Persistence of Vision

While driving back home with Navaneeth , we struck a conversation on  Film ..not the movies but the actual Film reel or tape ... our conversation was carried on to film frame rates like  24 , 25 , 30  etc ..and from there Navaneeth started to break  these things down to simpler form ..  so  before getting in to 24 25 30 Fps .. he asked me to read up on PERSISTENCE OF VISION..which I have been  doing for about some time now ..so I thought I like to share that with the rest of  you ..

How is the Illusion of  movement is achieved when none is present ? In other words   how do we see a seq of images and feel that  its movement ?

This marvelous phenomenon is known as the persistence of vision and it is through this that we experience moving images made up of frames on a film strip. The secret of this illusion is be found in the remarkable capability of a part of the human eye, the retina, of momentarily retaining any image it receives.

Imagine, if you will, a light being shone into the eye only briefly and appearing on the retina as a bright spot. This bright image would appear to remain for a brief period even after the light had been turned off. It’s this slight period of retention or delay that allows for separate sequential images, if seen in quick succession, to appear as a moving image, and it’s upon this principle that film and video projection works.

1765 by the Frenchman, Chevalier D’Arcy, that it was established that this retention period was approximately one-tenth of a second. The early optical devices that were developed and began to appear in the first half of the nineteenth century clearly demonstrated this effect. What started out as serious scientific investigation soon found a practical application for entertainment through the use of such devices as the thaumatrope, the zoetrope, Joseph Plateau’s phenakistoscope and Emile Reynaud’s praxinoscope. Variations of these quickly began to appear as popular parlor toys in the homes of the upper classes throughout Europe. 

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Whats is the difference between Settle and Cushion 2

Here is something more I found about the  question Binu  asked  yesterday :

 Ease In, Ease Out:
Also called Slow In, Slow Out. This is a technique used to ‘cushion’ the animation when going into a pose or coming out of a pose. It’s achieved by adding more inbetweens that favor the pose that you want to cushion. Often used to avoid any hard or sudden stops, or instead of an Overshoot.

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Whats is the difference between Settle and Cushion

Yesterday  one of the Trainees asked me this Whats is the difference between  Settle and Cushion .. as far my limited knowledge is concerned .. I know that they are about the same thing .. But never the less I  did a bit of browsing around and  found this  on  Animation Mentor .. the  extract below is from Animation Mentor and  Shawn Kelly talks about the same thing .. Hope this  helps !




Could You Explain the Animation Terms Cushion and Settle?

 These terms are used almost interchangeably, and mostly they just refer to how a character's movement is going to come to a stop.

Cushion is pretty much the same as "ease in" or "slow-in," animation terms used to describe the way a character will "ease" into a pose or "slow" into a pose. You could also say that a character should "cushion" into a pose - it's pretty much the same thing, as far as I know.

The point of those terms, by the way, is to help sell the organic nature of the character or object. Very few things in nature come to an instant stop on a dime, mostly things more in organic arcs and need time to "cushion" into the final position of their movement. For example, if you were walking quickly and came to a stop, no matter how hard you try to stop instantly, you simply cannot do it. Your body is going to have to recover from the movement and part of that is going to be easing into that final stopped pose (and probably going THROUGH that final pose into an overshoot, and then arcing and overlapping back into the final pose).

"Settle," to me, is very similar. I hear people use that term to describe all of those little overshoots and arcs that eventually run out of steam and lead to the character being still. Picture again someone coming to a stop. Well, their hips are going to keep going until their weight and angle of their body slows them down. The hips will probably sail right through that "stopped" pose and go a little too far before your body says "hey hips! Come back here!" The hips are then going to arc back and go into a bit of tiny spiral that will eventually get them into a stopped position.

Force and general body mechanics tell us exactly what will happen next, which will be a subtle wave action through the spine, causing overlap on the arms, successive breaking of joints going all the way down to the wrists, probably a bit of overlap on the head, etc. - all moving in related arcs in multiple axis, though offset from one another, and so forth.

To me, all of that "stuff" that is happening - all of that is the "settling" of the character.

Other folks might use these terms differently, but those are the ways I've heard them used around the studio. Hope that helps!

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Body Mechanics

THIS was taken from Animation Mentors Jan News Letter 

BODY MECHANICS:
How does the character show that it is aware of its world and situation?
How does it move within the world and situation?
Animators must decide what happens whenever there is a force and change in force to be represented.
 When animating a character jumping into a 180-degree turn, landing and recovering safely you have to make several decisions, including when the character looks back, starts to lean into the direction of the jump, crouches, jumps, when the body begins to twist and initiate the turn, how does the body stop its rotation during recovery, do both feet land at the same time...and on and on?
The computer will only know what you tell it. In 2D animation, an assistant often adds information to what the animator has blocked in. The added images are to further define the sequence of movement for clarity and these images are the result of an artist making decisions.
When doing a body mechanics shot, your attention must be focused on the body and how it moves --
Don't spend a lot of time on the acting. The audience must believe that the character decided to jump so there needs to be a tiny amount of acting such as a quick look in the direction of the jump to show that the character is aware of the situation.
In each body mechanics shot there is a sequence of activity that runs from the character's brain through its body and you must decide what that sequence is before starting to animate.
Where and how does that sequence begin and eventually end? When the sequence is correct, the shot is successful; if it is entertaining that's a bonus.

When referring to the sequence of a movement or the principle of lead and follow we move into a realm referred to as 'breakdowns' and that is where a body mechanics shot is made.
Breakdowns have been defined a few ways and … you got it … here's a new definition
– a breakdown is any image needed to clearly explain why and how a character moves from point A to point B -
 Breakdowns define the order in which the sections of the body move and how they move, which results in a visual representation of force. Each of these breakdown images is a result of a decision the animator makes.
 Terminology and lingo from the 2D realm of decades ago can be confusing in the land of CG, actually it can get confusing in any land and at any time. An animator must decide how a character moves and there are many options for how to animate any move.
First, define the broad descriptive forces creating a movement such as leg drive or body lean and arm pull, then show the subtle force options such as the:-
 turn of a knee, foot direction, head roll, a twist in the body and decide when each of these happens.
What leads and what follows is the best starting point for understanding breakdowns.

 What moves first? Why? What moves next and continue through the sequence.
Explore your options and decide why the character moves then how you are going to show that and decide before you start animating.
Time to make this a participation article...raise your hand well over your head, fully extend your arm but don't move your shoulder. Try again ... again ... now give up - you can't. The sequence of movement starts at your shoulder.
Personality is shown through posture.
 The first thing you have to break down is how the character stands. You must arrange body parts to describe inner life. How a character stands reveals emotional state, energy level and attentiveness.
 Everything that you do from there is a sequence of lead and follow that shows how that particular character moves. Nothing moves without a force either driving or pulling it.

Observe and make notes on daily life, shoot video reference, sketch, act out the intended motion whenever possible. In analyzing video reference, you are looking for what caused the movement not just where the body is at any given frame. Identify the forces that created movement. What decisions do you have to make if you are animating a character side-stepping onto a box?
1. Is the character facing us?
2. How does the character show awareness of the box?
3. Is the character energetic or lethargic, young or old?
4. Is the character pigeon-toed or splay foot?
5. How high is the box?
6. Is there an anticipatory weight shift prior to the action weight shift?
7. When is one hip higher than the other and why?
8. Does the character rotate its knee in or out when lifting the trailing leg?
9. Does the character use arms to boost in support of the step up?
10. If using arms to assist, how do the chest and shoulders lead?
11. Are the character's hands open or closed?
12. Where is the character looking at any given time?
...and on and on…
So, what makes a good body mechanics shot? When the sequence of movement through the body is arranged and timed to represent the intended action and we believe that the character moved. And don't forget – having fun is also important.
Pasted from : Animation Mentor's January Newsletter

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Progressive Walk with out Slide

I had to make different portions of this video to cut down file size, as uploading  a hi res video is not working out .
Part 1:


Part2:



Part3:



Part4:




I want to thank SRINIVAS RAO for  showing me this procedure ... so Srini if your are watching this  ...THANK YOU DUDE !

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Walk Slide

Last week we went around asking animators in the studio as to how they manage to get a clean walk with out any sliding feet or what methods they used , there were a few methods , all giving the same results with one or two having certain limitations like it becomes a tedious task in case you have 100 frames or more another one has problems if the translate z values are not linear .Among a few we thought the method applied by Srinivas Rao seemed easy and flexible . It took less time and also wasn't tied down to any frame extent .. Here is the image file of the tutorial put together ..WE soon hope to have a video tutorial of the same ..

                                          PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

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