3D Modelling - Text 2
The particularity of this puppet is its ontologically digital nature, in that it exists only in a digital environment. It is a three-dimensional object depicted in an exclusively two-dimensional space, constructed through programming. In the field of information technology, programming is defined as “the process of giving a set of instructions to a computer to make it able to perform a particular task”.[2] Programming thus consists in constructing a computer program or any other digital object and to indicate to it how to act using rules and limitations incorporated into its code. To construct and animate a 3D model, one must program several modular elements related to the external appearance and internal structure of the puppet, and then assemble them using the same computerised procedure. This computerised process bears an astonishing resemblance to that employed in stop-motion animation.
The stop-motion (or stop-camera) technique consists in animating a physical model before a moving picture camera by moving each part of its body individually, photogram by photogram, with the goal of producing mechanical continuity, which creates the illusion of movement.[3] This animation method specific to the analogue era uses models constructed in such a way that they are stable while at the same time remaining flexible or articulated, so that one can show stages of various movements, right down to the finest micro-movement. This method, which operates under the same principle as a digital 3D model, is nevertheless confronted with physical phenomena — gravity in particular. One must thus ensure that the model is strong enough to withstand its own weight without limiting the animators as they go about their tasks. To counter this constraint, animators developed the so-called “skeleton” technique. This consists in using a rigid material (wood or metal) for the model’s structure in order to support the weight and the position of the character (serving as its skeleton) and then covering it with supple material (modelling clay, clay, paper, etc.), making it possible to create the character’s appearance, vary its expressions and control it right down to the smallest possible detail.
