Choosing a program for creating animation. Types of Animation in Computer Graphics Path Animation

Creating a three-dimensional character for a logo or commercial is only half the battle. As soon as the appearance of your character is ready, agreed and approved, the fun begins - the creation of 3d animation. This is a time-consuming and incredibly interesting process, which ultimately allows you to "revive" any idea.. For example, to teach a character to talk to a client, be sad and happy, think and move, jump into adventures and show on your fingers how to apply your product.

The work of 3d animators is a colossal work that allows you to create not just a moving picture, but also a completely reliable reality around. How three-dimensional animation is created and what miracles can be done skillfully, we will analyze in more detail in the article.

To quote Dr. Frankenstein: it's alive!

Animation of three-dimensional objects differs significantly from 2d animation - "flat" cartoons, where the volume was achieved with the help of perspective and the correct painting of characters and the environment. Today, technology allows you to immediately show its shape with lighting and camera movement. In this case, the concept of animation changes:

2d animation- creating the illusion of movement or changing the shape of objects using techniques.

animation 3d— automatic movement or transformation of objects in space and time.

Simply put, before it was necessary to draw the movement of each character frame by frame. Now it is enough to create a three-dimensional model of the character, after which it can be moved in space without additional efforts and drawings. But it’s easy to say, but in reality, animating a 3d model of characters is a rather complicated process. To make the figurine move, it is not enough to have access to a computer and smart programs. You also need to imagine how the hero can move, what forces affect him (not those that are higher, but, for example, gravity, the force of friction and resistance).

If you want to get with character, it is important to turn to animators who are aware of all the subtleties and are ready to fanatically work out every detail. Not only gait, but also facial expressions, and the movement of hairs, and the sliding of fabric (if the hero, of course, wears clothes).

To take into account everything at once, you need to be a little magician and a little genius - quite a good description for the animators of the KLONA studio.

How to create non-zombies: features of 3d character animation

As modern wisdom says: nothing is a zombie but a zombie. And if your hero is not him, then the animation of the character should be “live”, or, as they say now, verbal. The viewer must believe that the hero is really walking, looking, grimacing or smiling. interacts with the environment.

The creation and animation of a 3d character is the creation of a story that is told not by words on paper (or screen), but by movement. For example, a character's facial expressions can say a lot about a character. But for this, he must have a sufficiently “quality” face to make the muscles move.

When the question is approached without due diligence or at half strength, as a rule, something is obtained at least unnatural, and sometimes even frightening.

Therefore, let's take as a starting point, and see what can be done with it:

1. Animate by keyframes;
2. Animate along a path;
3. Create animation in a dynamic environment;
4. Animate using motion capture.

Each of the ways is easiest to explain, considering not only the technology, but also examples.

Keyframe animation: from point A to point B

- one of the most common ways to create 3D character animation. The essence of the method is this: on the time scale, several main points are set at which the position or shape of the object changes. The animator sets the required parameters of the model in the specified frames, and the program calculates the "intermediate" states automatically.

Example: For simplicity, let's take a rubber ball that hits the ground and bounces up. To display one such "jump", the process must be broken down into three stages: the ball at the top - the ball on the ground - the ball again at the top. In a good way, you should set more key frames, take into account a bunch of little things. Like the fact that when falling, the rubber case is stretched, and when it is hit, it is flattened.

If you correctly deform the object at each fixed point in time, the 3d animation will turn out to be as natural as possible.

Not always 3d models of characters are people or animals. Our hero can be any object, for example, a flying camera or a UFO (in general, everything that is enough for fantasy). In this case, flashing lights and rotating along the axis will not be enough - not interesting. But to make the object fly along the trajectory, and even “send” the camera to monitor the movement, approaching and moving away in time ...

And skillful handling of focus (that's exactly what a 3d animation studio should be able to do) will turn a simple circling of an object in space into an almost fascinating blockbuster.

The essence of the method is to:

• set the starting point (beginning of the object's path);
• designate the trajectory (the path that the object makes);
• specify the end point (where the model should stop).

After the character/object is “attached” to the trajectory, the program itself calculates and creates the movement. If you add the animation of the object itself (flapping wings, opening airlocks, retracting the landing gear) and “playing” with the camera, you can achieve very interesting effects.

The CLONE studio team knows exactly how to make a simple movement along a laid route and breathtakingly dynamic.

Our hero is not in a vacuum. Any character is surrounded by some kind of reality, in which there is necessarily gravity (if it is not in space), the movement of air masses and other types of vibrations. All this should be taken into account so that the character animation is realistic enough.

What does the result of such an animation look like and where can it be observed?

In details. When a character walks through the city, and the cloak flutters in the gusts of wind, or when the hair sticks to the face under water, all this is achieved thanks to animation taking into account environmental factors.

Strictly speaking, animation in dynamic environment- rather computational work with deep immersion in the physical characteristics of objects. But without all this, even the most detailed 3d modeling will not make the character come alive.

Motion capture: turning a movie into a cartoon

Motion capture technology- young, but very popular. Today, motion capture is used in almost all science fiction films. The essence of this method is extremely simple:

• sensors are attached to the actor;
• while the actor is moving, the cameras record the positions of the sensors;
• their displacement is processed by the program and creates a moving "skeleton" with a set of key frames;
• the resulting information package is “wrapped” with a shell - for this, 3d character modeling is used.

As a result, the actions of the hero are realistic, convincing, and the animators do not have to deal with physics and remember where something bends.

The first thing I would like to start with is to explain what animation is in three-dimensional graphics and what is its main difference from classical (two-dimensional) animation. Animation in 3D computer graphics is the process of changing the properties (parameters) of a 3D object over time. In classical animation, the animator has to draw every frame of his creation in order to make the object come to life on the screen.

Image source www.angryanimator.com

In 3D animation, we need to set the so-called key frames, and the program will calculate (interpolate) all other frames of the animation itself. In fact, the animation process is not as simple as it may seem erroneously. Perhaps for this reason, the profession of animator in the field of three-dimensional computer graphics is one of the highest paid professions in the industry, and there are not so many real professionals.

What is 3D animation used for? There are several areas that cannot do without three-dimensional animation. It:

• Animation of object transformations (moving, rotating, scaling);
• Camera animation;
• Animation of technical processes;
• Dynamic deformations of objects;
• Character animation;
• Dynamic simulations (fluids, tissues, particles).

In each of the above areas, there are different ways to create (obtain) 3D animation. We can reduce them to the following:

1. Keyframe animation;
2. Animation along the trajectory;
3. Creation of animation in dynamic simulations;
4. Animation obtained by motion capture.

So, let's slightly open the veil of secrecy over each method of creating animation.

Keyframe Animation

Creating animation in 3D graphics packages by keyframes can be represented as follows:

• At the right moment in time, for example, in the 1st frame of the animation, you set the properties of your object (size, position, rotation angles) and set this frame as the key frame. The program records all information about the properties of the object in this frame.
• Next, you select another frame of your animation, for example the 10th, and in it again set the new properties of your object. After, again make this frame the key.
• Now the program will calculate how the object should behave when moving from the 1st animation frame to the 10th. This process is called animation interpolation.

Image source http://brendanbody.blogspot.com/2008/12/walk-cycle.html

This type of animation is ideal for: animation of object transformations, animation of cameras, animation of technical processes and even character animation. Industrial Light & Magic's Rango Animation is a perfect example of the perfect keyframed character animation.

Copyright 2011 Paramount Pictures

Path Animation

Animation along a trajectory requires, in addition to the object that will be animated, be sure to set its trajectory (path of movement). Path animation is very often ideal for animating moving technical objects, animating cameras, and animating technical processes.

Image source http://tanawadeethep.tumblr.com

Having selected the object that you would like to make move along the path, you need to assign it a path for animation (trajectory). The 3D object is then transferred to the path line and associated with it. The program itself will create two keyframes for you, one of which will store the position of the object at the beginning of the path, and the second the position of the object at the end of the path. The rest of the frames are interpolated by the program for you. As a result, your object will start moving along the specified path when the animation plays.

Creating Animations for Dynamic Simulations

This way of creating animation is associated more with the profession of a dynamics specialist than with the profession of an animator. Animation here is a way to save the result of a dynamic simulation. The terrible phrase "dynamic simulation" means the process of calculating the behavior of an object in a physically real environment. For example, we all know that if a glass goblet falls on the floor, then most likely it will break into many pieces. This is familiar to us and we all understand it. But the three-dimensional environment does not know which object should have certain properties. In order for each object to behave as it does in our world, dynamic simulations are used. Such simulations are run by 3D graphics packages and after the simulation is completed, they create animation keys that store information about the behavior of each piece of our broken glass. Dynamic simulations are very often used to calculate the behavior of fluids, tissues, hard and soft objects. Thanks to dynamic simulations and the animation created after them, we can enjoy watching apocalyptic blockbusters in cinemas.

Copyright 2009 Sony Pictures / Columbia Pictures

Motion capture animation

Motion capture (from English motion capture) is a fairly young way to get animation, but is quickly gaining popularity due to the realism of the animation that it allows you to get. What is the essence of this method of obtaining computer three-dimensional animation? As a rule, to get animation in this way, you need a specially equipped studio with motion capture equipment, an actor from which the animation will be captured and special software. The motion capture system works as follows:

1. Special sensors are put on the actor;
2. The actor performs the necessary animation movements;
3. Cameras around the actor capture the movement of sensors;
4. Specialized software analyzes the movements of the sensors and creates a skeleton with exactly the same animation as a real actor and saves the result in the form of keyframes;
5. The resulting animation can now be used in 3D graphics packages.

This technology is expensive, but allows you to get very realistic animation. Basically, it is used for character animation.

Image source http://lukemccann.wordpress.com/motion-capture

Vivid examples of obtaining animation using the motion capture method can be such film projects as: "Polar Express", "Avatar", "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn".

This concludes our overview of animation in 3D computer graphics.

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3D graphics and animation are essential components of modern visuals. Whatever the project is - virtual reality or a presentation, an information video or a game, infographics or architectural visualization, it will definitely contain computer graphics and, almost certainly, animation. In fact, 3D graphics and animation are the basis of today's multimedia space. Without knowing how to make graphics and animation, it is pointless to take on the creation of interactive solutions or mobile applications, not to mention commercials and films - nothing good (and certainly beautiful and spectacular) will not work.

The cost of computer graphics

It is worth noting that computer graphics can be very different. Hollywood blockbusters often consist of almost nothing but 3D graphics and visual effects, they are made by hundreds and even thousands of specialists, they are cheated on rendering farms occupying buildings and all this costs tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. At the same time, a good motion design costing less than a million rubles may be quite enough for a high-quality presentation. Everything depends on the tasks. In any case, computer graphics should help achieve the main goal of the work - be it a full-length film or a training video, and not be used in the project simply because it is so fashionable.

Importance of technical aspects

High-quality computer graphics is not only excellent creative, beautiful picture and realistic animation. There are also a lot of technical, invisible to the viewer nuances, on which, for example, the speed of rendering video episodes on the render farm depends. That is, the result will look the same on the screen, only the production of an episode can easily take, for example, not two days, but ten, which is often critical. An even greater role is played by the internal technical aspects of 3D graphics in interactive solutions, when using real-time renderers (the same game engines). With incorrectly created models or animations, the mathematical calculation of the scenes (rendering) starts to take too much time, and the frame rate becomes too low. The viewer perceives this as a twitching of the image, which is extremely unpleasant to look at.

3D graphics and animation in virtual reality

Computer graphics and animation are especially important in virtual reality projects. Here, simply by definition, one cannot do without them. Moreover, when using VR glasses, not only the realism of the user's perception of the virtual world, but also the very well-being of the viewer depends on the level of quality of 3D graphics. The fact is that if the frame rate on the displays of virtual reality glasses is less than 90 frames per second, then when the head moves, there is a dissonance between visual and sensory perception (the body moves, but the image does not) and the user “sicks”. Therefore, in this case, the creation of high-quality computer graphics and animation plays a fundamental role.

Designers and computer graphics specialists of the United 3D Labs will be happy to invite you to our demo hall, show the developed projects and discuss your tasks.

If we compare 3D with other areas of graphics and design, then not only creative people will find a place here, but also inveterate techies, I would even say that creative people will have to face a technical approach - if we compare Photoshop, for example, with Maya, then that's all it's like picking up a pair of pencils and a pen against the assortment of an entire art supply store. When you have to study a large number of materials, you would not want to waste time and from the very beginning you should choose the best program for creating 3D models and 3D animation.

I used to work in 2D and when I first opened the 3D package I was surprised by the 5 menu options with a huge list of different tools, commands for modeling and animation. In Illustrator or Photoshop, one row of menus was enough for the main work, and then a small part from its list.

You will be lucky if you immediately sit down at the 3D package that you will use further in the profession, retraining will be long and painful. First of all, it is worth choosing a specialization and a program suitable for it. You should pay attention to well-known and commonly used products, so it will be easier to find lessons to study, plugins, scripts and, most importantly, work.

The best programs for 3D modeling and animation.

There are a number of programs that successfully perform most of the daily 3D work tasks, moreover, specific tools are already built into their functionality, for example, for sculpting, 3D drawing (3DPint) and visual effects (VFX). In the article, these are the first 3 programs for 3D modeling. And I will talk about more specialized programs at the end.

I am an animator who likes to model sometimes, so I use Cinema4D, Autodesk Maya and Zbrush.

3D Max is the very first 3D modeling and animation package I have seen in my life. I was 9 years old when I spied how my father was studying on teapots, spheres and cubes. Then it seemed to me inconvenient to use orthogonal cameras when there is one perspective one.

This program is chosen by modelers, interior designers and those associated with industry and architecture. At the moment, the most common 3D modeling package among all. Many new versions of plugins and rendering engines are released for it earlier than for other programs.

The main advantage in modeling is the presence of modifiers, thanks to which you can layer changes in geometry and in the future remove, change or reduce the effect of the modifier you need on the object. Frees you from the problem of erasing history and the inability to roll back changes.

After I switched to as the main program for 3D modeling and animation, especially in Extension 2 animation tools for motion design appeared (the beauty of C4D).

It has a node structure (what does it look like?) and allows you to connect things that are not related to each other in the ordinary world, for example, by changing the color of the sphere, you can change the speed of rotation of the cube around it. Such flexibility of relationships opens up a lot of options for the application of creative imagination. Maya is used by major animation studios to create games, cartoons and movies.

Often new 3D technologies are written first for Maya and only then adapted to other packages, so they work in it as the developer intended. It slows down heavy scenes less, and it is great for both modeling and animation, it also has VFX tools, but most importantly, the "shirt" is a leader in character animation, which is why I switched to it.

With this program, I started mastering 3D modeling and animation. Bribes with a simple and user-friendly interface, many say that it is easier to learn. It is mainly used by motion designers (Motion Design) and animators who make commercial videos. It costs less than analogues and is developing quite actively, making up for the gap in functionality from the dinosaurs of the 3D industry - and. The main beauty of Mograph effectors, which allow you to animate a large number of objects at the same time with just a couple of mouse movements, is great for creating unusual visual effects. It also has several built-in render engines that do a good job with the main tasks of the users of this program.

Votchina VFX. If you want to create atmospheric phenomena, destruction of objects, tornadoes, storms, flames, smoke and other parametric effects, then you are here. Basically, the work process will be tied to programming and working with the node tree. Modeling here is also possible, but not as convenient and pleasant as in other packages, so it's better to keep one more program in conjunction.

- this is the maximum creativity - the best program for high-poly (Hi-poly) 3D modeling or sculpting (Sculpting). The work process is built in such a way that in front of you there is an imaginary piece of clay from which you sculpt the object you need.

Here you can also simulate equipment (Hard-surface), but I, like many others, prefer to use Maya or Max. In you will be able to create fantastic creatures, animals, people with maximum detail right up to the pores on the skin. It has a unique interface that is very different from anything on the 3D market, but you will get used to it with time.

To work, you will need to buy a graphics tablet, the accuracy of the mouse is not enough. The most interesting thing is that in order to sculpt well, it is not at all necessary to be able to draw well. ZBrush included has ways to simplify initial modeling, similar to real sculpting work. You can use the frame, set the initial volume, bend, cut, dazzle various parts. It is an essential part of the quality character modeling process.

Be prepared for a lot of information and constant improvement of your skills, in 3D often the same things can be done in different ways and the right one is the one that solves the problem the fastest.

What we have?

So if you want model buildings, equipment, details, create interior design, then start your journey with .

If you worried about the cost and complexity of learning 3D and in the future you want to be a motion designer and create commercials then it will suit you Cinema 4D.

If you don't be afraid of a long study and want in the future engage in 3D character animation, animation for games and movies, while having all the possibilities for full 3D modeling put .

For those who want to get away deep specialization in 3D VFX (visual effects), tuning every day destruction or whirlwinds of a tornado that blows away houses, create parametric materials

Ever since cavemen learned how to make rock paintings, mankind has improved the methods of visual display of the surrounding reality. In different periods of history, artists were equipped with new paints and tools for drawing, sculptors mastered various materials and techniques, and the theater amazed with the realistic scenery.

With the advent of computers, many new ways of constructing images have emerged. Of course, technology has significantly expanded the previously available opportunities, including in the field of creating pictures with a motion effect:

To “stir up” a static image, a program for creating animation must be installed on your computer, and its choice will be discussed in this article.

A little about animation

In order for the image to be animated, the following conditions must be met:

• Several pictures. It is impossible to achieve the effect of motion with only one image. Animation is a frame change, and these frames should be different from each other;
• Similar pictures. If you consistently change cat to dog, elephant and giraffe, you will get something indigestible. Images need to have common elements to make a good animation;
• frame rate. If the picture changes once a second, then no movement effect can be achieved. In order to get the desired result, it is necessary to change frames more than 16 times per second.

To achieve the desired result, there are various programs for 2D animation, as well as for working with three-dimensional images. Let's start by looking at the 3D format.

3D animation software

Consider some popular programs for creating 3D animation.

• 3D Studio Max. This program is popular among those for whom the creation of animation is not the main activity. Also great for modeling 3D objects in computer games:

There are a huge number of constantly updated plugins and rendering options, but not everyone can (legally) afford everything due to financial reasons.

• Realsoft 3D. A distinctive feature of this program for 3D animation is the highest image quality:

This feature is actively used by the creators of commercials and music videos. Also a nice feature is cross-platform.

• Maya. A program for creating high-quality 3D animation, which is widely used in film production:

• Poser 4 . This system is most suitable for modeling human behavior, therefore it is used both in the development of computer games and in the creation of cartoons:

Programs for Flash animation

To be placed on the pages of the site, animated images must have a small weight (otherwise the download speed of the resource will be depressing). Flash technology allows you to "stir up" boring pictures on the World Wide Web.

To date, the absolute leader in this area is Adobe, offering a wide range of opportunities for developers:

However, not everyone can afford such a program for flash animation, not to mention the necessary plugins ( in total, the whole package will cost more than $1,000). Therefore, we consider options with cheaper components.

• SWISHpowerFX. This system greatly simplifies the creation of animated text. The main advantages are the ease of learning by users and the speed of creating images;
• Swiff Chart. Program for creating diagrams. The user only needs to enter data and select the type of chart, and the system will do the rest.

Photo Animation

Consider some software solutions that will help you make an animated image out of a static photo.

• Adobe Photoshop. The king of image editing, which provides the widest range of possibilities:

Adding various animated effects will help make any photo truly alive.

• FotoMorph. A program whose action is based on morphing technology ( transition from one image to another):

• PhotoSHOW PRO. An analogue of Photoshop, certainly inferior to its eminent competitor in everything, including the price, and for some this is already a weighty argument against the product from Adobe: