Thanks for the reference Dan,
A Fine Line is a very well written, clear explanation of how to separate frames
from cells according to the rank of the operator. Your description of comics as
a motivating model is also excellent. 'Rank is perspective' will become my new
mantra!
Cheers, bob
On -Mar12-2010, at -Mar12-20101:14 PM, Dan Bron wrote:
> bob therriault wrote:
>> Clearly, animating an accurate, comprehensive
>> and understandable visual for Rank (") will
>> be an adventure.
>
>
> Rank isn't so obscure a concept as it may first seem. I suggest you animate
> rank along the lines of viewing along the lines of
> frames and cells. I have a very brief Essay on this on the Wiki [1], but
> let's look at frames and cells in a little more detail.
>
> Let's use comic books (comics) as a motivating example. One way to rank
> comics is:
>
> A stack of comics is a vector of N comics
> A comic is a vector of M pages
> A page is a vector 2 sides
> A side is a vector of P strips
> A strip is a vector of Q panes
> A pane is a table of RxS pixels
> A pixel is a vector of 3 color coordinates
>
> But of course, it all depends on how you look at it, and what kind of details
> you're interested in. And that perspective is your
> rank. Examples:
>
> * A comic buyer would look at a stack of comics as a vector of
> comics (he's interested in the details of each comic). But
> a comic distributor, shipper, or store owner would look at
> the stack as an item of inventory, and wouldn't care about
> the comics as individual items.
>
> * A comic artist doesn't know anything about stacks, and in
> fact has a finer focus than the comic buyer. Whereas the
> buyer seems the comic as a cohesive whole, an artist sees
> a comic as vector of pages, and a page as a table of panes
> (because that's how he breaks up his work). On the other
> hand, a colorist would probably look at a comic as a giant
> vector of strips (panes within strips normally sharing some
> elements of color), or perhaps vector of panes (because
> that's how he estimates his work).
>
> * A comic book printer would also look at a comic book as a
> vector of pages, but a page would actually be a vector of 2
> sides, and a side would actually be a giant table of pixels.
> He doesn't know anything about strips or panes. But a
> comic printing machine would look at that same side as a
> giant cube of color coordinates (pixels being a high-level
> concept for it).
>
> * A seller of comic book paper wouldn't have the concept of sides
> (he can't sell one side of paper, except to Mobius), so to him
> a comic book is a ream, or part of a ream: a vector of pages,
> not subdivided into sides or strips or panels or pixels.
>
> Ad infinitum. For any given rank, you can think of someone who cares about
> only that rank, and is unaware of structure "above" him,
> and may consider structure "below" him irrelevant detail. Rank is
> perspective.
>
> -Dan
>
> [1] http://www.jsoftware.com/jwiki/Essays/A%20Fine%20Line
>
>
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