The Computer animator's technical handbook

With The Computer Animator's Technical Handbook, you get precisely what you've been looking for: a complete technical resource focused exclusively on animation and written on a level that ensures its relevance, regardless of the applications you use or the precise uses to which you put them. Inside, authors Pocock and Rosebush illuminate classical animation techniques using modern vocabulary and explain computational techniques in classical terms, helpfully bridging the two worlds and giving you a solid grounding in the concepts at the heart of all animation work. They also cover every aspect of the professional production process-critical information neglected in most books and never before presented so clearly or completely.

Features

• Software-independent coverage of the concepts and techniques on which the entire animation field is founded.
• Provides useful explanations of basic concepts, lucid exploration of advanced issues, and detailed attention to everything in between.
• Introduces designers to the art and science of expressing ideas as a sequence of images presented in time.
• Covers every aspect of time-based imagery and media, including film, video production, traditional animation, Kinematics, Dynamics, animation languages, special effects, tools, motion pathways, and digital temporal imaging.
• Equips traditional animators with a sound grasp of computational techniques; equips computer animators with an understanding of other methods.
• Includes an in-depth look at the steps comprising the professional production process.

  Table of Contents

  A Note from the Series Editor
  Brian A. Barsky, University of California, Berkeley

  Foreword
  Glenn Entis, Electronic Arts

  Preface

  Introduction

  Chapter 1 - Digital Pictures

  Progression of Dimensions
  and Coordinate Systems
  Digital Images
  2D Computer Imaging
  3D Computer Modeling

  Chapter 2 - Anatomy of Time

  Time
  Representing Time in Words
  Continuous and Discrete Time
  Media: Recording Time-Based Events
  Normalized and Center-Unity Time
  Absolute and Relative Time
  Nested, Local, and Global Time
  Fundamental Temporal Operations

  Chapter 3 - The Science of Moving Pictures

  The Search for Terminology
  Media
  Fundamentals of Lensed Imaging
  Recording and Playback
  Continuous and Discrete Representation
  Persistence of Vision
  Stroboscope Principles
  Aliasing and Anti-Aliasing

  Chapter 4 - The Mechanics of Film

  The Photographic Camera
  Photographic (Film) Media
  Cyclic Motion Picture Recording and Projection
  Roll Media Recording and Projection
  The Shuttle and Intermittent Movement of Media
  Camera Movement
  The Moving Picture Projector
  System Resolution

  Chapter 5 - The Electronics of Video

  The Principles of Raster Scanning
  Electronic Output Displays
  Electronic Image Input Devices
  Electronic Television Standards
  Raster Images, Fields, Interlacing, and the Video Shutter
  Video Waveform Structure
  Video Time Code
  Color
  High-Definition Television
  Video Formats, Recording Technologies, and Defining Characteristics

  Chapter 6 - Digital Temporal Imaging

  Digital Imaging
  Digital Input and Output Devices
  The Frame Buffer and Color Lookup Table
  The Virtual Camera
  Bandwidth
  Formal Aspects of Digital Images
  Pixel Aspect Ratio
  Compression
  Desktop and Streaming Video
  Digital Media

  Chapter 7 - Intermixing Media

  Issues of Preference—Film versus Video
  Conversions Between Media
  Production Flow

  Chapter 8 - Animation Methods and Tools

  Fields and Field Guides
  Safeties
  Registration Systems
  The Animation Stand
  Cutouts and the Slash System
  Pan and Scan: Zooms, Pans, Spins
  Scalingx
  Animating on Twos
  Staggers
  Color Table Animation
  Scratchon
  Shape Definition
  Morphing
  Onionskinning
  3D Animation Methods
  The Integration of Two and Three Dimensions in Computer Animation

  Chapter 9 - The Cel System

  Cel Animation
  Action Technologies
  Computer-Mediated Cel Animation
  Cel Production

  Chapter 10 - Motion Pathways, Key Frame Animation, and Easing

  Some Basic Definitions
  Motion Pathways
  Straight-Ahead Animation
  Key Frame Animation
  Easing

  Chapter 11 - Kinematic Motion and Mechanisms

  Links, Joints, and Chains
  The Kinematic Model
  Forward Kinematics
  Inverse Kinematics
  Constraints

  Chapter 12 - Dynamic and Behavioral Modeling

  Force and Dynamics
  The Basics of Force
  Relevant Terms
  Types of Force
  Behavioral Systems
  Dynamics and Computer Animation Programs

  Chapter 13 - Digital Special Effects

  Non-Real-Time Live Action
  Optical Effects
  The Optical Bench
  Motion Control
  Motion Graphics
  Tracking Systems
  Digital Effects

  Chapter 14 - Animation Languages

  The Language of Moving Pictures
  The Languages of Computer Animation

  Chapter 15 - The Production Process

  Preproduction
  Production
  Postproduction
  Production Staffing Model
  Afterword
  Recommended Reading

  Index

  Art Credits

  About the Authors