values
Interpolating Motion Parameters
Kinematics Kinematics: Is the study of the movement & motion of
structures that have joints such as people or robots. This means: derive motion from positions, angles, velocities, … Position of end effectors is a function of the state of all joints
When animated, the position, speed, and rotation of all the joints and the articulated parts (such as head, shoulder, & knees) are calculated.
Given an articulated human, how do we make him wave?• rotate the shoulder into position• and then the elbow and wrist• and finally rebalance other parts of the body
Procedural Animation To specify a procedural animation
sit down and write some code — the animator as programmer
input: current time output: correct parameter value usually combine lots of little procedures together one
procedure for walk, one for run, one for hop, … There is a clear tradeoff between
procedures & interaction think of the analogy of creating a 2-D illustration if it’s
simple, we can probably quickly do it interactively but if it’s very complex & regular, coding is probably
quicker
Behavioral Animation Animate by defining rules (or writing a program) that
governs your entities’ behavior. Typically, define behavior in part as a response to what
the environment is doing Classic example: “boids”
objects whose motion is determined as a simple function of near neighbors’ motion (plus obstacle avoidance, etc.)
A common example of this approach is “flocking”
Motion capture strap a bunch of sensors on a
person & record their motion track the location of several
reference points convert this to joint angles & map to
expressed model several technologies available
–optical–magnetic tracking– instrumented exoskeletons
But it can be hard to edit
Sample Demo
3-D Animation involves 3 steps:Modelling
Process of creating broad contours and structure of 3D objects and scenes (draw views – top, side, cross section
AnimatingDefining lighting and perspective views to create change during animation
Rendering
Animation Some Special Effects
Morphing:Process of blending together two images into a series of
imagesUseful for showing how image might change over time Is an effect in which one effect is transformed into another.
Morphing Some software transform still pictures as well as
animated images.
Morphed images are built at a rate of 8 frames per second and each transition takes 4 seconds, a total of 32 frame per second. MonaAnim.gif
Key pointes can be held on both the initial and final images, in this case the points on the start image will move to the corresponding pointes on the final image.
Animated GIFS For simple animations use .GIF format Special type of GIF file known as an animated GIF/GIF89a
that provides the animation you need. When the GIF document is viewed, the multiple images
display, quickly and in succession, and produce a streaming animation
world_tsunami.gif(contains a sequence of frames in the file)
monkeypoo.gif(contains by Laura’s sister in Photoshop!)
Animated GIF files - continued
Characteristics of an Animated GIF: File size is affected by:
Number of frames image size
No Plug-ins Required: Animated GIFs require no plug-ins, and the authoring tools to create them are often free and easy to learn.
No Sound: If you need sound in addition to motion, you cannot use an animated GIF by itself. Instead, you may want to consider other animation alternatives, such as Flash, or even video
Other Animation File Types Animated Gifs (.gif) (universal)
Flash (.fla, .swf) (by Adobe)
Macromedia Director
Sophisticated Animations: Strata 3D, LightWave, 3D Studio Max, Maya, and
Houdini
Animation SoftwareWhy Is Flash So Popular? Professional designs Interactive content rich with video, graphics, animation Import multimedia elements from other applications Support vector graphics:
much more space efficient over bitmapped frames scale up with accurate detail no matter how large the window is
resized by the user. Flash Player is a free client application that works with
popular Web browsers to play the animation Adobe Flash Player is the standard for delivering high-impact, rich
Web content. Designs, animation, and application user interfaces are deployed immediately across all browsers and platforms
Onion skinning is a 2D computer
graphics term for a technique used in creating animated cartoons and editing movies
allows you to see a faint ghost image of the previous frame so you can see where you want to place the artwork for the next frame.
Flash Animation using Onion Skinnig
Step 1 - Draw the image (for example Frog) on the Stage
Flash Animation using Onion Skinnig
Step 2 - - Select Frame 2 and add a Keyframe In Frame 2 click on the Frog to select it, and move it up and to the right.
At the bottom of the Timeline there is a row of five buttons. Click on the second one- this turns on Onion Skinning
Notice how you now can see a faint ghost image where your first frame was?
Flash Animation using Onion Skinnig
Step 3 - With the Transform Tool selected rotate, scale etc your Frog. Continue to add Keyframes for each change you make in the Frog. Do this for 11 frames.
Choose Control > Loop Playback so that you can see your animation repeat.
Flash Animation using Onion Skinnig
Step 4 - Play with and Modify your movie. Add as many Keyframes as you wish and make the movie as long as you wish.
Animation in Director Tweening: designer defines for sprite
keyframes and the computer changes the properties in the frames in between.
Frame by frame: manually creating every frame in the animation. Change cast member or change settings for the sprite
Cast to time: Moves a series of cast members to the score as a single sprite.
Space to time: Moves sprites from channels to single sprite.
Tweening Define properties for a sprite in frames
called keyframes and let the director change the properties in between.
To specify tweening properties: Select a sprite From Modify list choose sprite and then
tweening Properties that can be tweened are: position,
size, rotation, skew, blend, and foreground and background colors.
Frame by frame To create more complex animation than that is
made using tweening.
Sprites usually refer to only one cast member, but they can refer to different cast members thus provide animations.
To use frame by frame from Edit list, select Edit sprite frame. This makes easer to select frames within a sprite. Then Select the frame Keyframe Select the cast member to replace the current one. From Edit list select Exchange Cast Member Repeat the above
Cast to time
To move a series of cast members to the score as one sprite.
Select the frame where you wont the new sprite
Select a sequence of cast members From Modify list select Cast to time
Space to time A method to arrange several images on
the stage in one frame and convert them to a single sprite.
Steps: Change the Span duration of each sprite to
one frame(edit, preference, sprite) Create images and bring them to stage after
selecting an empty frame Select the sprites in the frame From Modify list, select space to time In the separation text box set the number of
frames separating sprites.
Animation Software.swf originally meant “Shockwave Flash” but now “Small Web Format”
flv (used on YouTube) or swf (Flash Animations) ?
Animated GIF Flash Director
Created by Depends Flash Director
Extension Source depends.gif (movie)
.fla (source)
.swf (movie).dir (source).dcr (movie)
Size Larger than normal gif
Vector images take up less space than GIF bitmapped images
Vector images take up less space than GIF bitmapped images
Uses Banners, small areas
Interactive video, graphics, animation
More interactive sites
Need to play it Nothing Flash Player (Free and works with most browsers)
Web browser plug in (The Shockwave Player)
Principles of Animation There are 12 principles of Animations identified
by professionals in the field.
By following and knowing when, where and how to apply these basic ideas, and by understanding them, one should be able to create good animation.
Timing Arcs Staging Personality
Ease In and Out
Squash and Stretch
Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Straight Ahead Action and Pose-To-Pose Action
Appeal Exaggeration Secondary Action Anticipation
Timing Timing, or the speed of an action, is an important
principle because it gives meaning to movement and defines how well the idea will be read to the audience. Example: Something like an eye blink can be fast or slow. If it's
fast, a character will seem alert and awake. If it's slow the character may seem tired.
In order to make your idea's readable, it's important to spend enough (but not too much) time preparing the audience. This is done through three objectives: Anticipation The action itself Reaction
Timing can also defines the weight of an object. Example What does the picture tell you?
Timing Head Turn 60 Frame
Looks like stretch
30 Frame Looks like “no no no”
5 Frame Looks like he got hit
Copyright ©1999 Michael B. Comet All Rights Reserved.
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Slow In and Out In early animation, the action was limited to be
either fast or slow As more pose to pose animation action came
into play, animators wanted audiences to be able to see the poses.
They use this principle to achieve that goal. "Slowing out" of one pose and "slowing in" to
another one refers to the timing of the in-betweens.
Eases can be used to create acceleration and deceleration.
Slow in and Out
Example: A Bouncing Ball Typically, when animated, the
bouncing ball moves faster as it approaches or leaves the ground and slower as it approaches or leaves its maximum position. See this.
Slow In and Out
Arcs
The visual path of action for natural movement of flexible objects is arc.
Arcs, in nature, are the most economical routes for something move from one place to another.
In animation, arcs are used to make the movement more smooth.
Movement: Arcs
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Anticipation The preparation for an action. There are three parts to an action:
Anticipation The action itself Reaction
There are two main uses of anticipation: Prepare for a movement. Without it, the audience
does not know what to expect and can get lost. Direct the audience to the right part of the scene at
the right time.
Anticipation Examples
Pulling back a foot – about to kick? Runaway?
Staring in a certain direction – what’s there of interest? What’s coming?
Person rising from a chair if they use their arms,
they may be heavier/older; if they don’t, lighter/younger
Anticipation Examples
When a person is about to steal something their eyes shift up and down the looking for security, and then at the item they wish to take.
Anticipation could also be used to mislead the audience!!!.
Example see the two balls
Squash and Stretch I Squash and stretch is a way of deforming
an object such that it shows how rigid the object is by distorting it's shape during an action.
When an object is moved, it emphasizes any rigidity in the object.
In real life, only the most rigid objects remain rigid during movement; anything composed of flesh will show a change of shape during movement.
Examples: 1 , 2, and 3
Squash and Stretch II A standard test for animators is to draw a
bouncing ball, represented by a simple circle.
This test introduces the principles of squash and stretch as well as timing.
The trick is to elongate the ball as it falls, flatten it as it hits, and return it to it's circular shape near the top of the next bounce.
Squash and Stretch III
A face, whether chewing, smiling, talking, or just showing a change of expression is alive with changing shapes in the cheeks, the lips, and the eyes.
Does the Volume change? Answer NO. The most important rule to
squash and stretch is that, no matter how squashed or stretched out a particular object gets, its volume remains constant.
Staging I Presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably
clear. The eye of the audience must be led to exactly
where it needs to be at the exact moment so that they will not miss the idea.
Only one idea should be seen by the audience at a time.
The object of interest should contrast from the rest of the scene. (something is moving at a different speed – something is a different color – something makes a different sound)
Staging II Each idea or action must be staged in the
strongest and simplest way before going on to the next idea or action.
As a general rule the audience should be able to tell what is happening just by seeing the silhouette of the characters.
Symmetry in animation tends to also build a boring scene.
Staging III Personality: A personality is staged so that it is
recognizable; an expression so that it can be seen;. A shy child would turn their eyes down, and slightly rotate their
upper body away for the gaze of another child. The child's actions reveal the fact that he is shy. When staging a
personality, it is useful to use characteristics that clearly define the character.
Mood: A mood is staged so that it will affect the audience. The tight composition of dark trees in a dense forest, leaning in toward a scared youth; hurried breathing filling the air; the child’s eye wide open. All of these elements have been clearly staged to inspire fear.
Staging IV In "Luxo, Jr.", the story, acting, and emotion
were heavily dependent on this principle. The audience is asked to switch often from "Dad" to "Jr" and they do this because Jr. moves faster than dad (contrast from the scene).
In "Andre and Wally B." Andre wakes up and scratches his SIDE, not his stomach, to help clarify what's happening and not confuse the audience (silhouette). In "Luxo, Jr." all the action is in silhouette; the two characters are not overlapping each other.
Exaggeration I Used to highlight the essence of an idea via the design
and action. The animator must go to the heart of his scene to decide
what the audience needs to see exaggerated. If the character is to be sad, make him sadder; worried,
make him fret; etc. When using exaggeration, all the parts of the scene must
be taken into effect; the action, the emotion, the color, etc.
If only one thing is exaggerated, it will seem unrealistic; likewise, if everything is exaggerated, it will be equally unrealistic.
The animator must find that delicate balance that the audience will recognize; something that seems natural to them but becomes their basis of comparison.
Exaggeration II Bad
Good
Copyright ©1999 Michael B. Comet All Rights Reserved.
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Exaggeration III
For example, in "Luxo, Jr." the lamps were modeled after the real luxo lamp, but "Jr.'s" proportions were exaggerated to give him the appearance of a child. The movement of the lamps had the feel of real physics, but was very exaggerated in order to accentuate it.
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Follow Through and Overlapping Action I The termination of an action and
establishing its relationship to the next action.
Just as "anticipation" is the preparation for an action, follow through is it's termination. In any movement, actions rarely come to a direct stop; instead, they are carried past a termination point.
For example, when hitting a golf ball, you don't stop your club at the moment of impact, but follow through the swing.
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Follow Through and Overlapping Action II In "Andre and Wally B." this principle was used
extensively with Wally B., on his feet and antennae. They all dragged behind him. Also, instead of all of his feet leaving the scene, they left
a frame or two apart (not really noticeable to the naked eye, but it made the scene a little more believable).
This is called overlapping action and helps the scene maintain a continuous flow.
Example: Balls Top: No Follow thru Bottom: Follow thru
Follow Through and Overlapping Action III
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Appeal Creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys
watching. Appeal is really anything a person likes to see; some
charming quality or pleasing design (whether it be “cute” or “evil” that you’re trying to invoke) that draws in an audience. "Luxo Jr.'s" feeling of a baby and parent lamp were important for the audience to feel.
Also twins are unappealing to audiences -- twins are when both arms and legs are in the same position doing the same thing. This gives a very stiff appearance and audiences are lost. So, in "Andre and Wally B.", when Andre stretches, one arm is up and one is down at an angle; his feet are rotated differently, and the action of his movements are timed such that each arm acts individually; not at the same time. All of these efforts make Andre more appealing to audiences.
Appeal Creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys
watching. Appeal is really anything a person likes to see; some
charming quality or pleasing design that draws in an audience. "Luxo Jr.'s" feeling of a baby and parent lamp were important for the audience to feel. Also twins are unappealing to audiences -- twins are when both arms and legs are in the same position doing the same thing. This gives a very stiff appearence and audiences are lost. So, in "Andre and Wally B.", when Andre stretches, one arm is up and one is down at an angle; his feet are rotated differently, and the action of his movements are timed such that each arm acts individually; not at the same time. All of these efforts make Andre more appealing to audiences.
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Appeal
Two Animation Techniques for Action Pose-to-Pose
Straight-ahead
(Ex: Ryan by Chris Landreth)
Copyright "Illusion of Life: Disney Animation" by Ollie Frank/Johnson Thomas
Secondary Action
Copyright "Illusion of Life: Disney Animation" by Ollie Frank/Johnson Thomas
Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose Action
Two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement.
straight ahead - animator works "straight ahead" from the first drawing to the last, knowing where the scene fits into the story and what it must contain. He does drawing after drawing, getting new ideas along the way until the scene is concluded.
pose to pose - animator plans his actions, figures out what drawings are needed to complete the scene and creates them, concentrating on poses and the relationships between the characters.
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Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose Action
Two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement.
straight ahead - animator works "straight ahead" from the first drawing to the last, knowing where the scene fits into the story and what it must contain. He does drawing after drawing, getting new ideas along the way until the scene is concluded.
pose to pose - animator plans his actions, figures out what drawings are needed to complete the scene and creates them, concentrating on poses and the relationships between the characters.
Posing the Characters
Posing – presenting the character to the camera – gives the audience the first impression
Secondary Action The action of an object resulting from
another action. This principle brings heightened interest
and realism. The secondary action is always kept subordinate to the primary action, so as not to draw away too much attention or conflict with the primary action. Examples we've seen include Wally B.'s feet dragging behind him and Luxo Jr.'s cord rippling behind him as he moves along.
Secondary Action Watch the
movement of the cord behind Jr. – if it didn’t move, we might not buy it!
How about dealing with bed covers that are too short?
Secondary Action
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Secondary Action The action of an object resulting from another
action. This principle brings heightened interest and
realism. The secondary action is always kept subordinate to the primary action, so as not to draw away too much attention or conflict with the primary action. Examples we've seen include Wally B.'s feet dragging behind him and Luxo Jr.'s cord rippling behind him as he moves along.
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Secondary Action Watch the
movement of the cord behind Jr. – if it didn’t move, we might not buy it!
How about dealing with bed covers that are too short?