thesis topics on animation

Home » Blog » Dissertation » Topics » Animation » Animation Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Your Academic Research

Animation Dissertation Topics (28 Examples) For Your Academic Research

Mark May 2, 2020 Jun 5, 2020 Animation No Comments

We are aware that searching for a right and interesting dissertation topic becomes a nightmare for students. If you are also stuck in finding the best animation dissertation topics, you have visited the right site. We offer a list of animation dissertation topics, which can be worked on. The research topics on animation and project […]

We are aware that searching for a right and interesting dissertation topic becomes a nightmare for students. If you are also stuck in finding the best animation dissertation topics, you have visited the right site. We offer a list of animation dissertation topics, which can be worked on.

The research topics on animation and project topics on animation are also included to help you in choosing a topic that you find interesting. You can also check the film dissertation topics to get more ideas on conventional and digital media. The list of animation dissertation topics includes all the latest and modern time topics.

Animation dissertation topics

To study how to illustrate the solution of a problem through images.

Analyzing the new areas related to illustration.

Examining the concept of digital illustration – a thematic analysis.

To investigate the ethics that an illustrator should always follow while fulfilling role and responsibilities.

A literature review on the advanced narrative illustration.

Exploring the evolution and development of 3D in printing.

To study the concept of animation editing and formatting.

How is the internet facilitating the film making?

Examining the role of social networking in society.

What is the role of visual effects in video album?

Studying the stop-motion and matte painting in live-action.

An analysis of creating photo-realistic objects in computer programming.

To investigate the mobile game, growth, and technological advancement.

Analyzing the concept of secure payment gateways.

Explaining the importance of Disney to the lives of young children in the 21st century.

Comparing and contrasting the unrealistic beauty as portrayed in the Disney films.

Studying the code development and technology development in Art Making.

Evaluating the technology art and culture in America.

A literature review on hypermedia – interaction and artwork.

Exploring the field of animation studies and its development in the past 10 years.

Evaluating the animation as a means of enhancing the learning of individuals with special needs.

Studying the integration of animation in learning fundamentals of entrepreneurship.

An analysis of the animal production testing model based on design-oriented learning.

Examining the area of emotional semantic recognition of visual scene in flash animation.

To investigate the concept of development 3D animated story as interactive learning media.

An evaluation of the squash and stretch in 3D animated short films.

Studying the animation as a visual indicator of positional uncertain in geographic information.

An assessment of the effects of animation and pictographs on viewer engagement.

Topic With Mini-Proposal (Paid Service)

Along with a topic, you will also get;

• An explanation why we choose this topic.
• 2-3 research questions.
• Key literature resources identification.
• Suitable methodology with identification of raw sample size, and data collection method
• View a sample of topic consultation service

Get expert dissertation writing help to achieve good grades

• Writer consultation before payment to ensure your work is in safe hands.
• Free topic if you don't have one
• Draft submissions to check the quality of the work as per supervisor's feedback
• Free revisions
• Complete privacy
• Plagiarism Free work
• Guaranteed 2:1 (With help of your supervisor's feedback)
• 2 Instalments plan
• Special discounts

Other Posts

Message Us On WhatsApp

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Comput Math Methods Med
• v.2022; 2022

Psychological Impact and Influence of Animation on Viewer's Visual Attention and Cognition: A Systematic Literature Review, Open Challenges, and Future Research Directions

C. k. praveen.

1 VIT School of Design, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632 014, India

Kathiravan Srinivasan

2 School of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632 014, India

Associated Data

The original contributions generated for this study are included in the article; further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Animation is an excellent method to associate with the audience in a fun and innovative manner. In recent span, animation has been employed in various fields to enhance knowledge, marketing, advertisement, and age groups from infants to adults. The present communication expounds the systematic review on the impact created by animation on the viewer's visual attention. For this review, a database such as Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Taylor & Francis, and IEEE Xplore were pursued for publications on the impact of animation on viewer's visual attention from January 2015 to December 2021. The search results showcased 175 titles with 114 full articles, out of which 35 were related to viewers' visual attention towards animation. These reviewed studies comprised of physical outcome ( n = 9), psychological outcome ( n = 15), and cognitive outcome ( n = 11) from which the attention-related factors, physical effects, and cognitive effects of animation were assessed. The animation has influenced the viewer's visual attention through the integration of the different stimuli and the highly organized presentation. Furthermore, the animation has also aided the viewer in attaining greater conceptual understanding, thereby facilitating their cognitive response. As a result, the animation was found to be helpful in enhancing learning skills, food marketing, and teaching strategy. Furthermore, the drawbacks and future recommendations of the studies were elaborated. In addition, challenges and open issues faced during the studies were discussed. Finally, the priority areas in animation identified for promising future directions to visualize large pool data, provide smart communication, and design 3D modeling structures were highlighted.

1. Introduction

Animation is a comprehensive introduction to animated films, from cartoons to computer animation. In layman's terms, it can be described as a state of being full of life. It brings the life of unanimated objects to moving objects, thereby attracting the modern world with its features [ 1 ]. In other words, it is a form of pictorial presentation that has become the most prominent feature of technology-based learning environments. In the modern world, it has become an essential tool for presenting multimedia materials for learners to understand them better [ 2 ].

Animation techniques have been developed over a while, either in 2D drawings or 3D objects like clay, stop motion, or motion graphics. It has become a reliable and significant platform for various fields that have impacted viewers' visual attention through its magic. The animation need not be a full-length movie to attract the viewers' visual attention; rather, it can be a clip of a few seconds comprised of just a few frames. The animation videos can be processed as represented in Figure 1 .

Process of animation.

An idea of integrating traditional animation with the digital 2D animation technique was proposed by Purwaningsih [ 3 ]. It provides an alternative pipeline for hand-drawn 2D animation shorts, thereby optimizing the production time.

The impact of animation on viewer's visual attention and attention span was reviewed and reported either with respect to animated characters or character motion. The research on considering both as influencing factors for viewer's visual attention is insignificant. The present survey focuses on how animated characters and their motions create an impact on the viewer's visual attention. Also, it emphasizes the physiological and cognitive impact created by the animation on the viewers.

1.1. Need and Objectives of the Study

Animation is capable of attracting a large audience in every field. As a result, most people are exposed to this interesting field of knowledge. The major objectives of this systematic review are summarized as follows:

• To exemplify the impact and influence of animation and animated characters on viewers visual attention and cognition
• To elucidate the various approaches and techniques used in attention based animation studies
• To elicit the standards, regulations, guidelines, and best practices that could assist the animation professionals in understanding the viewers' cognitive behavior
• To exemplify the current trends and open issues of the impact of animation on viewers' attention and cognition
• To elucidate the future research directions in animation-based attention studies

1.2. Related Work

Etemad et al. [ 4 ] have analyzed the motivating factors for processing motion features and their relative degrees of significance in a general paradigm called the perceptual validity (PV) model. The PV consists of four components: association, contextual dependency, internal consistency, and external consistency with underlying elements (bodily action, bodily expressions, facial action, and facial expression). A case study was conducted with this paradigm based on the contextual dependency and finally discussed with Disney's principles of animation. Zong et al. [ 5 ] have discussed the importance of character expression shaping in animated films. The features of facial expression design, such as exaggeration, accuracy, and virtuality, were briefed. Likewise, the expression techniques such as association, personification, exaggeration, and deformation were discussed. Finally, a case analysis of animation expression shaping with respect to every character depicted in the Kung Fu Panda film was carried out in-depth.

Kim et al. [ 6 ] studied character-audience similarity's impact on evaluating public service announcements (PSAs). The characters of smokers and persuaders are differentiated to explore their different roles in message effectiveness. Shao [ 7 ] has discussed the performance of visual humor in animation from the point of view of image, color, action, and rhythm. The image of an animated character is suggested as a bearer of visual humor. It suggested that the humor can be enhanced/created either in the form of body proportion (genius rat in Ratatouille) or structural reorganization (Pigsy's head in Journey to the West). The animated character's color is considered to render emotional visual humor (Panda Po in Kung Fu Panda). The action of the animated character is proposed to be surreal humor (Tom cat and Jerry mouse in Tom and Jerry). Finally, the rhythm of animated films was proposed to affect the audience's visual and psychological feelings.

Shah et al. [ 8 ] studied the application of animation in pharmaceutical advertisements and its impact on consumer perception of the risks and benefits of the drug. Two sets of studies have been carried out for the analysis. Rotoscoping was used to test the effects of animation in this study. Study 1 was carried out to assess whether any shift in perception exists and whether it agrees with a memory effect. In study 2, the findings from study 1 were extended by including consumer implications in order to demonstrate the downstream consequences of the use of animation in pharmaceutical advertisements. Smith and Neff [ 9 ] have investigated the influence of animated gestures in controlling personality perception. A sequence of four diverse gestures with twelve motion adjustments was selected as stimuli for the study. The correlation in personality perception was determined. In addition, the potential and possible limits of motion editing approaches were discussed. Two constellations of motion adjustments were selected for the study.

Vijayakrishnan et al. [ 10 ] analyzed the importance of animated cartoon characters in product marketing through advertisement. The preference of children over products having cartoon characters was scrutinized. The strategies used in the global market for selling the products using animated characters were also discussed. Geal [ 11 ] has explored how animation can manipulate a reflexive intertextual framework related to religious prohibitions on artistic mimesis that might replicate and threaten God's creative act. The limitations of the existing survey are listed briefly in Table 1 .

Comparison of existing surveys with the current review (✓: yes; x: no).

This paper is divided into seven sections and its general layout is depicted in Figure 2 . The first section introduces the animation, its impact on the viewer's psychology, and attention span. It also briefs the objective of this study, the limitations of the existing research, and the present study's contribution. The second section explains the application of the PRISMA protocol to evaluate the reviewing of other types of research. The evaluation is based on the survey's selection criteria, its information sources and search strategies, data collection process, and risk of bias in individual studies. The third section elaborates on the selection of the present study, its characteristics, selected data items, and the risk of bias within the studies. It also assesses animation's attention-related factors and physical and cognitive effects. The fourth section briefly presents the summary along with the limitations and recommendations. The fifth section elaborates on the challenges and open issues the researchers face during the study. The sixth section highlights the future research directions in the field of animation. Finally, the last section summarizes all the facts and concludes the reviewed results.

Structure of this review.

2. Methodology

2.1. prisma protocol.

The present study is reviewed based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) Protocol [ 22 , 23 ]. It is a set of recommendations designed for reporting systematic reviews. These guidelines aid authors in improving the reporting of systematic reviews and meta-analyses and ensuring the accuracy and transparency of the studies reported [ 24 ]. The present study's reporting quality can be optimized by completing the review report based on the PRISMA–P statement and checklist. Moreover, it also improves the efficiency of the peer review process and enables the readers to get a clear view of the author's work.

The steps followed in the PRISMA protocol are represented in Figure 3 . It is provided briefly as follows: (a) Identification, the records are identified through database searching and additional sources. (b) Removal of duplicates, the records that appear more than once should be removed to avoid reviewing the duplicate records. The entire list of records is exported to a citation manager to remove the duplicate records. The remaining records are entered in the second top box. (c) Screening, the number of screened articles are entered in the following box. Furthermore, this value will be the same as that of the number entered in the duplicate removed box. Further, the articles are screened based on their titles and abstracts. The number of articles excluded in this screening process is recorded in the relevant box. (d) Eligibility, the number of excluded articles after the screening process is subtracted from the total number of records screened. Full-text articles are assessed for eligibility. All these full-text articles are eligible for the final reviewing process. The number of excluded articles at this point is recorded in the appropriate box. (e) Inclusion, the number of excluded articles is subtracted from the total number of articles reviewed for eligibility. Furthermore, this number is entered in the qualitative analysis box. The number of studies list is entered in the quantitative synthesis box to perform the meta-analysis.

Flow diagram of PRISMA protocol.

2.1.1. Selection Criteria/Eligibility Criteria

The criteria selected were defined before undergoing screening of any articles. The selection criteria are listed in Table 2 .

Selection criteria.

The criteria selection helps to limit the broad topic to direct relevance for the research questions. The language is selected as English as it is the primary publication language for scientific articles. The year of publication is limited to providing a review based on recently published research works. Finally, peer-reviewed articles are considered to provide good quality of work and confirmed results. Also, published thesis work is considered, providing more detail about the research work introduced in peer-reviewed articles by the same or similar authors. Animation-based attention-creating articles were selected for the reviewing process.

2.1.2. Information Sources and Search Strategies

The search databases selected for article retrieval should have good coverage of the body of the relevant work. For this purpose, the two major exiting multidisciplinary databases, Web of Science and Scopus, were selected. Also, scientific databases like Google Scholar and ResearchGate are included as they cover good reporting of animation-related attention-creating articles. In recent times, these research articles can also be retrieved from general databases. However, Google Scholar gains superiority due to its positive correlation with the citation counts from various sources. Many of the works relevant to animation-based attention-creating articles can be retrieved from this database. The publishers such as IEEE, ScienceDirect, Springer, and SAGE also provide direct access to their publications, and their databases were also assessed for their yield of additional relevant results. All the relevant papers can be expected to be available online as the year of publication selection is from 2015 and above. So the analogue search was not conducted separately. Therefore, the electronic database searches were executed from January 2015 to the year 2021 until the preparation of the review. The reference list of all the relevant articles was analyzed for their significance with the research objectives and screened accordingly. The same selection criteria were applied here.

The search strategies need to be fine-tuned to get a better search of articles. Meanwhile, it should expose all relevant research works under a manageable level with no increase in the overall workload of the reviewing process. For the given research objective, the attention-creating articles published in the field of animation were chosen. The research terms for the search were used in either form of individual keywords or a combination of keywords. And specifically, the research terms used were ‘animation' OR ‘impact of animation' ‘Animation' AND ‘psychology' OR ‘animation' AND ‘audience' OR ‘animation' AND ‘cognitive psychology' OR ‘animation' AND ‘audience visual attention'.

2.1.3. Data Collection Process/Data Extraction Process

The title of the articles retrieved from the databases is evaluated for their significant relevance to the research objectives. Furthermore, their respective abstracts are read thoroughly. Based on this, the most relevant articles were segregated and organized in a Microsoft Excel sheet.

(1) Inclusion Criteria . Inclusion criteria for this study include the year of publication, country of origin, methodological base, experimental context, sample characteristics, study duration of existing articles, outcome measures, and exposure to animation duration.

(2) Exclusion Criteria . The criteria excluded for this study comprise lack of access to the full article, unsuitable research articles, letters to the editor, and retraction articles review articles.

The study's key findings mainly focused on how effective the animation in the existing articles. And no attempts are made to contact the authors for missing details in their respective articles.

2.1.4. Risk of Bias in Individual Studies

All the articles were independently evaluated based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria to assess the risk of bias in individual studies. The information extracted from each study is evaluated using the quality assessment tool. For the effective quality assessment, the checklist is made based on the following criteria: yes, no, not applicable (NA), and not reported (NR). The checklist of quality assessment tools includes the following criteria mentioned in Table 3 .

Design quality analysis.

3.1. Selection of the Study

3.1.1. summary of retrieved articles.

The summary of the search databases visited and the number of articles obtained from the respective sources is presented in Table 4 . Further, this table shows the percentage of articles retrieved from each academic database and reveals that the highest number of articles were retrieved from Google Scholar ( n = 199). It comprises research articles, conference papers, and students' dissertations. Other databases like Springer, Science Direct, and Taylor and Francis account for 6.76%, 6.41%, and 6.05% of the total number of articles. The rest of the articles were retrieved from IEEE Xplore (4.27%), ResearchGate (3.20%), and Wiley Online Library (2.49%).

Article sources and number of articles.

3.1.2. Exclusion of Retrieved Articles

The number of articles retrieved from the search database was reduced with the following eliminated procedure based on PRISMA protocol.

• (i) Elimination of the articles based on language ( n = 6), irrelevant titles ( n = 75), and reduction of duplication ( n = 25) from various search databases, leading to reduction from 281 to 175
• (ii) Elimination of articles after the examination of abstracts, leading to the reduction of articles from 175 to 114
• Report on animation impact, 37
• Not focused on animation, 18
• Report on animation application, 14
• Case study, review, and others, 5
• Not enough information, 5

The procedure flow for selecting articles for the study is depicted in Figure 4 , which shows the elimination procedure.

Elimination process of articles based on PRISMA protocol.

3.2. Characteristics of the Study

Based on the selection process, 35 articles were shortlisted for the systematic review. Each article was reviewed, and the information gathered from it was tabulated. The following information was extracted from the articles: description of the study, sample and design applied in the study, type and duration of animation used in the study, and outcome and findings of the study and case-control applied within the study. The study's characteristics, as itemized above, are summarized in Table 5 .

Summary of animation studies.

3.3. Data Items

The study participants' ages ranged from 30 months to 30 years, and most of the studies included both sex samples, with the exception of three studies with female samples alone and gender not mentioned in eight studies. In addition, most of the studies included 3D animation ( n = 10) followed by 2D animation ( n = 6) and flash ( n = 4), and the remaining studies included motion graphics, VR, and AR. Further, the outcomes reviewed from all these studies, namely, physical outcome ( n = 9), psychological outcome ( n = 15), and cognitive outcome ( n = 11), are presented in Table 5 .

3.3.1. Physical Outcome

The importance and necessity of physical exercise was easily delivered to the primary grade students. The results showed a significant difference in self-efficacy, learning, benefits, importance, personal best, and fun between the control and experimental groups ( p ≤ 0.05) [ 31 ]. The hand manipulative tasks was made better with the help of animation. The results showed that the animation groups ranked their difficulty levels (cognitive load) significantly lower than the static groups. Moreover, viewing hand or not made no difference for the animation group [ 36 ].

The effects of visual cueing depend on the subject matter and the learner's learning strategies [ 40 ]. The pretest scores revealed insignificant scores between the test and control groups. However, there is a significant difference between the test and control group in the sequential memory test [ 55 ]. The microintervention study revealed the positive impact of animation on creating awareness on body image among the adolescents. It helped them to understand the importance of telling a bully to stop. The study results showed a significant difference in body satisfaction between the groups. However, it is insignificant to media literacy and self-efficacy [ 29 ]. There is a significant difference in the learning outcomes between each PK (prior knowledge) group for reading comprehension. The animation annotation was easily noticed by the low PK group, whereas the text zone was noticed by the high PK group [ 38 ]. The results obtained from SPQ and BMI revealed the following results: Pororo - So-Yang type boy, Petty - So-Yang type girl, Loopy - So-Eum type girl, Pobby & Harry -most obvious contrast [ 50 ]. There is a significant difference between lip-syncing and gaze to target for perceived speech intelligibility [ 43 ].

3.3.2. Psychological Outcome

Food marketing industries have efficiently utilizing animation as a tool to attract the children, and they were assessing their attention towards healthy/unhealthy food items. Children are attracted to the food and beverages product with or without animated characters. Children were significantly chosen the less healthy product with or without character. Children significantly preferred more or less healthier products irrespective of character [ 51 ]. Children's pupil diameter increased on watching the candy condition. However, no significant difference was observed in the children's visual attention or emotional arousal towards candy or food conditions. There is a significant difference in children's emotional arousal to unhealthy products due to the parent's restriction of candy at home [ 32 ].

The children recalled the story and more content words significantly from animated conditions than a static conditions. Children's visual attention was significant with animated conditions compared to static conditions [ 57 ]. The children were able to recognize the facial identity through dynamic facial animation. However, they failed to learn the facial expression. There is no significant difference observed between the pre- and post-familiarization tests [ 47 ].

The animation has delivered a better opportunity to have self-awareness and knowledge on the health issues without any hesitation. The implementation of computer-animated agent provides assistance to deliver personally relevant information on breast cancer. It helps to reduce anxiety, support psychological needs, and boost confidence. The results showed a significant difference in the proportion of participants with unanswered questions for the post-intervention period [ 30 ]. The health awareness regarding the conditions of glaucoma was perceived by the patients through animation video. There is a significant difference in the patients' knowledge scores between pre- and post-intervention ( p ≤ 0.001). Rural residence, low income, and unemployment were identified as influencing factors for acquiring glaucoma knowledge [ 45 ].

There is a positive correlation between the learning experience between the VR simulation and traditional practice [ 52 ]. There is no significant difference between the real and hybrid CG characters ( p = 1.00). A less significant difference existed between real and CG characters ( p < .001) as well as between CG and hybrid characters ( p < .001). The CGI could feature the actor those who are alive or dead and are capable of enhancing the parasocial interaction and relatability [ 25 ]. The animated character influenced the viewer's attention. There is a significant difference in eeriness between the Pixar character and the Toon character ( p < 0.05). There is a significant difference in eeriness between the photorealistic human character and the Toon character ( p < 0.05) [ 48 ].

The prior knowledge about the techniques behind the making of stop motion films may influence the impact of viewer's attention towards the technical aspects rather than focusing on the story. However, the viewer's attention can be engrossed in the film, and it may develop a deeper connection with the story [ 26 ]. The level of exaggeration in animated cat is insignificant to the audience's perception of the appeal of the realistic feline character. Moreover, the significance of believability is higher for high exaggeration clips than for low exaggeration clips [ 37 ]. The frequency of exposure to animated television cartoons is higher among females, and it is greatly influenced based on their level of education. The perception of such cartoons varies with the level of education [ 56 ]. The viewer's pleasantness feeling toward animated character design aesthetics is insignificant to their gender and age group [ 44 ].

The animated virtual ads attracted the participants than the static ads. The virtual ads presented in the nonbattle scene attracted the participants than those ads in the battle scene. The interaction effect between ad animation and in-game context on fixation count is insignificant [ 41 ]. The animation intensity and animation color on the sponsorship signage showed negative effect on the viewer's attention. The arousal of the viewer's confusion due to increased levels of animation intensity was explored. And the results showed an insignificant effect of animation intensity on viewer confusion [ 46 ]. Also, there is no significant difference in color [ 59 ].

3.3.3. Cognitive Outcome

The studies reported that animation played an essential role in the cognitive development of children ( n = 6). The children who read the AR storybook were more confident in retelling and recalling the story when compared to those who read its printed version [ 27 ]. The mother's video prompted larger pupil dilations and a more smiling and cheerful eye blinking rate among the infants. The highest value cartoons prompted long looking time, reduced blinking, but no increased smiling or pupil dilation [ 34 , 40 ]. Animated films positively affect a child's involvement in symbolic mediation and the level of arbitrary behavior [ 54 ]. Also, it was observed that the executive functions of the preschoolers were disrupted after watching the animated fantastical events [ 28 ]. A significant effect of animated features in ebooks (motion and sound) was observed on children's vocabulary acquisition, story retelling, and visual attention [ 35 ]. There is no significant difference in birth weight, age, parental educational level, or preintervention performance levels between the groups. The trained group showed tremendous results immediately after the training and at 6 weeks follow-up [ 42 ].

Some of the studies reported the role of animation in the teaching field ( n = 5). The adoption of 3D animation as a teaching tool for illustrating surgical skills in medical education was investigated. The test scores showed higher significance for the 3D animation group when compared to the traditional teaching group ( p < 0.0001) [ 33 ]. The animation lecture with instructional design helps in guiding learner's attention, thereby making them focus on the important instructions in the instructions. The animated group required less cognitive load, and they outperformed on the open-ended questions. It was further confirmed with insignificant differences between the two groups in the Genetic Foundation Test [ 39 ]. Idioms learning can be made easier by watching an English animated movies. There is a significant effect on learning idioms through English animated movies ( p < 0.05) [ 49 ]. The spatial features of the animations and the simulations facilitated the development of spatial ability of the 12th grade students. The experimental group's spatial ability and reasoning skills have higher significance than the control group ( p < 0.05) [ 53 ]. The cueing by pedagogical agents positively affected learning performance and instructional efficiency. The cognitive load measures between the two groups were insignificant [ 58 ].

3.4. Risk of Bias within the Study

The risk of bias assessment within the studies is summarized in Table 6 . The criteria for the assessment were based on the study design and data analysis. Nearly all the study participants were randomly selected ( n = 28) with control group ( n = 15) assigned. Some of the studies were conducted in isolation ( n = 31), and the pretest and post-test ( n = 16) method was employed to assess the significance of the hypothesis developed. The participants' visual perception of the animation was determined by their capability to recall or retell ( n = 27). The data obtained in most of the studies were analyzed using power analysis ( n = 12), validity measures ( n = 10), and baseline comparisons ( n = 7) and were employed in some studies. Follow-up on the influence of the animation was further assessed in a few studies ( n = 3), and missing data were reported in a few studies ( n = 5).

Risk of bias within the studies.

3.5. Attention-Related Factors

Some of the studies reported in this review are solely concentrated on the visual attention of the participant's towards animation ( n = 12). The attention-related factors among these studies are animation's interactive features ( n = 3), intensity ( n = 1), design ( n = 1), motion ( n = 3), sound ( n = 1), annotation ( n = 1), and character ( n = 3). The factors that are insignificant with the viewer's visual attention was animation's color.

In twelve out of thirty-five papers, eye-tracking technology was employed to assess the participants' visual attention to the animation. The pupil movement and fixation time was observed to assess the viewer's attention towards the animation.

3.6. Physical Effects of Animation

Animation has created awareness among adolescents about their body images and provided knowledge about the necessity of physical activity. It also helped women get a detailed report on mammographic procedures without hesitation. Moreover, it also delivered a knowledge on the health issues related to glaucoma.

3.7. Cognitive Effects of Animation

As mentioned earlier, the animation has created some cognitive effects towards infants to adults. The animated ebook has helped the children understand the story's structure and content. Furthermore, animation made it easy to learn the surgical procedures like intercostal drain insertion and suprapubic catheter insertion. Also, the concepts of genetics, such as cell division, mitosis, and meiosis, were presented in animation, and the participant's performance was found to be improved. Moreover, the student's spatial ability and reasoning skills were improved by watching the animation lectures.

4. Discussion

4.1. evidence summary.

From the overall studies, it was evident that the animation was employed in various applications to attract and assess the viewer's attention. Among thirty-five studies, five briefed about the animated characters and one study about the animation motion.

The rest of the studies described the perception of audience towards implementing animation in the following phenomenon: learning skill improvement ( n = 15), teaching strategy ( n = 2), health awareness ( n = 5), advertisement ( n = 3), food marketing ( n = 2), validating hearing aid ( n = 1), and political awareness ( n = 1).

4.2. Limitations and Recommendations

Although the studies reported in this survey showed a significant difference and the hypothesis generated was accepted, some limitations still exist. The common limitations identified in the studies are short period of time for implementation [ 53 ], smaller sample size [ 27 , 37 ], nongeneralizability [ 25 , 27 , 32 , 39 , 53 ], nonrandomization trials [ 52 ], and no control group and post only group [ 45 ]. Few other studies have reported the possibility of cross-contamination among the control and experimental group [ 33 ], increased dropout of participants before completing the post-test questionnaire [ 52 ], and underestimation of participant's knowledge of expressing words which might directly affect the animation [ 57 ].

Arshad et al. [ 44 ] have examined the “Pleasure” as a sole emotional response to describe the pleasure level of human emotion towards the Malaysian animation cartoon characters. In contrast, the PAD (pleasure, arousal, and dominance) model utilized in the study has two other dimensions: arousal and dominance.

The audience could not feel the warmth of the real human character in the animated short film as the animation span is too short [ 48 ]. In another study, there is a possible way for the audience to have different perceptions regarding the meaning of the word “believability.” Moreover, the cat's exaggerated motion alone studied might express the intrinsic characteristics of its particular character design [ 37 ]. While studying the viewer/character relationships, the PSI (parasocial interaction) scores remained low, which may be due to the cause that it features nonhuman characters in all-CGI conditions. At the same time, the other conditions featured only humans [ 25 ].

Some of the typical future recommendations mentioned in the studies are an extension of the study period [ 53 ], increasing the study sample size [ 37 ] and implementing a randomized sample approach from various situations to overcome the limitation of result generalization [ 37 , 52 , 53 ].

The audience's perception of various anthropomorphic animal characters performing various actions in different situations should be examined [ 37 ]. In addition to the animation, the story's narration is more concentrated when designing a storybook app [ 57 ]. Moreover, TV animated cartoons can be designed to attract people with tertiary education for political promotions and political mobilization [ 56 ].

5. Challenges and Open Issues

The challenges and open issues faced by the researchers during the study are elaborated in this section, and it is shown in Figure 5 .

Challenges and open issues.

5.1. Methodological Issues in Data Interpretation

The methodological issues in data interpretation may occur due to animation completion time, fixation duration, and other confounding variables. Fixation duration may be employed to determine the participant's eye or head movements. Mostly eye-tracking devices and gaze movement trackers are utilized for this purpose. Any fault with these devices will affect the data quality, data loss, and data interpretation bias. Li et al. [ 28 ] have suggested that fixation data points showed the preschooler's more significant mobilization and limited processing capacity. Tummeltshammer et al. [ 34 ] have determined the unfiltered eye movement data using SMI's BeGaze analysis software to overcome the error caused by the tracking device or participants in attention.

5.2. Results Generalization Based on Small Sample Sizes

The generalization of results based on small sample sizes may not be appropriate for all the cases. Most of the studies mentioned it as a limitation due to various concerns such as participants' demographical features and socio-economical features. Al-Balushi et al. [ 53 ] have reported improving logical thinking and spatial thinking skills of 12th grade students of Oman. He has also stated that further investigations are required due to the small sample size. Danaei et al. [ 27 ] have reported that the children who read the AR storybook were more confident in retelling and recalling the story.

The specific format or instructions employed in the research can also affect the generalization among the same or different populations. For instance, a specific pedagogical agent format that shows attraction towards the younger population might not show the same effects on adolescents and adults [ 58 ]. Similarly, the instructions designed to visualize in animation may not be appropriate for visualizing the same in real phenomena [ 39 ]. Binder et al. [ 32 ] suggested conducting more eye-tracking experiments with integrated food cues to attract children's attention toward healthy foods.

5.3. Loss of Participants' Data due to the Restless Audience

The audience becomes restless when the study duration is too long. This may be overcome by regular contact with them or follow-up studies. In some cases, participants find it difficult to spare their free time voluntarily. For instance, many students find it difficult to complete the questionnaire in their free time due to the stressful semester [ 52 ]. Sometimes, it is difficult to compel the participants to make things if they are children or infants. Among 39 children, one refused to retell the comprehensive stories learned through animated storybooks, so the corresponding data was removed from the study [ 57 ]. Two children in an experimental group refused to participate during the middle of the study [ 55 ].

In some cases, the data will be collected indirectly through random websites or by issuing pamphlets to random people. For example, Okoro and Onakpa [ 56 ] have collected data from selected towns in North Central Nigeria by issuing 385 copies of the questionnaire. Among these, 2% of the questionnaire were not received due to the restless audience.

5.4. Issues Associated with Calibration

The calibration of devices employed for measuring participants' visual attention plays a vital role in acquiring good quality data and aids in providing a better focus on the participants. Unfortunately, due to poor calibration (> 1) of the eye-tracking device, deviated results were obtained from five children, which may negatively impact the overall results [ 32 ].

5.5. Audience Requiring Assistance

The most important challenge faced in the study is to find the audience who requires assistance to participate in the study. Furthermore, this might help in acquiring better and more appropriate results. For example, Danaei et al. [ 27 ] have identified and helped the children who had struggled to start retelling the story learned through AR story book. And they were encouraged to continue the story.

5.6. Technology Issues and Mechanical Constraints

The technological issues may be caused due to unavoidable faults in the devices employed in the study. Due to this issue, the data points measured will be low, resulting in removing those data points. For example, in a study by Hendrikse et al. [ 43 ], the electrodes reached saturation due to the loose connection in the EOG (electrooculogram) electrodes for some participants. This, in turn, affected the data quality, and the corresponding data point was removed until it was adjusted to drift compensation. Similarly, two children were excluded from the study due to the problem that occurred in the stimulus presentation of fruit and candy [ 32 ].

5.7. Anxiety among Audience

Anxiety among the audience is another challenge faced during experimenting with new ideas. For example, al-Balushi et al. [ 53 ] have attempted to teach the critical concepts of 12th grade chemistry through animation. However, the students facing stressful periods due to the important exam in 12th grade made them anxious about the adoption of new teaching technology, which negatively affected the results. Nevertheless, the study still showed healthier results with improved spatial ability and reasoning skills of those students.

5.8. Maintaining Audience Attention

Another challenge in making animation successful is maintaining the viewer's attention. Attention can be influenced by various factors like animation span, animation intensity, animated character, the motion of the animated character, and sound. Likewise, it may be affected by intervening factors such as restlessness of the audience in the real-time study settings and eye irritation. This situation can be overcome by conducting studies in a silent room where the audience can focus on the visual animation without getting distracted by external factors [ 49 ]. In some cases, the audience may get distracted by the instructions provided in the animation video [ 39 ].

5.9. Issue of Data Quality

One of the significant issues faced while carrying out studies is the quality of data obtained. And it may be influenced by the missing data due to an error in the instruments employed. It can either affect the result or may be corrected. For instance, due to the eye-tracking device's problem, children's eye movements were not clearly captured, which resulted in extremely low fixation time [ 57 ]. Similarly, 31.4% of EOG data were missing due to some error in the device. However, the missing data points are adjusted by entering them as not-a-number in the analysis [ 43 ]. Figure 5 illustrates the open challenges associated with this research.

6. Future Research Directions

The priority areas identified for future research directions are elaborated to strengthen the body of evidence. These include the advanced applications of animations that may make life easier and are listed in Figure 6 and are elaborated below.

Future research directions.

The foremost application could include artificial intelligence (AI) that may generate 3D motion from video without any capture equipment [ 60 ]. The AI and advanced hardware can bring breathing life into animation by blurring the lines between the virtual and real characters. The application of AI into animation has reduced the post-production time, limited the need for character design, and aids in improved lip-syncing [ 61 ]. The explainable AI is an artificial intelligence operation that runs on deep neural networks. The practical applicability and promotion of the AI tool are enhanced by developing computational help [ 62 ]. The major challenges in AI are to succeed explainability in its program, which can be facilitated with animation techniques [ 63 ]. The explainable AI can be adopted in autonomous car decision-making and energy efficiency in smart homes [ 64 ] and medical imaging [ 65 , 66 ]. Meanwhile, generative AI is a machine learning algorithm that can generate new content through text, images, and audio content. In addition, it can generate human-like language output [ 67 ].

Analyzing a large amount of fragmented data can be simplified by converging the big data and augmented analytics. Moreover, it helps to provide simplified statements to the customers in an understandable manner [ 68 ]. The visualization of a large pool of data can be made easier with the help of animation. Moreover, the data visualization can be integrated with augmented and virtual reality [ 69 ]. The big data and augmented analytics play a major role in video gaming. For instance, Pokemon Go is a location-based Japanese video game franchise. This game transforms the gamer's physical location into an augmented world where the characters are superimposed on the reality seen through their mobiles. The Global Positioning System (GPS), a major staple of big data, makes this possible by allowing data collection and storing it upon the crowd-sourced data [ 70 ].

Quantum computing deals with pulling together the theoretical ideas of computer science and fundamental physics. It has been the focus of many large companies such as Google, IBM, and Microsoft. The algorithm created from quantum computing concepts can be employed to design a 3D modeling [ 71 ]. It is based on the qubits that give rise to new logic gates, which enable constructing a new algorithm. However, it is still in its emerging phase, and for future development, it is necessary to overcome the obstacles like decoherence and scalability issues [ 72 ].

The collaboration of robots and machines to perform a day-to-day task will be the perception of the modern era. However, its ethical issues are yet to be analyzed and eradicated [ 73 ]. Internet of Everything (IoE) provides interconnection of physical items to frame an information network that provides smart communication services to the users. The IoE finds applications in the fields like health care, smart grids, smart cities, smart homes, manufacturing, and transport [ 74 ].

Digital twin technology provides a virtual representation of a physical product consisting of information from the product's origin to its life cycle management. The general applicability of the digital twin lies in physical entities like agricultural supply chains, automotive wiring harnesses, smart cars, and farms, and virtual entities like health monitoring and scheduling [ 75 ]. The animation concepts play a vital role in mirroring the design concepts and visualizing them during the conceptual designing stage of the digital twin [ 76 ]. For instance, while designing the speed of the machines, synchronization can be achieved by controlling the rate of animation frames [ 77 ].

Another major industrial revolution is the cyber-physical system (CPS), composed of highly integrated computation, communication, control, and physical elements. The CPS research is emerging in education [ 78 ], agriculture [ 79 ], and manufacturing. For instance, in the manufacturing sector, the CPS may bridge the gap between design and manufacturing [ 80 ]. It extends the manufacturing process with a communication interface that mimics the worker assistance system. Furthermore, the animation is used to assist the operation flow of instruments in the worker assistance system [ 81 ]. However, the CPS development is still in the embryonic stage as it faces challenges such as security, privacy, efficiency, and interoperability [ 82 ].

The interaction and fusion between the physical space and virtual space are facilitated with the advancements in the 3R technology (virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR)). The VR is a simulated environment designed in real time using computer graphics and pictures of the scene in 3D. It will immerse the viewer into the virtual environment, closing them completely away from the outside world. Meanwhile, AR is an interactive environment that is designed by increasing this fusion between the physical and virtual space. The viewers can interact with the animated data and instructional information superimposed over the real-world view through devices such as mobile phones or tablets. At the same time, the MR simulation environment is designed from the fusion of real-world and virtual space comprising the co-existence interaction of physical objects and digital objects. Two or more viewers can be networked together in a virtual environment where they can interact with computer-generated objects on the real world [ 83 , 84 ]. In recent span, the AR, VR and MR applications have been widely used in health-care monitoring [ 84 , 85 ], clinical applications in oral and maxillofacial surgery [ 86 , 87 ], improvising nursing skills [ 52 ], and enhanced teaching strategy [ 27 ].

7. Conclusions

This paper highlighted a systematic review of 35 publications about animation's importance and its impact on viewer's visual attention and cognition. These publications were collected from 2015 to 2021 and are grouped into 3 categories. The risk of bias in the study design carried out in these publications was briefed. The attention-related factors such as animation motion, animated character, color, and intensity were assessed in the field of food marketing, teaching, entertainment, and advertisement. The animation motion and animated character are significant, whereas color and intensity are insignificant. The cognitive effects developed in the viewers are executive function, comprehension, spatial ability, and symbolic mediation. Meanwhile, the physical effects included confidence in their own body image and the importance of physical exercise. The limitations and recommendations associated with these 35 publications were elaborated. Also, the open challenges and issues under each category were summarized. The identified future research directions ideas may further strengthen the necessity for improving the visual quality of the animation.

The major limitation of this study is that the recently published articles were not included (i.e., publications in 2022). Several important animation research fields, such as gaming, medical, and entertainment, were not covered in this paper. Future research should include the recently published articles to enhance the quality and validate the findings in this study. In addition, the future study focuses on assessing the influence of animation motion and animated characters on the viewer's visual attention.

Data Availability

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Animation & Visual Effects: Master's Thesis Projects

• Last Updated: Apr 18, 2024 11:49 AM
• URL: https://libguides.academyart.edu/animation-visual-effects

• 44-207-097-1871

Dissertation Writing Tools

• 1. Complete Dissertation Writing Guide - eBook
• 2. Dissertation Templates Pack
• 3. Research Methodology Handbook
• 4. Academic Writing Checklist
• 5. Citation Style Guide
• 6. Time Management for Dissertation Writing
• 7. Literature Review Toolkit
• 8. Grammar and Style Guide
• 9. Dissertation Proposal Template
• 10.Five Pre-written Full Dissertation Papers

Animation Topics for Writing a Perfect Animation Dissertation

Animation Dissertation Ideas and Examples Searching for the right dissertation topic becomes a nightmare for you. Are you stuck in finding the best animation dissertation topics and now you are like pulling your hair out? This article will serve you with 10 animation dissertation topics However, it is more important for you to know the basics […]

Table of Contents

Animation Dissertation Ideas and Examples

Searching for the right dissertation topic becomes a nightmare for you. Are you stuck in finding the best animation dissertation topics and now you are like pulling your hair out?

This article will serve you with 10 animation dissertation topics

However, it is more important for you to know the basics of animation dissertation before jumping directly to these topics. Here are some guidelines provided for you, which will help you with animation dissertation Ideas.

Why it is different from the other dissertations?

Animation dissertation writing is the same as normal dissertation writing with the inclusion of animation through photographs, drawings, and charts. It makes the dissertation interesting and it captures the attention of a reader.

Show you creativity

Creativity brings pleasure to writing coupled with more comprehension and brevity. As per a normal dissertation, an animation dissertation has a topic. Therefore; proper thought must be given to animation dissertation topics. Poor thought may lead to a poor dissertation and a waste of time and energy.

Furthermore, thought must be given to the structure of the writing. A well-thought structure brings inspiration and quality to the work. Also, a poor structure creates a mess. Consequently, it leads to a poor dissertation. Being a student or a professional, one must create a complete work plan which includes the date of submission, areas of the topic to be covered, and all such things.

Explore your ideas

The most important phase in this type of dissertation is the choice of animation dissertation ideas, for it includes the appropriate video formats and drawings. Moreover, it takes time to gather all the relevant animation and information regarding the topic, making the choice all important.

So the instructor or tutor should be consulted for such a task and animation dissertation questions must be taken into account. There should be more emphasis on the current topics having related animated material. Nevertheless, all the animation instances must be included in the appendix.

Moving an idea to the topic

There are many ideas for animation dissertation topics that can be used in an animation dissertation. They are as follows

• The effect of different types of kinematics and dynamic methods on animation
• The natural light simulation in 3D animation
• Creating different advanced systems for multiple applications
• Using 3D in printing
• A thorough study of animation art
• Animation and facial effects
• Using the texturing art in animation and games
• Animation editing and formatting
• Animations and role of emotions
• Film making on the internet

Moreover, 3D animation films and cartoons, artificial animals for computer animation, digital images, etc. can also serve as animation dissertation topics.

The above-mentioned list of topics will serve better for the students searching for animation dissertation topics. Above all, after choosing appropriate animation dissertation topics, the beginning and end should be strong and substantial, creating a lasting impression on the reader.

The introduction must include the importance of the topic and the areas to be covered and the conclusion must be well thought out and includes the whole summary.

Related Posts:

• Best 53 Animation Research Topics ideas with examples
• Illustration Dissertation Topics ideas and Examples

Paid Topic Mini Proposal (500 Words)

You will get the topics first and then the mini proposal which includes:

• An explanation why we choose this topic.
• 2-3 research questions.
• Key literature resources identification.
• Suitable methodology including raw sample size and data collection method
• View a Sample of Service

Note: After submiting your order please must check your email [inbox/spam] folders for order confirmation and login details.If email goes in spam please mark not as spam to avoid any communication gap between us.

Get An Expert Dissertation Writing Help To Achieve Good Grades

By placing an order with us, you can get;

• Writer consultation before payment to ensure your work is in safe hands.
• Free topic if you don't have one
• Draft submissions to check the quality of the work as per supervisor's feedback
• Free revisions
• Complete privacy
• Plagiarism Free work
• Guaranteed 2:1 (With help of your supervisor's feedback)
• 2 Instalments plan
• Special discounts

Other Related Posts

• Dissertation Topics in International Relations February 20, 2024 -->
• Unlock Your Academic Potential with the Right Topics for Dissertation October 12, 2023 -->
• 89+ Best Unique and Informative Speech Topics for Students January 6, 2023 -->
• Employment Law Dissertation Topics January 4, 2023 -->
• 59 Best Environmental Law Dissertation Topics & Examples January 4, 2023 -->
• 37 Monetary economics dissertation topics ideas March 20, 2022 -->
• 39 Economic geography dissertation topics examples March 19, 2022 -->
• 37 Public economics dissertation topics Ideas March 18, 2022 -->
• 39 Financial Economics Dissertation Topics Ideas March 17, 2022 -->
• 39 Experimental economics dissertation topics Ideas March 16, 2022 -->
• 39 Environmental Economics Dissertation Topics Ideas and Samples March 15, 2022 -->
• 39 Health economics dissertation topics Ideas and Examples March 14, 2022 -->
• 39 Business economics dissertation topics Ideas and Examples March 13, 2022 -->
• 39 Behavioral Economics Dissertation Topics Examples March 12, 2022 -->
• 39 Agricultural Economics Dissertation Topics Examples March 11, 2022 -->

WhatsApp and Get 35% off promo code now!

• På svenska
•   Ammattikorkeakoulut
• Kaakkois-Suomen ammattikorkeakoulu
• Opinnäytetyöt
• Näytä viite

Making a game character move: Animation and motion capture for video games

Brusi, piia (2021).

Avaa tiedosto

Tiivistelmä, selaa kokoelmaa, henkilökunnalle.

• Publications
• Completed Theses

Bachelor and Master Theses

We permanently offer topics for bachelor and master thesis projects in all areas of our research field and in related areas. Currently, the research of our group covers the following topics: interactive simulation of rigid bodies and deformable solids, fluid simulation, cutting and fracturing, medical simulation, massively parallel computation on GPUs, game physics, collision detection and real-time visualization. Each thesis topic is usually specified in cooperation with one of our research assistants and/or Prof. Bender considering the student's individual interests and his/her previous knowledge as well as the current research topics of the Computer Animation group. In order to guarantee a successful completion of the thesis, we usually expect our student to have

• Good knowledge and practical experience in C/C++ and object-oriented programming
• Basic knowledge of numerics, algorithms and data-structures

Below you find a (non-complete) list of currently open theses. If you are interested in another research topic, please contact us.

Lagrangian fluid simulations are based on a particle representation. The particles are used for all computations. However, for the visualization a surface mesh is required.

The goal of this thesis is to develop a surface reconstruction algorithm for large particle sets in C++. This algorithm should be optimized in terms of memory consumption and performance. Moreover, techniques to improve the quality of the surface should be evaluated. The new approach should be tested with particle data of our fluid simulation framework .

Contact: Prof. Dr. Jan Bender

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is a well-known technique to perform realistic simulations of fluids like water. Using SPH the fluid is discretized by particles which are then used to solve the Navier-Stokes Equations for incompressible fluids. However, at the surface of a fluid there are not enough particles for accurate computations. This particle deficiency problem prevents the usage of more efficient solvers. One solution is to create ghost particles at the surface in each simulation step to improve the discretization. However, this is computationally expensive.

The goal of this bachelor thesis is to investigate the particle deficiency problem and to implement a more efficient ghost particle approach using C++. The new approach should be integrated in our SPH framework .

The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is widely used to simulate liquids like water. However, SPH is rarely used to simulate gaseous phenomena like steam or smoke. One major challenge is to model interactions between the gas particles and the surrounding air. The standard approach is to simulate the air flow using SPH particles. But in practice it is computationally too expensive to simulate large volumes of invisible air particles. Another challenge is the simulation of highly turbulent motion, which is strongly damped because of numerical errors when standard SPH methods are used.

The goal of this master thesis is to develop and implement a smoke simulation method based on SPH, which simulates only the visible smoke particles (or a narrow band of air particles around them). Further, a micropolar fluid model shall be used to simulate detailed turbulences. Working on this project includes implementing a SPH fluid simulation in our framework using C++ and comparing the newly developed approach with existing methods.

Jump to navigation

CFP (Chapters): Animation and Seriality; Animation in Theatrical Spaces

CFP (Book Chapters): Animation and Seriality; Animation in Theatrical Spaces CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Encyclopedia of Animation Studies Vol. 2: Techniques, Processes, Environments (Bloomsbury, 2026)

We invite proposals for two chapters to be published in the second volume of the Encyclopedia of Animation Studies: Techniques, Processes, Environments (Bloomsbury, 2026). The expansive four-volume series showcases established and emerging scholarship on animation, including transdisciplinary approaches that consider the proliferating forms and functions of animation today. This second volume (edited by Dr. Franziska Bruckner, Dr. Alla Gadassik, and Dr. Jordan Gowanlock), focuses specifically on animation techniques, processes, and environments – how, where, and why animation is made and exhibited.

The following two chapters will address specific gaps identified in the volume. The proposal and draft submission timeline is best suited for emerging or established scholars who are already preparing manuscripts on these topics.

- Seriality : this chapter would address seriality as a production context or organizing form in animation. The chapter can attend to common themes, temporal structures, formal patterns, and/or modes of address in serial animation.

- Theatrical Spaces: this chapter would explore animation’s relationship to theatrical spaces as specific sites of exhibition and/or reception.

We are interested in contributions that can speak to the broader scope of each chapter’s topic, while also articulating a specific argument based on the author’s research. The chapters would be 7,000 words in length.

Proposals should include a chapter title, an abstract (300 words), and a short author bio (50 words). Inquiries and questions in advance of proposal submission are welcome. Proposals should be submitted to Dr. Jordan Gowanlock ( [email protected] ) by Friday, May 31, 2024. All received proposals will receive responses by June 10, 2024. First drafts of chapters will be due by August 31, 2024 for scheduled publication in 2026.

May 15, 2024

Class of 2024: Master of Fine Arts student explores the intersection of voice and gender identity

Multisensory thesis exhibition by artist-designer taehee incorporates sound and sight for an experience with personal resonance.

Share this story.

• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook
• Share on LinkedIn

By Dina Weinstein

Giving voice to … voice,  taehee  used their Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition to create an immersive experience that connects gender, anatomy, memory and sound.

The Virginia Commonwealth University  School of the Arts  graduate student was featured at the school’s Anderson Gallery recently. Their digital media installation featured two audio-visual elements in adjoining dark rooms.

“For both pieces, I thought about how much of gender perception or identity people assign on the voice, but it’s also not something you immediately think of as a gender representation,” taehee said.

Both dark rooms had wall-size projections. In one, an audio visualizer projected images as it responded to narration or reacted to environmental sounds. In the other, guests could sit on a mirror on the floor to watch a projection of words rising like in karaoke, with the shiny reflection creating a perfect circle. The words were from a conversation with a friend on past experiences and voice changes connected to gender fluidity for those on hormone therapy.

“I used a lot of technologies like speech-to-text function. I wanted to have like a reverse karaoke,” taehee said. “So much of my thesis research has been about queer and transgender community and their relationship with voice – and how gender-affirming care and medical care also dissects voice.”

Inspiration for the project, which also featured a model of a larynx, included their experiences with a voice coach, readings on opera and homosexuality, and reflections on Korean history and identity – and relating those elements to trans and queer experiences and culture, taehee said.

Born in Korea, taehee spent some of their childhood in California and later moved with their family to Columbia, Missouri, in junior high school. They earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design but developed a strong interest in video and storytelling.

“Even though painting can be so beautiful in itself, you can only see one moment, like a photo,” taehee said.

They moved to New York City to work in graphic design and got immersed in zine and artist book-making. They ran a zine collective called Hyperlink Press, which focused on the queer Korean diaspora and online community.

For graduate school, taehee wanted to study digital media, including virtual reality, augmented reality and kinetic imaging. Through zine and book fairs, they had met associate professor  Nicole Killian , VCU’s  graphic design program  graduate director, which drew them to Richmond.

Last summer, taehee accomplished a goal to pursue corporate graphic design work along with academic research and their personal projects. They interned at  Forbes  business magazine, creating graphics to accompany articles.

“I love paper publications, but with digital publication, it is something that needs human interaction in a different format than a book, which is why it aligned with my interest to make weird or very alternative reading experiences,” taehee said.

They also turned introspective, investigating and creating personal stories – about being “assigned female at birth, nonbinary person, and my body and medical system that I encounter in my personal life.” The resulting book focused on their ovarian cyst rupturing.

“I wrote about it in a perspective like, I didn’t know this thing was growing, but it felt like I was almost like an oyster that was growing this pearl. And then my body was generating that, latching on to some idea of femininity, conjuring the idea of how my mom is also trying to understand my queerness,” taehee said.

Their time in Richmond featured an array of other experiences. This year, through an internship, taehee created graphics  to accompany exhibits at VCU’s Institute for Contemporary Art . And throughout their degree program, they conducted research on 3D web coding and digital fabrication – taehee relished having access to tools and machinery that allowed them to create a variety of media and work. Academic highlights included classes on computational media and the politics and theory around extended reality.

After graduation, taehee expects to return to New York City, but they said their professional and artistic passions now have more potential outlets, thanks to the foundation they deepened in their VCU studies.

Subscribe to VCU News

Subscribe to VCU News at newsletter.vcu.edu and receive a selection of stories, videos, photos, news clips and event listings in your inbox.

• May 2024 graduates

Related stories

Class of 2024: Combining documentary and animation, Kiara Brown inventively explores family history and Vietnamese medicine

Class of 2024: VCUarts actor Lukas D’Errico going from one stage to another

Class of 2024: Hope Ollivant found artistic expression in many forms

Most popular

Graduation Scenes

May 3, 2024

Class of 2024: Inspired by his own journey, VCU nursing student Aaron Wimer aims to make an impact in mental health care

May 8, 2024

VCU to celebrate May commencement on Saturday

May 10, 2024

VCU Board of Visitors sets 2024-25 tuition and fees

Latest headlines

10 innovative research projects earn latest funding from VCU’s Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Fund

May 14, 2024

Class of 2024: Model student, military veteran and mom Thomasine Isler walked a long path to graduation

• Bibliography
• More Referencing guides Blog Automated transliteration Relevant bibliographies by topics
• Automated transliteration
• Relevant bibliographies by topics
• Referencing guides

Dissertations / Theses on the topic '3D modeling and animation'

Create a spot-on reference in apa, mla, chicago, harvard, and other styles.

Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic '3D modeling and animation.'

Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.

You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.

Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.

Krawczyk, Piotr. "Futurist sculpting: modeling movement in 3D." Texas A&M University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/5014.

Vimont, Ulysse. "Nouvelles méthodes pour la modélisation interactive d'objets complexes et d'animations." Thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes (ComUE), 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016GREAM073/document.

Williams, Jared Van. "Rocky: virtual sculpting as the basis for computer generated character development." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2012. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/3011.

Nadtoka, Nataliya. "Analysis modelling and animation of emotional speech in 3d." Thesis, University of Surrey, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.549468.

Wang, Jing. "Reconstruction and Analysis of 3D Individualized Facial Expressions." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/32588.

Wei, Xiaozhou. "3D facial expression modeling and analysis with topographic information." Diss., Online access via UMI:, 2008.

Triki-Bchir, Olfa. "Modélisation, reconstruction et animation de personnages virtuels 3D à partir de dessins manuels 2D." Phd thesis, Université René Descartes - Paris V, 2005. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00273248.

Bailey, Shasta. "Building and Using a Character in 3D Space." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2014. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/214.

Nikoo, Elham. "Come with Me." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/82404.

Spousta, Martin. "Elektronický obchod ve 3D rozměru." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta podnikatelská, 2011. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-222821.

Černý, Miloš. "Komplexní animace v 3D Studiu Max." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta informačních technologií, 2011. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-236931.

Holden, Allison Marissa. "Tumble time." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2014. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/4646.

Sampedro, Paula Poiet. "Estudos da linguagem audiovisual em animações estereoscópicas : análise da representação tridimensional nas narrativas." Universidade Federal de São Carlos, 2016. https://repositorio.ufscar.br/handle/ufscar/8264.

Van, Wyk Desmond Eustin. "Virtual human modelling and animation for real-time sign language visualisation." University of the Western Cape, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/2998.

Angles, Baptiste. "Modélisation géométrique par primitives." Thesis, Toulouse 3, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019TOU30060.

Salisbury, Brian. "OF GODS, BEASTS AND MEN: DIGITAL SCULPTURE." Master's thesis, Orlando, Fla. : University of Central Florida, 2009. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002587.

Akagunduz, Erdem. "Simulation Of Turkish Lip Motion And Facial Expressions In A 3d Environment And Synchronization With A Turkish Speech Engine." Master's thesis, METU, 2004. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/1123025/index.pdf.

Skrip, Betsy. "Imaging the airways : 3D modeling of a complete respiratory airway for use in computational flow dynamics studies of particle deposition in the lungs ; Creation of an educational animation about the respiratory system for use in the Human Visualization Project and CollaboRITorium /." Online version of thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/7744.

Ecormier-Nocca, Pierre. "Authoring consistent, animated ecosystems : Efficient learning from partial data." Thesis, Institut polytechnique de Paris, 2020. http://www.theses.fr/2020IPPAX078.

Thurnauer, Mark H. "Lightscape as a Design Tool for Thematic Daylighting Design." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2001. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami988735302.

Malciu, Marius. "Approches orientées modèle pour la capture des mouvements du visage en vision par ordinateur." Phd thesis, Université René Descartes - Paris V, 2001. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00273232.

Leonardi, Valentin. "Modélisation dynamique et suivi de tumeur dans le volume rénal." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2014. http://www.theses.fr/2014AIXM4056/document.

Prokeš, Marek. "Modely elektrických přístrojů v moderních CAD systémech." Master's thesis, Vysoké učení technické v Brně. Fakulta elektrotechniky a komunikačních technologií, 2008. http://www.nusl.cz/ntk/nusl-217604.

Billström, Johan, and Alexander Fjellström. "3D-animation i reklamfilm." Thesis, Södertörn University College, School of Communication, Media and it, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-2597.

Study objects : Three different productions companies which the authors have chosen to be anonymous. Purpose : The purpose with this study is to examine why production companies choose to use 3D-animations in television commercials, and what different kind of aspects affects their decisions. Theoretical : The theoretical chapter reviews the history of 3D-animation andtelevision commercials and other fields that will be relevant laterin the analysis and discussion. Method : A case study has been made on three different companies, two of the companies are active in post-production and the other one is active in the consulting area. Data was collected through semistructured interviews with two of the companies. The last interview was conducted via e-mail. Conclusions : There were different ground aspects (economy, control, targetaudience, consumer impression) that affected a productioncompany’s decision in whether or not to use 3D-animation in theirproductions of television commercials.

Ottosson, Joakim, and Stefan Eriksson. "3D Animation Karlshamns AB." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för teknokultur, humaniora och samhällsbyggnad, 2005. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-1524.

Karlsson, Tobias. "Kroppsspråk i 3d-animation : Lögner hos 3d-karaktärer." Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för kommunikation och information, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-5022.

Guler, Mehmet Soner. "3d Animation For Hand Preshaping." Master's thesis, METU, 2006. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/2/12607117/index.pdf.

Song, Won Chan. "Speed-line for 3D animation." Texas A&M University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/4730.

Crow, Trent Fielding. "Stylized Hatching for 3D Animation." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2007. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1046.

BEZERRA, HEDLENA MARIA DE ALMEIDA. "3D COLORIZING FOR 2D ANIMATION." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2005. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=7715@1.

Gouvatsos, Alexandros. "3D storyboarding for modern animation." Thesis, Bournemouth University, 2018. http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/31265/.

Perez, Alain François. "Modélisation de la dynamique du carpe." Phd thesis, Université Joseph Fourier (Grenoble), 1994. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00344523.

Arjunan, Dorai Raj. "3D Animation: Creating an Experiential Environment." [Johnson City, Tenn. : East Tennessee State University], 2004. http://etd-submit.etsu.edu/etd/theses/available/etd-0719104-174201/unrestricted/Arj%20with%20animation%2017KB.pdf.

Chin, Min-Zhi. "Naga: Combining 2D and 3D Animation." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2013. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/119.

Drury, Matthew R. "Creating 3D Smear Frames for Animation." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2016. https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/348.

Harvey, Louise, and n/a. "The Best of Both Worlds: The Application of Traditional Animation Principles in 3D Animation Software." Griffith University. Griffith Film School, 2007. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20070810.105026.

Ghys, Charlotte. "Analyse, Reconstruction 3D, & Animation du Visage." Phd thesis, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, 2010. http://pastel.archives-ouvertes.fr/pastel-00555140.

Greenberg, Jonathan. "Real time 3D animation using progressive transmission." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2000. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape3/PQDD_0027/MQ51718.pdf.

Chrysanthou, Yiorgos. "Shadow computation for 3D interaction and animation." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.244505.

Ghys, Charlotte. "Analyse, reconstruction 3D, et animation du visage." Marne-la-Vallée, ENPC, 2010. http://www.theses.fr/2010ENPC1005.

Higa, Mitsutoshi. "Perception Based Character Modeling and Animation." Texas A&M University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/90682.

O'Brien, James F. "Graphical modeling and animation of fracture." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/13074.

Ma, Minhua. "Automatic conversion of natural language to 3D animation." Thesis, University of Ulster, 2006. http://radar.gsa.ac.uk/876/.

Cavusoglu, Abdullah. "Providing language facilities for 3D articulated figure animation." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.333407.

Tutar, Mustafa. "Simplified techniques for motion entourage in 3D animation /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2004. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p1422972.

Rivera, Fiona MacDonald. "An improved computational model for effective 3D animation." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2017. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/25937.

Au, Kristin C. "Animation : 2D versus 3D and their combined effect." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/92640.

Huang, Chien-Chieh, and 黃健桀. "3D Facial Modeling and Animation with Speech / Lip Synchronization for Human-Robot Interactions." Thesis, 2011. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/51811848990537700868.

Tsai, Dong-Sheng, and 蔡東昇. "A Study on the Implementation of Object-Oriented 3D Visual Realism on Kinematic Modeling & Animation." Thesis, 1997. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/35386939060546056483.

Abson, Karl, Hassan Ugail, and Stanley S. Ipson. "A methodology for feature based 3D face modelling from photographs." 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/2435.

Search Icon

Events See all →

Hands on history.

10:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Penn Museum, 3260 South St.

268th Commencement

Franklin Field

Vahe Sarkissian

World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St.

Wawa Welcome America Day

10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Campus & Community

A Class like no other

As three fourth-year students look forward to commencement, a look back at their penn journey, which started during a global pandemic..

It was a Move-In like no other : first-years arriving at their College Houses for the first time during the early days of January 2021. Wearing masks and following pandemic protocols, they pushed their carts to their single rooms to start their college experience. Those first-years are now fourth-years at the end of their final undergraduate semester, heading toward Commencement.

Moving in that January were Max Cass from Haddonfield, New Jersey; Carmen Harrison Montoya from Houston; and Babatomiwa Sofela from Lagos, Nigeria, all three in the College of Arts and Sciences . They were among 400 moving in that Sunday.

While the world raced to find a COVID-19 vaccine, their classroom was a computer. These classmates had to find new ways to find each other, online during the fall semester and on campus in the spring semester.

Pandemic restrictions meant dining halls were closed and group activities inside were restricted. Safety protocols meant distancing, hand-washing, mask-wearing, daily health-symptom checks, and weekly COVID tests. Red and green passes displayed on cell phones determined entrance to buildings.

Most had been in the Class of 2020 in high school, their senior years scuttled by the pandemic, proms and graduations and final-year celebrations cancelled or significantly curtailed.  

“Many of us would like to forget all of this,” says Paul Sniegowski , dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Being young, they’re sure to remember and tell stories about it for the rest of their lives. Yet despite all of the challenges they faced in finishing high school and starting here at Penn, this class has distinguished itself for its outstanding scholarship and its civic-mindedness.

“Members of this class have won prestigious national and international scholarships for postgraduate work; have conducted and published peer-reviewed research across the natural sciences, social, sciences, and humanities; have engaged locally, regionally, and globally with our West Philadelphia community and the world; and have made their voices heard in the great concerns of our day,” Sniegowski says.

“All of our graduating classes are special: this class is one that has risen above their difficult transition from high school to college and will be remembered with great admiration by us all for their resilience in a difficult time.”

Arriving on campus that January, Cass and his parents pushed moving carts up the ramp and into Harnwell House. Cass said that day that he felt like he “really lacked the college experience, so, when we got the news that we were allowed to come back, I was ecstatic.”

Cass and his friends have often talked about what it was like for them that first year, he says, “and just how hard it was becomes even more apparent” as they have experienced the campus without COVID restrictions. “It definitely makes me sad knowing that we didn’t get that typical freshman year,” he says, noting that he has a “little bit of jealousy” for the younger students who have had an easier time.

They weren't allowed in each other’s rooms or in dorms other than their own, and it was too cold to be outside together for too long. “There was a constant fear of hanging out with people. We really couldn’t with the COVID policies,” he says. “I totally understand that was necessary, but it was really difficult.”

In his work-study job, Cass has been at the front desk of Penn Residential Services , triaging calls from parents and students and prospective students and regularly talking with Penn staff. “It’s ironic, because freshman year the policies that were the hardest to adapt to were coming from the department for housing,” he says. “Knowing where those policies were coming from, and the people that they were coming from, I have a deeper appreciation for how much those people care.”

Cass is in the interdisciplinary major of politics, philosophy, and economics, with a concentration in choice and behavior. He has taken diverse courses, including clay, poetry, Russian literature, and strategic reasoning. Philosophy courses were some of his favorites. “I tried to take as many cool classes as I could,” he says.

A gender-and-media course was important because that’s where he met professor Sarah Banet-Weiser , now dean of the Annenberg School for Communication . He did an independent study course with her, and she is also his advisor for his honors thesis, on how a rising consumer demand for authenticity affects queer representation.

He also has been a research assistant for Penn’s Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics , interested “in the power of social norms in determining our choice and behavior” because of his exploration of his own sexuality and identity, he says.

In the spring of his third year, Cass studied in Paris with Penn Abroad, a “spectacular experience” which included travel through Europe, and connections with more Penn classmates. “I was able meet totally new people and expand who I was hanging out with at Penn,” he says. “I still have those friends, and now they’re friends with my friends.”

During his final semester, Cass says he has been focusing on “cementing these really good friendships that I’ve made hanging out with friends every single day.”

Cass is planning to take a gap year to travel and backpack, doing conservation and agriculture work, with his good friend Chloë Mouzakitis, a fourth-year biology major who also works at Residential Services. He also plans to study for the LSAT and apply to law schools to start in the fall of 2025.

“I’ve had really great experiences with the advising and the professors at Penn. I’ve been very fortunate to have a support system,” says Cass. “It was hard freshman year, but I’m impressed by the resilience among a lot of the students because they are still very involved and still doing a lot of really cool things.”

Carmen Harrison Montoya

Wrestling large suitcases with the help of her mother, that January move-in was the first time Harrison Montoya had seen Penn’s campus. “I’m so excited. I really can’t wait to explore it all,” she said as she stood in the center of the Quad. “It just all seems like a world of opportunity.”

Harrison Montoya has found many opportunities during her years at Penn, including a semester working at the White House, a summer internship in Argentina, and a work-study job in the Gittis Legal Clinic s at Penn Carey Law School . She is a double-major in political science and criminology with a concentration in political science and international relations.

During those first few hours on campus she was waving hello to classmates she had connected with online. “Everyone would follow each other on Instagram, and there would be ways to video chat with new people and clubs,” she says. “Penn did a really great job at fostering virtual connection that first semester.”

In a research position at Perry World House as a second-year, she focused on military technology and artificial intelligence. She became interested in international politics, international law, and how technology like AI influences military and governments.

And she started to travel, first with a summer internship in Buenos Aires with the nonprofit America Solidaria , focused on youth empowerment and education in low-income communities in Central and South America.

“I wanted to continue using my Spanish language and really strengthen that by using it in a professional setting for the first time,” says Harrison Montoya, whose mother is from Colombia. An only child who grew up in Houston, she says she is the first on her father’s side to go to college and the first on her mother’s side to go to college in the United States.

A turning point for Harrison Montoya was her experience in Washington, D.C., with the Penn in Washington program and the White House internship. Working in the Domestic Policy Council under Susan Rice was “life changing,” she says. Each intern was assigned to an aspect of policy, and Harrison Montoya’s was immigration. She “really found community with the other interns” at the White House.

“I think in the end I felt so much more self-worth, and I felt more confident in my abilities to interact with the world around me, especially interacting in an institution like Penn,” she says. “It was hard for me to adjust to the world here at Penn, and I think the White House really gave me that confidence to understand that I deserve to be here. In my next steps, I know that I will be kinder to myself, and that I deserve to be there too.”

Travel has continued, with a trip this semester to Geneva, Switzerland, and the United Nations as a Perry World House Student Fellow . “I would have never been able to travel internationally without Penn,” she says.

During this fourth year, she has worked at Penn’s legal clinics, translating court documents in Spanish and English, and working to keep the filing system organized. Her honors thesis is on lethal autonomous weapons systems and why nations would choose to develop them, which blends her interests in international security, international relations, and international law.

She is currently applying to law school, interested in a career in international humanitarian law.

“I feel like I’ve changed so much as a person but still maintained the core of myself,” she says. “I’m so glad that I could still have that wonder and that joy that I had the first day that I came in.”

Babatomiwa Sofela

Sofela moved into the Quad with help from his older sister, who graduated from the Wharton School in 2020. His other sister was a fourth-year at Wharton at the time.

“Once we came on campus it felt more like the college experience. I was making friends. I was able to meet up with people, with the restrictions, but it felt more like a community experience, a personal experience,” says Sofela, who attended high school in Atlanta.

“But I don't know what exactly I would've been missing because I had no other frame of reference,” he says. “I was just happy to be on campus at that point in time. It felt like I was finally actually starting college.”

After that first year, Sofela was a summer intern with Penn’s Biocultural Anthropological Methods Lab , researching disparities in maternal mortality between Black women and other races in the United States. “It was something that was near to my heart that I wanted to learn more about and help impact in a positive way,” he says.

The fall semester of 2021 was the “most fun I’ve had at Penn, just because everything was new” with fewer pandemic restrictions, Sofela says. He developed most of his relationships that second year, when he lived in Harnwell with his friends “because that’s when everyone was really trying to be outgoing.”

Academics became more challenging, Sofela says, because he started focusing on classes in his major of health and societies, with a possible minor in neuroscience. But he also had an interest in business, and he was looking for summer internships, while working a remote internship for Xenon Health during the school year. “I was trying to juggle different things,” he says, “but that’s when the friends group became more solidified, leading up to junior year.”

Working with Penn’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics during a summer internship and traveling to conferences laying the foundation for a career in business, he made the switch from a pre-med track, deciding on a concentration in health care markets and finance.

Sofela was president of the student group Nigerians at Penn . He also was director of member development for the Black Wharton Undergraduate Association . “That got me interested in consulting and helped me with understanding business more,” he says. And he was part of the Penn chapter of First Generation Investors , teaching high school students about financial literacy.

“Junior year was probably my most impactful year at Penn. I felt I learned the most from my college experience, or at least experienced the most things at once,” he says. Pandemic restrictions that had been in place were finally removed, and he was living in a house with four other students. He worked out regularly at the gym, which “helped a lot with discipline and being able to manage my time better.”

Sofela says that this year it has been important to him to continue making memories with his friends and to go to as many senior events as possible. 

He has decided on a career in health care consulting and already has a job lined up with Ernst & Young-Parthenon in New York City as an associate.

“It’s crazy to me to think about at this point in time how I felt like starting college. I was very unsure on what I wanted to do or why exactly I was here,” he says. “I feel like I’m still very unsure about what I want to do exactly, but I feel like I have a good path I’m starting on and that I’ll be able to figure things out more down the line.”

Class of 2025 relishes time together at Hey Day

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Picturing artistic pursuits

Hundreds of undergraduates take classes in the fine arts each semester, among them painting and drawing, ceramics and sculpture, printmaking and animation, photography and videography. The courses, through the School of Arts & Sciences and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in an art form in a collaborative way.

Penn celebrates operation and benefits of largest solar power project in Pennsylvania

Solar production has begun at the Great Cove I and II facilities in central Pennsylvania, the equivalent of powering 70% of the electricity demand from Penn’s academic campus and health system in the Philadelphia area.

Education, Business, & Law

Investing in future teachers and educational leaders

The Empowerment Through Education Scholarship Program at Penn’s Graduate School of Education is helping to prepare and retain teachers and educational leaders.

‘The Illuminated Body’ fuses color, light, and sound

A new Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition of work by artist Barbara Earl Thomas features cut-paper portraits reminiscent of stained glass and an immersive installation constructed with intricately cut material lit from behind.

Fox to the 'Rescue' this fall with 'Baywatch'-style lifeguard drama, 'Murder in a Small Town'

Fox is going "basic" and "Baywatch"-style with three new scripted series this fall.

The network is adding "Rescue: HI-Surf," a lifeguard drama filmed in Hawaii, and mystery series "Murder in a Small Town," a detective story based on the 2017 Karl Alberg novel set in an idyllic village. New animated comedy "Universal Basic Guys" centers on two brothers who find new purpose when they lose their jobs to automation.

Also returning to the fall lineup: Anthology series "Accused," which works backward to deconstruct a crime, and rescue-drama spinoff "9-1-1: Lone Star," which took a one-season strike-related hiatus. It stars Rob Lowe, who also hosts game show "The Floor." (The original "9-1-1" moved to ABC in March after Fox canceled it, citing its high cost, marking a rare example of a show and its spinoff airing on rival networks.)

This season's schedule has been dominated by unscripted reality and game shows, thanks mostly to the prolonged actors and writers strikes, which didn't affect the network's Sunday animation lineup. College football games will replace "WWE Friday Night SmackDown," which moves to USA Network in September.

At midseason, look for new medical drama "Doc," starring Molly Parker; "Going Dutch," starring Denis Leary as an army colonel in the Netherlands; and the returns of "The Cleaning Lady" and "Alert: Missing Persons Unit," along with comedies "Animal Control" and the animated "Family Guy," "The Great North" and "Grimsburg." Fox also airs the Super Bowl in February and will follow it with an episode of "HI-Surf."

Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

The animated "Housebroken," which most recently aired last summer, will not return.

Fox's fall schedule

All times EDT/PDT; new shows in bold ; new time slots in italics .

Monday : 8, "9-1-1: Lone Star" ; 9, "Rescue: HI-Surf"

Tuesday : 8, "Accused" ; 9, "Murder in a Small Town"

Wednesday : 8, "The Masked Singer"; 9, "The Floor"

Thursday : 8, "Hell's Kitchen"; 9, "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test"

Friday : 8, "Fox College Football Friday"

Saturday : 7, "Fox Sports Saturday"

Sunday : 7, "The OT" (NFL overruns); 7:30, Animation repeats; 8, "The Simpsons"; 8:30, "Universal Basic Guys" ; 9, "Bob's Burgers"; 9:30, "Krapopolis"

• BREAKING NEWS Gulf Intracoastal Waterway closed amid barge crash and oil spill Full Story

Teen walks at graduation after completing doctoral degree at 17

A teenager from Chicago walked in her graduation ceremony this month after earning her doctoral degree at 17.

Dorothy Jean Tillman II told " Good Morning America " that she was homeschooled in her early years before entering college at age 10.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.

In 2020, she said she earned a Master of Science degree, and then, one year later, at age 15, was accepted into the Doctorate of Behavioral Health Management program at Arizona State University.

In December 2023, at 17, Tillman successfully defended her dissertation to earn her doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health from ASU's College of Health Solutions.

On May 6, she walked at ASU's spring commencement ceremony.

Tillman told "GMA" she has always held education in such high regard in part due to her family's background.

"People in my life like my grandmother, who was part of the Civil Rights movement, she of course harped on the importance of education and consistently learning something always," Tillman said. "But the way I always held education so high on my own, aside from being raised that way, was finding different things to be educated about."

She continued, "I feel like that urge to learn something new just never didn't exist for me."

Dr. Lesley Manson, a clinical associate professor at ASU, told "GMA" that Tillman is the youngest person in school history to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health.

Manson said she oversaw Tillman's dissertation for the doctoral program offered through ASU Online.

During her studies, Tillman wrote a journal article of her dissertation and completed an internship at a university student health center, according to Manson.

"She really led change and worked on different forms of management to really reduce healthcare stigma and improve that student population there to be able to enter and accept student health services," she said of Tillman. "It was wonderful to see her and help her navigate some of those personal and professional interactions and grow through those experiences."

Manson described Tillman as an "inquisitive" and "innovative" student, and emphasized just how rare it is to accomplish what she has so far.

"It's a wonderful celebration ... but this is still something so rare and unique," she said. "She has innovative ideas and motivation, which is wonderful, and truly, I think what is inspiring is that she embodies that meaning of being a true leader."

Manson said she hopes Tillman continues to inspire people with her love of learning, saying, "That curiosity is always there, and I think all learners come with that, but it's great to be able to see it in someone so young as well."

Her inspiration and how she gives back to community

illman said her own journey wouldn't be possible without the support of her mom, who she said is one of her biggest motivators.

"Seeing my mother consistently work so hard to continuously uphold our family's legacy, and be that person that everyone was able to go to, if they needed anything ... always seeing [ her ] like [ a ] 'wonder woman' definitely made me want to grow up [ into ] an accomplished person," she said.

An advocate for education, Tillman is also the founder and CEO of a leadership institute that emphasizes the arts and STEM.

"I feel like adding art and putting a focus on it throughout science, technology, engineering and math makes the kids excited to learn all those things," she said. "And it opens them up to all of the possibilities and all the knowledge provided in that area of just STEM."

As for her plans after graduation, Tillman said she is "just like any other teenager, still figuring out what my specific dreams and goals are."

"I'm really just grateful that the world is my oyster, and that I've done so much so young," she said. "And I have time to kind of think that through."

Tillman added that she hopes young people will take away from her story that it's OK to continually figure out what you want to do in life.

"Always remember that everyone has points in their life where they feel like they're figuring it out," she said. "And so figuring things out, not knowing what you want isn't a bad thing. But making the choice not to sit down and try to figure it out is."

Related Topics

• U.S. & WORLD

Chiefs' Harrison Butker takes aim at Biden in commencement speech

Dozens of Duke grads walk out before commencement speech

Columbia University cancels main commencement after protests

A look at commencement ceremonies across US amid protests

Top stories.

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway closed amid barge crash and oil spill

• 5 minutes ago

Couple killed in apparent murder-suicide at NW Harris Co. home: HCSO

WEATHER WATCH: Heavy thunderstorms likely to return on Thursday

Victim of brutal murder caught on camera was retiree from MD Anderson

HISD superintendent accused of funneling tax dollars out of state

Traffic moving again after protest blocked Port of Houston entrance

• 2 hours ago

Umpires toss Astros pitcher Ronel Blanco after foreign substance check

NFL schedule release day arrives for eager Houston Texans and fans