LAGS : Low cost animated graphics system

Abstract

The aim of this project is to look at the development of a “low cost animated graphics system”. An animated graphics system is a system whereby graphic objects or scenes can be transformed over time so as to appear continuous or realist. Such transformations can be expressed as from one place to another, or from one object into another etc.. An example of such would be cartoon animation on television. A complete animated graphics system is one which will allow the user to generate realistic animation sequences with (hopefully) relative ease. There are a few such systems in existence, but they are generally quite difficult to use and understand. Presuming that good quality graphics animation is required, they are also extremely expensive to acquire. Most present animation systems provide the facility to view an animation sequence mode up of frames. Each of these frames is made individually by the user making minor changes to the previous frame. This project is to explore the possibility of a different approach whereby many such frames can be generated by the computer on the users command, rather than painstakingly one at a time. This approach is discussed in more detail, along with the problems associated with it in Sections 2. The possible solution methods and how each should be approached is covered in Section 3. Section 4 outlines the solution chosen, while Section 5 covers the implementation aspects of this solution. Because this project is very open-ended, the system itself allows many future developments, some of which are discussed in Section 6.