Ask a Scientist [topic: CG Animation] May 12, 2009

THIS MONTH'S TOPIC: The Science of CG Animation

To those of us who grew up watching Popeye and The Flintstones, animation seemed like a pretty simple concept. You could even make your own respectable frame-by-frame cartoon with nothing but a notepad and pencil. These days animation is a whole different game — entailing technical innovations that make cels and gouache look like artifacts from Bedrock. Tonight we'll learn how the art and science of computer generated animation has evolved from a single pixel on a screen to fully rendered scenes that can be hard to distinguish from live action. Our DreamWorks dream team will walk us through the building blocks of a CG animated project, explaining the science and math behind the transformation of tiny dots of color into fluid that flows, fur that bristles, and feathers that ruffle.

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