Computer Animation: A Whole New World
Hand gestures
are recorded through a glove, and body motion with a suit.
In the short film Sleepy Guy, Raman Hui of Pacific Data Images (PDI) brings some of his traditional animation sensibility to a fully CG cartoon. The author effectively uses Hui's production story, to point out some of the important parallels that are true for all forms of character based animation.
The book appropriately concludes with the landmark short the end by Chris Landreth. Created as a test of Alias|Wavefront software, the filmmaker incorporates many recent advances into a thoroughly engaging film. Techniques such as motion capture, procedurally generated and animated hair, digital explosions, smoke and lens flares are all thrown in, but some how they seem to fit the offbeat theme of the project.
In the End...
While perhaps not the big slick coffee table volume on CG that many have been waiting for, Rita Street's Computer Animation: A Whole New World, will excite those with a passing interest in the subject and perhaps inspire a new generation of animators to embrace digital tools. If you are thinking about getting into CG, this might be the encouragement you need to get the bug. Or if you are an animator that's tired of trying to explain to your relatives what you do for a living...this might be the perfect holiday gift!
Computer Animation: A Whole New World by Rita Street. Gloucester, Massachusetts, Rockport Publishers, 1998. 144 pages. ISBN: 1564963772 (U.S. $29.99 hardcover).
Frank Foster is a founding vice president at Sony Pictures Imageworks. His computer film contributions include sequences in such feature films as: Speed, Johnny Mnemonic, The Craft and Contact. He is currently directing the High Definition documentary film The Story of Computer Graphics, a feature-length production from the SIGGRAPH organization.
In the short film Sleepy Guy, Raman Hui of Pacific Data Images (PDI) brings some of his traditional animation sensibility to a fully CG cartoon. The author effectively uses Hui's production story, to point out some of the important parallels that are true for all forms of character based animation.
The book appropriately concludes with the landmark short the end by Chris Landreth. Created as a test of Alias|Wavefront software, the filmmaker incorporates many recent advances into a thoroughly engaging film. Techniques such as motion capture, procedurally generated and animated hair, digital explosions, smoke and lens flares are all thrown in, but some how they seem to fit the offbeat theme of the project.
In the End...
While perhaps not the big slick coffee table volume on CG that many have been waiting for, Rita Street's Computer Animation: A Whole New World, will excite those with a passing interest in the subject and perhaps inspire a new generation of animators to embrace digital tools. If you are thinking about getting into CG, this might be the encouragement you need to get the bug. Or if you are an animator that's tired of trying to explain to your relatives what you do for a living...this might be the perfect holiday gift!
Computer Animation: A Whole New World by Rita Street. Gloucester, Massachusetts, Rockport Publishers, 1998. 144 pages. ISBN: 1564963772 (U.S. $29.99 hardcover).
Frank Foster is a founding vice president at Sony Pictures Imageworks. His computer film contributions include sequences in such feature films as: Speed, Johnny Mnemonic, The Craft and Contact. He is currently directing the High Definition documentary film The Story of Computer Graphics, a feature-length production from the SIGGRAPH organization.
Printer-friendly version
Post new comment