Sunday, July 05, 2009

Computer 3d Animation An Art Or A Mastery Of New Technology

By Jasque Brisk

From the times of the ancient cave paintings to the modern age, art has taken many distinct aspects and been on different media. With time art has changed its look and with brisk advancement in technology, computers have had their influence on art. Animation, which is an important art form of our century, has entered the dimension of computer technology from its traditional beginnings.

An application of 3D Computer 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 remarkably realistic animated pictures. 3D Computer Animation is used in computer games, architecture, motion pictures, special effects, simulations and in any other way it can be used to portray an idea.

The process of executing 3 Dimensional Animation involves 3 Dimensional modeling, texturing, Three Dimensional animation and rendering. Three Dimensional Modeling is the digital sculpting of an object into digital 3 Dimensional space through specialized software functions. Texturing is the next step and it gives meaning to the 3D models produced during the first stage by setting physical shading parameters of 3D 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 final presentation.

During the animation stage of the film creation process, the ideas remain the same as have been used in the traditional version. 3D Animation is to a great extent based on two main techniques: Key-framing and Motion Capture. 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 positions representing a unit of animation. The only dissimilarity is that the in-betweens in this case are calculated automatically and filled in by the computer. Before it was done by the animation assistant who manually was drawing all the frames in between the key frames. That's the cause all these frames were called in-betweens.

The central 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. 3D Animation uses a faster frame rate than the 2d animation, which are about 12 frames per second, in order to sustain the realism of movement and to create a dramatic impression.

Such fascination inspires lots of people for an animation career. Many of the aspiring animators take shallow animation courses and only concentrate on developing skills in 3D Animation software, which is not quite enough. In order to learn the art of 3D animation you must seek schools like Max the Mutt Animation School and Vancouver Film School, which offer excellent technical and informational facilities to allow the students to focus on developing their animation skills.

In order to become a professional 3D animator, you must have a thorough comprehension of computer graphics on a simple level, such as Flash and Photoshop. You should have an understanding of constructing animation variables which constitute the fundamental bone structure to 3D skeletal models, which will aid you in animating life-like characters.

You should be familiar with the color theory and should be able to work with colors effectively. Usually an arts degree will even help you in your cause. You should also have an idea of lighting, creating materials and rendering, which are fundamental for the realism of your animation. You must have a taste for story-telling, an eye for detail and the creativity of an artist.

Of course, experienced animators are the masters of the trade, but how can 3D Animation be of use to web page designer? Web site developers can easily create dramatic 3D animations through different programs. SideFX Houdini, Maya, Softimage XSI, Lightwave and Luxology Modo are popular software mostly picked by experienced animators. But website designer may even go for much simpler software like 3D Canvas, 3D Plus and Xara 3D can help them carry out their tasks even more conveniently. The selection of animation software depends primarily on your needs, but software with simple interface and covering maximum features in one package would be more appropriate for web page developer.

3D Animations like banners and other features can make a web page attractive and can convey messages more efficiently, bringing more traffic to the sites. The great amount of 3D software applications have simply eliminated all obstacles to the access to 3D Animation and have opened doors to new possibilities for the employment of this efficient communication instrument. 3D Animation can efficiently enhance the output of your business. Explore which way you can take advantage of it. - 2361

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