Interface natural em 3D para animações interativas

Abstract

The task of producing 3D character animation may be arduous and tedious for the animator when he lacks the techniques and tools to facilitate and streamline the outcome of his work. Choosing appropriate methods and tools, both hardware and software, have been often crucial to success. In this context, we present a system for performance-driven articulated 3D character animation. Our approach is based on the technique of spatial keyframing, that associates a marker in space for each key pose of a movement or action and allows the user to provide animations by moving the control cursor in the 3D space with a 2D mouse. In our system, interaction with the virtual environment takes place through more sophisticated tools capable of capturing gestures and hand movements in real time. The captured data is used by the algorithm to automatically construct new poses of the animation sequence during the user’s performance. In addition, we have these markers on surfaces with the intention of mapping certain animations on them. Thus, it is possible to facilitate the spatial localization of the objects present in the scene, such as the markers and the controller, during the performance. Although we are working with movements and gestures, our goal is not to develop a purely gestural interface. It also has controls that may be accessed by mouse and give additional features to the system, such as recording the animation for later viewing, controlling the speed when viewing a recorded animation, and more.