(Describer) Streams of light collide to create a globe filled with water. Title: Science Nation.
(Describer) In computer animation, a young man shrugs.
Well, it works.
He's sleeping.
(Describer) A dragon takes off with him caught on the tail.
Whoa! Whoa!
(male narrator)
Did you wonder who designed
this flying dragon,
making the wings
look just right?
It takes more than talent
to create animation like this.
At every twist and turn,
there's science involved.
I rehearsed this shot
by spinning in my chair.
(Describer) He demonstrates, spinning and reaching.
(narrator)
Every hop and skip requires
an intuitive feel for physics.
It's not a natural way
for legs to bend.
(Alejandro Garcia)
Anatomy is a topic that
doctors and artists study.
With animation, physics has
become another science
(Describer) Alejandro Garcia:
which is essential
to the craft of these artists.
(narrator)
Physicist Alejandro Garcia
is advisor to animators
at DreamWorks,
helping them make
dragons fly right
and explosions
look real.
(Describer) Cassidy Curtis:
(Cassidy Curtis)
When something doesn't feel
physically capable,
it pops the audience out
of the moment.
It reminds the audience
that it isn't real.
"I'm watching a cartoon."
That can really
damage the story.
This shot wouldn't work
out in the real world.
(narrator)
Garcia helps create believable,
yet wacky worlds of their own.
(Describer) Damon Riesberg:
Each movie and film animation
has its own world of physics.
The Megamind world
wasn't our world.
[gasps]
(Describer) Garcia speaks to a man at a laptop.
If you have the character
moving side-to-side,
then the foreground stuff
is gonna be moving much faster.
(narrator)
With support from the
National Science Foundation,
Garcia has developed
a course
at San José State University
on the physics of animation.
He teaches animators
in training
how to make it all
look plausible.
(Describer) Paul Yula:
You can stretch the rules,
but never break them.
The smaller the object,
the harder the shadows.
(narrator)
Learning these lessons
could give these animators
an advantage
when they start vying for jobs
in the movie, TV,
and gaming industry.
(Describer) Marilyn Friedman:
(Marilyn Friedman)
It's a very
highly-skilled industry.
Not every school
is teaching it in the way
that will help them succeed
at a place like this.
(narrator)
Imagine what they'll create
with a little physics
under their wings.
For Science Nation,
I'm Miles O'Brien.
