Advancement of 3D Animation Industry

Animation; the term gives an instant thought of cartoons and films based on computer graphics but prior to this a technique called Phenakistoscope was there which had simple drawings which moved simultaneously giving the effect of animation. There were several animated features created by using these drawings which differed from the previous one. This method disappeared by the end of the twenty first century and drawings were directly scanned or drawn into computers. The computer animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. 3D animations give the impression to look at characters from all angles like in real life. It can be grouped under various terms:

Cel-shaded animation:

It is also called cel-shading or toon shading which is designed to make the computer graphics to look as if hand drawn. It is used to copy the style of a comic book or cartoon characters.

Morph target animation

It is stored as a series of vertex positions. In each key frame of the animation the vertex will move to a different position. This can be used for animating cloth, skin and facial expressions.

Skeletal animation

This is also referred to as rigging and is an technique for the vertebrates. This technique works by constructing a series of bones and each bone is associated with some portion of characters visual representation.

Motion capture

It is a procedure for digitally recording the action movements. It can be used in video games to animate the characters of the game and in film making it refers to the technique of recording the action of human actors.

Crowd simulation

It is the process of reproducing the movement of a large number of objects or characters and used when there are more characters than that can be animated using the other methods.

The industries that are using 3D animations are interior designing, medical visualizations, architecture naval architecture and corporate presentations. There are several interactive 3D animation software that enables one to visualize and redesign a room. These are used by architectures for designing homes for their clients. This can be used in medical field training for explaining various concepts, phenomenon and surgical techniques to give a better and clear vision to the scholars. Then in naval field it is used in designing of ships by making a 3D ship model which helps in quick progress of ship building projects. In corporate world too it is used for preparing impressive presentations and interactive websites.

The 3D animations are very realistic and are used for giving special effects in movies. The film and advertisement sectors provide ample opportunities for the growth of animation industry. The employments of computers and software’s have fastened the pace of animation industry. The growth of its use in gaming industry has made it a fast growing and dynamic field. To provide an in depth description of product we now no longer depend on still images, 3D animation is the answer to create an interactive environment where an individual can relate to the objects and enjoy the virtual world created around him. We can say that with its diversity and effectiveness has left no field untouched by its impact.