Abstract:
A technique and philosophy for controlling computer animation is
discussed. Using the Actor/Scriptor Animation System (ASAS) a
sequence is described by the animator as a formal written SCRIPT,
which is in fact a program in an animation/graphic language. Getting
the desired animation is then equivalent to "debugging" the script.
Typical images manipulated with ASAS are synthetic, 3D perspective,
color, shaded images. However, the animation control techniques are
independent of the underlying software and hardware of the display
system, so apply to other types (still, B&W, 2D, line drawing
...). Dynamic (and static) graphics are based on a set of geometric
object data types and a set of geometric operators on these types.
Both sets are extensible. The operators are applied to the objects
under the control of modular animated program structures. These
structures (called actors) allow parallelism, independence, and
optionally, synchronization, so that they can render the full range of
the time sequencing of events. Actors are the embodiment of
imaginary players in a simulated movie. A type of animated number can
be used to drive geometric expressions (nested geometrical operators)
with dynamic parameters to produce animated objects. Ideas from
programming styles used in current Artificial Intelligence research
inspired the design of ASAS, which is in fact an extension to the Lisp
programming environment. ASAS was developed in an academic research
environment and made the transition to the "real world" of commercial
motion graphics production.
Keywords:
Lisp, Procedural Animation Languages, Motion Picture Production, ASAS
Citation:
Reynolds, C. W. (1982) Computer Animation with Scripts and Actors, in
Computer Graphics, 16(3) (SIGGRAPH 82 Conference Proceedings) pages
289-296.
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