Synthetic Actors: In Computer-Generated 3D Films

ISBN-13: 9783642754555 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 129 str.

Nadia Magnenat Thalmann; Daniel Thalmann

Opis

This book presents the making of computer-generated films using three-dimensional synthetic actors. It is based mainly on the production of the film Rendez-vous a Montreal, an animated film that uses advanced computer techniques to achieve such effects as reincarnating film stars Humphrey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe. The main purpose of Rendez-vous a Montreal is to show that true synthetic actors can be created. This fllm represents a technological breakthrough which opens up new vistas in motion pictures, television, and advertising. With this technique, it will now be possible to produce short fllms or motion pictures featuring any celebrity in any situation. The book explains in detail how such a film can be produced using numerous drawings and color pictures. In particular, the following topics are presented: - Preparation of object construction: documentation search, and plaster models preparation - Object construction: digitizing and modeling - Body animation - Hand animation and object grasping - Facial animation: expressions, phonemes and emotions - Choreography: decors, actors, cameras, and lights - Realism: colors, lights, shading, shadows, and textures - Image recording: special effects Finally, an extensive appendix describes in detail the HUMAN FACTORY system.

Spis treści

1. How to Make a Film with Synthetic Actors.- 1.1 Computer Animation and Synthetic Actors.- 1.1.1 The Role of Synthetic Actors.- 1.1.2 Scenario and Storyboard.- 1.1.3 Decors and Actors.- 1.1.4 Motion.- 1.1.5 Types of Animation.- 1.1.6 Cameras and Lights.- 1.1.7 Choreography and Recording.- 1.2 The Film Rendez-vous à Montréal.- 1.2.1 The Film.- 1.2.2 The Scenario.- 1.2.3 The Storyboard.- 1.2.4 The History of Rendez-vous à Montréal.- 2. Three-Dimensional Construction of Synthetic Actors.- 2.1 Planning and Preparation of Models for 3D Reconstruction.- 2.1.1 Planning.- 2.1.2 Model and Documentation Search.- 2.1.3 Guidelines for Choosing or Constructing Objects to be Digitized.- 2.2 How to Enter the Shapes.- 2.2.1 Input Scanning, Digitizing, and 3D Reconstruction.- 2.2.2 3D Reconstruction from 2D Plans or Photographs.- 2.2.3 The Steps of Construction by Digitizing.- 2.2.4 Cross-section Methods.- 2.2.5 Plaster Models Preparation.- 2.2.6 Planar Polygonal Facet Representation.- 2.2.7 Choice of Facets and Vertices.- 2.3 Photographs.- 2.3.1 Principles.- 2.3.2 Turntable.- 2.3.3 Camera.- 2.3.4 Choice of Photo Angles.- 2.3.5 Marking Vertices, Facets, and Edges on Photos.- 2.3.6 Step-by-Step 3D Digitizing Procedure.- 2.4 Object Composition.- 2.4.1 The Composition Operation.- 2.4.2 An Example: The Complete Composition of Marilyn Monroe.- 3. Human Prototyping.- 3.1 Local Transformations of Existing Synthetic Actors.- 3.1.1 Introduction.- 3.1.2 Local Transformations.- 3.2 Shape Interpolation Between Human Faces.- 3.2.1 Introduction.- 3.2.2 Grid Generation.- 3.2.3 Inbetween Calculation.- 4. Body Animation of Synthetic Actors.- 4.1 Principles of Body Animation.- 4.2 Skeleton Definition and Positioning.- 4.2.1 Skeleton Definition.- 4.2.2 Fixed Points.- 4.2.3 Actor Sections.- 4.2.4 Procedure for Skeleton Positioning.- 4.3 Skeleton Animation.- 4.3.1 Key Positions.- 4.3.2 Spline Interpolation.- 4.3.3 Definition and Manipulation of Key Values.- 4.3.4 AnExample.- 5. Hand Animation, Object Grasping, and Foot Animation.- 5.1 Hand Skeleton and Surface.- 5.1.1 Hand Skeleton.- 5.1.2 Hand Surface.- 5.2 Hand Animation.- 5.3 Object Grasping and Manipulating.- 5.3.1 The Action of Grasping an Object.- 5.3.2 Determination of Joint Angles for Object Grasping.- 5.3.3 Object Association.- 5.3.4 A Case Study from Rendez-vous à Montréal.- 5.3.5 Flower Grasping.- 5.4 Foot Animation.- 6. Facial Animation of Synthetic Actors.- 6.1 A Three-Level Approach to Facial Animation.- 6.1.1 How to Animate the Face of a Synthetic Actor.- 6.1.2 Parameter, Expression, and Script Levels.- 6.2 The Facial Parameters.- 6.2.1 The Structure of a Human Face.- 6.2.2 A Human Face Model for Animation.- 6.2.3 Constraints on Faces of a Synthetic Actor.- 6.2.4 The Role of Facial Parameters.- 6.2.5 Installation of the Face of a New Synthetic Actor.- 6.2.6 Lip Facial Parameters.- 6.3 The Expressions: Phonemes and Emotions.- 6.3.1 The Expression Level.- 6.3.2 Phonemes.- 6.3.3 Emotions.- 6.4 The Script Level.- 6.4.1 Scripts for Facial Animation.- 6.4.2 Key Values and Inbetweening.- 6.4.3 The Role of Multiple Tracks.- 6.4.4 Speech Timing.- 6.4.5 The Use of Splines.- 6.5 A Script Example from the Film Rendez-vous à Montréal.- 6.6 Interpolating Facial Parameters and Expressions Between Two Different Human Faces.- 6.6.1 Shape Level.- 6.6.2 Parameter Level.- 6.6.3 Expression Level.- 6.6.4 Script Level.- 7. Color, Reflectance, Transparency, and Texture.- 7.1 Colors.- 7.1.1 Drawing Style.- 7.1.2 How to Color a Synthetic Actor.- 7.1.3 The RGB System.- 7.1.4 The HLS System.- 7.2 Reflectance.- 7.2.1 Definition.- 7.2.2 A User Interface-for Reflectance.- 7.2.3 Reflectance and Highlight for Synthetic Actors.- 7.3 Transparency and Textures.- 7.3.1 Transparency.- 7.3.2 Textures.- 8. Cameras, Lights, and Shadows.- 8.1 Cameras.- 8.1.1 The Animation Environment.- 8.1.2 Synthetic Cameras.- 8.1.3 Eye, Interest Point, Viewing Angle, and Viewport.- 8.2 Lights.- 8.2.1 Introduction to Illumination.- 8.2.2 Surface Shading.- 8.2.3 How to Select Light Parameters.- 8.3 Shadows.- 9. Choreography.- 9.1 Decors and Actors.- 9.1.1 Scene and Script.- 9.1.2 Decors.- 9.1.3 Non-Human Actors.- 9.2 Cameras and Lights.- 9.2.1 The Role of Synthetic Cameras in Computer-Animated Films.- 9.2.2 Characteristics of an Animated Camera.- 9.2.3 Wipe Effects and Multiple Synthetic Movie Camera Effects.- 9.2.4 Animation of Lights and Spots.- 9.3 Camera and Light Paths.- 9.3.1 Introduction.- 9.3.2 Paths Defined by a Law.- 9.3.3 Camera Assigned to an Actor.- 9.3.4 Graphical Input of Path.- 9.3.5 How to Design a Camera Spline.- 9.3.6 Spline for the Camera Motion in the Film Eglantine.- Appendix: The HUMAN FACTORY Software.- A. 1 The Architecture of the HUMAN FACTORY System.- A. 1.1 Introduction.- A. 1.2 Interfaces for the HUMAN FACTORY Programs.- A. 1.3 The Hierarchical Structure.- A.2 The DIGIT3D Program.- A.3 The SABRINA System.- A.4 The BODYJPARTS System.- A.4.1 Active Figure and Cameras.- A.4.2 Current Vectors and Sets.- A.5 The BODY_MOVTNG System.- A.5.1 An Overview of the BODY_MOVING System.- A.5.2 Definition of Key Values.- A.5.3 Manipulation of Key Values.- A.5.4 A User Interface for Object Grasping.- A.6 The FACE_MOVING System.- A.6.1 An Overview of the FACE_MOVING System.- A.6.2 Lip Facial Parameters.- A.7 The M3RANIM System.- A.8 The DISPLAY Program.

O autorze

Advanced computer animation techniques for creating synthetic three-dimensional actors are described in detail by the creators of an award-winning film. The method opens new vistas in motion pictures, television and advertizing.