Page 151 - DCAP303_MULTIMEDIA_SYSTEMS

Unit 9: Working with Animation

In order to create the illusion of movement, it usually requires around 12 frames per minute. notes
A frame is a single picture and the contrast when viewing the pictures makes it seem smooth.
Conventional hand drawn animation is usually around 15 frames although this more due to the
constraints of having to physically draw the pictures.
A new development in recent years has been motion capture. This was used to memorable effect
in the Lord of the Rings films to create the CGI character Gollum. The actor Andy Serkis wore
a suit with coloured dots on it around his limbs and the animators creating the virtual skeleton
and rendered the character from his movements.
When looking at digital animation a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that it makes the
process easier. While some aspects may become simpler it often throws up new and interesting
challenges, such as how to effectively animate blades of grass blowing in the wind or realistic
looking fur. It also needs to be remembered that it is a medium for telling a story and the most
successful animations remain the ones with the best stories and characters.

9.1 video and Digital Movie tools

Today, creating digital movies has become fairly simple and you can start with good quality
digital cameras equipped with video recording capabilities. The ones created by Sony or Panasonic
should do fine. Armed with a working device, even a novice can make good home movies to
share with family and friends. And if it is really good, it could be bought by interested parties for
other purposes. Creating digital video is now a popular hobby ever since YouTube and similar
video blogging sites have garnered massive traffic in the Internet world.

You can make movies with a simple video camera. Simply catch the scenes, upload the file created
on your computer, and play it. But if you want your digital videos to look less like the work of
an amateur, you have got to start using digital video tools. Here are the programs that you are
going to need:

9.1.1 video editing software
If you want to add captions, background music and even delete unnecessary scenes from your
video file, you are going to need some comprehensive video editing software. There are two types
of video editing software: one is for the home user and the other is for the professional. Consumer
video editing software has limited features compared with that of professionals.
With this tool, you can add effects to your film, put animated text in it, make the shot brighter or
dimmer and even remove the shakes and out of frame shots that amateurs usually make. You can
even add an entirely new story to your video with these tools. Examples of the more popular video
editing software are Windows Movie Maker, Apples iMovie, and ArcSoft Inc’s ShowBiz DVD.

Develop a movie using digital movie tools to enhance the quality of a movie.

9.1.2 DvD authoring software

If you want to convert your movie into the more current DVD format, then you are going to
need this tool. The DVD authoring software is a digital video tool that is designed to covert the
default output file of your video camera into DVD format. With this software, you do not need
to buy a new digital camera that automatically stores data into DVD. Your old Web camera can
produce DVD movies with this software. You can also download other files off the Internet, no
matter the format they use, and add it to your DVD movie. All of this can be done with a few
clicks of a button.

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