Parsons Algorithmic Animation 2012 with Zach Lieberman

This is my material for this class. Here is a description of it: it will look at the fundamentals of animation and animated form through the lens of computation. Artists have always used different technology to animate - from early zoetropes to hand drawn etched film - and with programming, there is a new branch of a long tradition forming. We will focus on techniques for writing code to move objects in a compelling and life-like manner. For folks who are newer to code, this class will work as a gentle but serious introduction to the medium, for experts this will present new approaches and strategies for expression. In addition to looking at and working through code, we will be studying several pioneers of abstract animation, Norman McLaren, John Whitney, Oskar Fischinger, as well as modern day practitioners like Toshio Iwai and Masahiko Sato. Technically, the course will be taught using a series of code examples, tools and problems coded in open frameworks, a cross platform c++ toolkit for creative hacking. This is an advanced programming class, students should be very comfortable with reading and writing code.

Links of the class:

• Syllabus

• Examples

• Homework