Whats 3D Animation? How is it Various From 2D Animation?

In this article I will explain in easy terms, what goes behind the 3D animation which you watch in movies and what makes it different from conventional two dimensional animation. What is that additional 3rd dimension? Take a piece of paper and sketch a easy figure on it (a cat, a dog or anything that comes to your head). Lets say it is a cat and its facing you from that sheet of paper. So you have the front view of the cat in front of you. Suppose in the event you feel that you want to see the cat from a side, will it help in the event you rotate the paper or flip it? No. Why? Its simply simply because the sketch you've drawn has the 3rd dimension missing. Each and every actual world object which you see about has a 3rd dimension and thats the reason why you are able to take it and rotate it to watch it from different angles. The sketch you have drawn had a length and a width, because the paper you utilized to draw also had a length and a width. However it lacks a thickness (3rd dimension) and hence your sketch also didnt have that extra dimension. Suppose rather than sketching your imagination down on the piece of paper, you decided to sculpt it on a handful of clay. Because the medium you utilized (clay) had volume, you had to define the cats shape from all angles during the sculpting. Hence you unknowingly added that 3rd dimension to it and thats the reason you have the freedom to rotate it any way you would like. How conventional 2D animation works: Prior to computers began playing their indispensible roles in the animation business, every thing was done manually by animators, who had been basically artists. They would produce a series of slides getting images on it, where every slides image will be the continuation of the prior one within the sequence. For instance if an animator wanted to simulate a ball falling down, they would produce a sequence of slides where first slide would portray the ball in the top. The subsequent slide will show the ball, may be 1 cm lower than that within the first slide. In the next one, once more lower and so on, till the last slide shows the ball hitting the ground. When the entire sequence of slides are shown in front of the viewer in a fast rate, it creates the feeling of the ball falling down. The whole process was tedious and time consuming. When computers came into play, the frame redrawing works had been minimised because, copying and pasting duplicate elements between successive frames was very simple using the computers aid. The artist has to make only the necessary modifications that ought to exist between successive frames. As technologies advanced, softwares evolved that again minimised the function of a 2d animator, in such a way that several things started getting automated. Using motion tweening along with other methods, an animator can set the initial position or shape of an object after which its final position and shape and also the pc would create the intermediate frames automatically. The artist even has the freedom to make corrections to that. What was missing in 2D animation? The 2D

animation always lacked the essence, since all the real-world sceneries and objects are 3D and when they gets transformed to 2D, they lose their reality. Later stage cartoons started to simulate the 3D impact by utilizing gradients, and varying highlights, but it needed large additional effort from the part of the artist. How 3D Graphics works: The stages in 3D animation are much more in number compared towards the 2D animation. The very first part of 3D animation starts with character sketching and 3D modeling. Within the subsequent stage the characters are rigged for animation. In the next stage they are animated. This is actually a too compact type of what happens in the background. Lets see every of them in a little detail. Character sketching: This will be the stage where an artist sketches how the character should look from numerous angles. Usually the sketch will probably be done on paper or canvas. As numerous variations in poses are produced so that it would help the 3D Modeler to sculpt a 3D Model out of it. Character Modeling: A 3D artist, who is expertised in a 3D modeling and animating tool, will examine the sketches and begins sculpting the figure utilizing his imagination and skill. I used the word sculpting because the procedure is much similar to the real sculpting we do with raw materials like clay. The software program tool that the artist utilizes offers various approaches to perform the modeling. Generally organic modeling methods like Polygonal Modeling (a polygon is subdivided to obtain the desired shape), NURBS modeling (curves are arranged to produce a surface flowing through them), Subdivisional Modeling (A hybrid blend among polygonal modeling and NURBS modeling) are used. In these modeling methods, the 3D modeling artist will sculpt out the characters shape in 3D utilizing a set of tools provided by the 3D modeling software program, by following any of the above mentioned approaches. The 3D Model obtained finally will probably be in an editable form and the model will probably be dependent on the approach used. For instance a NURBS method will yield a 3D Model in the NURBS representation (curves and surfaces). Once the modeling is complete, the artist converts it into the fundamental polygonal mesh (vertices alone). The polygonal mesh is nothing but an enormous number of polygons that are arranged so as it forms the entire character. This conversion to polygonal mesh offers numerous benefits like faster rendering speed, and multi-software compatibility. Scene creating: In addition towards the characters the animation will have an environment and related objects. The 3D modeling software program offers techniques to simulate the environment, model the world , sun etc. For example within the 3d modeling and animation software called Maya, the artist have an enormous library of Paint effects that contains Trees, leaves and so on from which he can drag and drop into a scene and customize it in accordance to requirements. Texturing: Throughout this stage, all the objects within the scene are given suitable textures using the 3D animation tools particular facilities. Some tools offer only facilities for mapping an image texture on to the 3d model, whereas advanced tools even let you paint on the 3d meshs texture surface. Lighting and Camera setup: This procedure is much like that in a actual globe movie

generating. The 3D animation software provides different types of lights which you can location within the scene in any direction you want. You can adjust the intensity, cone angle or even the shadow cast by the individual lights. Camera also is the replica of the actual camera we use for shooting. We can location numerous cameras in a scene; adjust its focal length, aperture size and nearly every parameter which you can discover in a real camera. Animation: As soon as the static elements have been set, the 3D artist applies motion to them. This procedure, called animation is performed by setting keyframes. To be able to animate a ball falling, the animator would set the first key frame at say 0th second with the balls position in the initial leading position. He would set the next key at say 5th second using the balls position touching the ground. The 3D animation software interpolates the balls falling action among the 0th and 5th seconds. The animator can customize the interpolation behavior using graphs or by setting intermediate keys. In Character animation, comparable principles are applied. The skeleton will be animated by the animator and the 3d mesh skinned to the skeleton gets animated automatically. Character animation is often aided by plug-in tools (e.g.: biped) that has been created specifically for creating character animation sequences like walking or running cycles. The various scene elements, cameras and lights are animated utilizing basic key-frame animation, based on the story board requirements. Rendering: As soon as the scenes are animated, it will undergo a procedure called rendering, in which the 3d representation is converted to a video format, which can be read and edited utilizing expert video editing software program. Editing and mixing: The rendered scenes are imported into video editing software and edited. In the case of movies where the human characters need to interact with an animated character, proper mixing is done at this stage, although the 3D scene creation would have already been carried out with that aim in mind, using techniques like motion tracking. The advantages of 3D animation: You may have wondered why we should go following the 3D animation, when the entire process itself takes numerous stages and appears to be extremely complicated. Apart from the complexities involved, it does provide a great deal of advantages. Once the modeling procedure is completed, the 3D software program allows extremely flexible control over the scene and animation. You are able to rotate the model in any angle you would like (unlike 2D). 3D animation software program also provides a wealthy collection of tools that aid the process of modeling and animation. You are able to select from a wide selection of modeling techniques based on your requirement. Lighting and camera setup is the precise replica of a actual world movie shooting environment. Apart from all these, the ultra realism offered by the 3D rendered scenes makes 3D graphics the best solution for the emerging animation industry. one piece