The Future of 3d Animation and Video Games

» left by zuzana chovancova

from uk 5 years 64 days ago.

As human technology develops and evolves into a posthuman condition modelmakers must look at their role in the future. A modelmaker tasked with the brief to design and create a posthuman would need to research new technology and the way we communicate. These are important to understand what is available and what is possible. People desire to devepol machines and computers to simplify everything they can to make our world easier to live in. To create an artificial mind has been man’s dream since birth of science. Eventually the thinking machine or computer has developed to equal the human brain in certain ways and not long ago man created the first computer that could play chess. It is astonishing to realise how far the technology has come in few decades, from basic microchip prototypes. Gordon Moore, one of the inventors of integrated circuits stated in1970 that he could fit double amount of transistors onto a integrated circuit every 12 months. That means that electrons could travel around the circuit faster and faster. This statement has been named Moore’s Law. Statistical calculation (Fig.1) of this statement shows that within few decades we will hit technological singularity. Ray Kurzweil (2001) observes Moore’s Law and possibility of technological singularity and found something very interesting. “When I plotted the 49 machines on an exponential graph (where a straight line means exponential growth), I didn't get a straight line. What I got was another exponential curve. In other words, there's exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. Computer speed (per unit cost) doubled every three years between 1910 and 1950, doubled every two years between 1950 and 1966, and is now doubling every year. It means that machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence Technological singularity is a beginning of a new era when we reach highest point of power technology.” We give computers, more memory space so they store more information and more power to process this information. USB flash drives are devices that are similar to our computer hard drives. A USB flash drive is portable storage, smaller then a finger, and it is easy to carry around. They fulfil the real promise of the digital age. A Flash drive (Fig.2) can now store 2Gb of information which is over twice the capacity of a CD. The technological singularity is a point when we wont be able to “shrink” the physical size of memory, when we will surpass the fastest computer. Futurist and transhumanists speculate that humanity will create or evolve into a posthuman with God like powers in comparison to today’s men, much like the cave man would view our modern grasp of electro optics and all the power this brings us. “In future studies, a technological singularity represent an “even horizon” in predictability of human technological development past which present models of future cease to give reliable or accurate answers, following the creation of strong artificial intelligence or the amplification of human intelligence” (Wikipedia, 2003, 1st screen) At the moment technology allows us to have artificial limbs, pace makers, hearing aids and many more biomedical aids. These are enhancements to help us live an ordinary life. Linking all this technology together might ultimately lead to the creation of a synthetic being. However from the stand point of current computing achievements, we still have some way to go before artificial intelligence is as developed as artificial physiology. IBM and The Swiss Federal Institute in Lausanne (2001) announced a new project called “Blue Brain”. The project is to build a complete stimulation of the human brain with a supercomputer based on IBM’s Blue Gene design to map entire electrical circuit of the brain. Their aim is to understand mammalian brain function through detailed simulation. The first step is to build a software replica of the neocortical column containing all the neurons and synopses of a human brain. The Neocortical Column will be reverse engineered to build The Blue Column. The Blue Column will be composed of 104 neurons. Neurons will transmit information according to synaptic transmission rules. The neurons will be interconnected in a 3-dimensional (3D) space with 107 -108 dynamic synapses. The Blue Column will receive about 103 -104 external input synapses and generate about 103 -10 external output synapses. The Blue Column will self-adapt according to synaptic learning algorithms running on 107 -108 synapses with supervised and rewarded learning algorithms running on all synapses. Futurists and transhumanists speculate that Homo Sapiens are changing into Homo excelsior (Latin for “higher man” – transhuman). The posthuman form is uncertain, but we could become cyborgs (a non-machine hybrid), genetically modified, yet to be discovered human-machine mix variation. Humans could eventually be transformed into a radically different being, potentially with expanded abilities, to merit the label posthuman. Donna Haraway, professor of feminist theory and technoscience, has observed definition of cyborg in her quote: “…the machine is not other to the organism, nor is it simple instrument for effecting the purpose of the organism. Rather the machine and the organism are each communication systems joined in a symbiotic that transform both.” (Haraway, D., 2004, pp.7-9) I believe the image of posthumans is in the hands of designers and modelmakers because they work closely with film and media industry, where they express their imagination to the audience. Modelmakers build prototypes that are scale models to evaluate the performance of their concepts. Modern technology allows us to test these prototypes in simulated environments. The industry can be divided to classical modelmaking and digital modelmaking. Digital modelmakers work with 3D modelling software to model concepts with incredible realism. Complex 3D models are constructed of many polygons, and each line of a polygon is described with a unique mathematical number. To work with these numbers we need a fast processing computer with a lot of memory to calculate the whole complex 3D model. This calculation is called rendering, and is when a model is being calculated and transformed to a flat 2D picture, the final stage of modelling. Once it is saved as a picture (jpeg) file, it cannot be transferred back to a 3D picture, as the polygon information is discarded. 3D modelling and animation enables us to simulate scenes, like a ship sinking, or whole cities can be designed on these programs. They also work as a simulation of a world, not physically possible, for example the transformation plastecine into water. Computer modelling simulates precisely how our creation will perform under variety of conditions. Representations of future human beings are designed on CGI, but skilled modelmakers have to make a prototype therefore classical modelmaking is also extremely valued. Classical modelmakers work on making artificial limbs and is a craft to make them look real. Artist Joachim Leutke analyzes possible image of posthumans in his art (fig.3). Many people find his work extremely disturbing and obscene because he expresses strong topics such as death and considers this distinct to the “end of life”, separated by a cyborg phase involving a melding of machines and consciousness. He expresses posthumanism as a fearful future when humans become machines and machine become humans. “Joachim Luetke is driven by a hostility against civilization: he feels so ill at ease in our culture that he simulates archaic and even pre-archaic cults in order to get to the roots of real existence.” Prof. Rudolf Hausner, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria. I would say that new technological development and extreme use of social machines, like computers and its devices could strongly influence my future as a modelmaker. My possible future could lead to designing an artificial intelligence. An interesting example of digital modelmaking, with present computer software ZBrush, is a work of a modelmaker S. T. Holt. He had designed and digitally modelled a Cyborg character.(Fig.4-5) He had to buy an extra 512 Mb of Ram (memory) which added 1Gb of speed processing to his rendering but even so he was constantly running up against the limitations of his hardware. The top half of the model contains about 280 thousand polygons, not including his implants and other paraphernalia. He says that if he had a more powerful machine he would be using upwards of 2 million polygons to model his entire body. Digital artists desire to get even more powerful computers. This demand for technology improvement will be always forcing us to invent new technology. There is a possibility that as computer technology progresses, demand for modelmakers and designers will rise. Modelling on computer saves production time and is financially more convenient for a client. It might be possible that if machines will evolve into labour robots, they will receive the design and make the prototype for us.

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