3D Character Animation

Animated various shapes, a la the popular animation is 3D animation. A popular (but often expensive) to move the character is to use 3D motion capture hardware. Motion capture date back as early as 1915 when it was invented by Max Fleischer, involving only the use of the camera and the image. At the beginning of the study and is taken from human and animals, known as rotoscoping. This information is used to help artists in Animating cartoons, such as "Koko the Clown" and "Snow White". Pioneers who turn away from this work have been the Walt Disney entertainment, without a doubt the most successful and popular entertainer 2D.

Now digital is used to capture human movement using special hardware, usually in the form of a motion capture suit worn by individuals. This varies according to complexity and cost in a more advanced suit often require less post-processing such as data cleaning. There are four types of motion capture system. The first is the inertial motion capture system that utilizes a small number of sensors to track the movement of joints and waste. This data is then sent wirelessly to the host computer, which does not require external hardware such as camera tracking etc. This match is in the range of £ 25,000 (Wiki 2008).

Mechanical movement capture system comes in the form of a set of semi-rigid plastic rods, which contain a number of potentiometers that measure the movement and angle of joints. In accordance with the subject such as the exoskeleton, with a control box located on the back of the waist or users. The advantages this system is that the congestion-free and low cost of £ 12,500 (Wiki 2008), making it a popular choice for small studios and educational institutions.

Magnetic system using a series of coils through the appropriate measure voltage and current, to determine the position and orientation of the suit. This advantage is similar to the mechanical system, they are not subject to jamming or interference from the reflective surface. However, they are susceptible to EM interference and power.

The most modern and far more advanced motion tracking system is motion Markerless Organic Motion Capture System (MMC), which shows on the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. Subjects who do not need to wear a suit or the type of alert system. Instead, the system uses complex algorithms to identify and understand human movement, which the body detects that. However, it is difficult to detect subtle movements of certain areas, such as finger and facial expression as reported by Wiki (2008) "This system is working well with the movement of large, but tend to have difficulty with the fingers, face, wrist rotations, and small movements .. " As external to the tracking system to improve technology, he will not hesitate to catch every movement and expression efficiency.

Similarly to the traditional 2D animation, 3D animation can be created by hand. This is the slowest and cheapest way to move the character in 3D. Similarly, to create a realistic animation, artists must have a good understanding of the human / animal movement. It involves emotional and physics included in this movement, such as the weight of his personality and character. Both will affect how the characters move, even in the basic run. A critical part of making this happen, is to create a good joint.

This is done by ensuring heavy slope between the bones of smooth curve, such as a bias of 33% / 50% / 66% to bone A. This is directly contrary to the slopes as 25% / 50% / 75%, which makes hard deformation, while the curved slope deformation many fine results. Most important is to add a ring of vectors performed by the two bones. This allows for bone defects of the remote mesh, animate your creature or person will be better. This method should be applied to all along. Crimping with the 3D nature occur because joints can be improved by using the Skin Morph modifier (in 3D Max). Much sharper bends can be achieved by using 12.375% / 33% / 50% / 66% / 87.6% slope bias to the bones. As a value added gradient, needed more time to setup a deformation with Skin Morph.