Use of Anthropomorphism in the Animation of Animals
Anthropomorphism, originally the word referred to as the attribution of human forms to gods (Daston and Mitman 2005) is now commonly considered as the attribution of human characteristics and qualities to non-human beings, objects or natural phenomena (Wikipedia 2006) The context of this study will be concentrated on the use of anthropomorphism being applied to animals in animation. This paper will be aimed towards animators and therefore will assume the reader has a basic understanding of general animation principles, particularly in the field of computer animation.
Innovations
For my Innovations project I decided I wanted to focus on portraying a specific idea. The idea is related to my final year project which is about the life cycle of the planet Earth in a semi-abstract form. My project uses various symbolism and metaphor to communicate certain ideas related to the growth of our planet, such as evolution and exploration. Towards the end of my animation occurs the concept of manufactured enemies or threats. This is a concept which is important in my animation as I see it as very relevant in the world today. It is important that I convey this idea effectively, which is why I have chosen the problem of portraying the theme of manufactured threats for my innovations project.
Music-Driven Flocking-System
This report outlines the design and implementation of a Music driven Flocking System. Section 1 introduces the initial aims of the project including what is intended to be the final product of the project. It also looks at what challenges are foreseen. Section 2 documents research on Flocking and Music Analysis. It investigates why flocking occurs in nature and how it is simulated in computer graphics. The Music Analysis research also looks at a plugin for Maya created by Andrew Mitchell that performs music analysis. Section 3 presents solutions for the challenges that were foreseen, and also gives a comprehensive description of how they were implemented in Maya to make the MusicDriven Flocking System. Section 4 concludes the report, giving a summary and a critical analysis of the project. Future work is also outlined.