Real-time reach planning for animated characters using hardware acceleration

We present a heuristic-based real-time reach planning algorithm for virtual human figures. Given the start and goal positions in a 3D workspace, our problem is to compute a collision-free path that specifies all the configurations for a human arm to move from the start to the goal. Our algorithm consists of three modules: spatial search, inverse kinematics, and collision detection. For the search module, instead of searching in joint configuration space like most existing motion planning methods do, we run a direct search in the workspace, guided by a heuristic distance-to-goal evaluation function. The inverse kinematics module attempts to select natural posture configurations for the arm along the path found in the workspace. During the search, candidate configurations will be checked for collisions taking advantage of the graphics hardware – depth buffer. The algorithm is fast and easy to implement. It allows real-time planning not only in static, structured environments, but also in dynamic, unstructured environments. No preprocessing and prior knowledge about the environment is required. Several examples are shown illustrating the competence of the planner at generating motion plans for a typical human arm model with seven degrees of freedom

A survey of real-time crowd rendering

In this survey we review, classify and compare existing approaches for real-time crowd rendering. We first overview character animation techniques, as they are highly tied to crowd rendering performance, and then we analyze the state of the art in crowd rendering. We discuss different representations for level-of-detail (LoD) rendering of animated characters, including polygon-based, point-based, and image-based techniques, and review different criteria for runtime LoD selection. Besides LoD approaches, we review classic acceleration schemes, such as frustum culling and occlusion culling, and describe how they can be adapted to handle crowds of animated characters. We also discuss specific acceleration techniques for crowd rendering, such as primitive pseudo-instancing, palette skinning, and dynamic key-pose caching, which benefit from current graphics hardware. We also address other factors affecting performance and realism of crowds such as lighting, shadowing, clothing and variability. Finally we provide an exhaustive comparison of the most relevant approaches in the field.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Overview of crowd simulation in computer graphics

High-powered technology use computer graphics in education, entertainment, games, simulation, and virtual heritage applications has led it to become an important area of research. In simulation, according to Tecchia et al. (2002), it is important to create an interactive, complex, and realistic virtual world so that the user can have an immersive experience during navigation through the world. As the size and complexity of the environments in the virtual world increased, it becomes more necessary to populate them with peoples, and this is the reason why rendering the crowd in real-time is very crucial. Generally, crowd simulation consists of three important areas. They are realism of behavioral (Thompson and Marchant 1995), high-quality visualization (Dobbyn et al. 2005) and convergence of both areas. Realism of behavioral is mainly used for simple 2D visualizations because most of the attentions are concentrated on simulating the behaviors of the group. High quality visualization is regularly used for movie productions and computer games. It gives intention on producing more convincing visual rather than realism of behaviors. The convergences of both areas are mainly used for application like training systems. In order to make the training system more effective, the element of valid replication of the behaviors and high-quality visualization is added

Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Serious Games in Cultural Heritage

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented

Analysis and synthesis of bipedal humanoid movement : a physical simulation approach

textAdvances in graphics and robotics have increased the importance of tools for synthesizing humanoid movements to control animated characters and physical robots. There is also an increasing need for analyzing human movements for clinical diagnosis and rehabilitation. Existing tools can be expensive, inefficient, or difficult to use. Using simulated physics and motion capture to develop an interactive virtual reality environment, we capture natural human movements in response to controlled stimuli. This research then applies insights into the mathematics underlying physics simulation to adapt the physics solver to support many important tasks involved in analyzing and synthesizing humanoid movement. These tasks include fitting an articulated physical model to motion capture data, modifying the model pose to achieve a desired configuration (inverse kinematics), inferring internal torques consistent with changing pose data (inverse dynamics), and transferring a movement from one model to another model (retargeting). The result is a powerful and intuitive process for analyzing and synthesizing movement in a single unified framework.Computer Science

Practical motion planning for aerial-like virtual agents in Meta!Blast: A full and complex three dimensional virtual environment

Motion planning, or enabling agents to navigate around a virtual environment autonomously, is an essential requirement for video games and simulations. A well implemented motion planning technique can create a realistic and immersive user experience. If motion planning is not implemented properly, agents will exhibit unrealistic behavior and cause a distraction for the user. Motion planning is often difficult to implement due to the agents\u27 movement capabilities and the complexity of the virtual environment in which the agents exist. In a traditional three dimensional video game in which the agents are bound by gravity, the agents\u27 motion takes place mostly in the XZ-plane. In other words, the agents\u27 degree of freedom (DOF) is three. In this case, motion planning is translated into a two-dimensional problem, which is relatively easier to compute. However, when the agents can move in any three dimensional direction or to any three dimensional position in space, motion planning is much more complex. Meta!Blast is a three dimensional educational video game. Implementing motion planning in Meta!Blast is challenging for three reasons: The first reason is the agents have at least six degrees of freedom and can be translated or rotated about any axis in the three dimensional virtual environment. The second reason is the agents exist in a dense environment with many irregularly shaped models that need to be considered during planning. Lastly, Meta!Blast will be deployed in the high school classroom where computer hardware resources are limited, eliminating some planning techniques found in the literature. This thesis provides a practical solution for high DOF agents in dense environments using a combination of octree space partitioning, A* path-planning, and steering behaviors

The Alligator: A Video Game History of a Civil War Submarine

Alligator, a three-dimensional Civil War submarine simulator, is designed to teach middle and high school students the basic concepts of naval navigation and tactics. Developed for the Navy and Marine Living History Association, the project attempts to realistically portray the hardships and technological challenges of piloting the Union Navy\u27s first submarine. Students will have to plan attack and escape routes, compensate for tides and currents, and execute their plan in a full three-dimensional environment