In terms of how far 3D animation has come as a process, I think it would only be fair and logical to talk about how the popular Tomb Raider games franchise has improved over the years. I remember playing one of the first Tomb Raider games when I was a toddler, and although being a toddler I couldn't make comment on the technologies of the time, I did think it was an amazing game as I simply couldn't put it down!
Tomb Raider has had a lot of stick though due to feminists screaming "exploitation". Though this hasn't (thankfully) affected the way Lara Croft has been developed as a character. This little gem was found on the website Fanpop (see image below) showing the fantastic evolution of Lara Croft over the past couple of decades since it was first released on Playstation One in 1996. I think it is phenomenal to show the changes she has undergone.
The new Lara looks much more realistic and conforms to a more natural-looking female body shape in comparison to the 90's Laras with breathtakingly thin waists and exaggerated proportions. The advance in 3D technologies is very obvious in this image and has allowed for better clothing texturing, lighting, smoothness and complexity of body shapes, and many other features. This isn't just a feature of the Tomb Raider franchise however. I plan to explore the growth of design and modelling within other animation later on in my blog.
Lara Croft's animation today is undergone using the performance capture method. Early techniques of motion capture (performance capture) were done using many cameras in order to calculate the object or person's positions within a space. There are various advantages that come with using motion capture. Some of these are as follows:
Rapid, real-time results can be accurately captured.
Traditional techniques such as 2D or stop-motion can vary in intensity of work and complexity.
Secondary animation, exaggeration, and subtle movements can be easily caught.
In contrast, the disadvantages are:
Expensive to acquire suitable software and hardware.
Specifications in order to use hardware and software vary such as capture space etc.
Unnatural movement is hard to replicate as you cannot really tamper with captured movement.
Added emphasis and unnatural movement (linear/robotic/overexaggerated) is easier to achieve with other methods.
I am actually very thankful that Lara's chest is no longer triangular in shape as it may have given men unrealistic expectations of what women should strive to look like. Thank technological evolution for allowance of more polys and better software! (Apologies.)
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