MODULE-5

APPLICATIONS OF PHYSICS IN COMPUTING

PHYSICS OF ANIMATION
Animation:
The word Animation has derived from the word Animate, which means to bring life. It is a method of
photographing successive drawings, models, or even puppets, to create an illusion of movement in a
sequence. The first animated film was made by Emile Chol in 1907; he is referred to as the father of
animation.

The Taxonomy of Physics-Based Animation Methods

The physics-based animation and simulation can roughly be subdivided into two
groups:

1. Kinematics is the study of motion without consideration of mass or forces.

2. Dynamics is the study of motion taking mass and forces into consideration.
Kinematics and dynamics come in two subgroups:
1. Inverse is the study of motion knowing the starting and ending points.
2. Forward is the study of motion solely given the starting point?

Frames
A frame is a single image in a sequence of pictures. A frame contains the image to be displayed at a
unique time in the animation. In general, one second of a video is comprised of 24 or 30 frames per
second abbreviate as FPS. The frame rate is the speed at which the images are shown in the animation.

The following are the most common types of frames used in animation:

 Keyframe
 Placeholder frames
 Regular frames
 Tweened frames

Frames per Second

There are two standard television images: 30 frames per second (National Television Standards
Committee) NTSC for the United States and 25 frames per second (Phase Alternate Line) PAL for
Europe. An animated film with 25 frames per second is played on television at 24 frames per
second would result in a black bar rolling up the screen. Then Digital Converts are to be used to
transfer one speed of the film to another speed of the video.
 Size
Size is simply how small or big an element is in relation to other objects within a design. Generally,
we use size to make a particular element stand out or to give it importance. However, size becomes a
much more powerful design tool when it is considered alongside the scale.

Scaling Properties: Larger or heavier objects move slower while lighter or smaller objects move faster.

When designing characters, you can run into different situations having to do with size and scale, such
as:
1. Human or animal-based characters that are much larger than we see in our everyday
experience. Superheroes, Greek gods and monsters.
2. Human or animal-based characters that are much smaller than we are accustomed to, such as
fairies and elves.
3. Characters that need to be noticeably larger, smaller, older, heavier, lighter, or more energetic
than other characters.
4. Characters that are child versions of older characters

Proportion and Scale

Creating a larger or smaller character is not just a matter of scaling everything about the
character uniformly.

Example: When you scale a cube, its volume changes much more dramatically than its surface
area. Let us say each edge of the cube is 1 unit in length. The area of one side of the cube is 1 square
unit, and the volume of the cube is 1 cubed unit. If you double the size of the cube along each
dimension, its height increases by 2 times, the surface area increases by 4 times and its volume
increases by 8 times.
Weight: Two objects can appear to be different weights by manipulating their timing.

For example, if you were to hit a croquet ball and a balloon with a mallet, the result would be two
different actions. The croquet ball would require more force to place it into motion, would go farther,
and need more force to stop it. On the other hand, the balloon would require far less force to send it
flying, and because of its low mass and weight, it wouldn't travel as far, and would require less force
to stop it.

Strength

Strength is the maximum force a muscle or group of muscles can apply against a resistance in
a push, pull or lift motion. Body weight is proportional to volume. The abilities of your muscles and
bones, however, increase by area because their abilities depend more on the cross-sectional area than
volume. To increase a muscle or bone’s strength, you need to increase its cross-sectional area.

Motion and Timing animation

Motion is an essential component in games and animations. The motion is governed by
newton’s laws and kinematic equations. When animating a scene, there are several types of motion
to consider. These are the most common types of motion:
1. Linear
2. Parabolic
3. Circular
4. Wave

Timing Animation
Timing refers to how long an action takes. If the timing is too fast, too slow, too linear, or too long, your
animation won’t look realistic. Since the film is run at 24 frames per second (FPS), you use this as the
building block for your timing. So, if you have an object moving from point A to point B in 24FPS, it
takes the object one second to get there.

The functions of timing are to:

1. Create a movement that obeys the laws of physics.

2. Add interest and appeal to your animations.

 Motion Lines and Paths
Motion has a path of action, which indicates the path along which the object or character moves. The
path of action refers to the object’s motion in space.

Line of Action

Path of Action

Linear Motion Timing

The linear motion refers to motion in a straight line, always in the same direction. An object moving
with linear motion might speed up or slow down as it follows a linear path. A heavy ball rolling on a
table or incline is an example of linear motion.

Uniform Motion Timing

Uniform motion is the easiest to animate because the distance the object travels between frames is
always the same. Uniform motion is a type of linear motion with constant speed and no acceleration
or deceleration. The object moves the same distance between consecutive frames. Longer the distance
between frames, the higher the speed.
Slow in and Slow out
The terms "slow in" and "slow out" are used to describe motion that is accelerating or decelerating.
This type of motion is sometimes called ease in or ease out.
1. Slow in/ ease in—The object is slowing down, frequently in anticipation of stopping.
2. Slow out/ ease out—The object is speeding up, often from a static position.

For example, a ball rolling down an incline or dropping straight down is slowing out, as it goes from
a still position or slow speed to a fast speed. A ball rolling up an incline is slowing in.

Constant Forces
A constant force is a force that doesn’t vary over time.
Examples of constant forces include:
1. Gravity pulling an object to the ground
2. Friction bringing an object to a stop

Constant force and Acceleration

Constant forces result in constant acceleration. Because the acceleration is constant, we can
figure out the timing for such sequences using a few principles of physics.
The resulting acceleration depends on the direction of the force and motion if there is any motion at all,
to begin with.
1. When the constant net force is applied to an unmoving object, the result is acceleration.
2. When the constant net force is applied to a moving object in the same direction as the motion,
the result is acceleration.
3. When hen constant net force is applied in the direction opposite the existing motion, the result
is deceleration (acceleration in the opposite direction).
 Forces Exerted by Characters
However, one can divide the character's motion into brief time intervals and treat each of these
intervals as responding to a constant net force for the purposes of animation. This will make it simpler
to determine the timing for each separate segment.
A character walking and pushing a rock is not exerting a constant force throughout the entire sequence,
but during each short part of the walk cycle, the net force could be considered to be a different constant
value.

The Odd Rule

When acceleration is constant, one can use the Odd Rule to time the frames. With this method,
one calculates the distance the object moves between frames using a simple pattern of odd numbers.
Between consecutive frames, the distance the object moves is a multiple of an odd number. For
acceleration, the distance between frames increases by multiples of 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.

The Odd Rule is a multiplying system based on the smallest distance traveled between two
frames in the sequence. For a slow-out, this is the distance between the first two frames; for a slow-
in, it’s the distance between the last two frames. This distance, the base distance, is used in all Odd
Rule calculations.

For deceleration, the multiples start at a higher odd number and decrease, for example, 7, 5, 3, 1.

Odd Rule Multipliers

The Odd Rule in its simplest form, as described above, is just one way to use it. For example,
one can instead calculate the distance from the first frame to the current frame and use these distances
to place the object on specific frames.
Odd Rule Scenarios

1. Base Distance Known Speeding up

If the object is speeding up, the first frame distance is the base distance. If one knows the base
distance, figuring out the distance the object travels at each frame is pretty straightforward. Just
multiply the base distance by 3, 5, 7, etc. to get the distances between consecutive frames, or use
squares to multiply the base distance to get the total distance traveled on each frame.

2. Base Distance Known Slowing Down

Suppose one wants an object to slow down, and one knows the distance between the last two frames
before it stops. For slow-ins, the base distance is the distance between the last two frames. The
solution is to work backward, as if the object were speeding up in the opposite direction. Working
Backward, multiply the base distance by 3, 5, 7, etc. to get the distances between each previous frame in
the sequence.

3. Total Distance and Number of Frames Known, Speeding Up

If one wants to know the total distance and the total number of frames, one can find the base

distance with this formula: Base distance = Total distance/(Last frame number – 1) 2

Suppose there is a jump push (takeoff ) with constant acceleration over 5 frames, and the total distance
traveled is 0.4m. Using the formula above, we find the base distance.
Base distance = 0.4m/(5 – 1) 2 = 0.4m/16 = 0.025m
First Key Distance Known as Slowing Down
Suppose one has a moving object that one wants to slow down, and one has set the first frame of the
slow-in to give an idea of the pacing for the sequence.

One feature of the Odd Rule is that the base distance is always half the difference between any two
adjacent distances. To find the base distance, one can simply calculate:
(0.5m – 0.35m)/2 = 0.07m

To figure out how many frames are in the slow-in, divide the first distance by the base distance to
find out which odd number it corresponds to.0.5/0.07 = 7.
This means the first distance corresponds to 7 in the 7, 5, 3, 1 sequence, making the sequence four frames
long.

Motion Graphs
A motion graph plots an object’s position against time. If one is using animation software,
understanding and using motion graphs is a key skill in animating anything beyond the simplest of
motions. On a motion graph, the time goes from left to right across the bottom of the graph, while the
object’s position is plotted vertically against the time. Each axis in 3D space (X, Y, Z) has its own
line showing the object’s position along that axis.
Examples of character animation

Jumping
A jump is an action where the character’s entire body is in the air, and both the character’s feet
leave the ground at roughly the same time. A jump action includes a takeoff, free movement through
the air, and a landing.

Parts of Jump
A jump can be divided into several distinct parts:
• Crouch: A squatting pose is taken as preparation for jumping.
• Takeoff: The character pushes up fast and straightens their legs with their feet still on the
ground. The distance from the character’s center of gravity (CG) in the crouch to the CG when
the character’s feet are just about to leave the ground is called the push height. The amount of
time (or the number of frames) needed for the push is called the push time.
• In the air: The amount of time the character is in the air from takeoff to the apex is called the jump

time. If the takeoff pose and the landing pose are similar, then the jump height and jump time are
about the same going up as they are going down.
• Landing: The distance from the character’s CG when her feet hit the ground to the point where
the character stops crouching is called the stop height. The stop height is not always exactly the
same as the push height.

Calculating Jump Actions

When working out the timing for a jump, one will need to first decide on:
1. Jump height or jump time
2. Push height
3. Stop height
4. Horizontal distance the character will travel during Jump
Example:
Jump height = 1.2m
Jump time for 1.2m = 0. 5 seconds
Jump time at 30fps = 0. 5 * 30 = 15 frames

Jump Magnification
The JM is the ratio of the jump height to the push height.

Jump Height
JM =
Push Height

Since you already know the jump height and push height, you can calculate the JM. Then you can
use the JM to calculate other aspects of the jump.
Example:
Jump Height = 1m
Push Height =
0.33m
JM = Jump Height/Push Height = 3

Jump Magnification and Acceleration

Jump Magnification is in fact an exact ratio that tells one how much the character has to accelerate
against gravity to get into the air. The JM, besides being the ratio of jump-to-push vertical height and
time, is also the ratio of push-to-jump vertical acceleration. Opposite the other ratios: while a longer
jump time means a shorter push time, a higher jump acceleration means a much, much higher push
acceleration. Knowing about this can help you make more informed decisions about your push timing.

To see how this works, let’s look at the formula for JM and relate it to
acceleration: Jump Time Jump Height
Jump Time Jump Height Push Acceleration
JM = = =
PushTime Push Height Jump Acceleration

The magnitude of jump acceleration is always equal to gravitational acceleration, with

deceleration as the character rises and acceleration as it falls.

Push Acceleration Push Acceleration

JH = =
Jump Acceleration Gravitational Acceleration
 Push Time
The JM also gives you the ratio of the jump time to the
push time. JM = Jump Time/Push Time
Working a little algebra, we can express the equation in a way that directly calculates
the push time: Push Time = Jump Time/JM
Example:
JM = 3
Jump Time: 15 frames
Push Time = 15/3 = 5 frames

Walking
Walks feature all the basics of mechanics while including personality. The ability to animate walk
cycles is one of the most important skills a character animator needs to master.

Strides and Steps

A step is one step with one foot. A stride is two steps, one with each foot. Stride length is the distance
the character travels in a stride, measured from the same part of the foot. Step and stride length indicate
lengthwise spacing for the feet during a walk.
Gait is the timing of the motion for each foot, including how long each foot is on the ground or in the
air. During a walk, the number of feet the character has on the ground changes from one foot (single
support) to two feet (double support) and then back to one foot. You can plot the time each foot is on
the ground to see the single and double support times over time. A normal walking gait ranges from 1/ 3
to 2/3 of a second per step, with 1/2 second being average.