Further Experience with Controller-Based Automatic Motion Synthesis for Articulated Figures

Abstract

We extend an earlier automatic motion-synthesis algorithm for physically realistic articulated figures in several ways. First, we summarize several incremental improvements to the original algorithm that improve its efficiency significantly and provide the user with some ability to influence what motions are generated. These techniques can be used by an animator to achieve a desired movement style. or they can be used to guarantee variety in tbe motions synthesized over several runs of the algorithm. Second, we report on new mechanisms that support tbe concatenation of existing, automatically generated motion controllers to produce complex, composite movement. Finally, we describe initial work on generalizing the techniques from 2D to 3D articulated figures. Taken together, these results illustrate the promise and challenges afforded by the controller-based approach to automatic motion synthesis for computer animation. Categories and Subject Descriptors: 1.2.6 [Artificial Intelligence]: Learning parameter [earntng. 1.2.8 [Artificial Intelligence]: Problem Solving, Control Methods and Search-heuristic methock. 1.3.7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism animation. 1.6.3 [Simulation and Modeling]: Applications. General Terms: Algorithms, Experimentation. © 1995, ACM. All rights reserved.