Computer animation

Also, computer-generated animations allow a single graphic artist to produce such content without using actors, expensive set pieces, or props.

[1] With rates above 75 to 120 frames per second, no improvement in realism or smoothness is perceivable due to the way the eye and the brain both process images.

Films seen in theaters in the United States run at 24 frames per second, which is sufficient to create the illusion of continuous movement.

Before becoming a final product, 3D computer animations only exist as a series of moving shapes and systems within 3d software, and must be rendered.

For example, hair simulation for computer animated characters in and of itself is a career path which involves separate workflows,[11] and different software and tools.

Within the software package, the creator places drawings into different key frames which fundamentally create an outline of the most important movements.

[19] Examples of films produced using computer-assisted animation are the rainbow sequence at the end of The Little Mermaid (the rest of the films listed use digital ink and paint in their entirety), The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, Tarzan, We're Back!

A Dinosaur's Story, Balto, Anastasia, Titan A.E., The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.

Early digital computer animation was developed at Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1960s by Edward E. Zajac, Frank W. Sinden, Kenneth C. Knowlton, and A. Michael Noll.

[27] The sequel, Futureworld (1976), used the 3D wire-frame imagery, which featured a computer-animated hand and face both created by University of Utah graduates Edwin Catmull and Fred Parke.

[41] Films like Avatar (2009) and The Jungle Book (2016) use CGI for the majority of the movie runtime, but still incorporate human actors into the mix.

[42] Computer animation in this era has achieved photorealism, to the point that computer-animated films such as The Lion King (2019) are able to be marketed as if they were live-action.

[52] For example, in the 2006 film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Bill Nighy provided the performance for the character Davy Jones.

Rhythm and Hues Studios labored for two years to create Aslan in the movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which had about 1,851 controllers (742 in the face alone).

For the 2005 remake of King Kong, actor Andy Serkis was used to help designers pinpoint the gorilla's prime location in the shots and used his expressions to model "human" characteristics onto the creature.

Some impressive animation can be achieved even with basic programs; however, the rendering can require much time on an ordinary home computer.

A workstation typically costs $2,000 to $16,000 with the more expensive stations being able to render much faster due to the more technologically advanced hardware that they contain.

Programs like Blender allow for people who can not afford expensive animation and rendering software to be able to work in a similar manner to those who use the commercial grade equipment.

[63] As early as 2001, MPEG-4 included 68 Face Animation Parameters (FAPs) for lips, jaws, etc., and the field has made significant progress since then and the use of facial microexpression has increased.

A mid-level Partial Expression Parameters (PEP) space is then used to in a two-level structure – the PAD-PEP mapping and the PEP-FAP translation model.

[68] One trend in computer animation has been the effort to create human characters that look and move with the highest degree of realism.

Films that have attempted photorealistic human characters, such as The Polar Express,[69][70][71] Beowulf,[72] and A Christmas Carol[73][74] have been criticized as "disconcerting" and "creepy".

[76] The popularity of websites that allow members to upload their own movies for others to view has created a growing community of independent and amateur computer animators.

[77] With utilities and programs often included free with modern operating systems, many users can make their own animated movies and shorts.

Companies such as PowToon and Vyond attempt to bridge the gap by giving amateurs access to professional animations as clip art.

[78] However, the raster graphics format of GIF animations slows the download and frame rate, especially with larger screen sizes.

The growing demand for higher quality web-based animations was met by a vector graphics alternative that relied on the use of a plugin.

By this time, internet bandwidth and download speeds increased, making raster graphic animations more convenient.

Technologies such as JavaScript and CSS animations made sequencing the movement of images in HTML5 web pages more convenient.

Another technique called constructive solid geometry defines objects by conducting Boolean operations on regular shapes, and has the advantage that animations may be accurately produced at any resolution.