Computer Animation Techniques

Driven by the demands of research and the entertainment industry, the techniques of animation are pushed to render increasingly complex objects with ever-greater life-like appearance and motion. This rapid progression of knowledge and technique impacts professional developers, as well as students. Developers must maintain their understanding of conceptual foundations, while their animation tools become ever more complex and specialized. The second edition of Rick Parent's Computer Animation is an excellent resource for the designers who must meet this challenge. The first edition established its reputation as the best technically oriented animation text. This new edition focuses on the many recent developments in animation technology, including fluid animation, human figure animation, and soft body animation. The new edition revises and expands coverage of topics such as quaternions, natural phenomenon, facial animation, and inverse kinematics. The book includes up-to-date discussions of Maya scripting and the Maya C++ API, programming on real-time 3D graphics hardware, collision detection, motion capture, and motion capture data processing. New up-to-the-moment coverage of hot topics like real-time 3D graphics, collision detection, fluid and soft-body animation and more! Companion site with animation clips drawn from research & entertainment and code samples Describes the mathematical and algorithmic foundations of animation that provide the animator with a deep understanding and control of technique

For those who want to learn more about computer animation without being swamped with complex mathematics, this is the book to read! Beginning with the relationship between animation, the human visual system, and computers, Essential Computer Animation fast takes readers through a broad exploration of the subject. Readers will learn all about computer animation techniques; computer animation hardware; animation software, such as Softimage, Maya, 3D-Studio, MAX, and Lightwave; post-production techniques; and animation applications.

Driven by demand from the entertainment industry for better and more realistic animation, technology continues to evolve and improve. The algorithms and techniques behind this technology are the foundation of this comprehensive book, which is written to teach you the fundamentals of animation programming. In this third edition, the most current techniques are covered along with the theory and high-level computation that have earned the book a reputation as the best technically-oriented animation resource. Key topics such as fluids, hair, and crowd animation have been expanded, and extensive new coverage of clothes and cloth has been added. New material on simulation provides a more diverse look at this important area and more example animations and chapter projects and exercises are included. Additionally, spline coverage has been expanded and new video compression and formats (e.g., iTunes) are covered. Includes companion site with contemporary animation examples drawn from research and entertainment, sample animations, and example code Describes the key mathematical and algorithmic foundations of animation that provide you with a deep understanding and control of technique Expanded and new coverage of key topics including: fluids and clouds, cloth and clothes, hair, and crowd animation Explains the algorithms used for path following, hierarchical kinematic modelling, rigid body dynamics, flocking behaviour, particle systems, collision detection, and more

This book contains the invited papers and a selection of research papers submitted to Computer Animation '93, the fifth international workshop on Computer Animation, which was held in Geneva on June 16-18, 1993. This workshop, now an annual event, has been organized by the Computer Graphics Society, the University of Geneva, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. During the international workshop on Computer Animation '93, the sixth Computer-generated Film Festival of Geneva, was also held. The volume presents original research results and applications experience to the various areas of computer animation. Most of the contributions are related to motion control, visualization, human animation, and rendering techniques.

We are both fans of watching animated stories. Every evening, before or after d- ner, we always sit in front of the television and watch the animation program, which is originally produced and shown for children. We find ourselves becoming younger while immerged in the interesting plot of the animation: how the princess is first killed and then rescued, how the little rat defeats the big cat, etc. But what we have found in those animation programs are not only interesting plots, but also a big chance for the application of computer science and artificial intelligence techniques. As is well known, the cost of producing animated movies is very high, even with the use of computer graphics techniques. Turning a story in text form into an animated movie is a long and complicated procedure. We came to the c- clusion that many parts of this process could be automated by using artificial - telligence techniques. It is actually a challenge and test for machine intelligence. So we decided to explore the possibility of a full life cycle automation of c- puter animation generation. By full life cycle we mean the generation process of computer animation from a children s story in natural language text form to the final animated movie. It is of course a task of immense difficulty. However, we decided to try our best and to see how far we could go.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Next Generation Computer Animation Techniques, AniNex 2017, held in Bournemouth, UK, in June 2017. The workshop was held in conjunction with the 11th International Conference on E-Learning and Games, Edutainment 2017. The 17 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 27 submissions. The papers are structured according to the four main themes: simulation and rendering for computer animation; character modeling and dynamics; user centered design and modeling; computer animation systems and virtual reality based applications.

A compilation of key chapters from the top MK computer animation books available today - in the areas of motion capture, facial features, solid spaces, fluids, gases, biology, point-based graphics, and Maya. The chapters provide CG Animators with an excellent sampling of essential techniques that every 3D artist needs to create stunning and versatile images. Animators will be able to master myriad modeling, rendering, and texturing procedures with advice from MK's best and brightest authors. Divided into five parts (Introduction to Computer Animation and Technical Background, Motion Capture Techniques, Animating Substances, Alternate Methods, and Animating with MEL for MAYA), each one focusing on specific substances, tools, topics, and languages, this is a MUST-HAVE book for artists interested in proficiency with the top technology available today! Whether you're a programmer developing new animation functionality or an animator trying to get the most out of your current animation software, Computer Animation Complete: will help you work more efficiently and achieve better results. For programmers, this book provides a solid theoretical orientation and extensive practical instruction information you can put to work in any development or customization project. For animators, it provides crystal-clear guidance on determining which of your concepts can be realized using commercially available products, which demand custom programming, and what development strategies are likely to bring you the greatest success. Expert instruction from a variety of pace-setting computer graphics researchers. Provides in-depth coverage of established and emerging animation algorithms. For readers who lack a strong scientific background, introduces the necessary concepts from mathematics, biology, and physics. A variety of individual languages and substances are addressed, but addressed separately - enhancing your grasp of the field as a whole while providing you with the ability to identify and implement solutions by category.