M. Tech. (Multimedia, Department of Visual Arts and Design), Vaal University of Technology / This study investigates the views and opinions of computer animation practitioners about the critical skills required for entry level animators in computer-generated or digital animation design in South Africa. The literature review chapters of the study clarify the terms animation and creativity, examine the changes taking place in the animation discipline, and discuss the relative roles of technical and creative skills in computer animation productions, primarily based on Amabile’s componential model of creativity. The chapters that deal with the fieldwork describe the sequential mixed-methods design which was followed in this study to gather data in two phases, namely a survey with questionnaires (n = 16), and interviews (n = 7) at thirteen South African companies, six in Johannesburg and seven in Cape Town. The main aim of the first phase was to determine (a) which skills are considered more important for entry level animators, (b) whether technical skills or creative skills are considered more important in the selection process for new animators, and (c) whether institutions teaching computer animation should focus on technical skills or creative skills. The main aim of the second phase was to augment the questionnaire results with more detailed explanations. The results of the first phase indicate that according to the respondents computer animation education should focus primarily on creative skills. The results of the second phase confirm that creative skills are regarded as more important, and also elaborate on a number of factors, including job level, the nature of the company, and company size, which the respondents considered important during the first phase of data collection. The information gathered in the course of this study can be used directly by entry level practitioners, experienced animators and design students. The results can also guide the development of the South African animation industry and the revision of multimedia curricula.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1992. / Typescript.

Typescript.

Studien gick ut på att undersöka huruvida animationskurvor kunde användas för att generera slagrörelser som var användbara i spel samt om dessa uppfattades som tilltalande av en publik. Det undersöktes även i vilken utsträckning animationskurvor och rörelsekurvor kan användas för att generalisera animationsfenomen. / The purpose of the study was to examine whether animation curves could be used to generate punching movements useful in games, and if an audience perceived these movements as appealing. It also held the purpose of investigating to which extent movement curves and animation curves can be used to generalize animation phenomena.

There is a difference between making something move and bringing something to life in animation. The animation principles work together to bring out character that is only visible with memorable movement. Given how the entertainment space has changed and grown over recent years, it is arguably vital for characters to be unforgettable for franchises to survive. This creative thesis explores how personalities are interpreted in animation by viewers and creators, and a workflow to bring the personalities to the forefront in the piece. Three distinct characters will be animated with the same set of animations to showcase how a personality can shine.

This document chronicles the ongoing production of the computer-animated short film Tower 37. It begins with a close examination of the film itself, emphasizing the visual storytelling components that were the core of my MFA work (particularly character performance, camera, and editing). This is followed by a thorough discussion of the mechanism of producing the film: a sequence of experimental courses I have created and taught at Hampshire College over the past two years. The document then discusses my approach to the craft of directing before concluding with evaluative comments and a look ahead.

Thesis (MFA)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1989. / "Based on 'Harold's Circus' by Crockett Johnson." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-55).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-111).

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The SASL project at the University of the Western Cape is in the process of developing a machine translation system that can translate fully-fledged phrases between South African Sign Language (SASL) and English in real-time.To visualise sign language,the system aims to make use of a 3D humanoid avatar created by van Wyk. Moemedi used this avatar to create an animation system that visualises a small set of simple Phrases from very simple SignWriting notation input. This research aims to achieve an animation system that can render full sign language sentences given complex SignWriting notation glyphs with multiple sections. The specific focus of the research is achieving animations that are accurate representations of the SignWriting input in terms of the five fundamental parameters of sign language, namely, hand motion, location, orientation and shape, as well as non-manual features such as facial expressions. An experiment Was carried out to determine the accuracy of the proposed system on a set of 20 SASL phrases annotated with SignWriting notation. It was found that the proposed system is highly accurate, achieving an average accuracy of 81.6%.

Research on global path planning and navigation strategies for mobile robots has been well studied in the robotics literature. Since the problem can usually be modeled as searching for a collision-free path in a 2D workspace, very efficient and complete algorithms can be employed. However, enabling a humanoid robot to move autonomously in a real-life environment remains a challenging problem. Unlike traditional wheeled robots, legged robots such as humanoid robots have advanced abilities of stepping over an object or striding over a deep gap with versatile locomotions. In this thesis, we propose a motion planning system capable of generating both global and local motions for a humanoid robot in layered environment cluttered with obstacles and deep narrow gaps. The planner can generate a gross motion that takes multiple locomotions, humanoid’s geometric properties and striding ability into consideration. A gross motion plan that satisfies the constraints is generated and further realized by a local planner, which determines the most efficient footsteps and locomotion over uneven terrain. If the local planner fails, the failure is fed back to the global planner to consider other alternative paths. The experiments show that our system can efficiently generate humanoid motions to reach the goal in a real-life environment. The system can also apply to a real humanoid robot to provide a high-level control mechanism.