ANIMATION

Anyone who goes to the cinema and watches the latest feature-length cartoon will be amazed as to how things have progressed from the early days of Walt Disney. In some cases it is so proficiently done that it is difficult to believe it’s just a cartoon – take Shrek and Final Fantasy for example.
3ddesign

So what’s going on here??

We have already looked at how an object can be scanned, input into a computer and then displayed in 3D. If not scanned, then designed from scratch using the computer and made to look 3D. Now, forget the printing aspect of modelling for a moment and just stick with the computer. We have at our disposal a completely flexible 3D image. But why stop there?? If we could add a timeline and create a series of these 3D images that change appearance and location every second or less, then we’ve just created some action from what was a still image; and in a nutshell, that’s exactly what 3D animators do when developing a state-of-the-art 3D cartoon. Using very sophisticated 3-D software and the very latest computer technology they are able to produce moving life-like images.

Due to the excessive cost involved, it must be stressed that the computer technology described here is outside the reach of the man-in-the-street and is really only available to the likes of multi-national film and animation companies such as Dreamworks. I’m sure however, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will each have their own – but then again?