Ma Ruisheng 0347125

 Name: Ma Ruisheng (0347125)

Module name: Design Research methodology

Task 2: Critical Review

Topic：How to improve 3D special effects 

Article

   Toshpulatov, M., Lee, W., Lee, S., 2021. Generative adversarial networks and their application to 3D face generation: A survey. Image and Vision Computing. doi:10.1016/j.imavis.2021.104119

Sun, L. (2022). Research on the Application of 3D Animation Special Effects in Animated Films: Taking the Film Avatar as an Example. Scientific Programming.

Xie, X. L. (2020). Three-dimensional reconstruction based on multi-view photometric stereo fusion technology in movies special-effect. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 79(13), 9565-9578. 

Yi, L. (2021, April). Computer digital art design based on 3D animation special effects. In 2021 International Conference on Computer Technology and Media Convergence Design (CTMCD) (pp. 30-33). IEEE.

Zhu, R., Kim, H. G., & Moon, J. (2019). The Application and Improvement of Motion Capture Technology in Marvel Films. TECHART: Journal of Arts and Imaging Science, 6(4), 46-49.

 

Introduction 

3D films are released in the cinemas frequently with the development of technologies. As the important elements in the development of 3D films, 3D special effects are always influencing the final value of 3D films in the industry (Thalmann & Thalmann, 2012). Relevant scholars have focused on the value and development of special effects in the industry and proposes that there is significance of developing special effects in 3D films in improving their competition, popularity and potential value in the filming industry (Nigora, 2021). Based on these results in academic research, how to improve the 3D special effects becomes one of the important research focuses as well. In this analysis, the author aimed to analyze 5 relevant articles about how to improve 3D special effects and find the importance and detailed methods of the research topic. 

 

Summary

The chosen five articles are all related to 3D special effects from different perspectives. In the first article, Mukhiddin Toshpulatov , Wookey Lee and Suan Lee, Ph.D proposed GANs technology, which upgraded the image from 2D face to 3D face through various operations and experiments. I think this technology is very helpful for 3D shots in movies. It's a good technology. With the continuous innovation and development of 3D technology, the current effect is gradually improved. For example, many 3D and even 4D special effects are more widely used in advertisements on squares, including the earliest VR technology, which also adopts the 3D visual principle.

 

The development of 3D special effects has been widened with time goes. Focusing on the research in 2019(Zhu et al., 2019), the method of improving special effects in 3D films should be based on the development of animation special effects and the high financial cost. What is more, this kind of result have been researched and supported by the articles after 2020. Xie (2020), Li (2021) and Sun (2022) all mention the importance of increasing financial cost in improving special effects and propose the value of developing animation in improving 3D special effects. All of them are focusing on the Chinese filming industry as the background and taking advantages of 3D development in other countries to prove their opinions. Therefore, it can find that there is a developing period of improving 3D special effects, which is from developing innovative technology to increase financial cost in relevant technology. 

 

Critique 

GANs is based on a zero-sum non-cooperative game, meaning that if one player wins, the other loses. The game is also known as a minimax game: One player's goal is to maximize his actions, while the other player's goal is to minimize his actions. So when it comes to importing images to create 3D faces, the technology works smoothly. The technology is generated to allow photos to be automatically 3D and also to help users model the user interface. This technology has greatly improved the speed of 3D effects, and it can also be perfected for special effects in movies.

 

Besides, case study is popularly used by some authors in this research field. For instance, among the five articles, Sun (2022) and Zhu et al.(2019) both take advantage of secondary data to support their qualitative case analysis. Sun (2022) used the example of Film Avatar to analyze how to make 3D special effects and got the result that increasing the financial cost can be useful and functional to improve the 3D special effects. Zhu et al.(2019) also got the similar results as well. According to Cong and Esguerra(2019), 3D films require high financial support given that most of the financial support is spent on developing good special effects. Xu(2022) also mentions that with popularity of 3D films in the market, how to increase the competition of 3D films is determined by how improved the 3D special effects are. However, the financial cost can only improve the special effects transversely but not vertically, which is the potential develop direction for 3D films in the market(Yao et al., 2022). Financial improvement can only achieve a lot of costs, but technology is the most important part of the improvement. For example, the birth of GANs technology, marking the 3D deformation model can only be painted, can be generated according to the way of face recognition. Such 3DMM fitting is helpful to improve the performance of 3D face reconstruction and 3D landmark localization.

 

In addition, based on the research gap left by the articles mentioned above, the author also explored the results shown in Xie(2020) and Yi(2021) for proving the importance of innovative technology in improving special effects sustainably. Both of them take advantage of primary data in their quantitative research approach and constructed relevant models to prove the importance of developing animation technologies in developing 3D special effects. Their results can prove that the methods and value shown in early stage to improve the 3D special effects are also useful and important to current stage. In addition to these lessons, in the development of 3D special effects, many of the previous methods will be gradually improved and improved.

 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, These five articles have different opinions on the way to improve 3D special effects, but each of them mentions the improvement of 3D special effects technology. Actually I understand it is 3 d effects not only in the movie, now in our life also exist in their place, such as Japan in the square of 3 d billboards, playing every day a cute little cat, they help us, make our life gradually progress, to add to our lives with joy.

 

The trend is to constantly improve the 3D effects and make the technology better. It is possible that in the near future, the high-tech scenes we can see in movies will take place in our real life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References 

Cong, D., & Esguerra, M. A. (2019). The Art of 3D: Development and Application of 3D Model in Animation, Games and Films. Published by: The Mattingley Publishing Co., Inc.

Koppal, S., Zitnick, C. L., Cohen, M., Kang, S. B., Ressler, B., & Colburn, A. (2010). A viewer-centric editor for 3D movies. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 31(1), 20-35.

Nigora, H. (2021). SPECIAL EFFECTS IN MODERN UZBEK ANIMATED FILMS. European science review, (3-4), 20-24.

Rid, W., Haider, W., Ryffel, A., & Beardmore, B. (2018). Visualisations in choice experiments: comparing 3D film-sequences and still-images to analyse housing development alternatives. Ecological economics, 146, 203-217.

Thalmann, N. M., & Thalmann, D. (2012). Synthetic Actors: in Computer-Generated 3D Films. Springer Science & Business Media.

Xu, Z. (2022). Application of Computer Image Technology in Traditional 3D Movie Animation Production. In International Conference on Multi-modal Information Analytics (pp. 391-399). Springer, Cham.

Yao, L., Zhou, L., Qian, Z., Zhu, Q., Liu, Y., Zhang, Y., & Xing, L. (2022). Exploring the impact of 3D movie watching on the brain source activities and energy consumption by ESI and fNIRS. Biomedical Signal Processing and Control, 71, 103194.