io9.com: How is a curling hair like a long-range oil pipeline? And what two groups are working on the physics that apply to both? Learn about the science of engineering mop-tops. Over at Physics Central's podcast, there's a fascinating discussion with an MIT grad student, Jay Miller, who looks at the curve of the flagella on an amoeba, the spiral of a double helix, and the buckling of an oil pipeline.
Friday, March 16, 2012
The Physics of Pixar's Hair
io9.com: How is a curling hair like a long-range oil pipeline? And what two groups are working on the physics that apply to both? Learn about the science of engineering mop-tops. Over at Physics Central's podcast, there's a fascinating discussion with an MIT grad student, Jay Miller, who looks at the curve of the flagella on an amoeba, the spiral of a double helix, and the buckling of an oil pipeline.
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7 comments:
This is really a clever way to think about things. It is taking something massive, I mean unbelievably massive not only in size but in other issues as well, and reducing it to something much smaller. If it makes sense on the smaller scale, it will make sense on the larger scale. It's also cool to see the animation world interacting with the physics world. This is often the way we think as humans - we learn to start with something small and let it grow, building our process along the way. IF we could cross more boundaries with our natural propensities maybe more interesting breakthroughs would occur.
This was such a pleasant surprise to what I originally thought this article would be about. I never would have thought to compare the different styles and natures of pipe coils, helixes, and curls in a strand of hair. But I assume that all of these things are important if you work for a company like Pixar and that knowledge becomes handy and necessary.
Many times, working with animation, you have to draw on outside information, whether that information contributes to sound, appearance of a character or set, or if it contributes to an animation style. When working on a movie in a specific period or if you need to manifest a certain culture,there would be many different resources to consider. "Brave" is Scottish, a film like "The Incredibles" is inherently American, while a film like "Toy Story" and "Coraline" live in their own worlds and function in imagination. So I guess it makes sense to draw out those comparisons useful or not.
In addition to the comparison this article presents, I learned a bit more about my own hair and how it looks, the texture that it has. It doesn't bounce about everywhere like the main character in "Brave", but I understand the weight distribution of each strand of hair.
This is fascinating! What a great example of the importance of cooperation between the arts and science. It seems as though the arts usually benefit more from science than science does from the arts, but in situations like this it is clear that they may both have something to learn from one another. I admire the attention to detail that Pixar animators have in their work. Then again, with the money and people power they have, why wouldn't they put in this attention to detail? It's what makes their work so visually interesting. What Disney and Pixar do really well is represent life realistically with such a focus on the beauty of people and of nature. This is an art in itself- and through studying nature's gifts and quirks these animators are able to improve their own art.
I am fascinated by anything that Pixar does. I must have watched the same documentary on Pixar 12 times. One of the things that make their movies so fantastic is how carful they are to make everything as realistic as possible. I know that for Finding Nemo they performed a whole series of testes about how blood moves in water just for one scene. The details are what make them great
This is quite the fascinating comparison. The arts and sciences always have connections as we like to explore here at CMU. Observation is one of the largest aspects in both, and replication is also another. Seeing the comparison between a pipeline and its gravitational effects and how a hair reacts to gravity shows that many things are alike and there are always relations between things. The dedication that PIXAR places on each aspect of their animations are mind blowing. How could one person even think of all these things? This just goes to show how teamwork and collaboration, not only in one industry but across them all, can benefit the smallest detail.
Hair! Hair has always been a fascinating thing for me, drawing it is an especially interesting task. And animating hair in motion has a science for itself- so many aspects are related to the quality of the effect, gravity, wind, weight of hair, so many different things. It would be unnatural if a character is walking around and not having they're hair move up and down, depending on their trot/ speed. Its the little things that make all the difference to make this fake reality, and Pixar has done an exceptional job in making the impossible highly believable and life like.
This is totally common sense that the more hair you have the heavier, and therefore the straighter. I know I definitely have noticed this happen to my hair over the years from it getting longer. I think that it is a cool how they are connecting science with the animation of the show. It is amazing how we have come to such a point in technology that we can relate all of these fields. By continuing to combine different fields with one another we can grow and make even bigger accomplishments in various fields that help the arts become stronger.
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