Principles of VFX

The Code (2011) -Shapes

'The Code' (2011) Shapes, BBC2 England. Available at: Box of Broadcasts (Accessed 10 Nov 2020).

In the second ‘Shapes’ episode of The Code which is a mathematics-based documentary the presenter Marcus Du Satoy is fascinated by mathematical shapes from nature to distant ancestors and even modern structure, and has raised a lot of questions why they shape they are and where all this structure comes from. In addition, he talks about fractal system throughout Jackson Pollock’s painting which is covered in paint scattered and dripped on the floor. Artist and physicist Ricard Taylor invented Pollockiser pendulum that could mimic Pollock’s complex and mysterious painting , despite seeming messy and chaotic, and he shows us how fractal mathematics process from his painting by explaining how the patterns at diverse scale look similar. Indeed, Marcus stresses that fundamental fractals theory builds the nature such as clouds, rocks and even tree branches. Lauren Carpenter, the co-founder of Pixar company, realised that the way to implement the math of fractals on his CGI short film thanks to Mandelbrot’s theories in 1980s. Also he suggests that this code will change the face of animation.

The Uncanny Valley

M. Mori, “The uncanny valley,” Energy, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 33–35, 1970 (in Japanese).

Masahiro Mori, a robotics professor, hypothesised that a robot which has a lifelike appearance would suddenly change from a sense of affinity to eeriness, and this remarkable change of eerie sensation is known as the uncanny valley. According to Mori’s examination, people seem to feel raised sense of affinity, when a robot is created to a more humanlike appearance by covering with human’s skin. However, people lose a sense of affinity and experience an eerie sensation, when they realise that the covered skin is actually artificial. But if a robot appears similar to a human being and people do not realise that a robot’s skin texture or movement even muscles in the face is not real they would respond to feel a high degree of affinity for the robot. A Doll, 3D animated character or Zombie, look extremely close to human being as well as a robot would be required this result of Mori’s hypothesis.

The Cinema of Attraction

Gunning, T. (2006) 'The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film, Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde', in Strauven, W. (1.) The Cinema of Attractions Reloaded. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 381-388.

During the period of early film production, early filmmakers tried to show magical spectacle and unique imagery to the audiences under the hegemony of traditional narrative structures and have studied film as a way of presenting a series. At the same time, the audiences have been fascinated with cinematic trick or magical illusion of motion from trick films, such as LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE (1902) by Melies. Tom Gunning explains this conception to “the cinema of attractions”. As technology of film machines and the trick film manipulation became more and more advanced, the spectator attraction and curiosity gradually increased through unique event. Finally, computer generated imagery or visual effects are also described as a storytelling medium and engages with its audience.

What is Digital Cinema

Manovich, L. (2001) 'Digital Cinema' ,The Language of New Media. Cambridge MA: MIT press.

In his essay “what is digital cinema?” Lev Manovich demonstrates that digital media as a live-action animated film like photorealistic computer generated images which are created by advanced cinema technology instead of manual construction of images such as hand-drawn or hand-painted images. He suggests the development of cinema technology can allow the moving image to be simply created without any detailed production process by using progressive computer technology. Despite the fact that a media technology is advanced, he insists that pre-cinematic techniques like hand-crafted process are re-emerged in twentieth century as the foundation of digital filmmaking when confronted with technological limitations. According to his essay, the digital revolution is become the avant-garde aesthetic strategies of collage as a “cut and paste”, and return to early film process. And he explains this conception effectively by comparing it with music video and CD-ROM that shares similarities.

What-is-VFX-VFX-Definition-and-VFX-Meani

Through the Looking Glass Philosophical Toys and Digital Visual Effects

Prince, S. (2010) 'Through the Looking Glass: Philosophical Toys and Digital Visual Effects', Projections, 4(2), pp. 19-40

Today’s digital visual effects is being helped through the collaboration between art and science, and supplies to audiences visual curiosity and pleasure through accurate laws of physics by rendering objects like water, clouds, and fire vividly from principles of motion. Before live action was invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere in 19th century, in the pre-cinema period, variety optical devices such as Thaumatrope, Phenakistoscope, Zoetrope, Praxinoscope had served as cinema of attraction to spectators. In addition, those natural devices, as known as philosophical toys, were applied optical illusion by the principles of persistence of vision and apparent movement. In early 19th century, Joseph Plateau and Simon Stampfer invented the similar devices, phenakistoscope and stroboscopic disk respectively, which are devised with drawings on each slit, and caused the drawings to be seen as one, when whirled. The author Stephen Prince says that the emergence of popular film in todays is caused by development of the prehistory of cinema.

Twelve principles of animation

1. Squash and Stretch

Speed, momentum, weight, and mass
The amount that an object squashes and stretches says something about its mass.
you can also use squash and stretch to exaggerate facial expressions.
Ball - when it’s starting to fall, it should gave its nomrmal shape for the most part,
This is the principle that animated objects will get longer or flatter to emphasise their speed, momentum weight and mass.

2. Anticipation

this is when a character prepares for an action to give the audiencae a clue what is happening next as well as to make the action appear more realistic
Examples : Fly, Punch, Run, and facial expression
Characters will wind up before taking off
It’s important to make it as easy as possible for the audience to understand what’s going on without having to watch it twice.
This is when a character prepares for an action to give the audience a clue as to what is happening next as well as to make the action appear more realistic
Anticipation helps communicate actions to the audience by preparing them for the next action.

3. Staging

It can apply to acting, timing, camera angle and position and setting.
When you want to be in full control of where the audience is looking. The control is achieved through staging
All of the elements of the scene work together to move the viewers eyes around the screen
Staging is the presentation of any idea so that it is completely and unmistakably clear. It covers so many areas of animation. It can apply to acting, timing, camera Angle and position and setting.

4. Straight ahead & pose to pose

Fire, water particles, clouds of dust, explosions. There are laws of physics that work at a constant rate.
Overlapping action. ig .. adding the ears using straigth ahead. You can focus on the figures movements and physics of ears.
this term describes two methods used to animate drawings. The first method straight ahead is where you draw the first drawing and then you draw the second drawing and then the third drawing and so on. The second method pose to pose is where you draw the beginning and end of each main pose and go back later to fill in the drawings in between. You decide where they end up from the beginning and work backwards.
Using straight ahead animation can lead to the character changing size or being on a different level from beginning to end.

5. Follow through & overlapping action

This is a technique of having body parts and appendages dragged behind the rest of the body and continue to move when the body stops. This is associated with another technique called ‘drag’
overlapping actions describes the offset between the timing of the main body and its other parts.
Drag describes the technique of delaying the movement of body parts in relation to the main body
All three of these are basically describing different aspects of the same thing.
This is a technique of having body parts and appendages dragged behind the rest of the body and continue to move when the body stops. Follow through and overlapping action are often associated with another technique called drag.
Follow through refers to the way parts of the body continue to move after the body is stopped. Overlapping action describes the offset between the timing of the main body and its other parts. Drag describes the technique of delaying the movement of body parts in relation to the main body
Basically when the main body moves, the tip of the appendage should be the last to catch up. And when the body stops the tip should follow through the farthest before settling back

6. Slow in & out

this principle refers to the way pretty much all movement starts slowly, build speed and finishes slowly.
This principle refers to the way pretty much all movement starts slowly, build speed and finishes slowly. This is one of the most important principles to achieving life like motion without slow in and slow out, things feel mechanical.
to use this principle in 2d animation, you take your extreme poses draw a single in-between and then draw in between those then only in between the drawings closest to the extremes

7. Arcs

Mechanical in and out or up-and-down precision. Most living creatures will move in a circular path, otherwise known ad an Arc caused by Gravity.
Arcs can be added to almost any figure movement.
Very few organisms are capable of movements that have a mechanical in and out or up-and-down precision. Most living creatures will move in a circular path, otherwise known as an Arc.

8. Secondary action

the primary action is the legs and the secondary action is everything else : the arms swinging, the head bobbing and the facial movements.
This principle is often associated with overlapping action. Secondary action describes gestures that support the main action to add more dimension to the charater animation

9. Timing

the personality and nature of an animation is greatly affected by the number of frames inserted between each main action.
If you have many drawings that are very close together in between the two main poses, the action will be very slow. If you have very few drawings set far apart from each other, the action will be very fast.
More drawings = slow. Less drawings = fast.
The standard frame rate for movies is 24 frames per second. If one drawing is made for each frame 24 drawings per second, that is called drawing on once. If one drawing is made for every two frames, that’s called drawing on twos
It’s common to draw on twos than once for a few reasons.
This principle states that the personality and nature of an animation is greatly affected by the number of frames inserted between each main action.

10. Exaggeration

every action, pose and expression can be taken to the next level to incerease the amount of impact on the viewer.
More realism doesn’t mean make the physics and proportions more consistent with reality. But rather make the idea or essence of the action more apparent and real.

11. Solid drawing

Three-dimensional space with volume, weight and balance. Using basic solid shapes like spheres, cubes and cylinders
Twining