Computer Graphics(CG)

Computer Graphics-CS-509
Computer Animation

Please be on time
(better: before time)
 Introduction
• Animate = “Give life to”
• Adding the dimension of time to graphics
• Animator specifies movement of objects
through time and space
 Traditional Animation
• Early 2D Animation: Used traditional
techniques
• Early 3D Animation: Neglected traditional
techniques.
• Understanding the Fundamental principles
of traditional animation techniques is
essential to producing good computer
animation.
 1. Squash and Stretch

• Teaches basic
mechanics of
animation.

• Defines rigidity of
material.

• Important in facial
animation.
Squash and Stretch Cont.
• Can relieve the
disturbing effect of
strobing.
 2. Timing and Motion
• Gives meaning to movement.
• Proper timing is critical to making ideas readable.

Examples:
1. Timing: tiny characters move quicker than
larger ones.

2. Motion: can define weights of objects.

 3. Anticipation

Preparation for an action

Example:
Goofy prepares to hit a baseball.
 4. Staging

A clear presentation of an idea.

Some Techniques:
1. Use motion in a still scene or use of static
movement in a busy scene.
 5. Follow Through and Overlapping
Action

1. Follow Through
Termination part of an action.

Example: after throwing a ball

2. Overlapping Action
Starting a second action before the first has completed.

Example: Luxo Jr.’s hop with overlapping

action on chord.
6. Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose
Action

1. Straight Ahead
Animator start from first drawing in the scene and
draw all subsequent frames until the end of
scene.
2. Pose-to-Pose
Animator plans actions, draws a sequence of poses, in
between frames etc.
 7. Slow in and Out
1. 3d keyframe comp.
Systems uses spline
Spacing of inbetween interpolation to control the
frames to achieve path of an object.
subtlety of timing 2. Has tendency to overshoot
and movement. at extremes (small # of
frames).
 8. Arcs

• Visual path of action for natural movement.

• Makes animation much smoother and less
stiff than a straight line.
 9. Exaggeration

• Accentuating the essence of an idea via the

design and the action.
• Needs to be used carefully.

Example: Luxo Jr.

made smaller to give
idea of a child.
 10. Secondary Action
• Action that results directly from another action.
• Used to increase the complexity and interest of a
scene.

Example:
Body movement is the
primary action, facial
expression is the secondary
action
 11. Appeal
• Refers to what an audience would like to see.
• Character cannot be too simple (boring) or too
complex.

Examples:
Avoid mirror symmetry,
assymmetry is interesting.
 Conventional Animation
• Draw each frame of the animation
– great control
– tedious
• Reduce burden with cel animation
– layer
– keyframe
– Inbetween
 Computer-Assisted Animation
• Keyframing
– automate the in betweening
– good control
– less tedious
– creating a good animation
still requires considerable skill ACM © 1987 “Principles of traditional
and talent animation applied to 3D computer
animation”
• Procedural animation
– describes the motion algorithmically
– express animation as a function
of small number of parameteres
– 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
 Computer-Assisted Animation

• Physically Based Animation

– Assign physical properties to objects
(masses, forces, inertial properties)
– Simulate physics by solving equations
ACM© 1988 “Spacetime Constraints”
– Realistic but difficult to control
• Motion Capture
– Captures style, subtle nuances and realism
– You must observe someone do something
 Keyframing

ACM © 1987 “Principles of traditional animation applied

to 3D computer animation”
s(t)
• Describe motion of objects as a function of
time from a set of key object positions. In
short, compute the inbetween frames.
Slide 20 6.837 Fall 2001
 Character animation
• Articulated models:
– rigid parts
– connected by joints
• They can be animated by specifying the joint angles (or other display
parameters) as functions of time.
qi qi (t )

t1 t2 t1 t2
 Forward Kinematics
• Describes the positions of the body parts as a function of the
joint angles.
1 DOF: knee 2 DOF: wrist 3 DOF: arm

Slide 22
 Animating Articulated Structures
• Some definitions
• Kinematics: The study of motion independant of
forces producing the motion
• Articulated figure: A structure consisting of rigid
links connected at joints
• Degrees of freedom (DOF): The number of
independent joint variables specifying the state of the
structure
• End Effector: The end of a chain of links, i.e. a hand
or a foot
• State vector: The set of independent parameters
which define a particular state of the articulated
structure, thus the state vector Q is (Q1, Q2, ..., QN)
where it has N degrees of freedom.
 Skeleton Hierarchy
• Each bone transformation described relative to the parent in the hierarchy:
x h , y h , zh , qh , f h , s h
hips
qt , f t , st ...
left-leg
r-thigh

qc
r-calf

qff , f r-foot
x h , y h , zh , qh , f h , s h Forward Kinematics
Transformation matrix for a
qt , f t , st sensor/effecter vs is a matrix composition
of all joint transformation between the
sensor/effecter and the root of the
qc hierarchy.
y

vs
qff , f vs x
z

vw = T(xh, yh, zh )R(qh, f h, sh ) TR(qt , f t , st ) TR(qc ) TR(qff, f ) vs

 
vw =S  xh , y h , zh , h , h ,  h ,t , t ,  t ,c ,ff ,   v s =S pv s
                 
 p 
Slide 25
 Inverse Kinematics
• Forward Kinematics
– Given the skeleton parameters (position of the root and the joint angles) p and the
position of the sensor/effecter in local coordinates vs, what is the position of the
sensor in the world coordinates vw. S pv s
– Not too hard, we can solve it by evaluating
• Inverse Kinematics
– Given the the position of the sensor/effecter in local coordinates vs
and the position of the sensor in the world coordinates vw, what are
the skeleton parameters p.
pinverse of
– Much harder requires solvingSthe
the non-linear function p? such that S p v s  vw 0  
– We can solve it by root-finding
minimize S pv s  vw 
2

– We can solve it by optimization p

 Kinematics vs. Dynamics

• Kinematics
• Describes the positions of the body parts as a
function of the joint angles.
• Dynamics
• Describes the positions of the body parts as a
function of the applied forces.
 kinematics
• Suppose you want
the robot to
pick up a can of oil
to drink. How?
• You could set the
joint positions at
each moment in
the animation
(kinematics)
 Inverse Kinematics
• You can’t just invert the
joint transformations
• Joint settings aren’t even
necessarily unique for a
hand position!
• Inverse kinematics:
figure out from the hand
position where the joints
should be set.
 Using Inverse Kinematics
• Specify joint
constraints
and priorities
• Move end effector
(or object pose)
• Let the system figure
out joint positions
 Keyframe Animation
• In traditional key frame animation the animator draws several
important frames, and helpers do the “inbetweening” or
“tweening”
• Computer animation is also key-frame based
• At key frames, animator positions objects and lights, sets
parameters, etc.
• The system interpolates parameter values linearly or along a
curve
• To get from one object pose to the next, inverse kinematics
determine joint motions
 Motion Capture
• More realistic
motion sequences
can be generated
by Motion Capture
• Attach joint
position indicators
to real actors
• Record live action
Interactive Computer
Chapter 9 - 33
Graphics
 Character Animation
• To make computer graphics
(or cartoon drawings)
come alive…

Interactive Computer
Chapter 9 - 34
Graphics
 Reading Assessment
• Computer Graphics
Curves and surfaces

• Bezier Curves
• B-spline curve

Interactive Computer
Chapter 9 - 35
Graphics
Role of Personality
• Animator’s first goal is to entertain.
• Success of animation lies in the personality of the
characters.

Conclusion

Hardware/Software are simply not enough,

these principles are just as important tools
too.