Abstract
Animation in simple words means to give life, and the job of an animator is precisely that, to give life to static image or objects. Computer animation has traveled a long way, and today, the computer animation artists enjoy complete freedom to draw, model and animate objects in those infinite digital landscapes.
The purpose of the essay is to look at the history of animation, and how it all started with simple drawings. The increasing sophistication and the realism of 3-D animation only reflect the never-ending possibilities of computer technology and the exponential processing power of a computer. With the beginning of 20th century, artists had started to feel discontented about the traditional paintings and sculptures. Many artists were beginning to show interest in the motion device and were just like engineers who combined motors and gears. There was a desire for expressing motion and speed. After World War II, there was a speedy development of electronic technology and new techniques that led to the expansion of dynamic forms.
Introduction
Computer animation has become the most prominent feature for technology-based entertainment as well as learning. The simulated motion serves as the most elegant tools for presenting multimedia and the powerful graphics-oriented material has only advanced in both technology and popularity. When one looks back, the experiments in computer graphics in the 1940s and 50s, were only the beginning. Computer graphics was earlier used for engineering, scientific and research purposes. However, advancements in the Computer animation technologies were seen by mid-1960s (Musa, Ziatdinov & Griffiths, 2013). Through continuous and increasing efforts, thresholds were crossed from 2D to 3D media. There is full-fledged use of 2D to 3D animation technologies in entrainment, research, and education today.
Computer was invented in 1946 and these devices were capable of processing and synthesizing complicated information. They could combine dynamic forms and electronic technology to reach an unprecedented level (Guang-Dah Chen et al., 2015). The animation reached maturity during the first half of the 20th century. A cartoon animation style had evolved from the technique of drawing on paper and photographing successive individual frames. Artists and scientists during the 1950's and 1960's explored digital computers to create moving picture imagery (Rosebush, 1992). The electronic approach to drawing changing images was a new field altogether.
Many of these innovators in the sixties were placed in universities and research labs and were fiercely working toward making "pictures" of data using a computer. The late seventies and early eighties saw adaptation that were concerned primarily with special effects, software developers, motion picture companies, etc.
The earliest innovators Animation has evolved over time and at a fast pace. Before Computer animation had arisen as a viable technology invention of the computer, there were other attempts made by man to create the illusion of motion. For example, Paul Roget invented a thaumatrope in 1828 which was a simple mechanical toy that created an illusion of movement. The phenakistoscope and zoetrope produced rapid succession of static pictures. The kinestoscope allowed the films to be viewed through a window of a small cabinet (Musa, Ziatdinov & Griffiths, 2013). Many artists and designers were working together in the 1950s, on mechanical devices and analog computers. One of the earliest electronic works known is 'Oscillon 40' that dates from 1952. The oscilloscope was commonly used for electrical testing purposes. It was able to manipulate electronic waves on the small fluorescent screen. There was no way of recording electric waves on paper. Laposky and these images photographed the different combinations of these waves were called 'Oscillons'. The earliest images taken were in black and white (A History of Computer Art, 2014).
Motion Control is the extension of motion graphics into the third dimension. It also involves rotating positions and recording actions generated in the real world. The first motion control systems were built by Olin Dupy at MGM in 1949. Totalized animation was term introduced in 1951 when models rather than artwork are photographed this way (Rosebush, 1992).
Walt Disney had made a division of labor between animator and inbetweener. The inbetweening was considered the cheaper part of animation production. The full job of the animator at the Disney studio was divided into animator, assistant animator, and a second assistant while the role of the inbetweener was fragmented into breakdown man and inbetweener. Disney animation had encompassed the fundamental principles of Squash and Stretch, Follow Through, Moving Hold, Overlapping Action, etc., to express the ‘thought processes of the character (Tai, 2013). Walt Disney faced a problem with creating realistic animation and came up with an excellent solution – the multiplane camera which is considered a great innovation in the field of animation.
Mid-1960s to mid-1970s
It was during the early 1960's that we find computer animation emerging as a viable technology. The digital computer along with the highly sophisticated graphic devices showed great possibilities with what one could do in the field of animation. During the early 1960's, computers were still in their embryonic stage, and access to them was limited by many. Scientists or mathematicians were the first people to use computers for creativity. One of the main sources of output was a mechanical device in the 1960s that held a pen or brush linked to a computer that controlled its movements (Rosebush, 1992). According to directions given by the computer program, the computer would direct the pen or brush across the drawing surface.
Activities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology contributed a lot to shape the early computer graphics industries. Sutherland's software, Sketchpad is described in a 1963 paper in MIT and could create very precise drawings that were created, duplicated, and stored directly on the CRT. This was the first Graphical User Interface (A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation, 2003).
Metamorphosis came up with other innovations that transformed an object from one shape to another. The two extreme shapes could have quite different meanings, and this delighted the audiences. The use of mechanical systems to create computer animation is closely linked to the cinema form known as motion graphics. It was during the 1960s that we find the development in motion graphics when experimental filmmakers started making use of a repeatable equipment make sequences of abstract images. Whitney Brothers employed mechanical gunnery clockwork which rotated small backlit metal patterns, and these were then snapped in multiple exposure to create kalidoscopic effects.
Stereoscopic animation was not new, however the mathematical projection of four-dimensional objects from 4D to 3D stereo pairs offered a unique way to look into the fourth dimension. Both vector and pixel computer animation were defined by 1965. Specialized languages for computer animation were also developed during the 1960's. The first operating systems, languages, and assemblers were invented during this period. A standardized subroutine interface defined by Calcomp was the first widely used graphics software package. The first animations were programmed in languages like Fortran (Rosebush, 1992). The first animation languages were Knowlton.
One of the first graphics languages is Ken Knowlton's BEFLIX that was written in 1964. This is a sort of sort of animation language as it may be programmed to compute temporal sequences. Other approaches dealt with manipulating 2D polygons dealt with manipulating 2D polygons in the 1960s. There was very limited work done on the mechanics of the lens during the 1960's. In 1970’s, the Picture System 11, hooked to a DEC PDP11 was introduced, which was faster, cheaper, and flexible. The highly interactive picture system was not a perfect film recorder, being monochromatic, but it was an excellent animation preview machine.
The digital technologies were expanding at a fast pace during the 1980s, and there was a rapid adoption of computers for both business, entertainment and personal use. Films like 'Tron' and 'Star Trek II made use of computer graphics and special effects (A History of Computer Art, 2014). The first personal computers and PCs now easily available inkjet printers offering cheapest method of printing in color, plus, the off-the-shelf paint software packages meant it was now easy to create images using a computer.Breakthrough in the eighties and nineties
The most radical breakthrough from a standpoint of animation came in1982, when a display list machine was fused a display list machine with the help of a framebuffer and built around the new 68000 processor. Silicon Graphics' IRIS incorporated interactive real-time display, video and color into a single machine that by the late 1980's. During this time, a new generation of raster recorders and personal computer exploded the business graphics marketplace. Computer animation still remained difficult, but the earlier financial and technical hurdles were almost over. By the end of the 1980's, low cost, high-resolution slide digitizing devices were designed for use with personal computers by a host of well-known vendors, such as Kodak and Nikon. The video had replaced film as the favored medium of production for everything but theatrical.
Keyframing is not just limited to 3D animation software such as 3ds Max or Autodesk’s Maya, but also useful in video editing programs such as Apple’s Final Cut Pro and Sony Vegas. One can key frame virtual everything from color and texture, camera works, lighting and particles, dynamics, etc. (Tai, 2013).
Computerization also eliminated some of the major technical limitations related to the cel process. In the real world, the cel layers have to deal with the thickness of the paints, dust, dirt, and handling damage. However, no such problems occur with the virtual cels. Hanna Barbara Productions, the largest cartoon producer in Hollywood followed a different approach of automating aspects of their cel process. Their strategy was to sidestep the in-between issue completely. The backgrounds and artwork-cels were made using classical methods, but the cels are unpainted and with black and white outline drawings. Inking and painting was done on computers. The advantages of the Hanna Barbara approach was that it got rid of the non-creative manual art in the in-between and also conquered the previous limitations of the number of cel levels and the contrasts, etc.
Both digital artists and painters were incorporating computer-generated images into their paintings. Animations were exploiting the different characteristics of drawing, painting, photography as well as computer software, contrasting between physical paint and digital paint (A History of Computer Art, 2014). The Cornell PCG (Program of Computer Graphics) is best known for ground-breaking work on synthesizing realistic images. The lab refined the framework for including light reflection models, energy simulation, and visual display algorithms. The research involved three-dimensional modeling in very complex environments (A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation, 2003).
The researchers and entrepreneurs were both aware of the commercial potential for the evolving computer graphics technologies. They were keen to bring the synthetic imagery and use computer animation in advertising, television, and film markets. CAD (Computer-Aided Design) systems had been working on their systems, and products could be designed as a full three-dimensional model. Boeing decided to plan its 777 aircraft completely on the computer, using CATIA (A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation, 2003).
Extensive use of solid 3D CGI in the first cinema was seen in Walt Disney's Tron in 1982. Leading computer graphics firms worked on the different aspects of the movie, and Tron was a box office hit. The actual explosion of the Genesis Device made by the Team at Pixar in 1982 is the first appearance of particle systems in computer animation. The velocity, ejection angle, radius of generation circle, lifetime and size were varied for these particles.Input of 3D space coordinates Creation of the perspective three-dimensional vector graphics in the early 1960s fueled the desire to do more in this direction and the 3D space. By the early 1970s, the advanced capabilities of color frame stores and color film recorders made it simpler to view 3D solids. The resultant search for realism dedicated on the representation of surface and lighting. By 977, image and texture mapping had been defined, and pixel graphics were incorporated into the 3D arena.
The capabilities of three-dimensional computer animation have improved vastly. The technology is widely applicable in movies, TV program, special effects, and games. Ginsberg and Maxwell created a set of system in 1983 that the controlled cartoon actions via computer languages (Yagang, 2014). Animated Free-Form Deformation (AFFD) was an important method that was used to create 3D-computer animation by early 1990. Before this, 3D animation keyframing was almost manual (Tai, 2013).
Present technology based on computer graphics modeling and three-dimensional animation can follow human appearance and motion perfectly. Moreover, there are diverse situations that ask for data on human capabilities and performance. For example, NASA astronaut trainees can use information to see if space vehicle work cells are efficiently designed for the individuals expected to work there (Webber et al., 1993). Specific studies on lifting with the help of realistic movement and animations made on the computer can help determine back strain limits for a certain worker population.
Wavefront Technologies produced computer graphics for television commercials and movies, and unveiled at first trade show, in 1985. John Walker founded Autodesk in 1982. AutoCAD software was meant for 2D, and 3D design, and a CADENCE magazine was introduced for AutoCAD user community in 1986. Paintbox was introduced in 1981 and is still in use. Mirage was the first digital effects device that was released in 1982 and was able to work on 3D images in 3D space (A Critical History of Computer Graphics and Animation, 2003). Flight simulations were introduced in 1986 and reproduce the behavior of an aircraft in flight on the ground. General Electric Company (USA) created the first computer image generation systems for simulation.
CGI in the 2000s
The last challenge for the animation team in the 2000, and which came in the creation of digital look-alikes of known actors was to capture reflectance field of the human face using light stages and . Photorealistic CGI characters were made and some good examples are The Spirits and The Lord of the Rings. Pixar's film Ratatouille carries the tag of "100% Pure Animation as it excels in the skill of motion capture. The advent of Virtual cinematography made the scenes real and convincing as can be seen in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions.
We are moving towards photo-realism and in the future it would be difficult to tell between real time and pre-rendered graphics. With the institution of the future consoles, one can expect the next giant jump in visual quality. Realtime Ray-tracing and Radiosity still remain a problem, and currently, pre-calculated radiosity rendered shadow-maps are used as secondary textures in more games. The times when new revolutionary algorithms will be there to create100% realistically rendered humans may not be far off in the future. Computer graphics really can replace anything.
nVidia was dominant during the early 21st century and was the owner now of the mighty 3DFX. The influential SEGA was now concentrating on software. Pixar's Monsters showed some very realistic fur and the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park 3 were very real. There were some very ambitious scenes in Lord Of The Rings and techniques used for Terminator 2 were simply evolutionary. Microsoft was working on Xbox while Sony was busy with Playstation 3. The games looked incredible with a realistic atmosphere. Incredible CGI shots were seen in Star Wars: Episode 2. With the advancements in graphics chips and software, audiences were able to enjoy incredibly sophisticated physics simulations in their computer games.
Direct X9.0 shaders brought in the next-generation graphics with the latest advancements. The computer graphics and animation took a giant leap forward. The purely computer animated movies made it big at the box office. The most noticeable aspect was the cut down in the development time of making a computer animated film. The special effects were getting staggeringly better, and the scenes looked very convincing.
The Future ahead
Computer animation has been looked upon as a new and advanced media to create animated and special effects in films for many years now. There are new upcoming areas like multimedia, interactive games, and Virtual Reality. Interactive and real-time animation is fast gaining importance in the current times. Autonomous virtual actors and real-time animation are valuable in the multimedia industry. The authors, editors and publishers of CD-I's and CD-ROM's are exploiting the -time animation capabilities offered by the computer (Thalmann & Thalmann, 1996). For the last couple of years, the computer animation tends to be based more on physics, especially when there is a need for collision detection and response. In the future, one can expect real-time complex animation systems to get developed so as to take advantage of VR-devices and simulation methods. A typical situation includes a real actor whose motion will be captured by sensors. The autonomous actors will be driven by using real-time behavioral simulation by the computer, and the derivations will be based on physics-based interaction with the environment (Thalmann & Thalmann, 1996).
The use of inverse-kinematics allows direct specification of end point positions. The morphing technique has recently allows astonishing effects (Thalmann & Thalmann, 1996), especially in the three-dimensional object modeling and deformation. Sometimes, the complexity of objects makes the approach impractical. Facial animation of artificial actors is not an easy task, and the motion here has to be perfectly natural.
The computer animation industry is changing and progressing at a rapid speed, and the growth is still impressive. Computer animation can be tracked in architecture, broadcast, advertising, communications, education, film, design engineering, games, scientific, entertainment and a lot more. Web animation and computer games show a hefty increase over the years.
Conclusion Computer Art and animation is less used today to represent artists and designers working with a computer today. This is because most of the artists who now work with animation, may use computers technology in their practice as just one tool amongst many. With the advent of computer animation, the medium of traditional animation has become almost obsolete (A History of Computer Art, 2014). For most of the twentieth century, one did not require any public school education to be an animation artist. However, with the key advances in computer development (Patten, 2013), one finds that it was in 1963, when an MIT graduate student made the first true computer animation program. In the next millennium, computer animators will have different tools to control and design every shape, movement, and parameter settings. Motion capture will continue to remain a significant source of natural movement. Animation systems now better understand the natural language of motion concepts. Software can create credible human performances automatically based on the emotions, personality, and the situation of the character. A large collection of plug-ins are available for animation systems to create self-knowledgeable characters, natural phenomena, and behaviors. The next decades will be an exciting time for computer animation as the large-scale smart entities get evolved further. Animators will have a richer world of resources to create, modify, and control the animated worlds.
References
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