Tuesday, September 6, 2011

The Exciting World of 3D Animation

By Adrian Taylor


3D Animation is growing in popularity thanks to the exponential growth in computer technology. Standard animation comes from taking one image to make more and then adjusting these images to one another to create animation.

3D Animation is all about simulating space, giving the illusion of objects having depth, and not being flat. In order to achieve this illusion a number of steps are required, namely modelling, texturing, scene setup, lighting, animation, rendering and finally compositing.

In the modelling phase, it is all about math. Everything begins with geometry or spatial algebra, a mathematical way to describe spatial structures.

Software use makes this all very simple to formulate and you will learn to use these tools as part of your training.

Some people confuse 3D animation with 2D animation, but the simple difference is actually quite easy to remember. 2D means that its 2 dimensional, whereas 3D means its 3 dimensional. Its sounds like an obvious statement to make, but 2D platforms are flat with no depth and offer only one perspective to the viewer.

The objects and even characters will appear harsh and have few or little shading, nothing like we see in real life. In a 3D environment, everything will have multiple perspective with soft undertones and subtle shadows in the surrounding environment.

3D is more closely linked to stop motion than standard 2D animation. In stop motion you would take a model and then film one frame at a time, if you ever saw movies like Wallace and Gromit or even the original King Kong movie from the 1930s.

3D Animation actually uses a similar method or process but is created using computers, controlled by the software and the output is automated by the computer once you have input the instructions.

Even the process of lighting, staging, texturing and camera aspects will share the same fundamentals as the original stop motion. The only difference is one took place in reality, the other inside a computer program.

There are many aspects to the 3D Animation environment, and the methods also vary. From key frame animation which requires object manipulation on a frame by frame basis (much like the old hand-drawn process) to using 3D software applications built-in physics engines that would simulate effects like gravity.

One of the most wonderful and exciting parts to 3D Animation is the filming process. This is purely due to the fact that in the real world, cameras will have some element of limitation, whereas in the software world of 3D, you can create scenes and camera angles that would just be physically impossible in the real world.

This allows film makers and directors much more flexibility and creativity in their movie making. The other great part about 3D animation inside a computer program is you do not need to be concerned with focusing controls, lenses, film type, aperture and the like. All this is controlled by the software you choose.

If you can imagine it, then 3D Animation can deliver it. An exciting world for sure!




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