The cartoon production process begin with the writing of the script, after this step a storyboard is created which is followed by the realization of the layout. When this layout is well defined the animation process can start. At the end of the process we have the post-production.The software Anim2000 try to computerize this process.
In fact, we started by the programming of the layout process which contains a lot of the technologies needed by the others process. Out project was ended by the writing of the storyboard software. We was not able to realize the animation software.
The layout software.
In this report we will focus on the different softwares component which were realized, these components can be useful in the complete production chain.
Our software has been developed in C++, on the Silicon Graphics computers. We used the Silicon compiler and the debugger 'cvd'.We used the following libraries:
Unix, the system,XWindow, the low level windowing,
OpenGL, the low level graphic,
Versant:, the object database.
What were our programming guidelines in C++?The 'Model-View-Controller' paradigm.
This principle is derived from Smalltalk-80 and try to separate the application in three object categories. The Model category contains the data and the process to use it. The View category contains the visible objects which are used to display the Model. The Controller category contains the objects which make the bridge between the data and the interface.One tree of inheritance, not a forest.
To keep the net of the classes needed the more understandable we decided to limit the inheritance tree. Excepted some special case, all the classes inherit from the class A2Object which define common behavior.Don't use standard multi-inheritance, use 'protocol'
To keep the net of the classes needed the more understandable we decided to not use multi-inheritance excepted to define some protocols of communication between the objects. The use of the protocols permits to create very low tied object architecture.
Anim2000 is a four levels building.The first level is made with the system parts (Unix,OpenGL,XWindow).
The second level is made of Versant and our own general graphic toolkit.
The third level is made of our Database toolkit and our vectorial palette toolkit.
At the end the fourth level is made of the different applications luxurious suite.
- The application Model : creation, of the models, indexing them in the database
- The application Background : creation of the backgrounds, indexing them in the database
- The application StoryBoard : creation of the storyboard from the script the model and the backgrounds.
- The application Layout : creation of the layout from the storyboard, the models and the backgrounds.
Now we are describing the Layout application, we will able to explore the different technologies that we have developed and we will see them in action.The database
We needed to store, retrieve and share all the data necessary to define a production of a cartoon. The overall structure of the database was very similar of the structure of a traditional production.
We manage a list of productions. Each production in turn contains a list of episode, a list of models and a list of backgrounds. Each episode in turn contains a storyboard, a list of models, a list of backgrounds and a list of scenes.
The leafs of this structure is based on graphic elements, images and vectors, which are the big part of the memory occupied by the database.
a browser to access to the different element of a scene's layout.
The Vectorial palette
The vectorial palette is the smarter part of these toolkit, handling pressure tablet, unlimited zooming, color, transparency, 2D camera, copy-paste, scissors...
It could be able to handle 3D also, unfortunately we never be able to work on this wonderful side of the software.
You can see the Camera during the drawing process
You can even draw through the Camera, hence you need to make the detail only where it is needed
The work space is similar to the traditional animation page with tenons and picots
Hyper zooming on the girl.
One example of the real work of the France Animation Studio.
The layout of Ivanhoe
some color on the palette, with different layers
The xsheet
The process to describe a storyboard or a layout need to be able to work with the time. In the layout application there is a big component which display the structure of a layout through the time: the xsheet.
The details of the life of the Camera through the time
The details of the life of an Albert?
The cinematic
You begin with a model, in his own referential.
Through the time, with the help of a slider or the xsheet,
you can pose the same drawing at different time and position.
You change the intermediate position.
You can switch from the linear trajectory to the spline trajectory.
After these steps you can edit the rhythm:
The movies
thanks to the rhythm editor, this locomotive become bigger accordingly
to the 'reality'The printing
An example of the print module in the Storyboard app,
what you need to do it is to simply define a layout of your printing view,
and we send this view to the printer, you don't need to know Postscript work.
