Visualizing the math that powers 3D character animation
Hi everyone! I'm the author of this project. I wrote it because I think that the math that makes characters move in games and movies is incredibly beautiful, and I wanted to give others a glimpse into it. It's crazy to think that quaternions, an abstract mathematical tool discovered by William Rowan Hamilton in 1843, would be so perfectly suited to solve hard problems in the world of 3D character animation more than a hundred years later. The story of how he discovered quaternions is also beautiful. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia: "Hamilton was looking for ways of extending complex numbers…
In plain words
This project visualizes the mathematics behind 3D character animation in games and movies. Created by an author interested in making complex mathematical concepts accessible, it explores how quaternions—an abstract mathematical tool developed in 1843—solve modern animation problems. The project examines the elegant math underlying character movement and demonstrates the unexpected connection between historical mathematical discoveries and contemporary computer graphics applications.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi everyone! I'm the author of this project. I wrote it because I think that the math that makes characters move in games and movies is incredibly beautiful, and I wanted to give others a glimpse into it. It's crazy to think that quaternions, an abstract mathematical tool discovered by William Rowan Hamilton in 1843, would be so perfectly suited to solve hard problems in the world of 3D character animation more than a hundred years later. The story of how he discovered quaternions is also beautiful. Here's an excerpt from Wikipedia: "Hamilton was looking for ways of extending complex numbers (which can be viewed as points on a 2-dimensional Argand diagram) to higher spatial dimensions. In working with four dimensions, rather than three, he created quaternion algebra. According to Hamilton, on 16 October he was out walking along the Royal Canal in Dublin with his wife when the solution in the form of the equation i2 = j2 = k2 = ijk = −1 occurred to him; Hamilton then carved this equation using his penknife into the side of the nearby Broom Bridge (which Hamilton called Brougham Bridge)." There's a plaque that commemorates that moment on Broom Bridge now. If you have any questions about this project, I would love to answer them, but I recommend reading the README first, which should explain everything: https://github.com/diegomacario/Animation-Magic/blob/main/RE... Thank you!
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