gMotion: A spatio-temporal grammar for the procedural generation of motion graphics

Creating by hand compelling 2D animations that choreograph several groups of shapes requires a large number of manual edits. We present a method to procedurally generate motion graphics with timeslice grammars. Timeslice grammars are to time what split grammars are to space. We use this grammar to formally model motion graphics, manipulating them in both temporal and spatial components. We are able to combine both these aspects by representing animations as sets of affine transformations sampled uniformly in both space and time. Rules and operators in the grammar manipulate all spatio-temporal matrices as a whole, allowing us to expressively construct animation with few rules. The grammar animates shapes, which are represented as highly tessellated polygons, by applying the affine transforms to each shape vertex given the vertex position and the animation time. We introduce a small set of operators showing how we can produce 2D animations of geometric objects, by combining the expressive power of the grammar model, the composability of the operators with themselves, and the capabilities that derive from using a unified spatio-temporal representation for animation data. Throughout the paper, we show how timeslice grammars can produce a wide variety of animations that would take artists hours of tedious and time-consuming work. In particular, in cases where change of shapes is very common, our grammar can add motion detail to large collections of shapes with greater control over per-shape animations along with a compact rules structure

Procedural modeling of cities with semantic information for crowd simulation

En aquesta tesi de màster es presenta un sistema per a la generació procedural de ciutats poblades. Avui en dia poblar entorns virtuals grans tendeix a ser una tasca que requereix molt d’esforç i temps, i típicament la feina d’artistes o programadors experts. Amb aquest sistema es vol proporcionar una eina que permeti als usuaris generar entorns poblats d’una manera més fàcil i ràpida, mitjançat l’ús de tècniques procedurals. Les contribucions principals inclouen: la generació d’una ciutat virtual augmentada semànticament utilitzant modelat procedural basat en gramàtiques de regles, la generació dels seus habitants virtuals utilitzant dades estadístiques reals, i la generació d’agendes per a cada individu utilitzant també un mètode procedural basat en regles, el qual combina la informació semàntica de la ciutat amb les característiques i necessitats dels agents autònoms. Aquestes agendes individuals són usades per a conduir la simulació dels habitants, i poden incloure regles com a tasques d’alt nivell, l’avaluació de les quals es realitza al moment de començar-les. Això permet simular accions que depenguin del context, i interaccions amb altres agents.En esta tesis de máster se presenta un sistema para la generación procedural de ciudades pobladas. Hoy en día poblar entornos virtuales grandes tiende a ser una tarea que requiere de mucho tiempo y esfuerzo, y típicamente el trabajo de artistas o programadores expertos. Con este sistema se pretende proporcionar una herramienta que permita a los usuarios generar entornos poblados de un modo más fácil y rápido, mediante el uso de técnicas procedurales. Las contribuciones principales incluyen: la generación de una ciudad virtual aumentada semánticamente utilizando modelado procedural basado en gramáticas de reglas, la generación de sus habitantes virtuales utilizando datos estadísticos reales, y la generación de agendas para cada individuo utilizando también un método procedural basado en reglas, el cual combina la información semántica de la ciudad con las características y necesidades de los agentes autónomos. Estas agendas individuales son usadas para conducir la simulación de los habitantes, y pueden incluir reglas como tareas de alto nivel, la evaluación de las cuales se realiza cuando empiezan. Esto permite simular acciones que dependan del contexto, e interacciones con otros agentes.In this master thesis a framework for procedural generation of populated cities is presented. Nowadays, the population of large virtual environments tends to be a time-consuming task, usually requiring the work of expert artists or programmers. With this system we aim at providing a tool that can allow users to generate populated environments in an easier and faster way, by relying on the usage of procedural techniques. Our main contributions include: a generation of semantically augmented virtual cities using procedural modelling based on rule grammars, a generation of a virtual population using real-world data, and a generation of agendas for each individual inhabitant by using a procedural rule-based approach, which combines the city semantics with the autonomous agents characteristics and needs. The individual agendas are then used to drive a crowd simulation in the environment, and may include high-level rule tasks whose evaluation is delayed until they get triggered. This feature allows us to simulate context-dependant actions and interactions with other agents

Automatic Addition of Physics Components to Procedural Content

While the field of procedural content generation is growing, there has been somewhat less work on developing procedural methods to animate these models. We present a technique for generating procedural models of trees and buildings via formal grammars (L-Systems and wall grammars) that are ready to be animated using physical simulation. The grammars and their interpretations are augmented to provide direct control over the physical animation, by, for example, specifying object mass and the joint stiffness. Example animations produced by our system include trees swaying in a gentle wind or being rocked by a gale, and buildings collapsing, imploding or exploding. In user testing, we had test subjects (n = 20) compare our animations with video of trees and buildings undergoing similar effects, as well as with animations in games that they have played. Results show that our animations appear physically accurate with a few minor instances of unrealistic behaviour. Users considered the animations to be more realistic than those used in current video games

Virtual Signers generation within SignON

Altres ajuts: LEAD-ME Cost Action (CA19142)Projecte: LEAD-ME. Més informació: https://lead-me-cost.eu/Xarxa promoguda pel grup de recerca TransMedia Cataloni

Simulation levels of detail for plant motion

In this paper we describe a method for simulating motion of realistically complex plants interactively. We use a precomputation stage to generate the plant structure, along with a set of simulation levels of detail. The levels of detail are made by continuously grouping branches starting from the tips of the branches and working toward the trunk. Grouped branches are simulated as single branches that have similar simulation characteristics to the original branches. During run-time, we traverse the plant and determine the allowable error in the simulation of branch motion. This allows us to choose the appropriate simulation level of detail and we provide smooth transitions from level to level. Our level of detail approach affects only the simulation parameters, allowing geometry to be handled independently. Using this method we can significantly improve simulation times for complex trees