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Video Game Design Composition
The previous section discussed the basics of CG keyframe animation. There
are many specialized aspects to creating animations with a computer. Depending
on the software, special effects such as motion blur, lens flare, and combustion,
to name a few, can be applied. Two examples of specialized animation—particle
animation and motion capture—are discussed in the next sections.
Particle Animation
Computer animation allows for many other means of creating images for
each frame. One of the most interesting and useful of these techniques is particle
animation. A particle animation is used for many effects that are difficult to draw,
as shown in Figure 11-14. Sparks, rain, snow, flowing water, falling leaves, and
other small objects that move are best created with a particle animation.
Particles in a particle animation are generated from an emitter. When
rendered, the particle animation is captured one frame at a time, just like
any other animation. The emitter is an object in a 3D modeling program that
has settings for the particles it generates. Settings include rate of generation,
size, color, disbursement, and lifetime. The table in Figure 11-15 shows
typical settings for a particle system. Generally, depending on the software,
each particle setting can be animated. Throughout the lifetime of a particle,
Review a simple animation in a game or a
single element in a more complex animation.
See if you can determine what actions were
defined on keyframes, such as foot down,
foot up and forward, and foot down.
UP!
11.3
Specialized Animation
Figure 11-14.
Goodheart-Willcox Publisher
Particle systems can be used for many different animations, such as
water as shown here.