The underlying process involved in preparing a computer-animated production has not changed much from the process of traditional hand-drawn animation. What is different is the speed with which it is done. It would take many, many pages of hand-written mathematical equations to illustrate the work that a computer does in a fraction of a second.
The Computer Animation Process
Computer animation begins with an idea, followed by the preliminary story. Next, the action scenes are sketched out in frames, with corresponding written explanations, thereby creating a storyboard. Then the detailed story is developed, the sound track is completed, and the key frames are identified. Another set of animators will later do the "in-betweening," which is the work of determining—through mathematical computations—a series of midpoint locations between key frames at which images must be interpolated to create more fluid movement.
Computer animation depends on a combination of scientifically based, mathematically calculated and produced steps. Computer animators focus on making three main determinations:
- how to make a single object on a two-dimensional screen look realistic;
- how to make the object's entire environment look real; and
- how to add realistic movement to the objects and scenes.
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