Crowd

Crowd simulation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Crowd simulation is the process of simulating the movement of a large number of entities or characters, now often appearing in 3D computer graphics for film. While simulating these crowds, observed human behavior interaction is taken into account, to replicate the collective behavior.
The need for crowd simulation arises when a scene calls for more characters than can be practically animated using conventional systems, such as skeletons/bones. Simulating crowds offer the advantages of being cost effective as well as allow for total control of each simulated character or agent.
Animators typically create a library of motions, either for the entire character or for individual body parts. To simplify processing, these animations are sometimes baked as morphs. Alternatively, the motions can be generated procedurally - i.e. choreographed automatically by software.
The actual movement and interactions of the crowd is typically done in one of two ways.

 Simpsons Movie - Crowd Aghast - Homer Simpson

Cel-shaded

Cel-shaded animation (also known as Cel shading or Toon shading) is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make computer graphics appear to be hand-drawn. Cel-shading is often used to mimic the style of a comic book or cartoon. It is a somewhat recent addition to computer graphics, most commonly turning up in video games. However, the end result of cel-shading has a very simplistic feel like that of hand-drawn animation. The name comes from the clear sheets of acetate, called cels, which are painted on for use in traditional 2D animation, such as Disney classics.

 Process
The cel-shading process starts with a typical 3D model. Where cel-shading differs from conventional rendering is in its use of non-photorealistic lighting. Conventional (smooth) lighting values are calculated for each pixel and then mapped to a small number of discrete shades to create the characteristic flat look – where the shadows and highlights appear more like blocks of color rather than mixed in a smooth way.
Black "ink" outlines and contour lines can be created using a variety of methods. One popular method is to first render a black outline, slightly larger than the object itself. Backface culling is inverted and the back-facing triangles are drawn in black. To dilate the silhouette, these back faces may be drawn in wireframe multiple times with slight changes in translation. Alternatively, back-faces may be rendered solid-filled, with their vertices translated along their vertex normals in a vertex shader. After drawing the outline, back-face culling is set back to normal to draw the shading and optional textures of the object. Finally, the image is composited via Z-buffering, as the back-faces always lie deeper in the scene than the front-faces. The result is that the object is drawn with a black outline and interior contour lines. Popularly, this "ink" outline applied to animation and games is what’s called cel shading, while originally the term referred to the shading technique, regardless of whether outline is being applied or not.

Cel shaded image

Flash

" A Flash animation or Flash cartoon is an animated film which is created using Adobe Flash or similar animation software and often distributed in the .swf file format. The term Flash animation not only refers to the file format but to a certain kind of movement and visual style which, in many circles is seen as simplistic or unpolished. However, with dozens of Flash animated television series, countless more Flash animated television commercials, and award-winning online shorts in circulation, Flash animation is enjoying a renaissance.
In the late 1990s, when for most Internet users, bandwidth was still at 56 kbit/s, many Flash animation artists employed limited animation or cutout animation when creating projects intended for web distribution. This allowed artists to release shorts and interactive experiences well under 1 MB, which could stream both audio and high-end animation.
Flash is able to integrate bitmaps and other raster-based art, as well as video, most Flash films are created using only vector-based drawings which often result in a somewhat clean graphic appearance. Some hallmarks of poorly-produced Flash animation are jerky natural movements (seen in walk-cycles and gestures), auto-tweened character movements, lip-sync without interpolation, and abrupt changes from front to profile view.
Flash animations are typically distributed by way of the World Wide Web, in which case they are often referred to as Internet cartoons, online cartoons, or webtoons. Web Flash animations may be interactive and are often created in a series. A Flash animation is distinguished from a Webcomic, which is a comic strip distributed via the Web, rather than an animated cartoon. Flash animation is now taught in schools throughout the UK and can be taken as a GCSE and A-level. "

How to make a basic flash animation.

 

3D Animation

3D Animation Studio - What Goes on Behind Those Closed Doors

"Many people are confused when they see the word '3D' tagged on in front of the words 'Animation Studio'.

Although animation has been with us for as long as a few decades now, the concept of animation still seem pretty much magical to the layman. 'How do you make drawings come alive on screen?' is what they usually ask.

With the invention of 3D animation technology, the concept of animation becomes even more hazy and mystical to the layman. They still refer to 3D animation as 'drawing' and know not a thing about the process that goes on behind 3D animation.

As the owner of a 3D animation studio, I feel that it is very important to educate my clients on what goes on behind 3D animation production.

The knowledge does not just help them appreciate the service better, but also helps to facilitate the process and manage their expectations.

This is important because it helps our clients achieve what they want and allows us to communicate effectively with them.

This lens hopes to demystify the process of a 3D animation production and unveil what goes on behind the closed doors of a 3D animation studio.

Get prepared for an educational journey!"

Puppet Animation

" Puppetry is a subversive art form. Its essence is the animation of inert objects with life, intention and emotion. As children we adeptly create such narratives with the most unprepossessing of means.

As cultures over the past millennia throughout the world have shown, puppetry has liberated adults to do the same - to create alternative fantastic worlds of the imagination, to articulate safely the sense and meaning of experiences, and to allow the anarchic and atavistic free reign. "

Puppet Animation Scotland

The Puppet Animation Festival

" Welcome to the UK's largest annual performing arts event for children!
The What's On diary will be updated shortly to allow you to find out what's on in your local area.
The Puppet Animation Festival offers children and their families opportunities to be transported to magical worlds of make-believe. Come to one of our many events and let your child take part in journeys and adventures where they can unlock and explore their imaginations. 
Last year over 20,000 people enjoyed our events all over Scotland. We invite you to join the thousands of families heading out to venues across the country to experience the best of puppet theatre and animation. "

Brickfilm

 

" Choose your stars: LEGO  ® bricks and Minifigures are very popular for this, but Mega Bloks, Best-Lock, Stikfas figures and others are all frequently used. Sets and backgrounds can be made from items in those toy ranges or with cardboard, wood etc. Foil-covered styrofoam of the type used in insulating buildings is good for metallic surfaces.

Get your equipment: Most brick-filmers use webcams to capture the images. The Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 is popular and can be found for around $70. Choose one which gives a full screen resolution - some older ones only produce small pictures. (While it is possible to use digital stills cameras the processing they do to optimise each image can create strange results when viewing the pictures rapidly as a movie ... besides you also have the fuss of removing the memory card and reading it into the computer. A regular camcorder can be used when connected directly to the computer so that you can watch it live but only take a screen-capture when each shot is ready.)
A simple microphone is helpful for recording voices and any special sound effects you produce yourself. For most films this can be a cheap one like the Jasco Computer Headset at around $14.
If you are reading this, then you already have the necessary computer !
For lighting a couple of 60-watt bulbs works fine in most cases.

Software: Any edit system could be used - including Apple's iMovie and Microsoft's MovieMaker. [MovieMaker is no longer available on the MicroSoft website but can be found here. ] There are commercial programs for the other work too, but staying with the no/low budget theme some suggestions for free stuff:
Monkey Jam - is a good stop-motion program which allows you to capture, "onion-skin" (think of it as tracing), and preview short sections of animation.
Videomach  - the free version includes 2-second banner-ads. Among other things this helps compress files for download. (To compress files for use on YouTube see our tutorial starting here.)
DivX - is a popular format for brick films.

"Shooting" speed: Normal NTSC video runs at nearly 30 fps (frames-per-second), but few animators create 30 pictures for each second of screen time. Around 12 fps is a good starting point but 15 fps looks better. It is acceptable for almost all motion and, of course, takes half the time and effort that working at 30fps would do.

Stop-Motion Animation: start with these tutorials.

General Information: there are lots of websites devoted to brick films. A good one is www.brickfilms.com which has masses of help and some great films.  Try the useful Brick Films Wikipedia. Try also Best Bricks , Bricks in Motion "

AMPS