<<PREVIOUS ARTICLE
SIMULATION:
Although the word Simulation, is
synonymous with those in the scientific community, modern day animators and professionals
in other fields too have come to leverage on its benefits. It can be thought of
as another way of producing animation, but this time, instead of moving our
objects by hand, frame-by-frame; we shall base all our movements by obeying some
natural laws governing the universe, like Gravity, Atmospheric pressure etc
that may affect our objects over time. An animator tells a story and creates
more of an illusion, but a simulator tries to mimic real life events by
mathematically creating the model.
Just before one embarks on simulating
any physical event, it is important for such one to have some basic
understanding of the how the objects behave in real life situation. This
process of understudying is what some call Operational Research (OR). Also, some fair knowledge of Mathematics and Computer programming are also essential,
because they will help us to develop a functional mathematical model that will
help us formulate the best algorithm for the physical event. Since
all the outcomes of all Simulations are guided by physical laws, it helps to
foresee problems ahead and to correct them on time.
SOME
USES
As earlier explained, Simulation can
also be used for predicting the outcome of events in general, even before they
occur. All that is required is the collection of some basic information (Data),
and the understanding of the event. Some countries have used this process to correctly
predict the outcomes of their election months before they even occur. It can also be a good study aid as some stakeholders
in some companies had successfully used it to predict the future market trend
and make the necessary adjustment before it was too late. Surgeons use Simulators
too to practice some difficult medical procedures ahead of time.
Today people learn to fly a plane by using
a flight simulator only. All events that might happen during real flight had
been captured into databases (Storage) and used for the simulation process,
thus forestalling all costly accident that might want to occur. In automobile
systems, engineers also use it to calculate the rate of explosion of the gas on
the cylinder head and how far the pistons can travel down. In legal matters,
some Lawyers use other Simulation techniques to reconstruct some evidences.
ANIMATED SIMULATIONS:
 |
|
Merida, from Brave
|
In modern animated movies, animators
sometimes copy the outcomes of some of those simulated processes. Then they visually
match their animations with those outcomes as a reference. Usually, Animations produced
in this type of fashion are so Smooth and convincing because they were not Key-framed
by hand. Some realistic movements and collisions of vehicles were achieved this
way in some Games and Movies because of their reliance on Newtonian Physics.
A classic example of an animated
simulation is in DISNEY’S BRAVE. The
hair on Merida’s head was not hand animated, but rather it followed the
simulation approach. The animation Director knew that animating a few strands
of hair was not very difficult, however animating several Red Bulky strands
like that of Merida’s would not only be a tedious process, but the final result
might produce an unrealistic output that may even flaw the movie. So he
involved the simulator, who after understudying similar human-like hair structure
was able to derive the computational Model that best fits the entity.
Since Merida’s hair was free and curly,
the best approach for such simulation was that of a spring (see SHM Simple harmonic motion )
that continuously interact with gravity.
Creating models follow the Mathematical
approach, while the actual Simulation itself follows the Computational approach.
And after several computations and tweaking, they were able to come out with
the best Model that simulates the description. Even though simulation can be
computationally expensive, animators leverage on its benefits to quickly
produce fluid and realistic animations.
The lists are endless, but virtually all
modern animation software has Tools for simulating Particles and Physics in
them. Now, both artists and scientists can collaboratively work together on a
single platform intuitively. Next, let us see the creative connections between
the Artistic community and those in the Technical and related fields.
TO BE CONTINUED>>
No comments:
Post a Comment