Author
Concordia University, Department of Design and Computation Arts, Montreal, Canada
Abstract
This paper overviews the plausibility measures of the 3D narrative animations with focusing on analysis of the realism of 3D characters and their performances. The main intent of this survey is to critically review factors that affect an overall perceptual sense of realism. Media literature addressing formal realism is connected to the technical facets of the 3D practice. This theoretical-technical bridge creates a case study database, from which a novel graphical system called The Character Plausibility Graph is proposed. The Character Plausibility Graph acts as an expanded edition of the well-known Uncanny Valley diagram, and depicts the relative effects of different formal visual elements on the character’ chance of plausibility. The proposed graph is a dissection of a 3D character into its static and kinetic components and hence provides a visual tool to reflect upon the effects individually. This research concludes that stylization better serves the overall sense of plausibility than mere photo-realism or naturalism. It also reveals that performance of the characters and their animating methods play a more significant role in the constitution of their realism, than their static design and rendering style.
Keywords
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