A Temporal Scripting Language for Object-Oriented Animation

Object orientation and concurrency are inherent to computer animation. Since the pieces of an animation can come from various media such as computer-generated imagery, video, and sound, the case for object orientation is all the stronger. However, languages for expressing the temporal co-ordination of animated objects have been slow in coming. We present such a language in this paper. Since the movements that an animated object can perform are also encapsulated as objects in our system, the scripting language can also be used to specify motion co-ordination. Such “motion objects” can be applied to any animated object. The syntax, semantics, and implementation of this language will be described, and we shall show how to specify device-independent computer animation. The financial assistance of an FNRS grant from the Swiss Federal Government is gratefully acknowledged. The first author also wishes to acknowledge the financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Address of first author as of 1 September, 1987: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, 10 King’s College Road, Toronto, M5S 1A4, Canada.