Digital Realism

Introduction to Computeranimation

Computer animations are artificially produced images that depict sequences of movement. Different techniques are used for this. These are used in areas such as animated films, computer game software or scientific simulations. Depending on the software capacity, it is possible to create almost any imaginable object, since it is not bound to the rules of reality but obeys the laws of mathematics. These objects are constructed in two phases.

Phase 1 Modeling:

A three-dimensional geometric model is created. Software is used to model the object in polygon facets (polygon mesh representation). This is used to process information such as volume and shape. The more closely meshed, the more detailed is the surface structure. The object has a basic skeleton which is provided with an outer skin (texture). The object is then illuminated with virtual spotlights.

Phase 2 Rendering:

Here the three-dimensional image is projected onto a two-dimensional surface by the rendering software acting as a simulated camera. It calculates perspective and distances. The result is a two-dimensional single image. In such computer animations, motion sequences within a time span and the changing light conditions are depicted. In computer animation, movement and image information is stored separately. Therefore, motion sequences can be transferred variably to the animated object without deleting the information of the animation. This means that the movement is separated from the image. This results in a "form of emergence, which is created by the interaction of data." For the creation of 3-D characters, different techniques are used, which are generated on the computer. The character setup allows the creation of a skeleton, whose motion sequences are animated by hand (key-frame animation) or transferred to it with a motion simulation. Such movement parameters are also added to the flesh, skin and hair of the characters. To avoid having to animate every single hair individually, individual movement patterns are adapted to the hairstyle, which is made possible by simulation software. These patterns move within different force fields, such as gravity or wind. Computer simulations, unlike animations, run automatically by calculating movement parameters of the object in space in relation to time.

Motion in a computer-generated three-dimensional space occurs on three different levels. The spatial constellation is recalculated by changing the lighting, the size of the objects and the angle from which they are viewed. This creates the impression of movement, such as a flickering campfire, the light of a candle or incident sunlight.

Keyframe Animation:

This technique uses transformation calculations. It is originated in animated cartoons. Designer drew just important ‘key-drafts’ while their assistants created intermediate drafts in order to achieve comprehensible results. In animated cartoon as well as in computer animation there are certain aspects (key-values) given to limit the animation (frame). Intermediate stages created by computers are called inbetweenings. There is another key-frame animation technique called algorithmic animation, which has no need for those inbetweenings. Instead it simulates motion influenced by a preset starting point and a fixed speed rate. It renders a motion sequence by including physical parameters like speeding up, for instance. Another way to imply motion is to modify the perspective. This modification can be driven to an extent, that gives an impression of a camera (virtual camera) filming and rotating indoors simultaneously. In order to depict such an impression, it is necessary to include variables such as proportions, movement speeds (this process is called matchmoving). The difference between a virtual camera and filmic recording systems lies in the perception. Animation can be put as a shift of computer modelled objects, which are subject to changing light settings. That’s why animations can’t be described with movements, because the impression of motion arises only by motion recording including continuously calculated setting changes.

Image scientific media analysis

Media aesthetics are highly influenced by hybrid pictures, which are concerned by useful approaches of Visual Culture Studies. Analyzing images means being aware of their significance. It is not important reading an image rather perceiving it. Their semantic meaning is always various in comparison with an inherent way of reading. There is a clear distinction between a verbal statement and the semantic meaning of images, because the latter behaves differently. The significant characteristic of images is that they produce something ‘more’ that can’t be verbalized easily. This leads to the fact that mentioned ‘more’ produces an oversupply of meaning. Therefore, it is to be assumed that the message of an image is highly ambiguous. The so-called iconic turn, coined by Gottfried Boehm in the mid-1990s, links to the fact that the visual carries the meaning and encourages to analyze images in an equal interaction of visual and linguistic understanding. It is important to deal academically with display formats like computer games, commercials and Hollywood productions, because mass-produced imagery has a significant effectiveness. Visual Culture Studies understand motion pictures as “interfaces in the process flow of a comprehensive visual culture” and count mass-produced images to one of major relevance to the latter. It can be observed that media analysis detaches itself from specific discourses of art history, Film- and Media Studies and settles in a broad context of visual culture. Due to Karl Prümm discussing media requires a shift of perspective. The process of image acquisition and image production should come to the fore as those values are being a decisive process of cinematographic production of meaning in order to discuss films. A fixation on the director should be avoided. Due to Prümm focusing on the process of production cannot grasp image formation and shaping. To achieve the desired perspective-shift within the discourse the image elements of a visible image must be analyzed and treated as an organization system. So, in a further discussion examining the mise-en-scene should be shifted to analyzing the mise-en-image.