Computer Game and Animation Past, Present, and Future
Computation Based Computer Game and Animation Past, Present, and Future Has gameplay, a pattern defined though a set of rules Changing objects over time: motion and deformation caused by interaction
Animation has two definitions (narrowly) Animation as a graphics application 2D cartoon animation 2D/3D Animation movies (broadly) Animation as a graphics technique Producing special effects in movies and games Animation movies Gaming effect
Graphics Pipeline Time is continuous, but computers handle discrete data Geometry Modeling Animation Rendering Display Time 0 Frame 0 Objects in reference space Time 1 Frame 1 Time n Frame n
Graphics Pipeline I can generate the frames fast! (real time) Generate one frame and then send it to display immediately Such as games I CANNOT generate the frames fast (offline) Save the frames into the disk Play them back in the future Such as movies
Graphics Pipeline The data you need to produce at each time? Position Orientation Shape Appearance Phase change
Computer Animation Perception Beta motion Appearance of motion from a set of still images Flicker Failure to achieve beta motion effect Frame rate is too low (image update is too slow) Motion blur
Frame Rate How many images are updated per second? (Frames per second, i.e., FPS) Movie and TV Game LCD Display 24FPS 25FPS Film TV in Europe 30FPS 48FPS 60FPS Graphics Research Some films (Avatar, the Hobbit) TV in the US, high end HDTV Standard for Action Games 72FPS Experimental Can be higher Standard
Animations in Movies from to For another look at the history of animation, check out The Art of Animation and Motion Graphics Off Book PBS
Early devices Flipbook Thaumatrop Zoetrope
Conventional animation Stuart Blackton Humorous Phases of Funny Faces Winsor McCay Gertie the Dinosaur
Conventional Animation production Storyboard: the proposal Model sheet: consistency Animatic: storyboard with timing Key frames & in betweens Test shot Pencil tests Inking: drawings onto cells Painting: coloring in Sound: voice, body, special effects, background
Story Dept. Modern Computer Animation Production Art Dept. Modeling Dept. Lighting Dept. Animation Dept. Rendering Dept.
The first Feature length Computeranimated Film? Made by Pixar, released by Walt Disney
Sometimes, the movie is not solely made of animations Special Effects
The old way to create Special effects Time consuming Not reusable Expensive?
Computer Generated Special Effects (CGI: Computer Generated Imagery) Real world data capture (these exist in the real world) Animation (those do not exist in the real world) Composition: merging these two together
Computer Generated Special Effects (CGI: Computer Generated Imagery) ILM Demo
Leading Animation/Visual Effect Studios
Your goal is to get the Academy SciTech Award!!!
Computer game history eras First games, consoles Video game crash of 1983 8 and 16 bit eras 32 and 64 bit eras Current era For more on the history of games, check out The Video Game Revolution PBS
Computer games today Multiple platforms PC Consoles Tablets Smart phones Multiple audiences Hardcore Casual Online Motion control
How game companies make money? Make a game, sell it... Free to play, but pay to win Many mobile games Subscription (MMORPG games) New content Uncertainty
Game development process Concept Design document Prototype Production Design, Levels Programming Art, Audio Testing Deployment Maintenance
Read more at: http://vgsales.wikia.com/wiki/video_game_costs http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/19/ps3 xbox360 costs tech cx_rr_game06_1219expensivegames.html
http://www.newgamernation.com/wp content/uploads/2011/05/game cost.jpg (Data from Forbes 2006 study)
Types of game programming Game engine Modeling and rendering Animation Artificial Intelligence Sound Game logic / scripts User Interfaces Networking Databases Development tools Systems/Parallel programming