Saturday, July 18, 2009

3d animation A New Way Of Displaying The Illusion Of Life

By Jasque Brisk

Beginning with the age of the palaeolithic cave paintings to the present days, art has taken many contours and been on different media. With the time passing art has altered its form and with quick advancement in technology, computers have had their impact on art. Animation, which is an important form of art of our culture, has entered the realms of computer technology from its traditional beginnings.

An application of Computer 3d graphics, 3D Animation is the art of creating moving images with a 3 dimensional photo realism on a two dimensional screen. 3 Dimensional Animation holds its distinction from 2D animation due to its depiction of stunningly realistic animated pictures. 3D Computer Animation is used in motion pictures, computer games, architecture, simulations, models, special effects and in whatever way it can be used to portray an idea.

The process of executing Three Dimensional Animation involves Three Dimensional modeling, texturing, 3 Dimensional animation and rendering. 3D Modeling is the conversion of an object into virtual 3 Dimensional space through special 3d modeling software. Texturing is the next step and it gives meaning to the 3D models produced during the first stage by setting physical shading parameters of 3 Dimensional models. Texturing can be compared to an artist painting on a sculpture to show more details. Texturing gives the shape to the scenario as it would appear in the finished version.

During the animation stage of the film production process, the ideas remain the same as have been used in the traditional version. 3D Animation is generally based on two main techniques: Motion Capture and Key-framing. Key-framing, like traditional animation, is also based on the slight gradual changes to create an optical illusion of motion, by determining two or more key frames or positions representing a unit of animation. The single distinction is that the in-betweens in this case are rendered automatically and filled in by the computer. Before it was done by the animation assistant who was manually drawing all the frames in between the key frames. That's how all these frames were called in-betweens.

The fundamental thought behind the Motion Capture method is to portray the emotions, expressions and movements of a 3 Dimensional animated character as realistically as possible by recording of real actor movements, and translating them into a digital model. 3 Dimensional Animation generally uses a much faster frame rate than the traditional animation or even your regular television broadcast, which are about 24 frames per second, in order to sustain the realism of movement and to create a dramatic impression.

Computer Animation is a challenging and exciting career. Before you start some significant professional work, it is always helpful to attend quality institutes that offer animation courses. You should focus on schools like Redhouse College of Animation and Sheridan, to really have a substantial foundation to your career. However, attending casual courses will do you no good as this way you will only learn to work with different software, which is not enough to become an efficient 3 Dimensional Animator.

To excel as a 3D computer animator, if you are capable of original and creative work. You should be mastering essential design programs like Flash and Photoshop. You should have a thorough grasp of 3 Dimensional Modeling and should be able to master the function of Avars, or Animation Variables,, the basic structures that make up life-like characters in an animation.

You must master the basics of art and must have a deep knowledge and understanding of how colors work. You will be continually playing with them for the rest of your lives. You must have a good sense of light and shade, which actually sum up the basics of all visual artists. Apart from the software knowledge, it is your sense of filmmaking and story-telling which will help create an outstanding animation.

But what if you are not a professional animator? That still does not stop you from benefiting from it. A number of 3D Animation packages exist to help you out. Luxology Modo, Softimage and Maya are very good but sophisticated software, and top choices of professionals. Although some of them are accommodating to novices, you could find yourself more at ease with simpler software like 3D GIF Designer, Xara 3D and Poser. You should research carefully before purchasing one of them, as you would want all the features and utility you need from a single package as per your requirements.

If you wish to use 3D animation as the content for your web page, you could settle for software with simple features and an easy and accessible user interface. 3D Animations have become an effective communication instrument of our century and can be a source of traffic enhancement for web designers as computer programs have brought this possibility into their access. This technology allows you to explore new horizons on whatever front it can be utilized. It is up to you to use it efficiently now. - 16890

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