SynthesizingNaturalisticAnimations (Embodiment)
From OpenCog
Some interesting papers:
1) Motion Texture: A Two-Level Statistical Model for Character Motion Synthesis Yan Li∗ Tianshu Wang† Heung-Yeung Shum∗ ∗Microsoft Research, Asia †Xi’an Jiaotong University, P.R.China
2) White Paper Dynamic Motion Synthesis NaturalMotion Ltd, Oxford, UK
3) Synthesis of Complex Dynamic Character Motion from Simple Animations C. Karen Liu Zoran Popovi´c University of Washington
These are papers discussing algorithms for taking potentially
"awkward" looking animations and using them as the basis for
automatically-synthesized "smooth" looking animations
The basic idea of these algorithms is that, given a sketch of what an animation is supposed to look like, a smooth and realistic looking animation can be automatically synthesized using some physics rules based on an optimization algorithm.
The use cases they look at in the papers are where the initial animation sketch is given by something a naive user draws, or by motion capture data. However, the same algorithms are applicable when the initial animation is gotten by composition from some simpler animations.
So, for instance, if an animation of sitting, then begging, then lying down is produced as a composite -- this composite can then be fed as an initial sketch into one of these algorithms, and it will then produce a more elegant animation carrying out the same overall motion.
Natural Motion has fairly refined commercial software that does this stuff.... They did the animation in Grand Theft Auto IV, for example.
-- Main.BenGoertzel - 15 Dec 2008
