Computer Animators And Popular Films Go Hand-in-hand

The world of animation is a dynamic and changing field, full of possibilities and endless job opportunities. For example, take Disney Pixar Studios. They began work more than 20 years ago with the simple idea of a jealous toy, a small computer lab, and a few men with a passion for creative arts and look at what it is today. It is a highly successful, multi-million dollar business that keeps turning out hit films like Cars and Ratatouille. For parents (like this writer), they hope that someday, their children will be able to be that creative and successful and have a lucrative career as a computer animator, but for their children to do that, there are a few fundamental elements they need to either fine tune or learn before trying to step into that career.

One such fundamental aspect of computer animation is the art of modeling. This is mostly when the computer animators create the characters in a three dimensional form. They often use clay or something that can be molded easily for this task. The creator of "Shawn the Sheep" uses this method in his cartoons a lot and was very useful in creating realism in the sheep and dog. Their likeness was captured well, and they were still able to be moved and shaped into different poses without losing the integrity of the animal throughout the process.

This can also be used for motion capturing of a person. For example, in the recent film, "New Moon", humans were turned into werewolves by using this technique. The actors who played the human parts of the characters were studied by the animators, placed into motion capture studios, and were computerized well when they turned into the werewolves. In some of the "Behind the Scenes" features, the special affects animators tell how they did these affects and they show parts of it on their computers, showing how the actors turned into werewolves.

Texture Artistry is also another fundamental that computer animators will need in their field. This relates to the quality of the picture more than the actual capturing of the picture. For example, the animators who look at each frame of each scene, watching for green screens or other special affects tools that were used during the shoot, and remove the unwanted tools that were accidentally left in the frame. This happens with props, if the actors cannot use the prop that the script calls for, or if there is a scene which involves a high risk maneuver in which the actors could get hurt.

The special affects crew which was involved with the film "Twilight" used this technique in the baseball scene in which a ball is hit into the forest and the bad vampires bring it back. The character, Victoria, is not truly holding the baseball, but a clear sphere that the actors used throughout the scene as they were filming it. Later, the special affects team changed it to a baseball, frame by frame. The fans never would have known, except that it was in the "Behind the Scenes" feature of the film.