Papers

The Darwinian rise of Urban Kinetics

Presented at the Society of Animation Studies Conference, July 2010 in Edinburgh

Exploring the implications of an apparent new genre in animation; kinetic models that conceptualise change in space/time and address audiences outside of broadcast media. This paper asks; has a change in audience wrought a new formalism for animation? Drawing on examples of the author’s own work and analysing kinetic and ‘outsider’ animation, the paper reveals how new media and conceptualisations of kinetic expression are changing the landscape of the animation discipline. Like traditional animation, Urban Kinetics has the signature of making the impossible possible; that ‘wow’ factor and appeal that is so eagerly sought by advertisers. Is it animation’s future?

How Psychophysical Perception of Motion and Image relates to Animation Practice

publication and presentation at 4th International Conference Computer Graphics, Imaging and Visualization ’07 Bangkok, Thailand (August 2007) (Published by IEEE Computer Society  ISBN 0-7695-2928-3)

This paper investigates the difference between seeing and perceiving in animation. It analyses character design in the light of experiments in face recognition, in particular how iconic a character can be in design. It discusses whether a universal theory can be applied and if caricatures are really ‘super-portraits’ that echo how brains recall faces.
The psychophysical perception of motion in animation is analysed in the light of animation principles such as ‘squash and stretch’ and ‘isolation’. Using made and found examples, the paper looks at how signature movement and animation principles are now being supplemented or even supplanted by motion capture and posits what this means for animation in the future.
The paper maps popular animation characters within two specially designed triangular charts for image and for motion. It analyses the resulting images in terms of perceived and received information, looking particularly at the region of empathic connection coined by Dr Masahiro Mori as the ‘Uncanny Valley’. [1] By examining the different empathic demands motion capture makes on an audience it reaches the conclusion that both image and motion must be treated symbiotically for full analysis to be achieved.

Keywords and phrases --- Psychophysical, Animation Principles, Uncanny Valley.

Slices of Time - Appraising the use of Dynamics in Design

Paper presented at IV09:DAViz, 13th International Conference Information Visualisation, 2009in Barcelona. Published in IEEE journal. ISBN: 978-0-7695-3733-7. iv, pp.598-604, 2009.

Dynamics, movement, kinetics, animation: So many names for an area so frequently ignored in graphics. Ephemeral by nature, such transient devices are frequently ignored over the concrete and contextual. Yet the screen has become the primary source for accessing information and is ubiquitous in urban advertising, stimulating graphics increasingly to include dynamics and visual momentum in their design. This paper seeks to reappraise the application of dynamics for representation and appeal, drawing on implied dynamics in static images, dynamics within the frame and dynamic editing.
Using illustrative examples this paper discusses whether a commonality of kinetic perception in dynamics can be relied upon for engagement and appeal, and offers a new conceptual model for event perception, drawing on cognitive psychology, montage theory and eye tracking technology.
The paper posits that motion is a primary perceptual form and that its application in visualization boosts gestalt comprehension.

Keywords--- Dynamics, Animation, Perception, Cognition, Visualization

Architectures of Participation: Exploring Authorship Within New Media and Artistic Practice

Co-authored with Lucie Hernandez - Workshop accepted by 4th International Conference on the Arts in Society for July 2009 at Venice Biennale

The objective of this workshop is to explore authorship of an evolutionary artifact through a series of interactive exercises using pyramid group work. The aim is to understand the spectrum of participation that exists from merely viewing visual forms to actually creating content within a predetermined framework.

Art has always required an audience to be complete. Viewed through the prism of perspective, the act of looking with a searching eye allows for connections to be made and interpretations to be formed that contribute to how meaning is created.

But the nature of participation has evolved: With the development of new media, the audience has moved further along the spectrum, they have become participant, with an active role. Not only does the audience now have the ability to navigate and adjust the order in which information is presented, they are also able to actively contribute to it. The implication suggests the audience as participant creates alongside the artist as author/collaborator. The workshop will demonstrate the benefits and constraints incumbent in artistic collaborations and debate how we can move beyond ownership of art to suggest a multi-authored work.

Keywords: Authorship, Interactive, Digital Media, Participation, Audience

Stream: Visual Arts Practices

Presentation Type: 60 minute Workshop Presentation in English

3D for the Web: A Comprehensive Guide to Bringing 3D Animations to the Web

Co-authored book with Anthony Head

3D for the Web has now been translated into Russian and Spanish and excerpts from the book are published on Animation World Network site

 

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