CS378, History Of Computing
Final Paper
Due 2004 Dec 3
Reports for History of
Computing CS378
Joseph Lopez
2004 Dec 3
Introduction
Three dimensional (3D) animation has brought technology and art together in a way that has wowed the movie going community. Movie making has always been an art form to push the envelope of its medium. Optic, film, mechanical and computing technologies have progressed film to where it is today, giving film makers greater freedom in the way they tell their stories. In this paper I will look at the history of 3D animation through its use in movie making, noting key technologies, people and productions.
Digital 3D animation before Movies
Before 3D animation hit the big screen, much of its development was initiated through government funding and collegiate institutions. Technologies such as Sketch pad (1) which used a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) and a “light pen” to sketch models on computers was developed by MIT in the 1960’s and used by General Motors to do 3D modeling of new automobile designs. Another technology that was invented in the 1960’s, which would help progress 3D animation was the invention of the mouse by Doug Englebart. The mouse gave 3D modelers the ability to input information in a way that keyboards and peripherals of the time did not allow, such as fluid movements along an X/Y axis. Englebart’s research of the mouse led to work on Graphical User Interface(GUI) interfaces which in the late 1960’s would be developed by Xerox in the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).(2) GUI along with the mouse allowed for a more “humanistic” interface with computers, these technologies would later take on a commercial form when Steve Jobs introduced them with the Apple McIntosh. The discourse for 3D animation of movies would go on to incorporate these technologies into their production workflow.
While the computer world innovated 3D computing technologies the movie industry would begin to incorporate these high tech analog effects into their movies. Directors such as Stanley Kubrick and George Lucas would pioneer special effects. Kubricks manipulation of the cameras aperture and exposure to create a “time travel” effect would prelude George Lucas’s use of analog computing for “computer displays” of the Death Star. These technological uses foreshadowed the movie industries adoption of 3D technology. Specifically, George Lucas would go on to create a research/production facility where work on special effects and 3D animation could be explored as part of the movie production work flow. This facility would become a company called Industrial Light and Magic and make effects for such films as “Star Wars”, “Terminator 2” and “Jurassic Park”.(4)
Early Digital 3D animation in Movies
While George Lucas’s company would end up focusing
more on special effects, other productions such as Disney’s “Tron”(1982) and
Universal Studio’s “The Last Star Fighter”(1984) would go on to push the
boundary of Digital 3D animation.
Though Tron was a technical success, its release was not a blockbuster
and being over budget it was black listed in
How Digital 3D Animiation is Composed
An explanation of 3D models and animation is needed at this point, because these terms will be used through out the rest of the paper. The production flow for 3D animation consists of three parts: modeling, scene animation and rendering. Modeling is where an animator makes 3D models that will later be used in a scene.(5) An example of a 3D model could be a space ship, person or any moveable object within a scene. There are multiple types of 3D model standards however the predominant one is polygonal. “A polygon is a closed planer path composed of a finite number of sequential straight line segments.” These models are created through the use of X/Y/Z axis in a 3D animation program such as 3D Studio Max or Lightwave. The models are then given physical and mechanical characteristics such as the ability to rotate joints and parts. They are given these characteristics in order to be moveable for the next step in animation, the scene, which will be discussed later.
The last part of the modeling consists of texturing. Texturing is the use of images to overlay polygons. In early 3D animation texturing usually consisted of solid colors, however as computer power has grown, full graphical images are now commonly used. The reason for the growth in resolution is not only due to the use of higher quality texturing, when 3D animation began, the number of polygons used for model was very minimal due to the heavy processing power it took to compute such models. As time has passed the number of polygon’s used for a character has increased dramatically due to faster processing power. This is what technically led to higher resolution 3D models, because the detail of the texture of a model can now be much finer.
3D scene animation is when the animator takes the models they have created and inserts them into a “scene”, in movie terminology you can think of the scene as a movie set, where the models are placed, lit and act. The acting takes place by creating multiple frames, i.e. pictures of the scene settings and playing them sequentially. This is where the mechanics of the 3D model is used to bend and rotate the model within the scene. To solve the problem of having to setup each frame, many 3D animation programs can do interpolation using key frames. Key frames are frames that have marked within a timeline and noted for their settings. For example, if you setup a key frame where a car is on the left side of the frame and then draw another frame 4 seconds later where the car is on the right side, you can set that as a key frame and have the computer interpolate the frames in between. The interpolation process usually also has settings so you can control velocity and other physics of the model. The next part which takes place during your making of the scene is lighting. Within a 3D scene you can create virtual lights which illuminate your set and 3D models giving them depth and definition.
After one is done creating his models, setting up
the scene and creating a timeline, he is ready to render. Rendering is where the actual calculations
for the 3D animation take place.
Rendering 3D models require vast amounts of computing power, though it
is now possible to do 3D animation on personal computers. However, for large productions, huge render
farms are required to create feature length film quality renderings within a
reasonable amount of time. For example
here at the
3D Animation Today
The general workflow for 3D Animation has not changed significantly since it’s introduction in the 1980’s, however the hardware required and software developed has changed the barriers to entry into 3D Animation. In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s companies like Pixar and Dreamworks would be created by the likes of Steve Jobs and Steven Spielberg. These companies would create the market demand for even more complex 3D animation packages. One of the influential packages to be offered was made by a company called Newtek. Newtek had made its name in the movie industry with a video editing system called Toaster, however in the mid 1990’s it introduced Lightwave. Lightwave offered a 3D modeler as well as scene animator that was not only cost conscious but scalable. Movies such as “Toy Story” and “A bugs life” used Lightwave in a production setting that pushed the limits of the program. Many other 3D software programs would follow, such as 3D Studio Max, Softimage and Maya. In their current state these programs offer scalability that now permits production from a single worker on 3D animation workstation to a full blown production house that utilizes hundreds to thousand node parallel processing systems to create feature length film.
Conclusion
Through the use of digital three dimensional animations; movies have been given a new medium for which to tell stories. The art of making movies is driven by new digital technologies and the computers role in movie making production has taken its position in the workflow with lighting, actors, cameras and the other essential elements of production.
Annotated Bibliography
1. “An Historical Timeline of Computer Graphics and Animation” http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/timeline.html (accessed Oct 27) This website gives a comprehensive outline of major occurrences that have influenced 3D Animation.
2. “Graphical user interface” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUI (accessed Nov 1) This website gave an introduction into how BASIC was created, it also gave insight into a number of other terms such as “3D Animation”.
3. "Tron and the Last Star Fighter" http://www.cs.unc.edu/~zimmons/tron.html (accessed 2004Oct 3) This website gave an analysis of Tron and The Last Star Fighter bringing insight into the technology they used for their special effects.
4. “Industrial Light & Magic” http://www.ilm.com/inside_timeline.html (accessed Nov 1) This website gave insight into what films ILM has been apart of and technologies they have used.
5. “3D computer graphics” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_model (accessed Dec 1) This website gave information about modeling and other 3D development information