animation tools: will it all become obsolete?!
Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 9:45 am
I like Harkymans proposals and
hopefully some of this stuff will make it into a release, but on the other hand I would be glad to wait a little longer for a complete new approach to animation in general.
Why?
I think that it all will be obsolete in a matter of a couple of years.
In 10 years time ppl are probably laughing about the good old days, when frame by frame key settings were necessary to create animation.
I had this thought when Ive seen a demo of an euro 49,- pc game I think (not sure)it was fifa soccer : http://www.easports.com/games/fifa2005/home.jsp
one can use a web cam to create the shape and the texture of a players head. Even morph targets are created by the use of 2d reference points.
This old link came strait into my mind:
http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=m ... pic&t=3083
this would give an animator a complete new role to play. Exactly: to play and act! Because an animator would then actually act in front of a camera and see his/her action in realtime on the mesh.
Also character animation will become eventually a completely different ballgame:
One can use default settings like this
http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html
and with a couple of clicks create a walkcycle, or with the development of mo-cap infra-red cameras, just skip and jump around in front of the computer and see it all in realtime.
This is where it will be heading! Im pretty sure of it.
Hardware for that, namely infrared cameras for mocap will eventually become the same price as web cams today and everyone will be able to afford them.
With the captured movements, one can build up a library of actions and then just use the NLA to edit the final animation, and/or fine tune it.
Some stuff, like this library could be integrated as is:
For example:
a walkcycle can be adjusted to the characteristics of the actor and confirmed. Further actions from the libary are then mixed to it in the NLA.
Sure it is a long way to go, but I think we should think more about the future and have these things in mind, when developing new animation functions.
interactions with collition bodies, as in the game engine become ipo-curves and actions (there is a python-script for it, but I doubt that it is developed further) so the actors can interact and create keyframes while doing so....well...just thinking loud here
but this could also mean, that blender would set a whole new trend in animation and out-perform other apps
as I said, this is just a thought I had the other day, but maybe, just maybe blender could be the first in actually give access to such a technologie
hopefully some of this stuff will make it into a release, but on the other hand I would be glad to wait a little longer for a complete new approach to animation in general.
Why?
I think that it all will be obsolete in a matter of a couple of years.
In 10 years time ppl are probably laughing about the good old days, when frame by frame key settings were necessary to create animation.
I had this thought when Ive seen a demo of an euro 49,- pc game I think (not sure)it was fifa soccer : http://www.easports.com/games/fifa2005/home.jsp
one can use a web cam to create the shape and the texture of a players head. Even morph targets are created by the use of 2d reference points.
This old link came strait into my mind:
http://www.blender.org/modules.php?op=m ... pic&t=3083
this would give an animator a complete new role to play. Exactly: to play and act! Because an animator would then actually act in front of a camera and see his/her action in realtime on the mesh.
Also character animation will become eventually a completely different ballgame:
One can use default settings like this
http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.html
and with a couple of clicks create a walkcycle, or with the development of mo-cap infra-red cameras, just skip and jump around in front of the computer and see it all in realtime.
This is where it will be heading! Im pretty sure of it.
Hardware for that, namely infrared cameras for mocap will eventually become the same price as web cams today and everyone will be able to afford them.
With the captured movements, one can build up a library of actions and then just use the NLA to edit the final animation, and/or fine tune it.
Some stuff, like this library could be integrated as is:
For example:
a walkcycle can be adjusted to the characteristics of the actor and confirmed. Further actions from the libary are then mixed to it in the NLA.
Sure it is a long way to go, but I think we should think more about the future and have these things in mind, when developing new animation functions.
interactions with collition bodies, as in the game engine become ipo-curves and actions (there is a python-script for it, but I doubt that it is developed further) so the actors can interact and create keyframes while doing so....well...just thinking loud here
but this could also mean, that blender would set a whole new trend in animation and out-perform other apps
as I said, this is just a thought I had the other day, but maybe, just maybe blender could be the first in actually give access to such a technologie