Possible Topics

Problem 2: Topics

• Simultaneity: The perception of simultaneous events is relative to one’s frame of reference
• Twin Paradox: A twin that leaves on a space journey at speeds near the speed of light will return home significantly younger than his brother
• Train Paradox: If a train were to enter a tunnel smaller than the width of the train, but length contraction would allow it to fit in the tunnel, would it fit in the tunnel if both doors were to be simultaneously shut once it enters the tunnel?
• Law of propagation of light vs. theorem of adding velocities: The speed of light is constant in all frames of reference, while any other object shot in one frame of reference can have a different measured velocity within another frame of reference
• Length Dilation: As an object moves faster through space, its length will contract
• Time as a fourth dimension: Interpreting time as a physical dimension
• Universe as finite and infinite: Addresses the universe as a 4 dimensional sphere in which it has finite volume but is without bounds.
• E=mc²: A large amount of energy is held within a relatively small mass
• Applications
• Concept
• Space curvature due to gravity
• Rotating disk paradox: does time dilation exist within different points of a rotating disk?

Conclusions on Animation software

Problem 1 Conclusion: I have decided that all of my solutions will be based on using Adobe flash software to animate; its uses for SciViz is vastly superior to using Powerpoint or Maya.

Pros and Cons of Maya

Problem 1: Presentation Medium

• Autodesk Maya (Computer Generated 3-d software)
• Pros
• Very realistic images
• Creates 3-d images
• Can replicate real world lighting effects (e.g. shadows)
• Renderings can be produced at high resolutions
• Cons
• Modeling in 3-d is difficult
• Creating complex textures
• Harder to work with animation in 3-d
• Must edit camera work as well in 3-d
• Very long rendering times
• Software not available at school
• Frames must be compiled into third party video editor

While Maya is a very powerful animation and graphics tool, its difficulty of use in modeling, animating, and texturing make it the least desireable of software to use.

Pros and Cons of Flash

Problem 1: Presentation medium

• Flash Animation
• Pros
• Can create simple, vector based diagrams
• Ve ry small file sizes
• Can be encoded into video format through software
• Cartoon style creates a more vibrant presentation
• Software can “smooth out” drawings
• “Tweening” makes animation simpler
• Allows for integration with Adobe Suite of products
• Can easily export in a number of movie and image formats
• Fast rendering times
• Cons
• Cartoon style look may turn off some viewers
• No realistic look to drawings
• For the most part, limited to two dimensional drawings
• Quality of video conversion may be sub par
• Coding in the software can become quite technical and tedious
• Requires user to draw most objects – imported images do not behave as well as objects drawn within the software
• May require a tablet to create best drawings (instead of mouse)

Adobe Flash uses "key frames "in order to animate. Objects are set at certain positions at certain frames; motion paths are automatically created to get from point A in frame A to point B in frame B. The image to the left shows the drawing interface, and at the top is the time line that shows frame positions. Flash documents can be easily saved as shockwave files (.swf, a regular flash file for a web browser), animated gifs, movie files, or individual images. None of these exporting methods requires third party software. To the left is an example of an exported animation of a ship, similar to the one created in PowerPoint in the previous brainstorming section (click the gif to see the animation in action). Lines can be drawn with a mouse, or more popularly, with a third-party tablet attached the computer via USB interface. Also, there are tools to create ovals, rectangles, and straight lines. Objects can be separated to different layers; these layers can be locked or made invisible to make an easier drawing environment to work with. Also, each layer has its own time line for frames, which makes it easy to animate only within a certain layer while keeping a background layer still. Ironically, Adobe Flash is a complicated program used to make more simple animation.

Pros and Cons of Powerpoints

Problem 1: Presentation medium

• PowerPoint
• Pros
• Simple
• Easy to make
• Small file size
• Straight-forward
• Works well on low-end hardware
• Cons
• Relatively primitive
• Harder to synchronize narration
• Lacks professional look
• Requires software to run
• Difficult to export into universal video format
• Cross-platform and cross-version inconsistencies

The image to the left shows how PowerPoint animation can be created. Tweened motion is created using motion paths - frame by frame editing is unavailable. Diagrams can be created by compiling "autoshapes" together. Moving the shapes within "layers" can become frustrating because you must tell one object to go behind or in front of another. Multiple shapes can be grouped into an object in order to make object manipulation more simple. Free drawing tools are limited. PowerPoint can import popular image formats. Published power point presentations can be exported as web pages, burned to cd's with viewing software preinstalled on the cd (i believe this only works with Windows OS), or simply saved and viewed with the power point program. However, the contest judges view the presentations on an unknown hardware configuration, so complications may arise when publishing the presentation and having it available to be viewed. The animations can be synchronized within a timeline interface - usually, PowerPoints rely on the viewer to "click" to advance slides, but slides can be timed. PowerPoint files are usually small, but can become rather large if imported audio, video, and images are used.