View source for Procedural animation

{{short description|Type of computer animation}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2025}}
{{expand French|Animation procédurale|category=Articles needing translation from French Wikipedia|date=March 2021}}
A '''procedural animation''' is a type of [[computer animation]] used to automatically generate [[animations|animation]] in real-time to allow for a more diverse series of actions than would otherwise be tedious using predefined animations.

[[File:LegoDog small.gif|Example of procedural animation|thumb]]
[[File:TRUE Procedural Animation En.gif|In this example, the first wheel leads the second, the second wheel leads the third. The radius and position of the second wheel are varying over time, the speed of rotation of the third wheel follows. Values have been calculated with a [[System Dynamics]] software.|thumb]]

Procedural animation is used to simulate [[particle system]]s (smoke, fire, water<ref name="MGO1">Miguel Gomez, "Interactive Simulation of Water Surfaces" in "Game Programming Gems", ed. [[Mark DeLoura]]. Charles River Media, 2000, p 187-199, {{ISBN|1-58450-049-2}}</ref><ref name="GJA1">Greg James, “Operations for Hardware-Accelerated Procedural Texture Animation” in “Game Programming Gems 2” ed. Mark DeLoura, Charles River Media, 2001, p 497, {{ISBN|1-58450-054-9}}</ref>), [[Cloth modeling|cloth and clothing]], [[rigid body dynamics]], and hair and fur dynamics, as well as character animation.

In [[video game]]s, it is often used for simple or complex actions such as turning a character's head whenever a player looks around (as in ''[[Quake III Arena]]'') or [[ragdoll physics]], which is usually used for the death of a character in which the ragdoll will realistically fall to the floor.  A ragdoll usually consists of a series of connected ''rigid bodies'' that are programmed to have [[Classical mechanics|Newtonian physics]] acting upon them; therefore, very realistic effects can be generated that would very hardly be possible with traditional animation. For example, a character can die slumped over a cliff and the weight of its upper-body can drag the rest of it over the edge.

Even more complex examples of procedural animation can be found in the game ''[[Spore (2008 video game)|Spore]]'' wherein user-created creatures will automatically be animated to all actions needed in the game from walking, to driving, to picking things up. In the game ''[[Unreal Tournament 3]]'', bodies who have gone into ragdoll mode to fake death can arise from any position into which they have fallen and get back on their feet. The canceled [[Indiana Jones 2007|Indiana Jones]] game from [[LucasArts]] shown at [[E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo)|E3]] 2006 featured character motions that were animated entirely in real-time, with characters dodging, punching, and reacting to the environment based on an engine called [[euphoria (gaming software)|Euphoria]] by [[NaturalMotion]] which has since been used in games such as [[Grand Theft Auto IV]] and [[Backbreaker (video game)|Backbreaker]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

==See also==
*[[Procedural programming]]
*[[Procedural generation]]
*[[Procedural texture]]
*[[Physics engine]]
*[[Ragdoll physics]]
*[[Game physics]]
*[[Cartoon physics]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Animation}}
{{Physics engines}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Procedural Animation}}
[[Category:Virtual reality]]


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