Can Mechanical Engineering Help You With Animation

Credible Motion & Animation

Abstruse

Accept you ever heard the phrase, "Seeing is believing"? Well, it is more than authentic than you lot might think! In this science project, you tin can investigate the phenomenon of apparent move past making your own flip-book animations

Summary

Very Short (≤ one solar day)

None

Readily available

Very Low (under $20)

No issues

Sara Agee, Ph.D., Scientific discipline Buddies

Teisha Rowland, Ph.D., Science Buddies

Objective

Investigate the perception of apparent motion by making flip-book animations.

Introduction

Practice optical illusions trick your eyes or your brain? That is a question scientists were trying to answer for centuries. The answer is, it is a little bit of both since the optics and the brain work together during the perception of vision. When you visually perceive an object, what is happening, put in the simplest manner, is that the prototype of that object is projected onto the back of your eye and this information is sent to the brain, where it is processed and interpreted, forming the prototype that you see.

Optical illusions are scientific, but too only evidently fun! One optical illusion that has had a huge impact on our culture is the illusion of credible movement . You perceive this illusion every time you watch cartoons or a flick. You perceive that the characters on the screen are moving around, simply in fact you are seeing many still pictures flashing before your optics! How does this work? Our brains are trying to make sense of what we are looking at, by, for example, making the motions in a cartoon look smoothen. To exercise this it is thought that our brains put all of the pieces together and fill in blanks, or missing images, based on what we have already seen. Thus we have the illusion of objects moving. Our brains practise this all the time, not just when nosotros picket cartoons. For example, when someone blinks they do non see a brief blackness screen because their brain fills in an prototype that is an assumption of what they would run across if their optics were not closed. This phenomenon is called persistence of vision.

The process of making an blithe feature film is long and involved, sometimes taking several years! But there are a few very simple devices y'all can brand to investigate apparent motility:

Flip-books are stacks of heavy-weight newspaper that are held together, such every bit with staples or binder clips. Each page in the stack has a slightly different variation of the image on the previous menu. When y'all apace thumb through the stack, your encephalon assembles the series of images into motion.
Thaumatropes (THAW-muh-tropes) are made past mounting two images on either side of a disc. Usually the 2 images go together, similar a bird and a cage, or a fish and a basin. When you rotate the disc, the images from the two sides come up together into ane image! Figure i beneath shows an example of a thaumatrope that uses an epitome of a muzzle on i side of the disc and an image of a mouse on the other side.
Phenakistiscopes (fuh-NAH-kih-stuh-scopes) are discs decorated with a pattern that "moves" when y'all spin the disc. You can create animations by cartoon a series of images around the outer edges of the disc. Figure 2 beneath shows an example of a phenakistiscope.
Zoetropes (ZOH-ee-tropes) are similar to phenakistiscopes, except they have the shape of a cylinder instead of a disc. The images are placed along the within wall of the cylinder, and when y'all spin the cylinder, you see the animation.

You tin can discover out more about flip-books, thaumatropes, phenakistiscopes, and zoetropes by checking out the resources by B. W. Rich in the Bibliography below.

In this homo beliefs science project, you will use flip-books to investigate the limits of credible motion. In other words, you will test how well our brains can fill in missing images to make smooth motion. Yous will examination this by making flip-books out of index cards, binder clips, and sticker dots or markers. Each flip-book will take a serial of dots that shift a certain altitude from card to menu, resulting in the perception of "moving" dots. By spacing the "moving" dots farther and further apart, you tin find out when the brain stops perceiving apparent movement. As the dots become farther apart, when will your volunteers Not perceive them to be moving?

Terms and Concepts

Perception
Apparent motion
Optical illusion
Persistence of vision
Flip-volume
Thaumatrope
Phenakistiscope
Zoetrope

Questions

Why do we perceive apparent motion of stationary objects?
How is the encephalon tricked into filling in the blanks?
Do y'all call up there are limits to our perception of apparent motion?

Bibliography

Y'all can practice further research past visiting the following websites, which give information about flip-books, animation, apparent motion, the persistence of vision, and the history of animation:

Rich, B.W. (2012, Sept. eighteen). Experimenting with Elementary Animation Devices. Brian Wesley Rich'south Science Website. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
MarthaStewart.com. (2007). How-To: Newspaper Movies. Martha Stewart Kids. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Retrieved December half dozen, 2007.

This scientific discipline project is a simpler version of the Credible Motion experiment from CogLab, an online laboratory manual for studying cerebral psychology:

CogLab. (n.d.). Apparent Move. CogLab ii.0 Online Laboratory. Wadsworth Publishing. Retrieved April 1, 2013.

For assistance creating graphs, try this website:

National Centre for Education Statistics, (north.d.). Create a Graph. Retrieved June 25, 2020.

Materials and Equipment

Lined index cards, 3 x 5 inches (l).
- Alternatively, half-size index cards, 3 x 2.5 inches, may be used instead (100).
Scissors
Pocket-sized, colored sticker dots, similar Avery one/4" Round Color Coding Labels (100), which tin exist purchased online from Amazon.com
- Alternatively, colored markers, highlighters, pencils, or crayons may exist used.
Binder clips (4)
Volunteers (at to the lowest degree iii)

Disclaimer: Science Buddies participates in affiliate programs with Abode Science Tools, Amazon.com, Carolina Biological, and Jameco Electronics. Proceeds from the affiliate programs help support Science Buddies, a 501(c)(three) public charity, and keep our resources gratuitous for everyone. Our pinnacle priority is pupil learning. If you accept whatever comments (positive or negative) related to purchases y'all've made for science projects from recommendations on our site, please permit us know. Write to us at scibuddy@sciencebuddies.org.

Experimental Procedure

First, if you have 3x5 index cards (and not one-half-size index cards), cut them in half to brand one-half sizes (3x2.5-inch cards).
1. Tip: Try to cut the cards as evenly in half every bit possible. You tin endeavour doing this by using a ruler or folding one card in half and seeing where the pucker mark is, and following this mark when cutting the cards in half. It will exist easier to cut small stacks of cards at a time.
And then make four stacks of 25 one-half-sized alphabetize cards each.
Side by side, accept each stack and brand a series of "blithe dots" along the right edge of the cards by placing one dot on each menu. Each colored series of dots will exist spaced differently (you volition utilise the lines on the index cards as a guide for placing your dots). This volition allow y'all to test for the perception of credible motion in your volunteers past showing them the series of flip-books. Figure 3 below shows an example of a dot series in a flip-volume that skips one line space per card:
1. Take one of your four stacks of cards. Make a dot (or circle) on the top card on the far correct cease of the top line, equally shown on the top carte in Figure 3.
  1. You lot can practise each serial using a different colored dot or using the same colour. You may utilise colored sticker dots or colored markers, highlighters, pencils, or crayons. If you do not use stickers, effort to make your dots every bit like in size and shape every bit possible.
2. On the next menu in the stack, make a dot just as far to the right, merely on the next line space down. Repeat this step until you attain the bottom of a bill of fare.
3. On the adjacent bill of fare, brand a dot (but as far to the right) on the adjacent line space up from the previous dot.
  1. This design should look like to the ane in Figure 3 above (but without skipping line spaces).
4. Repeat stride 3c until y'all reach the elevation of the carte du jour. Then echo step 3b. Repeat this design until you accomplish the cease of the stack of cards.
5. Repeat steps 3a-d with a new blank stack of cards but this time in step 3b brand the side by side dot two line spaces down (skipping one line space) and in step 3c make the side by side dot two line spaces upwardly (skipping one line space).
  1. For example, if you lot made a dot on the height line space, the dot on the next card should go on the third line infinite down (skipping one line infinite).
  2. This series should look like the one in Figure 3 higher up.
6. Repeat steps 3a-d with a new blank stack of cards merely this time in stride 3b make the next dot iii line spaces down (skipping two line spaces) and in step 3c make the side by side dot three lines spaces up (skipping two line spaces).
  1. For case, if you made a dot on the top line space, the dot on the side by side carte du jour should continue the fourth line space down (skipping two line spaces).
7. Repeat steps 3a-d with a new blank stack of cards just this fourth dimension in step 3b make the next dot four line spaces downward (skipping three line spaces) and in step 3c make the adjacent dot iv lines spaces up (skipping iii line spaces).
  1. For example, if you lot made a dot on the top line space, the dot on the next bill of fare should go on the fourth line space downwards (skipping two line spaces).
Neatly stack each deck and make sure the dot serial are all right.
Tap the animated edge of each card stack on a flat surface so that none of the cards' edges are sticking out (or in) from the rest of the cards in the stack.
Assemble the flip-book by attaching a binder clip to the left side of each of the four stacks. Your assembled flip-books should look like the ones in figure 4 below.

Flip through each flip-book to make certain nearly every card is shown while flipping. If you are having problem with this, remove the stack's binder clip and try carefully repeating steps five-six.
1. If a card'southward edge is too rough or uneven to flip smoothly, you may need to remake that carte and re-assemble the stack.
You are now set to exam out your flip-books on some volunteers! In your lab notebook, make a information table like Table ane beneath to tape your results in.

Table 1. In your lab notebook, make a information table like this one to record your results in. The stacks are listed on the left based on the number of line spaces skipped. For example, the stack y'all fabricated in footstep 3f would be the stack labeled "Two Line Spaces Skipped" because two line spaces are skipped betwixt the cards.

Ask a volunteer to flip through each flip-book. For each flip-book, inquire the volunteer if information technology looks similar the dot moves to the bottom of the carte du jour, then dorsum to the top, and then on, going up and down forth the edge of the stack. For this first volunteer, write "Yeah" or "No" in the data tabular array in your lab notebook for each of the four stacks.
1. Note: If a volunteer thinks that the dot is jumping around on the edge of the stack, or is flashing, but is non clearly moving up and down along the edge, write "No" in your data table for this volunteer and stack.
2. Information technology may be difficult for some volunteers to decide if the dots are moving up and down along the edge of the stack. Just ask the volunteer for their best answer.
Repeat step nine with at least two other volunteers.
1. Write their answers in the other volunteer columns in your data table, such as "Volunteer 2" and "Volunteer iii."
When you are done testing the flip-books with volunteers, add together up the total number of "Yes" answers for each stack. Write this number in the column in your data table labeled "Total 'Yeah' Answers."
Make a bar graph of the total number of "Yes" answers that each stack received.
1. You tin can make a graph by mitt or use a website similar Create a Graph to make a graph on the computer and print it.
2. Put each stack on the x-axis (the horizontal axis going across) and the total number of "Yes" answers it received on the y-axis (the vertical axis going up and downwards). Identify each stack past the number of line spaces skipped between the cards.
Analyze your graph.
1. Equally the number of line spaces increases in the stack, does the total number of "Yes" answers besides change?
2. If you saw a change, practise you call up this is related to a change in the credible motion as the number of line spaces increase? How?
3. Overall, what exercise you call back your results tell y'all about apparent motion in animations and other devices that use however images to create a sense of movement?

Ask an Practiced

Do you have specific questions nearly your science project? Our squad of volunteer scientists can assist. Our Experts won't practise the work for y'all, merely they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and assistance you lot troubleshoot.

Variations

In this science project, yous tested whether the variable distance between objects had an effect on credible motility. 2 more variables you can test for are:
- Frequency - Volition flipping the cards faster or slower make a difference? Have your volunteers flip the books at different speeds. What happens to your results?
- Size - Do larger objects work better than smaller objects? Change the size of the dots and find out.
Design a science projection investigating the applied application of apparent motion to blitheness. Can you use the results of your experiment to blueprint amend animations?
Do your results with the spacing of objects in the flip book as well apply to thaumatropes, phenakistiscopes, and zoetropes? Try making some of these devices and examination them to find out.
Advanced students who have experience in programming tin plow this project into a calculator science project. See the Science Buddies project Follow the Bouncing Ball: A Web Animation Project to observe out more.

Careers

If you like this projection, you might savor exploring these related careers:

Career Profile

If you lot've ever watched a drawing, played a video game, or seen an animated movie, you've seen the work of multimedia artists and animators. People in these careers employ computers to create the serial of pictures that class the blithe images or special effects seen in movies, telly programs, and figurer games. Read more

Career Contour

Why people take sure actions can often feel like a mystery. Psychologists aid solve these mysteries by investigating the physical, cognitive, emotional, or social aspects of human behavior and the human listen. Some psychologists as well use these findings in guild to design improve products or to help people modify their behaviors. Read more

Career Profile

Each time your middle beats, or you exhale, think, dream, smell, run into, move, laugh, read, call up, write, or experience something, you are using your nervous system. The nervous organisation includes your brain, spinal string, and a huge network of nerves that brand electrical connections all over your body. Neurologists are the medical doctors who diagnose and treat problems with the nervous organization. They work to restore health to an essential system in the body. Read more than

News Feed on This Topic

, ,

Cite This Page

General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, equally needed.

MLA Style

Science Buddies Staff. "Apparent Motility & Animation." Scientific discipline Buddies, xvi December. 2021, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/HumBeh_p041/man-beliefs/apparent-motion-animation. Accessed ten May 2022.

APA Style

Science Buddies Staff. (2021, Dec 16). Apparent Motion & Animation. Retrieved from https://world wide web.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/projection-ideas/HumBeh_p041/human-behavior/apparent-motion-animation

Terminal edit date: 2021-12-sixteen

Explore Our Science Videos

Model the Size of a Virus

Can Sticky Notes Hold My Weight? | #VeritasiumContest

Brazil Nut Effect Explained | #VeritasiumContest

Gratis science fair projects.

Source: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/HumBeh_p041/human-behavior/apparent-motion-animation

Posted by: dickersonmigge1956.blogspot.com