Издательство Morgan Kaufmann, 2002, -551 pp.
From its novel and experimental beginnings over thirty years ago, computer animation has grown to become a mainstream artistic tool in the hugely active industries of motion films, television and advertising. The area has attracted many computer scientists, artists, animators, designers, and production people. The past decade has been a particularly exciting period in computer animation both for those engaged in the field and for the audiences of the many films that have used the technology. It has been exciting to see animation that could not have been done any other way, as well as films with special effects that blend animation and live action so well as to make them indistinguishable.
Underlying this enormous activity is the set of algorithms that comprise the actual software engine of computer animation, defining the powers of expression that are available to the animator. With the industry’s maturity has come the need for a textbook that captures the art and mathematics behind the technology and that can serve as both an archival record and a teaching manual. With Rick Parent has done a terrific job of meeting this need. He has worked in the area of computer animation since its early days in the seventies, first as a student and now as a professor on the faculty at Ohio State University as well as a consultant and entrepreneur.
Just as we at the National Research Council of Canada were fortunate to work with artists and animators in the early days of developing computer animation techniques, so was Rick Parent at Ohio State University. Whereas we worked under the leadership of Nestor Burtnyk primarily in 2D layered cel animation, Rick embarked on applying 3D graphics methods that have become the basis of most commercial computer animation today. Because of this experience, Rick’s book is both academically rigorous and eminently practical, presenting a thorough and up-to-date treatment of the algorithms used in computer animation.
Introduction
Technical Background
Interpolation and Basic Techniques
Advanced Algorithms
Natural Phenomena
Modeling and Animating Articulated Figures
A Rendering Issues
B Background Information and Techniques
From its novel and experimental beginnings over thirty years ago, computer animation has grown to become a mainstream artistic tool in the hugely active industries of motion films, television and advertising. The area has attracted many computer scientists, artists, animators, designers, and production people. The past decade has been a particularly exciting period in computer animation both for those engaged in the field and for the audiences of the many films that have used the technology. It has been exciting to see animation that could not have been done any other way, as well as films with special effects that blend animation and live action so well as to make them indistinguishable.
Underlying this enormous activity is the set of algorithms that comprise the actual software engine of computer animation, defining the powers of expression that are available to the animator. With the industry’s maturity has come the need for a textbook that captures the art and mathematics behind the technology and that can serve as both an archival record and a teaching manual. With Rick Parent has done a terrific job of meeting this need. He has worked in the area of computer animation since its early days in the seventies, first as a student and now as a professor on the faculty at Ohio State University as well as a consultant and entrepreneur.
Just as we at the National Research Council of Canada were fortunate to work with artists and animators in the early days of developing computer animation techniques, so was Rick Parent at Ohio State University. Whereas we worked under the leadership of Nestor Burtnyk primarily in 2D layered cel animation, Rick embarked on applying 3D graphics methods that have become the basis of most commercial computer animation today. Because of this experience, Rick’s book is both academically rigorous and eminently practical, presenting a thorough and up-to-date treatment of the algorithms used in computer animation.
Introduction
Technical Background
Interpolation and Basic Techniques
Advanced Algorithms
Natural Phenomena
Modeling and Animating Articulated Figures
A Rendering Issues
B Background Information and Techniques