Calculer automatiquement une séquence d'images cinématographiquement cohérente, sur un ensemble d'actions qui se produisent dans un monde 3D, est une tâche complexe. Elle nécessite non seulement le calcul des plans de caméra ( points de vue ) et les transitions appropriées entre ces plans (coupures), mais aussi la capacité d'encoder et de reproduire des éléments de style cinématographique. Les modèles proposés dans la littérature, fondés généralement sur des représentations à machines d'états finis (FSMs), fournissent des fonctionnalités limitées pour construire des séquences de plans et ne permettent pas d'effectuer d'importantes variations de style sur une même séquence d'actions. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons d'abord un modèle cinématographique expressif, basé données, qui peut calculer des variations significatives en termes de style, avec la possibilité de contrôler la durée des prises de vue et la possibilité d'ajouter des contraintes spécifiques à la séquence souhaitée. Le modèle est paramétré de manière à faciliter l'application de techniques d'apprentissage pour reproduire des éléments de style extraits de films réels en utilisant une représentation à base de modèle de Markov caché du processus de montage. Le modèle proposé est à la fois plus général que les représentations existantes, et se révèle être plus expressif dans sa capacité à encoder précisément des éléments de style cinématographique pour des scènes de dialogues. Ensuite, nous introduisons une extension plus générique pour généraliser notre système de montage afin de traiter des contenus cinématographique plus complexes (autres que les dialogues). Il s'agit d'utiliser des Réseaux bayésiens dynamiques à la place des modèles de Markov à états cachés. Enfin, nous avons conçu un outil d'annotation et un format de représentation de données cinématographiques afin de simplifier le processus de création et de manipulation de ses données. Les données collectées serviront comme bases d'apprentissage pour des techniques basées données, telles que les nôtres, ainsi que pour l'analyse de films. / Automatically computing a cinematographically consistent sequence of shots, over a set of actions occurring in a 3D world, is a complex task which requires not only the computation of appropriate shots (viewpoints) and appropriate transitions between shots (cuts), but the ability to encode and reproduce elements of cinematographic style. The models proposed in the literature, generally rule-based, provide limited functionalities to build sequences of shots. These approaches are not designed in mind to easily learn elements of cinematographic style, nor do they allow to perform significant variations in style over the same sequence of actions. In this thesis, we first propose a data-driven model for automated cinematography (framing and editing) that can compute significant variations in terms of cinematographic style, with the ability to control the duration of shots and the possibility to add specific constraints to the desired sequence. By using a Hidden Markov Model representation of the editing process, we demonstrate the possibility of easily reproducing elements of style extracted from real movies. The proposed model is more elaborate in handling dialogue scenes than existing representations, and proves to be more expressive in its ability to precisely encode elements of cinematographic style. Then, we introduce an extension of this model to account for more complex environments (more than dialogues). To this end, we use a more general statistical model: Dynamic Bayesian Network, which enlarges considerably the possibilities in editing and film analysis. We finally designed a data annotation tool and a format to easily create film annotations that would be used for data-driven cinematography or film analysis.

Outlined is a new approach to the problem of surfacing particle-based fluid simulations. The key idea is to construct a surface that is as smooth as possible while remaining faithful to the particle locations. We describe a mesh-based algorithm that expresses the surface in terms of a constrained optimization problem. Our algorithm incorporates a secondary contribution in Marching Tiles, a generalization of the Marching Cubes isosurfacing algorithm. Marching Tiles provides guarantees on the minimum vertex valence, making the surface mesh more amenable to numerical operators such as the Bilaplacian. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to discover similarities and differences in opinions held by secondary art teachers, secondary art students and animators on the role and character of animation in art education. The problem was to determine whether the relative neglect of animation as a part of the art curriculum has come about because the techniques and concepts associated with it are seen as difficult and/or unnecessary to implement by teachers; or whether students are unfamiliar and uninterested in animation as a field of study; or whether animation, in the opinion of professional animators, is not a suitable subject for study. The study was conducted with five secondary art teachers, nine secondary art students and three professional animators. Informants responded verbally to questions posed by the researcher. These responses were documented on a tape recorder and later transcribed for analysis. Responses from the informants generated data relating to five areas of animation: 1) defining animation, 2) potent images, 3) popular culture, 4) careers and 5) backgrounds. The study showed that although animation is a part of students1 popular culture and students are interested in it, teachers are not currently teaching it. Technical difficulties prevent them from doing so, despite the fact that they acknowledge animation as an important art form. The other findings in this study are that both teachers and students are often not consciously aware that they are watching animation; and that there are many misconceptions and prejudices associated with the medium. Implications for art education are discussed. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Human beings have two perfectly aligned eyeballs working together sending three-dimensional images to the brain and providing accurate depth perception. I lack true stereoscopic vision. When I was five years old I had my second eye surgery and I remember lying blind and terrified for two days in the children's ward of Reid Memorial Hospital in Richmond, Indiana. I later learned that my eyes didn't align properly and for the rest of my life my right eye would "wander". Because of my condition, I was given a list of jobs that I could never perform, jobs where human lives are entrusted to skilled professionals wielding scalpels or landing jets. I could never be one of those people. Or so I was told. I've always had excellent vision, nearly 20/20 my whole life and I've never struggled academically. It's just that my eyes don't point in the same direction like everybody else. Those who know me best can see it, but I've learned ways to make it not so obvious. It's all I've ever known. But, in an ironic twist of fate, it's become clear that my lazy eye has taught me to "see" better than the average artist. Having spent the last five years of my life studying 3D Design and exploring the most advanced creative technology on the planet, I've created a series of computer-generated environments, objects and characters. This is my latest attempt to prove to the world that I can see just fine. I could've been a doctor or a pilot after all. In this paper I present to the world a digital friend manifested from my slightly skewed interpretation of the world. Rocky is part of my imagination brought to life in perfect three-dimensional clarity for the world to see. He's a symbolic representation of my childhood love for cartoons and science fiction. He is strong yet gentle, modest, intelligent and noble. And, he is fiercely protective of that scared and blind five-year old boy.

Syftet med denna studie är att skapa en bild av vilka faktorer som motiverar elever pådet estetiska programmet med inriktning animation. Dels vad som motiverar dem till attbörja studera på programmet och dels varför vissa av dem avslutar sina studier innansin gymnasieexamen. Den utforskar även ifall programmets riksintag, elevhem ochskola påverkar elevernas val. Detta har undersökts via intervjuer med två studerandeelever, två elever som hoppade av programmet och med programmets huvudlärare.Resultatet visar att elever huvudsakligen väljer programmet på grund av ett intresse ianimation. Elevhemmet och riksintaget kan både ha en av skrämmande och enuppmuntrande effekt, men det verkar inte nödvändigtvis få att fler elever att hoppar avprogrammet. Samma sak gäller skolans personal och utbildningen skolan erbjuder.

The realistic animation of virtual characters can enhance user experience. Motion-editing methods such as keyframing and motion capture are effective for pre-determined animations but are incapable of real-time generation. Algorithm-based dynamic simulation and machine learning-based motion synthesis are procedural but too complex. This thesis explores an approach known as animation interpolation, which benefits from the strengths of both types of methods. Animation interpolation generates full animation sequences by assembling pre-defined motion primitives or key poses in real-time. <div><br></div><div>The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the naturalness of character animation in three common interpolation methods: linear Euler interpolation, spherical linear quaternion interpolation, and spherical spline quaternion interpolation. Many researchers have studied the mathematical equations, motion curves, and velocity graphs of these algorithms. This thesis focuses on the perceptual evaluation and the implementation of expressive upper body character animation. </div><div><br></div><div>During the experimental studies, 97 participants watched 12 animation clips of a character performing four different upper body motions using three interpolation methods. The motions were based on McNeill’s classification of body gestures (beat gesture, deictic gesture, iconic gesture, and metaphoric gesture). After viewing each clip, the participants rated the naturalness on a 5-point Likert scale. The results showed that animations generated using spherical spline quaternion interpolation were perceived as significantly more natural than those generated from the other two interpolation methods.</div>

Screenplay for animated feature film. Story and characters are based on a short novel, The Adventures of Hank the Cowdog. first in a series. This adaptation aims to translate the humor and unique dog-centered perspective of the original source into the medium of film. Hank the Cowdog, head of security on an isolated ranch, works undercover inside a pack of coyotes to solve a series of chicken murders. To solve the case, Hank defends his ranch, sheep and chickens from a devious and powerful coyote leader, Scraunch. With help from a variety of friends and a change in attitude, Hank saves the ranch. Screenplay places detective film conventions in an action-adventure cartoon format. Thesis includes notes on adaptation process.

My work has always been about subjects I am very passionate about and I use them in a way to relate to others by creating a message. For my thesis, I delve deeper into my own life experience to create a piece more personal to me yet relatable to all. I am using creative storytelling and symbolism to create a narrative using not only the lens of a camera but also 3-D animation. “Dreaming Reality” is a statement of female empowerment and independence. Through this story, I hope to bring to light that young women can overcome their insecurities and become independent, driven, successful, and confident. Through the use of the dream process to overview life experiences, all audience members, not only women, can enjoy and connect with the story, as well as feel empowered to create their own life story through their creative lens.

A common practice in crowd animation is the use of human templates. A human template is a 3D character defined by its mesh, skeletal structure, materials, and textures. A crowd simulation is created by repeatedly instantiating a small set of human templates. For each instance, one texture is randomly chosen from the template’s available texture set, and color and shape variety techniques are applied so that multiple instances of the same template appear different (Thalmann & Musse, 2013). When dealing with very large crowds, it is inevitable to end up with instances that are exactly identical to other instances, as the number of different textures and shape modifications is limited. This poses a problem for crowd animation, as the viewers’ perception of identical characters could significantly decrease the believability of the crowd simulation. A variety of factors could affect viewers’ perception of identical characters, including crowd size, distance of the characters from the camera, background, movement, lighting conditions, etc. The study reported in this paper examined the extent to which the type of locomotion of the crowd characters affects the viewer’s ability to perceive identical instances within a medium size crowd (20 characters). The experiment involved 51 participants and compared the time the participants took to recognize two identical characters in three different locomotion scenarios (i.e. standing, walking, and running). Findings show that the type of locomotion did not have a statistically significant effect on the time subjects took to identify identical characters within the crowd. Hence, results suggest that audience perception of identical characters in a medium size crowd is not affected by the type of movement of the characters.

En essä om animerad film och erfarenheter från Gaza. Tankar kring lärande seende och rörelser.