Animation

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Animation

• CPSC 533c Fall 2005
• Ying Zhang

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Agenda

• Animation can it facilitate? (Barbara Tversky)
• Principles of Tranditional Animation Applied to
  3D Computer Animation (John Lasseter)

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Animation can it facilitate?

• What is good about graphics used in teaching
  complex systems?
• If used properly, static graphics enables
  comprehension, learning, memory, communication
  and inference of complex process and structures.
• What is good about animated graphics?
• Animated graphics should be even better and more
  effective.

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Animation can it facilitate?

• What is bad about animated graphics?
• Animation conveys more information or involve
  interactivity that overloads audiences visual
  systems.
• So , animation may be ineffective because they
  are often too complex or too fast to be
  accurately viewed.

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Judging Animation based on two Principles

• The Congruence Principle
• The structure and content of the external
  representation should correspond to the desired
  structure and content of the internal
  representation.
• So animation may apparently be compelling and
  convey concepts of change and expressing complex
  process
• ? but check out the following

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Animation can it facilitate?

• Due to several animated processes going on at the
  same time, animation interfering with the
  information that was supposed to be conveyed to
  the audience.

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Animation can it facilitate?

• http//www.keveney.com/Vstirling.html
• http//www.interactivephysics.com/simulations.html

• http//www.keveney.com/Stirling.html

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Animation can it facilitate?

• A good animated graphics must be comparable to
  informationally equivalent static graphics.
• e.g. In Physics http//physics.nad.ru/Physics/En
  glish/mech.htm

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Animation can it facilitate?

• Compared with static graphics in some cases,
  animation allows interactivity while the static
  condition does not, so the apparent benefit of
  using animation is due to interactivity rather
  than animation itself.
• E.g. http//www.exploratorium.edu/origins/cern/too
  ls/accelerate.html

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Animation can it facilitate?

• Animations are often interactive interactivity
  is known to facilitate performance.
• While animation alone is usually distracting and
  is not effective as a teaching tool.
• So what is actually facilitate learning
  performance is not animation but interactivity.

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Animation can it facilitate?

• Apprehension Principle
• The structure and content of the external
  representation should be readily and accurately
  perceived and comprehended
• So when used in teaching complex systems,
  animated graphics are usually hard to view, and
  should convey discrete information rather than
  continuous , and provide interactivity.

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Animation can it facilitate?

• E.g. horse movement http//www.funnysnaps.com/iga
  it.html

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Animation can it facilitate?

• In conclusion, what appeared to be the successes
  of using animation are not successes.
• According to the principles , animation should be
  slow and clear enough for observers to
  understanding the underlying information.
• Accompanied with interactivity, the drawbacks of
  animation may be overcome and its advantages
  might even be enhanced.
• However, whether animations are more effective
  than static graphics for demonstrating complex
  operations is still unknown.

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation John Lasseter

• The key to make good 3D animation is the
  application of traditional hand drawing technique
  and principles to 3D computer animation.

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Squash and stretch
• Timing
• Anticipation
• Staging
• Following through and overlapping action
• Straight ahead action and pose-to-pose action

• Slow in and out
• Arcs
• Exaggeration
• Secondary action
• Appeal
• Personality

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Principles of Traditional Animation
• Squash and Stretch
• Defining the rigidity and mass of an object by
  distorting its shape during an action.
• Such as an object squash flat and stretch out
  drastically, it conveys the sense of softness.
• e.g. http//www.idleworm.com/how/anm/01b/bball.sh
  tml

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Timing
• Spacing actions to define the weight and size of
  objects and the personality of characters. It
  gives meaning to movement.
• e.g. Luxos Jr http//www.cs.ubc.ca/yingzhan/cs5
  33c/present/animated-bw-luxo.gif

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Anticipation preparation for the action.
• Purpose
• Anatomical provision for an action
• Catch audiences eyes
• Emphasize heavy weight
• E.g. http//www.cs.ubc.ca/yingzhan/cs533c/present
  /batter.gif

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Staging present an idea unmistakably clear

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Following through and overlapping action
• termination of an action and establishing its
  relationship to the next action

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Straight ahead action
• Animator works straight from his first drawing in
  the scene.
• Pose-to-pose action
• animator makes separate drawing focusing from
  pose to pose, and then draws the inbetweens.

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Slow in and out
• The spacing of the inbetween frames to achieve
  subtlety of timing and movement
• e.g. bouncing ball

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Arcs
• The visual path of action for natural movement.

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Exaggeration
• Emphasizes the essence of an idea via the design
  and the action.
• It works with any other principles, it has to be
  used carefully otherwise, it will also make a
  character look unrealistic.
• e.g. Andre and Wally B

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Secondary action
• an action that results directly from another
  action.

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Appeal
• Anything that a person wants to see such as a
  quality of charm, pleasing design, simplicity,
  communication, or magnetism.
• e.g. Luxo Jr.

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• Personality
• the character must have a desired personality to
  become alive and attractive to the audience.
• E.g. Tin Toy
• E.g. Geris game

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Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation

• The essence of making appealing animation is
  about mixing traditional artistic sense into
  animation drawing with the help of hardware and
  software.

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Movie?