INTERNET AND ANIMATION Assignment

From the readings:

"2D and 3D Animation and Video" by Anne Spalter, Addison Wesley Longman Inc. 1999, pp 323-358.

"The World Wide Web" from The Computer in the Visual Arts by Anne Spalter, Addison Wesley Longman Inc. 1999, pp 415-437.



"The World Wide Web" gives a brief history of the Internet and an overview of different aspects of the Internet such as different computer languages. This chapter is good for referencing Internet history and the basics, but much of the information seems outdated. The chapter was written ten years ago, and with the rapid growth of technology and the Internet, much has grown and changed since then. Web designers are still using HTML and other computer languages, but the speed of the Internet has dramatically increased. The amount of people using the Internet has also increased since, increasing the amount of people who view artist’s work.

The Internet is a great tool for artists to get their work out to the public. The chapter talked about art galleries online, but there is more than just that. Artists have their own pages, and blogs are a great tool to spread their art and get feedback. Many pages are also linked to other pages for people who are just searching for art or interesting things to look at. One page I use is stumbleupon.com. This is a tool that can connect you to pages you are interested in. I have seen some very interesting artwork that I normally would have never seen if it were not for the Internet.

One of the sections of this chapter was very interesting to me. I have heard of HTML, and I have used programs that create HTML for you when designing a web page, but I did not know there was a computer language code for 3D. Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) is used to write geometrical forms, lighting and textures used to make 3D renderings. A good example of this is in computer avatars. These are 3D models of people that are used as the computer personality of users on certain sights.

"2D and 3D Animation and Video" is a chapter all about animation and how computers have helped with the animation process. Animation uses a series of images that when put together, they appear in our minds as movement. Before computers, animation had to be created entirely by hand. Each and every clip must be drawn out. Now, with computers, keyframes can be made, and the computer can fill in the inbetween frames through interpolation. Interpolation can sometimes make the motion look choppy and mechanical, so many times, interpolation will only be used for every other frame.

Another helpful tool for animation on computers is morphing. Morphing is a tool used to transform one picture into another. For example, a monkey will fade and change into a person. This is done by connecting similar points in two pictures. Through using a fading technique, the picture appears to have transformed into the other.

Transitional effects are also easily done through the use of computers. The chapter talks about dissolves, and wipes. Dissolves are when one picture fades away into another picture. Wipes are when one picture moves away, revealing another picture. There are many ways that the transition can be carried out. Some examples include page peal, page turn, and paint splatter. These are just a few of the many methods.

All of these computer tools for animation can be used in special programs for creating movies or video in the digital form. I have used Windows Movie Maker to put together a short video for a class. After taking the video, I put it onto the computer, and the computer automatically separated the film into several chunks of clips. I could then edit the movie by placing the clips in the order I wanted. The chunks made it easier to separate the pieces from when we had started and stopped the tape. After arranging and removing clips, sound could be added. A separate timeline was used for the sound. This made it so the sound could play the same time as the movie, and I could start and stop the sound wherever I wanted to during the movie. There were also tools in the program for transitions and for including words for the title and credits.

Already in the past ten or so years, there has been a dramatic increase in technology relating to computer animation and the Internet. This shows that there is much more to come in the future. And for what seems like it could never be possible, may be possible one day. The thought that computers all around the world could be connected was only in the imagination not long ago, and today it is a part of our everyday lives. Who knows what will be to come!