rendered worlds

1
rendered worlds

• animation indexicality
• 04.11.18

2
virtual week duties

• details of requirements for virtual week are in
  the lecture notes for the previous class. I will
  emphasize that they are requirements.

3
final project

• http//dmedia.ucsc.edu/FDM20C-Fall-2004/assignment
  s.html

4
animating screen space

• the pixel
• (picture element)
• the smallest addressable picture element
• discrete, rectangular elements of a TV/computer
  screen
• patterned in terms of color or shades of gray to
  produce an image

5
color RGB

• red green
  blue color
• 0 0
  0 black
• 0 0
  1 blue
• 0 1
  0 green
• 0 1
  1 cyan
• 1 0
  0 red
• 1 0
  1 magenta
• 1 1
  0 yellow
• 1 1
  1 white

6
pixel bitmapped vector

• bitmapped graphics
• (really pixelmapped)
• screen pixels (physical pixels) correspond
  directly to stored values (logical pixels)
• a stored value for every displayed pixel
• painting programs

• vector graphics
• image stored as mathematical equation of lines,
  curves
• computation interprets model
• generates display of pixels
• extrapolating an line from end points

7
foundations

• Ivan Sutherland
• MIT, later NSA/DARPA, later Utah
• Sketchpad (1963)
• interactive graphical interface pen/screen
• w/ Dave Evans UC Berkeley, pioneered computer
  animation

8
foundations

• Bell Labs
• early 1960s
• innovations in computer graphics, animation,
  music
• Ken Knowlton creates Beflix animation system
  (1963)

9
frame from Edward Zajac film (satellite orbit)

• Bell Labs, 1961 (?) demonstrating satellite orbit

10
Michael Noll, Computer composition with lines
(Mondrian approximation)

• Bell Labs, 1965

11
frame from Stan VanDerBeek/Ken Knowlton, Poem
Field film

• Bell Labs, 1967

12
3-D Cartesian space

• 
  Y
• Z
  X
• convention for giving the illusion of realistic
  space

13
creating objects in Cartesian space

• CAD (computer-aided design)
• modeling
• wire frames skeletal structures linear
  framework
• polygons (polys) creating an outer shape 3-D
  volume
• more polys, more complex shape
• decorating
• color
• texture mapping
• giving objects skins

14
creating objects in Cartesian space

• lighting
• shadows
• reflections
• animating
• making objects move or behave
• rendering
• translation of information (modeling, decorating,
  lighting) into an actual image
• time consuming for high-quality images

15
Turner Whitted, ray-traced ball

• reflection of light off curved surface now a
  standard exercise

16
Turner Whitted, ray-traced ball

• simulation of optical properties optical
  illusions

17
Lev Manovich

• Digital image is no longer indexical
• Cinema is the art of the index
• points to something
• pro-filmic event/reality
• referential

18
Lev Manovich

• Logic of the digital moving image
• subordinates the photographic and the cinematic
  to the painterly and the graphic, destroying
  cinemas identity as a media art

19
Lev Manovich

• implications of this
• painting is key way to understand digital image
• troubles idea of digital a progress toward the
  future
• digital technology does not move us toward
  greater realism
• (especially if realism means reference to
  external phenomena)

20
archaeology of moving pictures

• procinematic devices Thaumatrope

21
archaeology of moving pictures

• Phenakistiscope

22
archaeology of moving pictures

• Zootrope

23
Lev Manovich

• Digital
• towards the painterly
• increases plasticity
• return of the repressed of graphic animation
• yet still attempting to create realism (reality
  effect)

24
Lev Manovich

• Digital cinema is not the same as digital video
• cinema more of a complete practice and
  experience
• video a specific element of digital cinema

25
The Making of Walking with Dinosaurs

• BBC, 1999

26
screening

• animation in action
• illustration of the animation elements mentioned
  earlier as well as
• laser scanning
• motion capture
• compositing
• which we will address next time. . .

27
screening

• the documentarys assumption/argument
• science, animation technology, and creativity
  work together to develop a truer understanding
  and realistic representation of dinosaurs
• its strategy
• as if a camera crew were there to capture the
  truth and reality of dinosaurs indexical conceit

28
screening

• formal tension between
• indexical/cinematic elements locations,
  background shots
• digital/animated elements dinosaurs
• compounded by demands of scientific realism
• resolved in jokes indexical gags
• becomes a fact/fiction hybrid not unlike that
  last Lain layer