Information Technology

Multimedia

Multimedia is the processing and presentation of information in a more structured and understandable manner using more than one media such as text, graphics, animation, audio and video. Thus multimedia products can be an academic presentation, game or corporate presentation, information kiosk, fashion-designing etc

Animation is a graphic representation of drawings to show movement within those drawings.  A series of drawings are linked together and usually photographed by a camera.  The drawings have been slightly changed between individualized frames so when they are played back in rapid succession (24 frames per second) there appears to be seamless movement within the drawings.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

History of AnimationIn 1600 BC the Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II built a temple to the goddess Isis which had 110 columns. Ingeniously, each column had a painted figure of the goddess in a progressively changed position. To horsemen or charioteers riding past- Isis appeared to move!

The Ancient Greeks sometimes decorated pots with figures in successive stages of action. Spinning the pot would create a sense of motion.

Roget's principle quickly gave birth to various optical contraptions:

The Flipper book: In 1868 a novelty called 'the flipper book' appeared worldwide and it remained the simplest and most popular device, it's just a pad of drawings bound like a book along one edge

Source: www.arenamalleswaram.com

Basic Types of Animation

Cel Animation Cel animation refers to the traditional way of animation in a set of hand drawings.

Stop AnimationStop animation or stop motion animation is a technique to make objects move on their own.

Computer Animation2D Animation:It is used through Powerpoint and Flash animations. Though its features are similar to cel animation, 2D animation has become popular due to simple application of scanned drawings into the computer like in a cartoon film.3D Animation: It is used in filmmaking where we require unusual objects or characters that are not easy to display. There are different shapes, support of mathematical codes, display of actions and colors which are mind-blowing as if copied from an actual picture.

Source: www.buzzle.com

Example of Computer Animation

About Avatar :

Avatar is one of the blockbuster movies of 2009, which has written and directed by James Cameron, the ‘Titanic’ director. It’s mixed with Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi and Fantasy and the story has taken place in the year of 2154 on planet Pandora, a moon in the Alpha Centauri star system where humans are aliens. The name Avatar refers to the genetically engineered bodies used by the humans to interact with the Na’vi – the natives of the Pandora.

Avatar Trailer (0.30 seconds only)

Technologies used in “Avatar” Movie

Performance Capture by CGICameron has used the Computer generated imagery (CGI) extensively in Avatar. Though he has already been using it since his earlier movies days like Terminator2: Judgment Day, and Total Recall, but in Avatar he specifically used a novel technique called “image-based facial performance capture” that required actors to wear some special headgears already equipped with camera.

Digital AnimationThe digital animations have done by the Weta Digital in New Zealand, which has owned by Peter Jackson. They’ve transferred basic renderings into photo-real images, using lighting, shading and rendering. The realism was extended to each leaf, tree, plant and rock, which were rendered in WETA computers.

Stereoscopic 3D Fusion CameraThe production partner Vince Pace and James Cameron developed this camera system. It was specially used to bridge up the gaps between scenes and artistically formed an untraceable connectivity between the live action scenes and the computer generated scenes.

The latest inventions in the motion capture area are the Simul-Cam and the Virtual camera, which combined the best features of the 3D and the CGI technologies for Avatar. To build or develop his virtual world in a more enhanced way, Cameron captured the motion-capture results in real-time set up.

Virtual Camera and Simul-Cam

Software used in the making of “Avatar”•Weta Digital, New Zealand (most of the work, character modeling, animation, rendering)•Industrial Light and Magic, USA (180  non-character shots, mostly the human aircraft in the final battle)•Stan Winston Studios (most of the props, including the Samson helicopter)•Giant Studios, USA (motion capture)•Hybride, Canada (graphics for the link room)•Lightwave (low-res realtime environments)•Autodesk Smoke (color correction)

Technologies used in “Avatar” Movie (Cont..)

How James Camerson Made a Truly Lifelike 3D Movie

Realising the Na'vi language:

The Na'vi (English: The People) The Na’vi language is the constructed language of the Na’vi, the sapient humanoid indigenous inhabitants of the fictional moon Pandora in the 2009 film Avatar. It was created by Paul Frommer, a professor at the Marshall School of Business with a doctorate in linguistics.

WordlistEnglish - Na'vi Attack - 'ekoDanger - hrrapThank you - irayo

Build the Stage:

An array of 72 to 96 cameras, depending on the size of the set, hang around the perimeter of a sound stage and are configured in a grid. Later, a computer replaces the studio walls, floor and ceiling with digitally rendered three-dimensional environments and structures.

How James Camerson Made a Truly Lifelike 3D Movie (Cont..)

Capture Motion:Actors, weapons and props marked with reflective dots move around the stage while the camera grid tracks only the dots.

Shoot in 3D:Next Cameron films the flesh-and-blood characters in 3-D so that they will look at home alongside the Na’vi in the virtual 3-D world. Older 3-D tech used two cameras mounted side by side to create a left eye/right eye effect. Because of their bulk, those cameras were placed far apart and could shoot only straight ahead.

Scoring:The score (the orchestral music) is the soundtrack album of the 3-D science fiction epic film Avatar, The original score and songs were composed, co-orchestrated and conducted by James Horner.

( Thank You! )

Irayo

Download supporting video:http://www.4shared.com/rar/-OgqpNiy/Animation.html