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The hit Disney movie "Moana" features stunning visual effects, including the animation of water to such a degree that it becomes a distinct character in the film.
UCLA mathematics professor Joseph Teran, a Walt Disney consultant on animated movies since 2007, is under no illusion that artists want lengthy mathematics lessons, but many of them realize that the success of animated movies often depends on advanced mathematics.
"In general, the animators and artists at the studios want as little to do with mathematics and physics as possible, but the demands for realism in animated movies are so high," Teran said. "Things are going to look fake if you don't at least start with the correct physics and mathematics for many materials, such as water and snow. If the physics and mathematics are not simulated accurately, it will be very glaring that something is wrong with the animation of the material."
Teran and his research team have helped infuse realism into several Disney movies, including "Frozen," where they used science to animate snow scenes. Most recently, they applied their knowledge of math, physics and computer science to enliven the new 3-D computer-animated hit, "Moana," a tale about an adventurous teenage girl who is drawn to the ocean and is inspired to leave the safety of her island on a daring journey to save her people.
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(Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 04 2017, @04:19PM
I don't recall stories being generally better before computer animation.
The crap back then was just hand drawn--usually crudely. "Limited animation" and a whole lot of talking made for cheap cartoons.
I think you are comparing the best of the past with everything (good and bad) from today.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by VLM on Wednesday January 04 2017, @06:44PM
I think you are comparing the best of the past with everything (good and bad) from today.
I believe you are at least partially correct there.
But take a classic 80s movie, "Christmas Story" or the "Flash Gordon" movie with the Queen soundtrack, can you imagine how they'd F that all up by taking all the dialogue out and replace it with some car chases and explosions?
Here's a thought, maybe painful. Imagine a 2017 remake of the 2001 movie done by J J Abrams.... I ... I ... there aren't even words!
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Thursday January 05 2017, @11:25AM
Here's a thought, maybe painful. Imagine a 2017 remake of the 2001 movie done by J J Abrams.... I ... I ... there aren't even words!
GASP! He might edit out the pointless, tedious, self-indulgent 10-minute acid-trip lightshow at the end.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 04 2017, @08:29PM
When I made my comment (parent) about old movies not being in general any better than today's, I think it was pretty clear I was restricting myself to CARTOONS.
I agree that live-action movies today are generally worse. This is mostly because they have been dumbed down to appeal to an international market that didn't exist back then (China) that doesn't share our language or culture. You therefore leave that out and go with professional wrestling x 100 style imagery that stimulates the reptile part of the brain directly without requiring cultural processing.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Wednesday January 04 2017, @08:42PM
I think you are comparing the best of the past with everything (good and bad) from today.
Despite my long other post pointing out decline, I actually agree with this too. There was a LOT of crap made "back in the day." Granted, not as much of it was dependent on special effects, since special effects wasn't advanced enough to carry so much of the plot. But there were lots of films with terrible acting, bad writing, etc. -- they were just driven by cheesy formulas for Romances or Westerns or whatever. So I'm not sure I'd say that films have declined -- but there certainly ARE a higher percentage of films today that depend on things like special effects to drive them. And, if nothing else, pacing has changed radically for mainstream films. By today's standards, even the crappy mainstream Rom-coms and Westerns of yesteryear frequently move at a glacial pace.