Computer Animation Hall of Fame

The undergraduate degrees in the Department of Computing and Electronic Systems include a module called Interactive Computer Graphics.  The module focuses on 3D graphics, which forms the basis of special effects in the movie industry, many computer games, and so on.  To get a "feel" for 3D graphics, students are first introduced to POV-ray, the freely-available Persistence of Vision ray-tracer.  POV-ray takes its input from a "program" that describes where the various scene components are located and how they move; it generates a sequence of frames that form the resulting animation.

The animations in this Hall of Fame are some of the most interesting produced by students in recent years, plus a few from previous years.  The module is taken by second-year students, and the animations are produced about half-way through the module -- so this gives you an idea of how quickly they pick up computer graphics.  The assignment for which these animations were produced varies from year to year, though a recurring theme is the animation of a model of a WOT4 radio-controlled model aircraft, used in our research work on robot aircraft.

Alongside each piece of work is a short commentry from Dr. Adrian Clark, who lectures the module, explaining why he particularly liked it.  Dr. Clark uses 3D graphics extensively, including POV-ray, in both the robot aircraft work and in his research into wearable tour guides, an augmented reality system running on wearable computers.  To view each animation, click on the its image; the sizes of the animation are given below each image along with its author.  You'll need to be able to display MPEG movies in your browser, of course.

2007-08

This year, students were asked to model a cup and saucer, and then to use these in an animation that also includes Newell's famous teapot model.  These are three that I particularly liked.

David Severwright (640 × 480 pixels;   3.0 Mbyte)

The clever thing about this animation is the liquid flowing from the teapot into the cup.  Although a simple enough idea, this is surprisingly difficult to do directly in POV-ray, so David wrote a separate program to generate the necessary bits of POV-ray input -- this is a fairly common trick for experienced users but unusual for an undergraduate.  Yes, if I was going to be picky, I'd mention that the liquid is clear as it falls from the teapot spout but brown inside the teacup; but this is a straightforward idea done excellently.

A. Fenton (640 × 480 pixels;   5.1 Mbyte)

What I particularly like about this animation is that it starts off looking quite unobtrusive and normal . . . and then quickly becomes bizarre and surreal.  I shan't give away just what the animation contains, but suffice it to say that it makes complete sense if you have listened to the late Douglas Adams' wonderful Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Martin Kirby (640 × 480 pixels;   2.7 Mbyte)

This is obviously the year of the surreal!  I challenge you to guess what happens in remainder of this animation from the first dozen frames.  Although a fairly simple animation -- only a single, static camera -- this submission shows that ingenuity is able to produce something appealing and memorable.

2006-07

This year, students were asked to produce an animation involving "an aircraft taking off from an airport" and were given a model of a WOT4 aircraft as a starting point.  The following three submissions were those that particularly caught my eye.

Louis Higgs (640 × 480 pixels;   1.8 Mbyte)

A fairly simple animation of the aircraft model, though the camera moves to keep pace with the aircraft.  What is especially good here is the modelling: the control tower and markings on the runway are believable and the other aircraft in the background greatly add to the realism of the scene.

Peter Williams (640 × 480 pixels;   1.8 Mbyte)

This animation also has a fairly straightforward take-off of the aircraft, though it barely seems airborne as it flashes by the camera.  The modelling is good, but what is particularly eye-catching is the use of different camera angles during the take-off, making the result much more compelling than an animation with a single viewpoint.

Christos Iosfidis (640 × 480 pixels;   5.1 Mbyte)

This is a tour de force in using POV-ray: there are several cameras, some static and some tracking the aeroplane; interesting changes in viewpoint, holding the viewer's attention; changes of direction of the aircraft (though some are not very realistic); and, most impressive of all, the trees etc on the ground are randomly generated via POV-ray's macro facility.

Previous Years

Olly Oechsle (640 × 480 pixels;   4.4 Mbyte)

The assignment this year was "an animation involving two or more WOT4 aircraft". Olly did that . . . but added a further aircraft to make the animation more interesting.  As with many of the other animations you see here, it is the unexpected nature of what happens that makes it compelling.

Richard Watson (640 × 480 pixels;   1.1 Mbyte)

This assignment was "to show the Essex logo being formed from or decomposed into a set of cubes".  This was precisely the kind of animation I was hoping for . . . though two of the squares are the wrong colour, as you can see by comparing it with the logo on the Department's home page.

Roger Garner (800 × 600 pixels;   0.8 Mbyte)

Another submission to show the Essex logo being formed from or decomposed into a set of cubes" . . . but not quite what I had in mind when set it!

Geoffrey Wells (800 × 600 pixels;   0.6 Mbyte)

"An animation involving the Essex 'E' logo" was the task, and this Newton's cradle is a nicely-rendered solution to it.  This animation can play as a continuous loop, a kind of perpetual motion machine.

Alex Hall-Powell (now O'Neil)

(640 × 480 pixels;   2.3 Mbyte)

Back to the WOT4 model.  Students had to "produce an animatiion involving one or more" of the aircraft, and this submission from Alex O'Neil (nee Hall-Powell) shows a wicked sense of humour.