I was in a confusion that why animations are so important in movies. Does movies have any effect using animations. In the early days animation was sketchy at best. The most we could have hoped for was less than realistic images of giant lizards and insects that terrorized the countryside. That all changed when computers came into being. The computer age helped to blur the line between fantasy and reality to give us the movies that we love so much. Using the newest technology allowed filmmakers to bring to the screen that which was deemed impossible in the early days of movies. When the special effects are a part of the movies animations are compulsory. The animation of his characters in the first film gave people their first glimpse of the future and the movie was an overnight sensation. Many of the science fiction films came in early and middle eighties. This also spawned many companies based on the new technology that are still sought out to make dreams and imagination come true. The movie animation business is now a billion dollar a year industry that employs some of the best animators and computer specialists in the entire world. This is how the world was brought the hit movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? This film was the first of its kind where animated characters or cartoon characters interacted with the human characters in the entire story line. This was a new concept that was a smash hit in its time. The world had never seen anything like it and the trickery of the camera made everyone believe that they could touch and see a cartoon character like they did in the movie. Today the animation in movies is far more advanced. Where filmmakers were once limited to making only two-dimensional animated characters the norm now is three dimensional, fully interactive animated characters that dominate the screen. The first real advancement in this technology was the movie Toy Story. This film was created on a computer and featured no human presence in the film itself besides the voice over. The world was treated to the future of animation and movies with this film and it became an over night success.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Maya: Animation Software
I would always feel that how hard the animators work and how the animations are made. I have gone through the basic research on Internet in which I found one of the good software used for animations that is MAYA. And I would like to share my research on animations. Let us see some of the essential forms of computer animation that use the software called Maya.
Key frame Animation
This is the essential, fundamental form of computer animation. The model is placed in a starting pose or position, and a keyframe is set. Some frames later, another keyframe is set, and the model is moved as desired. This process is repeated as many times as needed. The animation software interpolates the motion needed to move the model smoothly between the keyframes. What this means is that if the animator keys a box, and moves the box across the room in the next keyframe, when the scene is scrubbed or viewed, the box will glide across the floor instead of jumping from frame to frame. This applies to anything in the scene - moving fingers, eyelids, moving lips, etc.
Nonlinear Animation
In Maya, there are two types of clip: source clips and regular clips. Maya preserves and protects a character's original animation curves by storing them in source clips. Moving, manipulating, and blending regular clips to produce a smooth series of motions for a character is the basis of nonlinear animation. The tool with which you manage all these aspects of a character's nonlinear animation is the Trax Editor.
Path Animation
A path animation controls the position and rotation of an object along a curve. An object must first be attached to the curve for it to become a path curve. You can also generate motion paths by animating objects using motion path keys.
Skeletons
Skeletons are hierarchical, articulated structures that let you pose and animate bound models. A skeleton provides a deformable model with a similar underlying structure as the human skeleton gives the human body. Just like in the human body, the location of joints and the number of joints you add to a skeleton determine how the skeleton's bound model or `body' moves. When you bind a model to a skeleton, it is called skinning. The process of making a skeleton or bones, refining the joints, using IK or FK, putting handles on the joints so animators can manipulate them, and over all making the model ready for animation is called "Rigging"
Skinning
Skinning is the process of setting up a character's model so that it can be deformed by a skeleton.
Constraints
Constraints enable you to constrain the position, orientation, or scale of an object to other objects. Further, with constraints you can impose specific limits on objects and automate animation processes.
Key frame Animation
This is the essential, fundamental form of computer animation. The model is placed in a starting pose or position, and a keyframe is set. Some frames later, another keyframe is set, and the model is moved as desired. This process is repeated as many times as needed. The animation software interpolates the motion needed to move the model smoothly between the keyframes. What this means is that if the animator keys a box, and moves the box across the room in the next keyframe, when the scene is scrubbed or viewed, the box will glide across the floor instead of jumping from frame to frame. This applies to anything in the scene - moving fingers, eyelids, moving lips, etc.
Nonlinear Animation
In Maya, there are two types of clip: source clips and regular clips. Maya preserves and protects a character's original animation curves by storing them in source clips. Moving, manipulating, and blending regular clips to produce a smooth series of motions for a character is the basis of nonlinear animation. The tool with which you manage all these aspects of a character's nonlinear animation is the Trax Editor.
Path Animation
A path animation controls the position and rotation of an object along a curve. An object must first be attached to the curve for it to become a path curve. You can also generate motion paths by animating objects using motion path keys.
Skeletons
Skeletons are hierarchical, articulated structures that let you pose and animate bound models. A skeleton provides a deformable model with a similar underlying structure as the human skeleton gives the human body. Just like in the human body, the location of joints and the number of joints you add to a skeleton determine how the skeleton's bound model or `body' moves. When you bind a model to a skeleton, it is called skinning. The process of making a skeleton or bones, refining the joints, using IK or FK, putting handles on the joints so animators can manipulate them, and over all making the model ready for animation is called "Rigging"
Skinning
Skinning is the process of setting up a character's model so that it can be deformed by a skeleton.
Constraints
Constraints enable you to constrain the position, orientation, or scale of an object to other objects. Further, with constraints you can impose specific limits on objects and automate animation processes.
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