Dynamic Visual Content

Dynamic Visual Content
An Introduction

Prof. David Bernstein
James Madison University

Computer Science Department

bernstdh@jmu.edu

Terminology

Dynamic Visual Content
- Visual content that changes over time
Commonly Used Terms
- Movie
- Video
- Animation
- Marquee

Terminology (cont.)

Animate
- To give life or motion
Animation
- A group of techniques that can make visual content appear to move

Approaches

Samples and Descriptions

An Important Observation

The approach used to represent the dynamics (i.e., to animate the visual content) is independent of the approach that is used to represent the (static) visual content.

Sampled Dynamics

A Conceptual Model

Sampled Dynamics (cont.)

Examples:
- Flip-Book Animation
- Movie Film
Some Terms:
- Frame animation
- The frame rate

Described Dynamics

The Concept:
- Describe the way the visual "stream" changes over time
Approaches:
- Start with a discrete set of frames and then describe frame-by-frame changes
- Start with a set of components (i.e., the "participants" in the "action") and then describe component-by-component changes

Described Dynamics (cont.)

Summary of Different Approaches

images/dynamic-visual-content-hierarchy.gif

Terminology for Described Dynamics

Sprite:
- Common Usage - an imaginary being or elf
- Animation - a discrete piece of visual content that can respond to descriptions of changes
Stage:
- The "component" that sprites act "on"