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object-src 'none'; report-uri /w/api.php?action=cspreport&format=json; report-to csp-report-to-endpoint last-modified: Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:55:03 GMT content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 age: 0 accept-ranges: bytes x-cache: cp2047 miss, cp2047 miss x-cache-status: miss server-timing: cache;desc="miss", host;desc="cp2047" strict-transport-security: max-age=106384710; includeSubDomains; preload report-to: { "group": "wm_nel", "max_age": 604800, "endpoints": [{ "url": "https://intake-logging.wikimedia.org/v1/events?stream=w3c.reportingapi.network_error&schema_uri=/w3c/reportingapi/network_error/1.0.0" }] } nel: { "report_to": "wm_nel", "max_age": 604800, "failure_fraction": 0.05, "success_fraction": 0.0} set-cookie: WMF-Last-Access=03-Jul-2026;Path=/;HttpOnly;secure;Expires=Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT set-cookie: WMF-Last-Access-Global=03-Jul-2026;Path=/;Domain=.wikipedia.org;HttpOnly;secure;Expires=Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT set-cookie: WMF-DP=5c1;Path=/;HttpOnly;secure;Expires=Fri, 03 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT x-client-ip: 75.28.18.94 cache-control: private, s-maxage=0, max-age=0, must-revalidate, no-transform vary: Accept-Encoding,X-Subdomain,Cookie,Authorization,User-Agent set-cookie: GeoIP=US:TX:McKinney:33.20:-96.62:v4; Path=/; secure; Domain=.wikipedia.org set-cookie: NetworkProbeLimit=0.001;Path=/;Secure;SameSite=None;Max-Age=3600 set-cookie: WMF-Uniq=v79F1oAlGArCfvXa_hkzCwOSAAAAAFvdlf0paeEt0MifYz64-DWt3272_OufAcoO;Domain=.wikipedia.org;Path=/;HttpOnly;secure;SameSite=None;Expires=Sat, 03 Jul 2027 00:00:00 GMT transfer-encoding: chunked x-request-id: 87be0c02-37d2-4d2f-941c-4df70d0ddd71 x-analytics: 8000 Procedural animation - Wikipedia Jump to content Main menu Main menu move to sidebar hide Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Special pages Search Search Appearance Donate Create account Log in Personal tools Donate Create account Log in Contents move to sidebar hide (Top) 1 See also 2 References Toggle the table of contents Procedural animation 5 languages العربية Deutsch Français Русский Simple English Edit links Article Talk English Read Edit View history Tools Tools move to sidebar hide Actions Read Edit View history General What links here Related changes Upload file Permanent link Page information Cite this page Get shortened URL Switch to legacy parser Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikidata item Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Type of computer animation This article needs more citations . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Procedural animation" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR ( April 2025 ) ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) A procedural animation is a type of computer animation used to automatically generate animation in real-time to allow for a more diverse series of actions than would otherwise be tedious using predefined animations. Example of procedural animation In this example, the first wheel leads the second, the second wheel leads the third. The radius and position of the second wheel are varying over time, the speed of rotation of the third wheel follows. Values have been calculated with a System Dynamics software. Procedural animation is used to simulate particle systems (smoke, fire, water [ 1 ] [ 2 ] ), cloth and clothing , rigid body dynamics , and hair and fur dynamics, as well as character animation. In video games , it is often used for simple or complex actions such as turning a character's head whenever a player looks around (as in Quake III Arena ) or ragdoll physics , which is usually used for the death of a character in which the ragdoll will realistically fall to the floor. A ragdoll usually consists of a series of connected rigid bodies that are programmed to have Newtonian physics acting upon them; therefore, very realistic effects can be generated that would very hardly be possible with traditional animation. For example, a character can die slumped over a cliff and the weight of its upper-body can drag the rest of it over the edge. Even more complex examples of procedural animation can be found in the game Spore wherein user-created creatures will automatically be animated to all actions needed in the game from walking, to driving, to picking things up. In the game Unreal Tournament 3 , bodies who have gone into ragdoll mode to fake death can arise from any position into which they have fallen and get back on their feet. The canceled Indiana Jones game from LucasArts shown at E3 2006 featured character motions that were animated entirely in real-time, with characters dodging, punching, and reacting to the environment based on an engine called Euphoria by NaturalMotion , which has since been used in games such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Backbreaker . [ citation needed ] See also [ edit ] Procedural programming Procedural generation Procedural texture Physics engine Ragdoll physics Game physics Cartoon physics References [ edit ] ↑ Miguel Gomez, "Interactive Simulation of Water Surfaces" in "Game Programming Gems", ed. Mark DeLoura . Charles River Media, 2000, p 187-199, ISBN 1-58450-049-2 ↑ Greg James, “Operations for Hardware-Accelerated Procedural Texture Animation” in “Game Programming Gems 2” ed. Mark DeLoura, Charles River Media, 2001, p 497, ISBN 1-58450-054-9 v t e Animation topics By country Azerbaijan Bangladesh Bhutan Brazil Bulgaria Canada China history Czechia Estonia France Hungary India history Indonesia Iran Italy Japan history Korea North South history Latvia Lithuania Malaysia Mexico Philippines Portugal Romania Russia South Africa Spain Taiwan Thailand Ukraine United Kingdom United States Silent Era The Golden Age World War II Early TV broadcast era Modern TV cable and streaming era Vietnam Industry Animator List Animation department Animation director Story artist Animation studios List Animation database Art pipeline Biologist simulators Animation film festivals international regional Highest-grossing films ( Opening weekends ) Outsourcing International Animation Day Works Films Computer-animated Feature-length Lost or unfinished Package Short Short series Stop-motion Adult animated films Children's animated films Series Adult animated Children's animated Computer-animated Direct-to-video Flash Traditional Internet Television ( list of years in animation · years in animation ) Techniques Traditional Barrier-grid and stereography Flip book Limited animation Masking Rotoscoping Exposure sheet Stop motion Claymation clay painting , strata-cut Cutout ( silhouette ) Graphic Model go motion Object Brickfilm Pixilation Puppetoons Computer 2D 2.5D Flash PowerPoint SVG CSS Multi-sketch Onion skinning 3D T-pose Cel shading CGI Crowd Facial animation Morph target Motion capture facial hand tracking eye tracking Non-photorealistic rendering Physically based animation Procedural Skeletal Virtual cinematography Puppetry Traditional puppetry Digital puppetry Machinima Aniforms Virtual human Live2D Supermarionation Mechanical Animatronics Audio-Animatronics Linear Animation Generator Direct manipulation animation Humanoid animation Idle animation Ink-wash animation Magic Lantern Scanimate Shadowmation Squigglevision Whiteboard animation Other methods Blocking Character animation model sheet walk cycle lip sync off-model Chuckimation Drawn-on-film Erasure animation Hydrotechnics Inbetweening Morphing Paint-on-glass Pinscreen Pixel art Pose to pose Straight ahead Rubber hose Special effects Sand Syncro-Vox Zoetrope Variants Abstract animation ( visual music ) Adult animation Animated cartoon Animated sitcom Animated documentary Educational animation Erotic animation Independent animation Instructional animation Virtual newscaster History Early history History of computer animation List of years in animation Related topics Animation music Bouncing ball Mickey Mousing Key frame Cel Character animation model sheet walk cycle lip sync off-model Creature animation Twelve basic principles Motion comic Films with live action and animation highest grossing Cartoon physics violence Most expensive animated films List of animated films by box office admissions List of animated television series by episode count Category Portal Outline v t e Physics engines ( list ) Game physics Procedural animation Physically based animation Ragdoll physics Free / open source Box2D Bullet Cannon.js Chipmunk Newton Game Dynamics Open Dynamics Engine PhysX Phyz Project Chrono Siconos Simulation Open Framework Architecture Proprietary AGX Multiphysics Algodoo Chipmunk Digital Molecular Matter Euphoria Havok Reactor Vortex Related topics Tire model This video game software -related article is a stub . You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information . v t e Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Procedural_animation&oldid=1325190999 " Categories : Virtual reality Video game software stubs Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata Articles needing additional references from April 2025 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2011 All stub articles This page was last edited on 1 December 2025, at 17:56  (UTC) . Page was rendered with Parsoid . Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. , a non-profit organization. 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