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Animation Techniques and Methods

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
16 views93 pages

Animation Techniques and Methods

Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Unit 5 :

BCA 5th Semester

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Bhandari
Computer Graphics

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Bhandari
Introduction
• Animation is the process of making the illusion of motion and
change by means of the rapid display of a sequence of static
images that minimally differ from each other. The illusion—as
in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on
the phenomenon. Animators are artists who specialize in the

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creation of animation.
• Animation is the creation of the “illusion of movement” using
a series of still images.
• A collection of static image joined together and shown
consecutively so that appear to move.

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• Animation creation methods include the traditional
animation creation method and those involving stop
motion animation of two and three-dimensional
objects, paper cutouts, puppets and clay figures. Images are
displayed in a rapid succession, usually 24, 25, 30, or

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60 frames per second.

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Types of Animation
• Hand Drawn Animation
• Stop Motion Animation
• Computer animation

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Hand Drawn Animation
• Done by an artist who draws each character and movement
individually
• Very time consuming to have to draw, then color, then
photograph each picture
• Draw pictures first, then color them on celluloid, then they

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pictures and animate them
• Very expensive due to hours of labor involved
• Examples: older Disney Movies i.e. Bambi, Fox and Hound,
Cinderella etc.

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Hand Drawn Animation

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Hand Drawn Animation

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Bhandari
Stop Motion Animation
• Can be done by virtually anyone, with no extensive training
• Does not take that much time relative to the other 2 methods
• Uses jointed figures or clay figures that can be moved to make
motions

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• Take still pictures of the individual movements, then use
relatively inexpensive computer software to animate
• We use Movie Maker Software to complete our animations
• Not very expensive because all you need is a digital camera
and the software comes with windows XP operating system
• Examples: star wars, robot chicken, old Rudolph the red Nosed
Reindeer.
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Stop Motion Animation

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Bhandari
Stop Motion Animation

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Bhandari
Computer Animation
• All characters and movements are generated using computer
animation software
• Can also be very time consuming as they can get very
complicated in movements and effects
• All characters are fully animated with no still pictures

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• Can be very expensive because of the complexity of the stunts
and animation being done
• Huge budgets because the animation sequences more
complicated these days eg. The war scenes in Lord of the
Rings etc.
• Examples: Toy story , finding Nemo, Matrix, Lord of the Rings
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Bhandari
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Bhandari
Basic Step Of Animation
1. Shooting reference video
2. Key posing
3. Blocking
4. Splining

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5. Smoothing
6. Adding life

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1. Shooting Reference Video
• This is a very important and overlooked step. It’s weird
how people really think they know what certain actions look
like and how long they take, but in reality they are often
wrong.
• Physical actions is something you need to analyze before

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animating, especially if you’re a beginner.
• You have a shot of a guy throwing a baseball? Better YouTube
some reference video of pitchers throwing balls. Don’t assume
you know what an action looks like just because you’ve seen it
before. Looking at an action as an animator is completely
different than looking at it as a regular viewer.
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2. Posing
• After shooting a reference, it’s time to create the key poses of
the shot.
• These poses are called key poses because they are the most
important poses of the shot. These are the poses that convey
the story of the shot. We better make sure we get those poses

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right, because we’re going to build on those for the rest of the
process.

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3. Blocking
• Once we’re happy with our key poses, we start breaking down
the movement from each pose to the next by adding ‘in
between’ (also known as breakdown poses or passing
poses). These are the poses that connect the key poses.

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• We keep adding more poses until the movement looks as
good as it could, while still staying in stepped mode (stepped
mode is when you don’t allow interpolation between poses,
which results in a very choppy/blocky motion).

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4. Splining
• Splining is a 3D animation term. It’s the process in which you
convert the interpolation of the keys from stepped to spline.
In other words – you make the computer connect the
movement between each of your poses, and that makes the
movement look smoother.

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• The problem is that the computer doesn’t do a very good job
at interpolating. It only works with what it has. That’s why the
better the blocking is – the better the splined version is going
to look.

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5. Smoothing and offset
• Now that all of our keys are on spline mode, we have to work
on them. We need to clean up all the curves and make sure
the movement looks smooth.
• It’s also a good idea to offset some of the actions so it doesn’t
look so ‘stop and start’, as if the character is doing all the

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motion at once. By the end of this step your shot should look
pretty solid and almost finished.

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6. Adding life
• This step is the a lot of fun. We’ve already finished with the
grunt work of animating and it’s time to add the fun stuff. In
this step we add small imperfections that bring life to the
character. Maybe an extra blink or a mouth twitch here and
there. The difference between the last 2 steps is small but

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very noticeable.

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• Animated Movies: Million dollar industry;
• 1-20 millions spent on each movie
• Animation and computer graphics effects are used in movies
frequently

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• Video games
• TV programs(e.g. Weather, News)
• Used online (images, ads, chatting)
• Simulations (science and Engineering)
• Virtual Reality (e.g. second life)

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Computer Animation Languages
Design and control of animation sequences are handled with a
set of animation routines, which are called computer animation
languages. Any general purpose language can be used, but several
specialized animation languages have been developed.

• Key Frame Systems

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• Specialized animation languages designed simply to generate the in-
betweens from the user-specified key frames.
• Parameterized Systems
• Designed to specify object-motion characteristics such as degrees of
freedom, motion limitations, and allowable shape changes.
• Scripting Systems
• Scripting systems allow object specifications and animation sequences to
be defined with a user-input script. 26
• From the script, a library of various objects and motions can be
constructed.
Key Frame
A key frame in animation and filmmaking is a drawing
that defines the starting and ending points of any smooth
transition. The drawings are called "frames" because their
position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film.

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Morphing
It is derived from the word metamorphosis, which means
the transformation shape, appearance of one thing into another.
The transformation of object shapes from one form to another
is called morphing.

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Also it can be defined as:
• Transition from one object to another.
• Process of transforming one image into another.

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Morphing…

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Bhandari
Animating with Tweening
• With tweening, it create artwork in the first and last frames of
animation.
• Flash fills in the intermediate steps [or the steps between].
Tweening creates a minimal file size, since Flash only stores
the changes between the frames and not the complete

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frames.
• There are two types of tweening:
• motion tweening : changing the position of an object along the
Timeline.
• shape tweening : changing the properties of the objects along
the Timeline.

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Motion Tweening
[Link] by creating a graphic of type to use in the animation.
[Link] to the Timeline and select the frame where you want the
animation to end.
[Link] Insert > Timeline > Keyframe.

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[Link] the keyframe selected, move the text or graphic on the
Stage. Use the shift key to limit the movement in a straight
line.
[Link] and select the first and last frames.
[Link] Insert > Timeline > Create Motion Tween.
[Link] test the animation, open the Controller and click on the
Play button.
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Motion Tweening with a Motion Path
1. Begin by creating a motion tween.
2. Position the cursor on the first frame.
3. From the Properties panel, select Orient to Path.
4. Choose Insert > Timeline > Motion Guide. This inserts a new guide
layer. Guide layers are not published with the Flash movie.

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5. Make the Guide Layer active by clicking on it. Use a drawing tool to
draw a motion path.
6. In the first frame, drag the shape by its registration point and snap it
to the beginning of the line.
7. In the last frame, drag the shape by it registration point and snap it
to the end of the line.
8. To test the animation, open the Controller.
9. Click on the Play button. 32
Shape Tweening
With shape tweening, you will change an object’s shape over time. Shape tweening can
also include changing the object’s location on the stage, as well as color and size. With
shape tweening, you can create morphing effect, with one shape transforming into
another.
1. Using the Oval tool, draw a circle on Frame 1 Layer 1. This will be the starting frame
of this shape tween animation.

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2. Select Frame 12 on Layer 1 and press F7 to add a blank keyframe. The circle on your
screen will disappear so you have a place to draw the ending frame of this animation.
3. Using the Rectangle tool, draw a square along the right side of the stage. This will be
the ending frame of your animation.
4. Double-click anywhere in the Timeline between the two keyframes to select the range
of frames. You want to make sure you have this selected before you apply the shape
tween.
5. On the Properties panel, select Shape from the Tween drop-down menu. This will
create a shape tween between the two keyframes in Layer 1. Green tinting and solid
arrow on the timeline indicate an active shape tween.
6. Press return [Macintosh] or Enter [Windows] on your keyboard to preview your
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animation. The circle will gradually turn into a square.
Flash Interface

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Introduction to Flash Interface
• Flash is an incredibly powerful program that has seemingly
endless potential.
• Flash can be used for creating games, making presentations,
animations, visualizations, webpage components, and many
other interactive applications.

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• Some of the Flash interface components will look familiar to
you, as they have the same functionality as other Adobe
applications.
• However, Flash requires a certain mindset to work in it
properly, especially when animating with vector graphics and
coding with actionscript 3.0.
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Introduction to Flash Interface

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Introduction to Flash Interface

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Introduction to Flash Interface
Stage:
• The stage is the main workspace of Flash, all your compositional
elements (movie clips, buttons, graphics, and etc.) will be arranged
here.
• Content that is within the box in the middle of the stage will be
visible when the Flash movie is output.

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• The grey background area outside the box in the middle is 'off-
stage'. You can animate content from off-stage onto the main stage
area or use a background image that is larger than the main stage to
move around as if the camera is panning across a background.
• The Stage has several context which are indicated along the top bar
of the stage.
• It can present content that is in a Scene or can present sub-content
such as objects from the library.
• You can show and hide the things that exceed the size of your stage
by turning off/on Pasteboard (View>>Pasteboard) 38
Introduction to Flash Interface
Timeline:
• The numbers across the bottom correspond to the frames that
occur as time progresses through the movie.
• You can navigate to any frame of your animation to perform
editing.

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• Also, Flash has layers just like many other Adobe applications.
These appear along the left side of the Timeline.

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Introduction to Flash Interface
Properties:
• The Properties tab changes depending on which tool on the toolbar
you have selected or which object you have selected on the stage.
Each object or tool has its own properties which can be adjusted in
this tab.
• When you have the Selection Tool selected and click the background

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of the stage, the Properties tab shows the Document Properties.
Here you can set the size of your Flash file, background color, frame
rate and exporting settings.
Library:
• The library tab will be your best friend in Flash.
• It holds all the symbol objects of each Flash file. You can organize
your library like you did in your windows/mac directory. (i.e. created
new folders for different types of elements, or nest one symbol in
another) 40
Introduction to Flash Interface
Layers
• The layering feature in Flash gives you flexibility in designing your artwork
and animations. With layering, you can lock parts of your image into place,
hide portions of your artwork, and specify layers to animate.

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Adding and Naming Layers
To show the layer features, we will create two layers, for a
total of three layers. We will add a shape to each layer.
1. We will start by drawing a red circle on the first layer.
2. Select both the fill and stroke. Choose Modify > Group.

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3. To rename the layer, double-click on Layer 1 and type in the
new name. We will call this layer “red”.
4. To add the next layer, click on the Insert Layer icon.
5. Name this layer “blue” and draw a blue circle on the Stage.
Group the fill and stroke.
6. Add a third layer and call the layer “white” and draw a white
circle on the [Link] the fill and stroke.
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Layers
Showing and Hiding Layers
[Link] hide a layer, go to the layer on the layer listing and click on
the black dot that is under the eye icon. Note the red X that
appears when you click.
[Link] show the layer again, click on the red X.

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Locking and Unlocking Layers
[Link] protect your artwork from being accidentally altered as you
are working on other shapes or paths around it, you can place
the art on its own layer, and then lock it. For example, in our
example, we will lock the red layer by clicking on the black dot
under the lock icon. A lock appears. Also, note that the Layer
Name pencil is crossed out. 43
[Link] unlock the layer, click on the lock icon.
Layers
Reordering Layers
[Link] order of the layers in the layer information box
determines the stacking order of the artwork on the Stage. For
example, we could move the blue circle over the red circle,
and because the blue circle layer is on top of the red, the blue

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circle will always be on top of the red circle.
[Link] we want the red circle to appear on the top, we must
reorder the layers in the layer information box.

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Sound
Bitmap Images &

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Bhandari
What is a bitmap?
• A bitmap describes a type of image that web-users encounter all the
time without realizing it. Basically, it’s a grid where each individual
square is a pixel that contains color information.
• The key characteristics are the number of pixels (or squares in the
grid), and the amount of information in each grid square (pixel).

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What You Need to Know About Bitmaps

• Like raster graphics, bitmaps are made up of individual, tiny


points that blend together to form a unified image.
• Unlike vector graphics, which are infinitely scalable, you can’t
stretch or enlarge them without compromising the quality.

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1. How It’s Created and Stored

• When you break down an image into a grid made of


thousands of squares, you get a bitmap.
• Each square in that grid holds a little bit of color data and
displays (or doesn’t display) a color based on that data.
• Like a color-by-numbers sheet, a key correlates each point’s

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data assignment with a color. In the end, it provides the literal
map that tells you what that image should look like once it’s
put together.

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2. Bitmap Graphics vs. Raster Graphics

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3. Bitmap File Formats

• There are several file formats to choose from, and each has
advantages and disadvantages. You’ve likely heard of (or used)
some of these file types—BMP, GIF, JPEG, EXIF, PNG, and
TIFF. Note: All of them except BMP files can be compressed
and transferred via the web.

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• You can determine a file’s format by where it came from or
how the image will be used. Windows exclusively uses BMPs;
GIFs and JPEGs are designed for web transfer; and EXIF files
come from digital cameras and carry photo-specific
information and camera settings.
• BMPs are large, full files that can’t be compressed. Other
formats, like GIF, JPEG, and PNG use compression algorithms
that make the files smaller and easier to upload and download
via the internet, making them extra convenient when working 50
with online projects or designs.
4. Problems with Bitmaps

• First, remember that the size of the file correlates directly with its quality.
The higher the quality, the bigger the file—which can be tough if you want
to use a high-quality image on the web (and you probably do!).
• Second, keep in mind that a bitmap graphic can become pixelated.
Pixelation happens when you stretch an image until the pixels become
visible, making it blurry or blocky. But if you’re aware of these problems and

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take them into consideration during your project, you can work with
bitmaps without too much hassle.

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When to Use Bitmaps in Your Design
• Bitmap images can streamline the design process by saving a
time, effort, and energy.
• Knowing what you need beforehand will save yourself stress
and complications down the line.
• They’re ideal when you need realistic, easily-editable images,

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or when working with photos.

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When to Use Bitmaps in Your Design
1. When Creating Realistic Graphics and Images :
Bitmaps are perfect for creating detailed images (like
photographs) because of the amount of data each pixel can store.
The greater the amount of data, the broader the range of colors it
can display. And, it’s much easier to create a colorful image with
realistic, transitioning color tones when you have access to a full

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range of colors.

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When to Use Bitmaps in Your Design
2. When You Need Detailed Images That Can Be Easily Altered
When you’re looking to alter, edit, or add effects to your
images, bitmaps are the way to go. You can change the color
profiles of individual pixels to affect the look of the entire
image. You can also smooth or feather out lines, create a drop

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shadow, and even up the contrast between the background
and foreground.
3. When You’re Working with Photos
Because photos naturally use pixels to form images, it makes
sense to translate them to an analogous bitmap. You can make
subtle, transitional edits and alterations by targeting the color
makeup, which then affects the image composition. Just 54
watch for pixelation!
Sound
• Sound is a pressure wave which is created by a vibrating object.
• This vibrations set particles in the surrounding medium (typical air) in
vibrational motion, thus transporting energy through the medium.
• Since the particles are moving in parallel direction to the wave movement,
the sound wave is referred to as a longitudinal wave.

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• The result of longitudinal waves is the creation of compressions and
rarefactions within the air.
• The alternating configuration of C and R of particles is described by the
graph of a sine wave (C~crests, R~troughs)

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Virtual Reality(VR)

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Virtual Reality(VR)

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Virtual Reality(VR)
• Virtual reality or virtual realities (VR), also known
as immersive multimedia or computer-simulated reality, is a
computer technology that replicates an environment, real or
imagined, and simulates a user's physical presence and
environment to allow for user interaction. Virtual realities

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artificially create sensory experience, which can include sight,
touch, hearing, and smell.
• Most up-to-date virtual realities are displayed either on
a computer monitor or with a virtual reality headset (also
called head mounted display)
• Some simulations include additional sensory information and
focus on real sound through speakers or headphones targeted
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towards VR users
Why Virtual Reality(VR) ?
• VR is able to immerse you in a computer-generated world of
your own making: a room, a city, the interior of human body.
With VR, you can explore any uncharted territory of the
human imagination.

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History of VR(Virtual Reality)
• 1929 – Link
• Mechanical flight simulator

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History of VR(Virtual Reality) cont…

• 1956
• Sensorama
• Multimodal display of a motorcycle ride through
Brooklyn

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• Sight
• Sound
• Smell
• Vibration
• 1957 HMD(head-mounted display) patent

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History of VR(Virtual Reality) cont…
• 1961 – Philco
• Telepresence with a HMD
• Remote camera
• Magnetic head tracker
• Single CRT

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Birth of Modern VR
• 1963
• Interactive graphics
• Sketchpad
• 1965
– Ultimate display paper

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• 1968
• A Head-mounted Three-
Dimensional Display
• 1970
• Videoplace - movie
• 1974 – Jim Clark
• Ph.D. on HMD’s 64
The Next Wave
• 1980’s – Scott
Fisher (NASA-Ames)
• VIEW project –
• movies – start 2:05

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• 1980’s – Jaron
Lanier
• “Virtual Reality”
• Tom Furness
• Super cockpit

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More displays
• 90s - Fakespace boom
• High resolution
• ergonomic

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Gloves

• 1977 – Sayre
• Light tube attenuation to
measure bend
• 1981 – Grimes (Bell)

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• Bend, tactile sensors
• 1984 – VPL
• VPL DataGlove
• 1993 Utah/MIT
• Dextrous Hand Master
(Hollerbach)

Dextrous Hand Master, Exos


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CAVE displays
• 1992
• Users in a projected room
• CAVE movie

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Current Companies
• Sensics
• Intersense
• Raytheon
• Nintendo

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• Track-IR

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Types of VR(Virtual Reality)
1. Windows on World(WoW) (also called Desktop VR)
2. Immersive VR
3. Telepresence
4. Mixed Reality(Augmented Reality)

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5. Distributed VR

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 Also called Desktop VR.
• Using a conventional computer monitor to display the 3D virtual
world.

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• Completely immerse the user's personal viewpoint inside the
virtual 3D world.
• The user has no visual contact with the physical word.
• Often equipped with a Head Mounted Display (HMD).

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• A variation of visualizing complete computer generated worlds.
• Links remote sensors in the real world with the senses of a
human operator. The remote sensors might be located on a
robot. Useful for performing operations in dangerous
environments.

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• The seamless merging of real space and virtual space.
• Iintegratee the computer-generated virtual objects into the
physical world which become in a sense an equal part of our
natural environment.

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Augmented VR

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• A simulated world runs on several computers which are
connected over network and the people are able to interact in
real time, sharing the same virtual world.

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Distributed VR

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Distributed VR

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Architecture of VR System
• Input Processor, Simulation Processor, Rendering Processor and
World Database.

visual,

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auditory,
Position & haptic,
Orientation touch…

Input Rendering
Processor Processor

Simulation
Processor

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World Database
Input Processor
• Control the devices used to input information to the computer.
The object is to get the coordinate data to the rest of the system
with minimal lag time.
• keyboard, mouse, 3D position trackers, a voice recognition
system, etc.

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Simulation Processor
• Core of a VR system.
• Takes the user inputs along with any tasks programmed into
the world and determine the actions that will take place in the
virtual world.

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Rendering Processor
• Create the sensations that are output to the user.
• Separate rendering processes are used for visual, auditory,
haptic and other sensory systems. Each renderer take a
description of the world stat from the simulation process or
derive it directly from the World Database for each time step.

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World Database (World Description
Files)
– Store the objects that inhabit the world, scripts that describe
actions of those objects.

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• Education and training
• Video Games
• Fine art
• Heritage and archaeology
• Architecture design

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• Urban Design
• Therapy
• Theme parks
• Concerts
• Retail
• Film
• Media 84
• Motion pictures
 Entertainment
• More vivid
• Move exciting
• More attractive

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 Medicine
 Practice performing surgery.
 Perform surgery on a remote patient.
 Teach new skills in a safe, controlled environment.

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 Manufacturing
• Easy to modify
• Low cost

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• High efficient

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 Education & Training
• Driving simulators.
• Flight simulators.

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• Ship simulators.
• Tank simulators.

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• health and safety considerations of virtual reality
• The big challenges in the field of virtual reality are developing better
tracking systems, finding more natural ways to allow users to
interact within a virtual environment and decreasing the time it
takes to build virtual spaces. While there are a few tracking system
companies that have been around since the earliest days of virtual

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reality, most companies are small and don’t last very long. Likewise,
there aren’t many companies that are working on input devices
specifically for VR applications. Most VR developers have to rely on
and adapt technology originally meant for another discipline, and
they have to hope that the company producing the technology stays
in business. As for creating virtual worlds, it can take a long time to
create a convincing virtual environment - the more realistic the
environment, the longer it takes to make it. It could take a team of
programmers more than a year to duplicate a real room accurately
in virtual space. 89
• Another challenge for VE system developers is creating a
system that avoids bad ergonomics. Many systems rely on
hardware that encumbers a user or limits his options through
physical tethers. Without well-designed hardware, a user
could have trouble with his sense of balance or inertia with a

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Bhandari
decrease in the sense of telepresence, or he could experience
cybersickness, with symptoms that can include disorientation
and nausea. Not all users seem to be at risk for cybersickness -
- some people can explore a virtual environment for hours
with no ill effects, while others may feel queasy after just a
few minutes.

90
• Some psychologists are concerned that immersion in virtual
environments could psychologically affect a user. They suggest
that VE systems that place a user in violent situations,
particularly as the perpetuator of violence, could result in the
user becoming desensitized. In effect, there’s a fear that VE

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Bhandari
entertainment systems could breed a generation
of sociopaths. Others aren’t as worried about desensitization,
but do warn that convincing VE experiences could lead to a
kind of cyber addiction. There have been several news stories
of gamers neglecting their real lives for their online, in-game
presence. Engaging virtual environments could potentially be
more addictive.
91
• Another emerging concern involves criminal acts. In the
virtual world, defining acts such as murder or sex crimes has
been problematic. At what point can authorities charge a
person with a real crime for actions within a virtual
environment? Studies indicate that people can have real

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Bhandari
physical and emotional reactions to stimuli within a virtual
environment, and so it’s quite possible that a victim of a
virtual attack could feel real emotional trauma. Can the
attacker be punished for causing real-life distress? We don’t
yet have answers to these questions.

92
Any Queries?

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Bhandari

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