In her description of Four Imaginary Walls, an interactive computer installation, Ann Spalter gives a wonderful explanation of the 3D world. It can behave in predictable ways, include familiar objects and may even appear to be a place that one can recognize, but it is not the real world. It only exists within a machine. However, she also demonstrates the thin line between the virtual world and the real world with the description of how computer programs contributed to the financial crash of 1987. They had been programmed to respond to Wall Street's behavior and did exactly that, replicating through a machine the human reactions which had stimulated the crash of the stock market 60 years earlier. (Spalter pg. 324). Unlike Hal in 2001, A Space Odyssey, computers had not become independent thinkers, but humans were still unable to control the effects caused by computers.
In the rest of the chapter, Spalter describes how 3d animation works. Some of the more basic concepts were familiar to me, such as persistence of vision and visual closure; others, such as linear interpolation and easing, were new information. Linear interpolation and easing explain how a computer can produce the images between key frames, the extremes in an objects motion, with mathematical computations (Spalter pg. 329). This was interesting enough when applied to movement in animation, but the possibilities if offers when applying it to morphing is even more intriguing. The first image that came to mind when reading about morphing was the Michael Jackson video Black or White. Of course I had to go to YouTube and watch it over and over trying to see exactly how the transitions were done. While on YouTube searching for the video I ran across countless videos showing the changes in Michael Jackson's face during his lifetime. There was an obvious difference in the quality of the morphing in various videos, which reminded me of a statement I recently read but unfortunately cannot remember the source so I cannot give the author credit. Computer generated drawings are no more designed by the computer than a novel written on a word processor is written by a computer. The computer is only a tool. Another part of the morphing discussion that caught my interest was the work of Joseph Santarromona. Beginning with his own face, he did imaging of it morphing into iconic faces: Marilyn Monroe, Ferdinand Marcos, the unabomber, Homer Simpson, Ronald MacDonald, etc. Next he used faces of his friends. The negative emotional response, even from fellow artists and photographers, was surprising. As Santarromona was a Filipino growing up in an area in the Midwest with a strong Ku Klux Klan presence, the difficulties of one's identity is a strong focus of his work. He is aware of the effect of the media (Spalter pg. 339). Perhaps his work with morphing could be helpful in a psychological study on the issue.
Spalter pointed out some of the important differences in 2D and 3D imaging. Spacial cues are generated automatically in 3D. Motion implies space. In 2D the artist has to create the implication of depth. An infinite amount of points of view are a part of 3D: the 2D artist has to generate a new drawing for each point of view. From my biased viewpoint, 3D has so many advantages for the interior designer. The automatic perception of perspective, the ability to produce countless drawings from one model and the ability to show a space with different lighting are all important reasons. Even if I were as talented as many of my classmates are with 2D perspective drawing, I do not think that my opinion would change!
Animation creates so many possibilities. One of my favorites is object interaction – special programing which allows objects to respond to one another. Instead of one object moving through other, as a ghost in a cartoon, programming can allow objects to be aware of properties of other objects. A trampoline will cause someone to bounce; a hard floor will not. Another is artificial intelligence. It is used to produce 3d objects that display specific behaviors: fish schooling, fabric draping, etc.
My favorite demonstration on a concept in this chapter was the cartoon which demonstrated the difference in inverse and forward kinematics, when 3d models meet. In forward kinematics the end position and final rotation of an object are not known. In inverse kinematics the desired final position and rotation are achieved. The audience for this humor is rather limited; it made me wonder if there is a comic strip for 3D animators as xkcd is for math and science sorts.
This is past my alloted word count and I haven't touched on the second chapter. I'll just say her comment that WWW could be an abbreviation for wild, wild west is very appropriate.
"2D and 3D Animation and Video" by Anne Spalter, Addison Wesley Longman Inc. 1999, pp 323-358 (pages 358-365 have additional information which are not required to be read)
"The World Wide Web" from The Computer in the Visual Arts by Anne Spalter, Addison Wesley Longman Inc. 1999, pp 415-437.
