Nonlinear projection: how Ryan might see the world

One of the major themes in Ryan is that people see the world in unique ways, dependent on their attitudes and life experiences. The character Ryan, having been through drug addiction and alcoholism, offers the chance to explore how different states of mind affect our perception of the space around us. Computer animation software is built upon the rules of linear perspective, but it was necessary to break these rules in subtle ways to express how the characters of Ryan see their world. A nonlinear projection system was developed that allows animators to create multiple points of view and combine them in various ways to achieve a desired affect.

RYAN: Rendering Your Animation Nonlinearly projected. NPAR 2004.

Cords: tying up the animators

In Ryan, the two main characters suffer assaults upon themselves by metaphorical extensions of their own minds. Represented as colorful hairs growing from the character's heads, the shots called for animator control of string-like primitives. Typically, hair and other passive rope-like objects are animated with physical simulations, but this approach is difficult to control when the animtated objects are a primary source of motion. Cords address this problem by allowing animators to keyframe animate curves that are restricted to behave like string or wire, with intuitive control properties such as stiffness and elasticity. in addition, cords are procedurally generated such that they appear to wrap around scene geometry. In Ryan, cords were used in conjunction with procedural brush strokes generated with maya's paint effects system to animate the hair as it ties up the main characters.

Cords: Keyframe Control of Curves with Physical Properties. SIGGRAPH 2004 Sketches.

Press and Web

National Film Board of Canada
Seneca College
AWN Article
The Globe and Mail Article
Alias Article
Computer Graphics World
Karan Singh featured in The Times of India

Screenings and Awards

Academy Award. Best Animated Short Film of 2004.
SIGGRAPH 2004 Electronic Theater, Jury Prize and Finale
Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2004, Jury Award
International Critic's Week, Cannes 2004, Kodak Discovery Award, Young Critic's Prize, Canal + Prize for Best Short Film
2004 Toronto International Short Film Festival, Sun Life Financial Award for Best Canadian Short
Prix Ars Electronica 2004, Golden Nica
2004 Toronto Internation FIlm Festival
Telluride FIlm Festival
Ottawa International Animation Festival
Montreal Festival of New CInema, Opening Film

Technical Presentations

Cords: Keyframe Control of Curves with Physical Properties
Patrick Coleman. SIGGRAPH 2004. Los Angeles, CA. August 11, 2004.
Patrick Coleman. University of Toronto. Toronto, ON. June 25, 2004.

RYAN: Rendering Your Animation Nonlinearly projected
Patrick Coleman. NPAR 2004. Annecy, France. June 8th, 2004.
Patrick Coleman. University of Toronto. Toronto, ON. May 28, 2004.

Psychorealism: Artist Driven Interactive Graphics
Karan Singh. Gobelins Design School. Paris, France. May 2004.
Karan Singh. INRIA. Grenoble, France. May 2004.
Karan Singh. Beijing Film Academy. Beijing, China. April, 2004.
Karan Singh. Microsoft Research Asia. Beijing, China. April, 2004.
Karan Singh. University of Texas. Austin, Texas. March 2004.

A Warped Perspective on Computer Imagery: Phychorealism and More
Patrick Coleman. The Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio. February 9, 2004.

Nonlinear Projection for Computer Graphics and Animation
Patrick Coleman. Montreal, Queens, Toronto, Waterloo, York Research Meeting. Toronto, ON. November 15, 2003

Cameras and Psychorealism: A Twisted Perspective
Karan Singh. Carnegie Mellon University. Pittburgh, PA. November, 2003.

Also keep an eye out for talks by director Chris Landreth at various conferences and festivals, including NPAR 2004, the 2004 Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and SIGGRAPH 2004.

patrick coleman dynamic graphics project university of toronto

patrick at dgp dot toronto dot edu