Computers for Imagemaking (eBook)

Front Cover 1
Computers for Imagemaking 4
Copyright Page 5
Table of Contents 10
A NOTE ON THE SERIES 6
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 7
FOREWORD 8
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9
CHAPTER 1. THE TECHNICAL FOUNDATIONS OF COMPUTER IMAGEMAKING 12
THE VARIETY OF COMPUTED IMAGES 12
MODES O F DRAWING 14
VECTOR SYSTEMS 14
RASTER SYSTEMS 16
THE CONTROL OF BRIGHTNESS 18
COLOUR DISPLAYS 21
THE VIDEO RASTER 28
DATA COMPRESSION FOR RASTER SYSTEMS 28
INTERACTIVE IMAGEMAKING 31
TEMPORAL SEQUENCES 32
IMAGE PROCESSING 33
COMPUTATIONAL STRATEGIES 36
CREATING REALISTIC IMAGES 36
SUMMARY 38
CHAPTER 2. SEEING HYPOTHESES 40
INTRODUCTION 40
THEORIES OF PERCEPTION 40
ILLUSIONS IN HUMAN PERCEPTION 45
REFERENCES 49
CHAPTER 3. MATCHING THE SYSTEM TO THE GOALS OR TV OR NOT TV 50
ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE OF THIS CHAPTER 50
GAME PLAN 50
REAL-TIME VERSUS STORED TIME 51
VECTOR DRAWING SYSTEMS 52
VIDEO RASTER SYSTEMS 54
FILM, VIDEO AND REAL-TIME REGENERATION 56
REAL-TIME REGENERATION 59
CROSS-REFERENCING THE TECHNOLOGIES OF RECORDING AND GRAPHICS 60
FILM/VECTOR 60
FILM/RASTER 62
VIDEO/VECTOR 63
VIDEO/RASTER 64
CAPABILITY/BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS 65
SOFTWARE 66
EPILOGUE 67
CHAPTER 4. COMPUTER CHARACTER ANIMATION – IS IT POSSIBLE ? 72
ANALYSING PROPOSED SOLUTIONS 77
REFERENCES 80
CHAPTER 5. FACILITIES FOR COMPUTER IMAGEMAKING 82
NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 84
CADCENTRE 88
COMPUTER IMAGE CORPORATION 92
COMPUTER GRAPHICS IN EDUCATION AND RESEARCH 97
CHAPTER 6. PROBLEM SOLVING ON A CENTRALIZED INTERACTIVE COMPUTER GRAPHICS SYSTEM 98
THE PROBLEM-SOLVING ENVIRONMENT 99
THE INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENT 100
COMPUTER SYSTEM CONSIDERATIONS 110
LANGUAGE CONSIDERATIONS 111
DISCUSSION 113
REFERENCES 114
CHAPTER 7. COMBINING COMPUTER ANIMATION AND TELEVISION PRESENTATION: A CASE STUDY - THE OPEN UNIVERSITY MATHEMATICS COURSE 116
THE TELEVISION PROGRAMME – PRODUCTION TIMESCALES 119
COMPUTER ANIMATION – HARNESSING ITS EDUCATIONAL POTENTIAL 120
THE COMPUTER ANIMATION – COMMISSIONING 127
THE COMPUTER ANIMATION – GENERATION 132
REFLECTIONS – LESSONS LEARNED 133
THE RIGHT TOOL FOR THE RIGHT JOB 138
THE FUTURE – WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? 140
REFERENCES TO BBC OPEN UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMES 141
CHAPTER 8. COMPUTER ANIMATION AS AN AID TO COMPREHENDING THE UNIVERSE 142
Scales of Space and Time 142
Cinema tography 145
Computer Animation 146
A Proposed Framework 146
General Observations 148
Work to be done 148
Keeping Perspective 150
References 150
APPENDIX A: FILMS 152
APPENDIX B: FURTHER READING 155
APPENDIX C: ADDRESSES OF SOME MANUFACTURERS OF EQUIPMENT WITH THEIR SUBSIDIARIES 156
APPENDIX D: SOME FACILITIES COMPANIES 162
Index 164