IART219220221 Animation Character Representation

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IART-219/220/221AnimationCharacter
Representation

• ? Believable Characters
• ? Behavioural Modeling
• ? Emotional States
• ? Face and Facial Expressions

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Characters
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Characters

• Communication through representation of
  characters and their actions
• Identify with? Fantasize about? ?
• Strongly under influence of social stereotypes
  and political rules
• Sexism
• Racism
• ?
• Politically correctness ?

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Visual Development

• Look
• Cartoon
• Stylized
• Realistic
• Anatomy
• External Shape and Silhouette
• Internal Structure (for 3D animation)
• Skeleton, joints, etc

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Believability vs. Realism

• Disney animation makes audience really believe
  in characters. There is a special ingredient in
  our type of animation that produces drawing that
  appear to think and make decisions and act of
  their own volition it is what creates the
  illusion of life.
• F. Thomas and O. Johnston

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Believability

• Believability. That is what we were striving
  for.
• Chuck Jones (Warner Bros.)
• From the earliest days, it has been the
  portrayal of emotions that has given the Disney
  characters the illusion of life.
• Thomas and Johnston (Disney)

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Believable Character

• Personality traits
• Long term individual characteristics
• Moods
• Relatively short-term results of events,
  situations, and needs
• Emotion and sensation
• Knowledge/job/actions
• What a person is supposed to do
• Rules of interaction
• Immediate actions and reactions (talking, moving,
  expressions, etc)

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MBTI Personality Framework

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
• Type of Social Interaction
• Extrovert (E)
• Introvert (I)
• Preference for Gathering Data
• Sensing (S)
• Intuitive (N)
• Preference for Decision Making
• Feeling (F)
• Thinking (T)
• Style of Decision Making
• Perceptive (P)
• Judgmental (J)

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Big Five Personality Model

• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Emotional stability
• Openness to experience
• Conscientiousness

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Thayers Mood Models
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Russells Circumplex Model
Aroused
Alarmed
Excited
Afraid
Delighted
Angry
Happy
Frustrated
Content
Depressed
Sad
Calm
Bored
Relaxed
Sleepy
Tired
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Behavioural Modeling (Arya,DiPaola)
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Modeling Hierarchy (Funge,Tu,Terzopoulos)
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Personality Representation

• External shape
• Silhouette
• Internal structure
• Facial expressions
• Body poses
• Timing and Rhythm
• Typical behaviours

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Example 1 Drunken Pig
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Drunken Pig

• Outer Shape Massive, uniform, even boring
• Silhouette Little details, limbs dont show
• Internal Structure Limited joint mobility
• Facial Expressions None, just a blank stare
• Body Poses Monotonous
• Timing Slow, off-beat, erratic

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Example 2 Perky Girl
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Perky Girl

• Outer Shape Well-defined, many shapes
• Silhouette Attractive, long limbs
• Internal Structure Lots of mobility, ample
  motions
• Facial Expressions Varied, multiple, distinct
• Body Poses Wide range, unique, sculptural
• Timing Alive, rhythmic, gracious

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Example 3 Paranoid Guy
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Paranoid Guy

• Outer Shape Simple but varied
• Silhouette Friendly, cartoony
• Internal Structure Very mobile, almost robbery
• Facial Expressions Limited to eyes, effective
• Body Poses Expressive but small repertoire
• Timing Quick, ahead of the beat

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Emotions

• Charles Darwin
• Universality of emotions
• Expression of the Emotions in Men and Animals,
  1872
• Paul Ekman and W.V. Friesen
• Analysis of facial expressions in different
  cultures
• Facial Action Coding System (FACS), 1978

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FACS Sample Action Units
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Universal Emotions

• Sadness and agony
• Anger
• Surprise
• Fear
• Disgust
• Contempt
• Happiness

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Facial Expressionssee Paul Ekman, Emotions
Revealed, 2003
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Basic Facial Expressions
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Basic Facial Expressions
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Facial Expressions

• Built-in ways of effective communication
• Smiles give pleasure
• Quick raise of eyebrow for greeting
• Eye contact
• Blush !
• More personal than speech
• Most animals use body language
• Man needed expressions, still does.

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Expressive People

• We still use expressions frequently.
• Some people are more expressive
• More expressive people may be happier

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Flexible Face

• Muscles on our face enable us to make up to 7000
  distinct expressions.
• Cold-blooded animals are covered with thick rigid
  skin.
• Evolution made mouth/jaw smaller
• Naked hairless face is better for expressions
• eyebrows

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T Pattern
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T Pattern

• Quest for food - survival
• Three senses close to each other
• Mouth dominates everything
• Eye above falling food and shadow
• Eyebrow to protect and block the sweat ?
• Frontal eye -gt 3D, side eyes for preys
• Flat face, rising forehead, nose, and chin
  appeared gradually.

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References

• FACE, Brian Bates
• IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, Bruce Young
• ATLAS OF FACIAL EXPRESSION, Stephen Rogers Peck
• COMPUTER FACIAL ANIMATION, Parke Waters
• THE FACE, Daniel McNeill
• EMOTIONS REVEALED, Paul Ekman