Computer

Animation
and algorithms
 Textbook
•Computer Animation: Algorithms and
Techniques, by Rick Parent, Morgan &
Kaufmann, 2001
What is your favorite film?
 ‫استمرارية الرؤية‬

Persistence of vision
• A single image presented to a viewer for a
short time will leave an imprint of itself in the
visual system for a short time after it is
removed
• When a person is presented with a sequence
of closely related still images at a fast enough
rate, persistence of vision induces the
sensation of continuous imagery.
 The idea of animation
• The idea of animation film is playback

• The basic idea behind animation is to play

back the recorded images at the rates fast
enough to fool the human eye into
interpreting them as continuous motion.
Animation can make a series of dead images
come alive.
 What is a frame?
A frame is a single still image, which is then
combined in a rapid slideshow with other still
images, each one slightly different, to achieve
the illusion of natural motion.
• Static scene capture → image
• Bring in motion → video
(images sequence →frame by frame)
 Frames per second (fps)
frame time (fT)
• FPS refers to the number of individual frames that appear
in a single second,
• while frame time measures the amount of time between
frames.
• Your eye and brain can hold on to a series of images long
enough to form a single complete picture.
• the human eye and brain can only process 10 to 15
separate images per second.
• If a subsequent image replaces it in this period of time it
will create the illusion ‫الوهم‬of continuity.
• the 60-frames-per-second rate that many have accepted as
the uppermost limit.
• What if the rate is not fast enough?
 Frame rate
• The frame rate is how many of these images are displayed in one second.

• Frame rates are measured in FPS or Frames per Second.

 Why does frame rate matter?
• a frame rate often means thinking about multiple factors,
such as how realistic you want your video to look or
whether or not you plan to use techniques like slow
motion or motion-blur effects.
• Frame speed
– Lower rate (Flicker motion )
– Perception fails to be created

– Higher rate (Motion blur)

– Object move quickly to the viewer
 Motion Blur
Models inability of camera to take pictures instantaneously

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Rick Parent Computer Animation
History of Animation
From
The First Animated Film
to
CGI Animation
 1- phenakistoscope
• creating the illusion of
movement through still
images
 2- Zoetrope -1933
• A zoetrope is one of
several pre-film
animation devices that
produce the illusion of
motion by displaying a
sequence of drawings
or photographs showing
progressive phases of
that motion. It was
basically a cylindrical
 3- Flipbook

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Rick Parent Computer Animation

Early Devices - Thaumatrop

Computer Animation
Layers
Traditional Animation
+ audio
• Traditional animation made its
debut in 1906 with a short film
featuring different facial expressions.
• The genre allows for the illusion of animated movement
due to the frame-by-frame manipulation
of drawings and illustrations.
• The release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in
1937 marked the first time that traditionally animated
films began to be taken seriously by the Hollywood
community and audiences alike.
Pixar
 Applications
• Video Games/Interactive media
• Reconstructing events (for courtroom, education
or television)
• Education – Help explain difficult concepts in a
visual way, such as medicine or science.
• Internet memes/Animated Gifs
• Commercials/Infomercials
• Websites/Splash Pages
• Graphs
• VR and AR
 Software
Blender (The Blender Foundation)
Unreal agent
Flash (Adobe)
3ds Max (Autodesk)
Maya (Autodesk)
Unity 3d
Basics of Animation
 Rendering

– The rendering stage is usually associated with

computer-generated animation, although
rendering can also refer to the process of creating
final animation frames.
• Using weaker graphic cards will result in a
slower rendering process. Therefore, having
dedicated graphics hardware and pre-
compiling available data is crucial for
improving real-time rendering performance.
Traditional Animation

• Traditional animation made its

debut in 1906 with a short film
featuring different facial expressions.
• The genre allows for the illusion of animated movement
due to the frame-by-frame manipulation
of drawings and illustrations.
• The release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in
1937 marked the first time that traditionally animated
films began to be taken seriously by the Hollywood
community and audiences alike.
 The Animation Process
to Create an Animated Video
 A- Pre-production
• Step 1 – Research
• Step 2 – Concept and script
• Step 3 – Storyboard
• Step 4 – Styling
• Step 5 – Voiceover
 1- Research
• It always helps to send out a questionnaire of
sorts, or a creative brief that your client can fill
out.
– It should help you gather details like the purpose
of the video,
– who will be the target audience,
– what do we want to highlight in the video.
 2- Script
• This is the step where you can tell the
direction your video is headed.
• Let’s look a few pro-tips to keep a note of
when writing your video script:
– Keep the length of your video between 1 to 2
minutes
– Avoid creating a wordy script, as it takes away
from the visual experience you are trying to create
Scripting example
 3- Storyboard
• A storyboard is actually a visual script of the
video.
• It shows scene-by-scene how the video or
story will flow by defined the visuals, objects,
and actions.
• It can be hand-drawn sketches, or you can also
use software like Storyboarder and Plot to
draw your storyboard.
• From now on, the storyboard helps lead the
designer, voiceover artist, and animator.
• It helps them with designing the background,
and characters, identifying pitch, and where to
take pauses in the script and creating
transitions in the animation.
 4- Voiceover
• The following step is to find the right voice that
makes your narrative more impactful.
• Depending on which perspective of the story you
are telling, you need to find the perfect voiceover
artist.
• If you are telling the story of a company or its
founders, you can even ask one of them to give
their voice to the video for a more personal
touch.
• You can find premium options for a voiceover
artist using platforms like Voices and Fiverr.
• Make sure you have a vision for the ideal voice
of the video that makes your characters come
to life with the right tone, pitch, and pace.
 5- Styling
• At this stage of the animation
process, our designer further
visualizes the story and adds style
following the brand guidelines of
the client.
• In a way, it’s like a colored
storyboard with customized,
professionally colored images. It
also includes detailed backgrounds,
more defined character designs,
illustrations, and any text or icons
that might be used in the video.
 B- Production
• Now that you have done all your background
work, this is where the real work begins.
Production can involve these key steps.
– Layout
– Modeling
– Texturing
– Lighting
– Rigging
– Animation
– Rendering
– Voice-over
 1- Layout
• Layout design for animation is the process of
conceptualizing your environment based on
the story of your animated film. Then, you go
on to adapting it to the stylistic choices of
your film.
• The primary role of a layout artist is to set the
stage on which your animation, i.e. your
character and specials effects take place.
Layout example
 2. Modeling
• Modeling transforms your animated features into three
dimensional figures.
• To achieve this, modelers have to work closely with art
directors to ensure that all models are designed in
compliance with the characteristic visual style of your
animation.
• They then assist the technical animator and developers
to furnish skeletal framework and develop skin. Once
that is done, modelers go on to add facial expressions,
paying close attention to adding specific muscle
tensions that may be required.
Modeling example
 3. Texturing
• Texturing is used to tap into one of our
primary senses, touch. Artists think a lot about
stimulating and engaging their viewers’ sense
of touch, even if they wouldn’t exactly touch
it.
• To enhance the look or feel of a surface,
texture artists work with a number of things,
such as wrinkles, fur, scales, sweat, and mud.
Texture example
 4. Lighting
• Animated films without virtual lights would be
extremely flat. So, lighting artists use light to
support the emotion of their story and make
film look and feel believable.
• In general, lighting helps to achieve the
following benefits.
 5. Rigging
• Animation sets things in literal motion. But before
you can animate your piece, you have to take
care of something called rigging.
• Rigging creates connections between objects in
your story to make animating them a lot easier.
• Through rigging, you can represent your 3D
characters using a series of interconnected digital
bones, working and moving all individual
components of your model as a one whole.
 6- Animation
• The animation stage is where you add movement
to your story and make it more powerful.
• Our animators add life to the characters, objects,
and backgrounds and top it off with a perfectly
timed voiceover that brings your video to the
final stage.
• However, animation is a time-consuming process,
so make sure you provide your animator the
creative space they need.
• Animators have sometimes needed to study
animals movement too, for
example to create the gorillas in Tarzan, the
lions in The Lion King and the bears in
Brother Bear.
 C- Post-production
• In the final phase of film creation, you take care
of all the ways to polish up your animated work.
This involves editing raw footage to cut scenes
together, working with sound effects and voice-
overs, or in some cases, dubbing.
• Overall, there are three main stages of post-
production:
– Composting
– Sound editing
– Video editing
 2- Sound Effects
• Whether you think your video needs music, or
additional sound effects, this is the time to do
that.
• Often we use platforms like AudioJungle and
Melodyloops to find the right, high-quality,
royalty-free music that goes seamlessly with
the overall vibe of the video.
 3. Video Editing
• Video editors are not only artists, they are
problem solvers, and expend hours editing,
reviewing and polishing your work.
• Basically, doing just about everything that is
vital to creating a successful animation.
 Finding inspiration
• everything begins with an idea. To make an animated
movie (or any movie in general) you need to think of a
story first.
• If the animation isn’t the best but the story is great, you
have a good movie; but when it’s the other way around,
then the movie is worthless.
• To come up with a good story you need to find
inspiration. How can you do that? You just have to
observe what is around you. Inspiration can come from
everywhere, a movie, a song, Use anything from your
own life to get inspired.