If you thought that animation technology began with the invention of the magic lantern in the 17th century or even, possibly, with flipbooks in the 15th – then think again. A 2017 paper from Anne Sullivan (University of California Riverside) suggests that it’s been around for many thousands of years – in the form of […]
Tag: animation
An animated look back at the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize winners
PanSci, in Taiwan, produced this video animation report about the 2016 Ig Nobel Prize winners and that year’s ceremony: This Year’s Ceremony The 2018 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony—the 28th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony—will happen on Thursday evening, September 13, 2018. A limited number of tickets are still available. And yes, eight-year-old Miss Sweetie Poo […]
Recent progress in Kung Fu Panda studies
In 2008, the launch of the Kung Fu Panda© film series kicked off a series of opportunities for in-depth academic study across the globe. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of progress in Kung Fu Panda studies over the last ten years or so : • Kung Fu Panda: Animated Animal Bodies as Layered Sites of […]
The adventures of Uterus Man
“Uterus Man” is an animated manga, created by LuYang. Reviewer Rowan Hooper (of New Scientist magazine) says: “Uterus Man rides a pelvic chariot, flies using blood powers, eats placenta.” Here is the video: [vimeo]82164043[/vimeo] BONUS (related): A more traditional — some might say unmanly or nonmanly — look at the uterus: BONUS (possibly related, possibly not): […]
Rod constraints for simplified ragdolls
Programmers sometimes love rag dolls. This study is the fruit of one such love: “Rod constraints for simplified ragdolls,” Chris Lewin, Matt Thorman, Tom Waterson, Chris Williams, and Phil Willis, Proceedings of the 12th ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation, pp. 79-84. ACM, 2013. The authors, at the University of Bath, UK, and Electronic Arts, […]
Wind, animated graphically
Robert Löbel, of HAW Hamburg – University of Applied Sciences, created this force-filled, masterful animation of wind. It’s his graduation film: [vimeo]80883637[/vimeo] (Thanks to John Bohannon for bringing it to our attention.)
Industrial palaces are people, too [animation]
Henning Lederer made this animated version of Fritz Kahn‘s 1927 poster Der Mensch als Industriepalast [Man as Industrial Palace] [vimeo]6505158[/vimeo] (HT Diana Issidorides) BONUS (unrelated, probably): Man forced to eat his beard, he says: (Thanks to investigator Dan Gallo for bringing this to our attention.)
The broken-spaghetti physics behind Illustrator
Research on how spaghetti breaks (research that was honored with the 2006 Ig Nobel Prize in physics) had an influence on modern computer-aided drawing tools. Melanie Kaplan in SmartPlanet reports: During a recent conversation with Eitan Grinspun [pictured, spaghetti-less, here], I found myself wondering whether he is more obsessed with food or with movement. But then […]
Making them (animals) walk the walk
Animator Sydney Padua, in her blog, draws some insights about how different animals walk [click through, to get to her blog, and see the images much larger, and so read the writing that accompanies each drawing]: Here’s some of my notes on four-legged walks (our feature animal: COWS!) for a class I’m teaching at the Animation […]
Harryhausen’s movie monsters compiled
Behold this four-minute compilation of Ray Harryhausen’s lovingly created movie monsters, adding magnificent monster music by Tito Puente. (Thanks to investigator Sally Shelton for bringing it to our attention.) Read about Harryhausen and his work in Roy P. Webber’s book The Dinosaur Films of Ray Harryhausen, much of which is online.