MODULE-5

APPLICATIONS OF PHYSICS IN COMPUTING

PHYSICS OF ANIMATION

Animation:
The word Animation has derived from the word Animate, which means to bring life. It is a
method of photographing successive drawings, models, or even puppets, to create an illusion of
movement in a sequence. Our eyes can only retain an image for approx. 1/16 th of a second. When
multiple images appear in fast succession, the brain blends them into a single moving image.

The Taxonomy of Physics based Animation Methods

Physics based animation and simulation can roughly be subdivided intotwo large groups:
1. Kinematics is the study of motion without consideration of mass or forces.
2. Dynamics is the study of motion taking mass and forces into consideration.
Kinematics and dynamics can be divided in to two subgroups:
a. Inverse is the study of motion knowing the starting and ending points.
b. Forward is the study of motion solely given the starting point.
Frames
A frame is a single image in a sequence of pictures. A frame contains the image to be displayed
at a unique time in the animation. In general, one second of a video is comprised of 25 or 30
frames per second also known as FPS. The frame rate is the speed at which the images are
shown in the animation.

Frames per Second

There are two standard television images:
NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) for the United States - 30 frames per second
PAL (Phase Alternate Line) for Europe - 25 frames per second.
An animated film with 25 frames per second is played on television at 24 frames per second
would result in a black bar rolling up the screen. Then Digital Converts are to be used to transfer
one speed of the film to another speed of the video.
Size and Scale
Size is simply how small or big an element is in relation to other objects within a design.
Generally, size is used to make a particular element stand out or to give it importance.
The ratio of animation size to the actual size of the object is known as scale.
Scaling Properties:
Larger or heavier objects move slower while lighter or smaller objects move faster.
When designing characters, one can run into different situations having to do with size and scale,
such as:
1. Human or animal-based characters that are much larger than we see in our everyday
experience. Superheroes, Greek gods and monsters.

2. Human or animal-based characters that are much smaller than we are accustomed to, such
as fairies and elves.

3. Characters that need to be noticeably larger, smaller, older, heavier, lighter, or more
energetic than other characters.

4. Characters that are child versions of older characters

Proportion and Scale

When an object is scaled, its volume and area does not change in equal proportionate. Change in
the volume is more compared to its area. Volume increases by cube times and area increases by
square times. Hence proportionate scaling is very important.

Example: Consider a simple cube. When you scale a cube, its volume changes much more
dramatically thanits surface area. Let us say each edge of the cube is 1 unit length. The area of
one side of the cube is 1 square unit, andthe volume of the cube is 1 cubed unit. If you double the
size of the cube along each dimension, its height increasesby 2 times, the surface area increases
by 4 times, and its volume increases by 8 times. While the area increases bysquares as you scale
the object, the volume changes by cubes.
Weight and strength
Body weight is proportional to volume. The abilities of muscles and bones increase by area,
because their abilities depend more on cross-sectional area than volume. To increase a muscle or
bone’s strength, one need to increase its cross- sectional area. To double a muscle’s strength, for
example, multiply its width by √2. To triple the strength, multiply the width by √3. Since
strength increases by squares and weight increases by cubes,the proportion of a character’s
weight that it can lift does not scale proportionally to its size.
Let us look at an example of a somewhat average human man. At 6 feet tall, he weighs
180 pounds and can lift 90 pounds. In other words, he can lift half his body weight. If you scale
up the body size by a factor of 2, the weight increases by a factor of 8. Such a character could
then lift more weight. But since he weighs more than 8 times morethan he did before, he cannot
lift his arms and legs as easily as a normal man. Such a giant gains strength, but loses agility.

Motion and Timing in animations

Introduction to Motion:
Motion is an essential component in games and animations. The motion is governed by the
Newton’s laws andkinematic equations. When animating a scene, the are mostcommon types of
motion are:
1. Linear
2. Parabolic
3. Circular
4. Wave

Motion Lines and Paths

Individual drawings or poses have a line of action.
Line of action indicates the visual flow of action at that single image.
Path of action indicates the path along which the object or character moves. The path of action
refers to theobject’s motion in space.
Timing
The timing is the choice of when something should be done; the regulation of occurrence and
pace to achieve a desired effect. Timing is the amount of frames it takes for an action to take
place.
Linear Motion Timing
Linear motion refers to motion in a straight line, always in the same direction. An object moving
with linear motionmight speed up or slow down as it follows a linear path.
A heavy ball rolling on a table or incline is an example of linearmotion. The ball is
rotating, but its center of gravity follows a linear path.

Uniform Motion Timing

Uniform motion is a type of linear motion with constant speed and no acceleration or
deceleration. When uniform motion occurs, the net force on the object is zero. Uniform motion is
the easiest to animate because the distance the object travels between frames is always the same.
The longer the distance between frames, the higher the speed.
Slow in and Slow out
The terms "slow in" and "slow out" are used to describe motion that is accelerating or
decelerating. This type of motion is sometimes called ease in or ease out.
1. Slow in/ease in—The object is slowing down, frequently in anticipation of stopping.

2. Slow out/ease out—The object is speeding up, often from a static position.

For example, a ball rolling down an incline or dropping straight down is slowing out, as it goes
from a still position or slow speed to a fast speed.

A ball rolling up an incline is slowing in.

Constant Forces
A constant force is a force that doesn’t vary over time.
Examples of constant forces include:
1. Gravity pulling an object to the ground

2. Friction bringing an object to a stop

Constant force and Acceleration

Constant forces result in constant acceleration. Because the acceleration is constant, we can
figure out the timing for such sequences using a few principles of physics.
The resulting acceleration depends on the direction of the force and motion if there is any motion
at all, to begin with.
1. When the constant net force is applied to an unmoving object, the result is acceleration.

2. When the constant net force is applied to a moving object in the same direction as the motion,
the result is acceleration.

3. When a constant net force is applied in the direction opposite the existing motion, the result is
deceleration (acceleration in the opposite direction).
Forces Exerted by Characters
Forces exerted by people’s bodies are rarely constant throughout an entire motion. For the
purposes ofanimation, however, one can break the character motion into short time segments and
consider each of these segmentsto be responding to constant net force. This will make it easier
for one to calculate the timing for each individual segment.
Example: A character walking and pushing a rock is not exerting a constant force throughout the
entire sequence, but during each short part of the walk cycle, the net force could be considered to
be a different constant value.
The Odd Rule
When acceleration is constant, the Odd Rule can be used to time the frames. With this method,
the distance the object moves between frames can be calculated using a simple pattern of odd
numbers. Between consecutive frames, the distance the object moves is a multiple of an odd
number. For acceleration, the distance between frames increases by multiples of 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.

For deceleration, the multiples start at a higher odd number and decrease, for example 7, 5, 3, 1.

For a slow-out, the distance between the first two frames is called the base distance. For slow-in,
it is the distance between the last two frames. The base distance is used in all Odd Rule
calculations.

Odd Rule Multipliers

Using odd rule multipliers, the distance from the first frame to the current frame can be
calculated and these distances can be used to place the object on specific frames.

Multiplier for consecutive frames = [(𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒 # − 1) × 2] − 1

Multiplier for distance from first frame to current frame = (𝐶𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒 # − 1)2
Odd Rule Scenarios
1. Base Distance Known, Speeding up
If the object is speeding up, the first frame distance is the base distance. If one knows the
base distance, figuring out the distance the object travels at each frame is pretty
straightforward. Just multiply the base distance by 3, 5, 7, etc. to get the distances between
consecutive frames, or use squares to multiply the base distance to get the total distance
traveled on each frame.
2. Base Distance Known, Slowing Down
Suppose one wants an object to slow down, and one knows the distance between the last two
frames before it stops. For slow-ins, the base distance is the distance between the last two
frames. The solution is to work backward, as if the object were speeding up in the opposite
direction. Working backward, multiply the base distance by 3, 5, 7, etc. to get the distances
between each previous frame in the sequence.
3. Total Distance and Number of Frames Known, Speeding Up
If one wants to know the total distance and the total number of frames, one can find the base
distance with this formula:
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
Base distance =(𝐿𝑎𝑠𝑡
𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒 #−1)2

4. First Key Distance Known, Slowing Down

Suppose one has a moving object that one wants to slow down, and one has set the first frame
of the slow-in to give anidea of the pacing for the sequence. In this case, the distance between
 the last 2 frames becomes the first frame distanceand the first slow-in frame becomes the
second frame in the sequence.
𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑗𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
Base distance =
2

Motion Graphs
A motion graph plots an object’s position against time. If one is drawing the animation, drawing
motion graphs before animating can help one to visualize the motion. Some of the motion graphs
are as follows:

Fig. (i) represents constant velocity and constant slope. There is no acceleration
Fig. (ii) represents positively increasing slope and velocity. Hence acceleration is positive.
Fig.(iii) represents negatively increasing slope. It represents decreasing velocity (deceleration).

Examples of Character Animation

Jumping
A jump is an action where the character’s entire body is in the air, and both the character’s feet
leave the ground atroughly the same time. A jump action includes crouch, takeoff, in the air and
landing.
Parts of Jump
A jump can be divided into several distinct parts:
 Crouch—A squatting pose taken as preparation for jumping.
  Takeoff—Character pushes up fast and straightens legs with feet still on the ground. The
distance from the character’s center of gravity (CG) in the crouch to the CG when the
character’s feet are just about to leave the ground is called the push height. The amount
of time (or number of frames) needed for the push is called thepush time.
 In the air—Both feet of the character are off the ground and the character’s CG moves in
a parabolic arc as any free-falling body would. First it reaches an apex and then falls back
to the ground at the same rate at which it rose. The height to which the character jumps,
called the jump height is measured from the CG at takeoff to the CG at the apex of the
jump. The amount of time the character is in the air from takeoff to apex is called the
jump time.
 Landing — Character touches the ground and bends knees to return to a crouch. The
distance from the character’s CG when her feet hit to the ground to the point where the
character stops crouching is called the stop height.

Calculating Jump Actions

When working out the timing for a jump, one will need to first decide on:
1. Jump height or jump time
2. Push height
3. Stop height
4. Horizontal distance the character will travel during the jump
From these factors, one can calculate the timing for the jump sequence.
Jump Magnification and Acceleration
Jump Magnification is an exact ratio that tells one how much the character has to accelerate
against gravity to get into the air. The JM, besides being the ratio of jump-to-push vertical height
and time, is also the ratio of push-to-jump vertical acceleration. While a longer jump time means
a shorter push time, a higher jump acceleration means a much much higher push acceleration.
𝐽𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝐽𝑢𝑚𝑝 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝐽𝑀 = = = =
𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑃𝑢𝑠ℎ ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝐽𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

Walking
Walks feature all the basics of mechanics while including personality. The ability to animate
walk cycles is one of the most important skills a character animator needs to master.
Strides and Steps
A step is one step with one foot.
A stride is two steps, one with each foot. Stride length is the distance thecharacter travels in a
stride, measured from the same part of the foot.
Gait is the timing of the motion for each foot, including how long each foot is on the ground or
in the air.
 Statistical Physics for Computing

Statistical physics is a branch of physics that evolved from a foundation of statistical mechanics,
which uses methods of probability theory and statistics, particularly the mathematical tools for
dealing with large populations and approximations, in solving physical problems.
Statistical techniques can be categorized as descriptive statistics and inferential statistics
Descriptive statistics:
The process of organizing and describing the known data using charts, bar graphs, etc., is known
as descriptive statistics. It mainly focuses on describing the visible characteristics of a database.
It enables researchers to present data in a more meaningful way such that easy interpretations can
be made.

Inferential Statistics:
The process of making predictions or inferences (conclusions) and generalizations about the data
is known as inferential statistics. When the data is very large it becomes difficult to use it. In
such cases, certain samples are taken as representative of the entire population. Inferential
statistics draws conclusions using these samples.
Poisson Distribution
If the probability P is so small that the function has significant value only for very small k, then
the distribution of events can be approximated by the Poisson Distribution.
Probability mass function
A discrete Radom variable X is said to have a Poisson distribution, with parameter , if it has a
probability mass function given by
𝜆𝑘 𝑒 −𝜆
𝑓(𝑘; 𝜆) = 𝑃(𝑋 = 𝑘) =
𝑘!
Here k is the number of occurrences.
The positive real number λ is equal to the expected value of X. The Poisson distribution may be
used in the design of experimentssuch as scattering experiments where a small number of events
are seen.

Example of probability for Poisson distributions

On a particular river, overflow floods occur once every 100 years on average. Calculate the
probability of k = 0, 1, 2, 3,4, 5, or 6 overflow floods in a 100 year interval, assuming the
Poisson model is appropriate.
Because the average event rate is one overflow flood per 100 years, λ = 1
𝜆𝑘 𝑒 −𝜆
𝑓 (𝑘; 𝜆) = 𝑃(𝑋 = 𝑘) =
𝑘!
𝜆𝑘 𝑒 −𝜆 1𝑘 𝑒 −1
𝑃 (𝑘 ) = =
𝑘! 𝑘!
 10 𝑒 −1 𝑒 −1
𝑃 (𝑘 = 0) = = = 0.368
0! 1
11 𝑒 −1 𝑒 −1
𝑃 (𝑘 = 1) = = = 0.368
1! 1
12 𝑒 −1 𝑒 −1
𝑃 (𝑘 = 2) = = = 0.184
2! 2
Modeling the Probability for Proton Decay
Proton decay is a rare type of radioactive decay of nuclei containing excess protons, in which a
proton is simply ejected from the nucleus.
The probability of observing proton decay can be estimated from the nature of particle decay and
the application of Poisson Statistics. The number of protons N can be modeled by the decay
equation
𝑁 = 𝑁0 𝑒 −𝜆𝑡
where
N0 is the initial quantity of the element
λ is the radioactive decay constant
t is the time
N is the quantity of the element remaining after time t.

Here λ = 1/t = 10-33/ year is the probability that any given proton will decay in a year.
Since the decay constant λ is very small, the exponential can be represented by the first two
terms of the exponential series.
𝑒 −𝜆𝑡 = 1 − 𝑡
𝑁 = 𝑁0 (1 − 𝑡)
Most recently the experiment on proton decay has been done by Super Kamiokande, Japan
which started observation in 1996. It is a large water Cherenkov detector which is the most
33
sensitive detector in the world used to examine proton decay with the huge source with 7.5×10
protons.
For one year of observation, the number of expected proton decays is then
𝑁0−𝑁= 𝑁0𝜆𝑡
= (7.5 ×1033 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑠)(10−33/ 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟)(1 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟)
𝑁0−𝑁= 7.5
Since 40% of the experimental area is covered by detector tubes to count the ‘event’-decay, the
average detected count must be 40% of 7.5. ie 3. Hence the mean number of events = λ = 3.
Assuming that λ = 3 observed decays per year, then the Poisson distribution function tells us that
the probability for zero observations of decay is
𝜆𝑘 𝑒 −𝜆 30 𝑒 −3
𝑃 (𝑘 ) = = = 0.05
𝑘! 0!
This low probability for a null result suggests that the proposed lifetime of 10 33 years is too short.

Normal Distribution and Bell Curves

A bell curve is a common type of distribution for a variable, also known as the normal
distribution. The term "bellcurve" originates from the fact that the graph used to depict a Normal
Distribution consists of a symmetrical bell-shaped curve. The highest point on the curve, or the
top of the bell, represents the most probable event in a series of data (its Mean in this case),
while all other possible occurrences are symmetrically distributed around the mean, creating a
downward-sloping curve on each side of the peak. The width of the bell curve is described by its
Standard Deviation. A standard deviation is a measurement used to quantify the variability of
data dispersion, in a set of given values around the mean. The mean, in turn, refers to the average
of all data points in the data set or sequence and will be found at the highest point on the bell
curve.

The Standard Deviation is a measure of how spreads out numbers are. 68% of values are within 1
standard deviation of the mean. 95% of values are within 2 standard deviations of the mean.
99.7%of values are within 3 standard deviations of the mean.
Monte-Carlo Method
Monte Carlo method is a mathematical technique used to estimate the possible outcomes of an
uncertain event.
Monte Carlo method follows a particular pattern:
1. Define a domain of possible inputs
2. Generate inputs randomly from a probability distribution over the domain
3. Perform a deterministic computation on the inputs
4. Aggregate the results

Monte Carlo method can be used to approximate the value of π.

1. Draw a unit square, then inscribe a circle within it.

2. Uniformly scatter a given number of points over the square
3. Count the number of points inside the circle and total number of generated points.
4. The ratio of the inside-count and the total-sample-count is an estimate of the ratio of the two
areas, π/ 4.Multiply the result by 4 to estimate π.
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝜋𝑟 2 𝜋
= 2=
𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 4𝑟 4
𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑒 𝜋
=
𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 4
𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑟𝑐𝑙𝑒
𝜋 =4×
𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒