Capturing Hands in Action using Discriminative Salient Points and Physics Simulation

Hand motion capture is a popular research field, recently gaining more attention due to the ubiquity of RGB-D sensors. However, even most recent approaches focus on the case of a single isolated hand. In this work, we focus on hands that interact with other hands or objects and present a framework that successfully captures motion in such interaction scenarios for both rigid and articulated objects. Our framework combines a generative model with discriminatively trained salient points to achieve a low tracking error and with collision detection and physics simulation to achieve physically plausible estimates even in case of occlusions and missing visual data. Since all components are unified in a single objective function which is almost everywhere differentiable, it can be optimized with standard optimization techniques. Our approach works for monocular RGB-D sequences as well as setups with multiple synchronized RGB cameras. For a qualitative and quantitative evaluation, we captured 29 sequences with a large variety of interactions and up to 150 degrees of freedom.Comment: Accepted for publication by the International Journal of Computer Vision (IJCV) on 16.02.2016 (submitted on 17.10.14). A combination into a single framework of an ECCV'12 multicamera-RGB and a monocular-RGBD GCPR'14 hand tracking paper with several extensions, additional experiments and detail

Robust Hand Motion Capture and Physics-Based Control for Grasping in Real Time

Hand motion capture technologies are being explored due to high demands in the fields such as video game, virtual reality, sign language recognition, human-computer interaction, and robotics. However, existing systems suffer a few limitations, e.g. they are high-cost (expensive capture devices), intrusive (additional wear-on sensors or complex configurations), and restrictive (limited motion varieties and restricted capture space). This dissertation mainly focus on exploring algorithms and applications for the hand motion capture system that is low-cost, non-intrusive, low-restriction, high-accuracy, and robust. More specifically, we develop a realtime and fully-automatic hand tracking system using a low-cost depth camera. We first introduce an efficient shape-indexed cascaded pose regressor that directly estimates 3D hand poses from depth images. A unique property of our hand pose regressor is to utilize a low-dimensional parametric hand geometric model to learn 3D shape-indexed features robust to variations in hand shapes, viewpoints and hand poses. We further introduce a hybrid tracking scheme that effectively complements our hand pose regressor with model-based hand tracking. In addition, we develop a rapid 3D hand shape modeling method that uses a small number of depth images to accurately construct a subject-specific skinned mesh model for hand tracking. This step not only automates the whole tracking system but also improves the robustness and accuracy of model-based tracking and hand pose regression. Additionally, we also propose a physically realistic human grasping synthesis method that is capable to grasp a wide variety of objects. Given an object to be grasped, our method is capable to compute required controls (e.g. forces and torques) that advance the simulation to achieve realistic grasping. Our method combines the power of data-driven synthesis and physics-based grasping control. We first introduce a data-driven method to synthesize a realistic grasping motion from large sets of prerecorded grasping motion data. And then we transform the synthesized kinematic motion to a physically realistic one by utilizing our online physics-based motion control method. In addition, we also provide a performance interface which allows the user to act out before a depth camera to control a virtual object

Research of Simulation in Character Animation Based on Physics Engine

Computer 3D character animation essentially is a product, which is combined with computer graphics and robotics, physics, mathematics, and the arts. It is based on computer hardware and graphics algorithms and related sciences rapidly developed new technologies. At present, the mainstream character animation technology is based on the artificial production of key technologies and capture frames based on the motion capture device technology. 3D character animation is widely used not only in the production of film, animation, and other commercial areas but also in virtual reality, computer-aided education, flight simulation, engineering simulation, military simulation, and other fields. In this paper, we try to study physics based character animation to solve these problems such as poor real-time interaction that appears in the character, low utilization rate, and complex production. The paper deeply studied the kinematics, dynamics technology, and production technology based on the motion data. At the same time, it analyzed ODE, PhysX, Bullet, and other variety of mainstream physics engines and studied OBB hierarchy bounding box tree, AABB hierarchical tree, and other collision detection algorithms. Finally, character animation based on ODE is implemented, which is simulation of the motion and collision process of a tricycle

Robust Hand Motion Capture and Physics-Based Control for Grasping in Real Time

Hand motion capture technologies are being explored due to high demands in the fields such as video game, virtual reality, sign language recognition, human-computer interaction, and robotics. However, existing systems suffer a few limitations, e.g. they are high-cost (expensive capture devices), intrusive (additional wear-on sensors or complex configurations), and restrictive (limited motion varieties and restricted capture space). This dissertation mainly focus on exploring algorithms and applications for the hand motion capture system that is low-cost, non-intrusive, low-restriction, high-accuracy, and robust. More specifically, we develop a realtime and fully-automatic hand tracking system using a low-cost depth camera. We first introduce an efficient shape-indexed cascaded pose regressor that directly estimates 3D hand poses from depth images. A unique property of our hand pose regressor is to utilize a low-dimensional parametric hand geometric model to learn 3D shape-indexed features robust to variations in hand shapes, viewpoints and hand poses. We further introduce a hybrid tracking scheme that effectively complements our hand pose regressor with model-based hand tracking. In addition, we develop a rapid 3D hand shape modeling method that uses a small number of depth images to accurately construct a subject-specific skinned mesh model for hand tracking. This step not only automates the whole tracking system but also improves the robustness and accuracy of model-based tracking and hand pose regression. Additionally, we also propose a physically realistic human grasping synthesis method that is capable to grasp a wide variety of objects. Given an object to be grasped, our method is capable to compute required controls (e.g. forces and torques) that advance the simulation to achieve realistic grasping. Our method combines the power of data-driven synthesis and physics-based grasping control. We first introduce a data-driven method to synthesize a realistic grasping motion from large sets of prerecorded grasping motion data. And then we transform the synthesized kinematic motion to a physically realistic one by utilizing our online physics-based motion control method. In addition, we also provide a performance interface which allows the user to act out before a depth camera to control a virtual object

NON-RIGID BODY MECHANICAL PROPERTY RECOVERY FROM IMAGES AND VIDEOS

Material property has great importance in surgical simulation and virtual reality. The mechanical properties of the human soft tissue are critical to characterize the tissue deformation of each patient. Studies have shown that the tissue stiffness described by the tissue properties may indicate abnormal pathological process. The (recovered) elasticity parameters can assist surgeons to perform better pre-op surgical planning and enable medical robots to carry out personalized surgical procedures. Traditional elasticity parameters estimation methods rely largely on known external forces measured by special devices and strain field estimated by landmarks on the deformable bodies. Or they are limited to mechanical property estimation for quasi-static deformation. For virtual reality applications such as virtual try-on, garment material capturing is of equal significance as the geometry reconstruction. In this thesis, I present novel approaches for automatically estimating the material properties of soft bodies from images or from a video capturing the motion of the deformable body. I use a coupled simulation-optimization-identification framework to deform one soft body at its original, non-deformed state to match the deformed geometry of the same object in its deformed state. The optimal set of material parameters is thereby determined by minimizing the error metric function. This method can simultaneously recover the elasticity parameters of multiple regions of soft bodies using Finite Element Method-based simulation (of either linear or nonlinear materials undergoing large deformation) and particle-swarm optimization methods. I demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach on real-time interaction with virtual organs in patient-specific surgical simulation, using parameters acquired from low-resolution medical images. With the recovered elasticity parameters and the age of the prostate cancer patients as features, I build a cancer grading and staging classifier. The classifier achieves up to 91% for predicting cancer T-Stage and 88% for predicting Gleason score. To recover the mechanical properties of soft bodies from a video, I propose a method which couples statistical graphical model with FEM simulation. Using this method, I can recover the material properties of a soft ball from a high-speed camera video that captures the motion of the ball. Furthermore, I extend the material recovery framework to fabric material identification. I propose a novel method for garment material extraction from a single-view image and a learning based cloth material recovery method from a video recording the motion of the cloth. Most recent garment capturing techniques rely on acquiring multiple views of clothing, which may not always be readily available, especially in the case of pre-existing photographs from the web. As an alternative, I propose a method that can compute a 3D model of a human body and its outfit from a single photograph with little human interaction. My proposed learning-based cloth material type recovery method exploits simulated data-set and deep neural network. I demonstrate the effectiveness of my algorithms by re-purposing the reconstructed garments for virtual try-on, garment transfer, and cloth animation on digital characters. With the recovered mechanical properties, one can construct a virtual world with soft objects exhibiting real-world behaviors.Doctor of Philosoph

Orbiting Rainbows: Optical Manipulation of Aerosols and the Beginnings of Future Space Construction

Our objective is to investigate the conditions to manipulate and maintain the shape of an orbiting cloud of dust-like matter so that it can function as an ultra-lightweight surface with useful and adaptable electromagnetic characteristics, for instance, in the optical, RF, or microwave bands. Inspired by the light scattering and focusing properties of distributed optical assemblies in Nature, such as rainbows and aerosols, and by recent laboratory successes in optical trapping and manipulation, we propose a unique combination of space optics and autonomous robotic system technology, to enable a new vision of space system architecture with applications to ultra-lightweight space optics and, ultimately, in-situ space system fabrication. Typically, the cost of an optical system is driven by the size and mass of the primary aperture. The ideal system is a cloud of spatially disordered dust-like objects that can be optically manipulated: it is highly reconfigurable, fault-tolerant, and allows very large aperture sizes at low cost. See Figure 1 for a scenario of application of this concept. The solution that we propose is to construct an optical system in space in which the nonlinear optical properties of a cloud of micron-sized particles are shaped into a specific surface by light pressure, allowing it to form a very large and lightweight aperture of an optical system, hence reducing overall mass and cost. Other potential advantages offered by the cloud properties as optical system involve possible combination of properties (combined transmit/receive), variable focal length, combined refractive and reflective lens designs, and hyper-spectral imaging. A cloud of highly reflective particles of micron-size acting coherently in a specific electromagnetic band, just like an aerosol in suspension in the atmosphere, would reflect the Sun's light much like a rainbow. The only difference with an atmospheric or industrial aerosol is the absence of the supporting fluid medium. This new concept is based on recent understandings in the physics of optical manipulation of small particles in the laboratory and the engineering of distributed ensembles of spacecraft clouds to shape an orbiting cloud of micron-sized objects. In the same way that optical tweezers have revolutionized micro- and nano-manipulation of objects, our breakthrough concept will enable new large scale NASA mission applications and develop new technology in the areas of Astrophysical Imaging Systems and Remote Sensing because the cloud can operate as an adaptive optical imaging sensor. While achieving the feasibility of constructing one single aperture out of the cloud is the main topic of this work, it is clear that multiple orbiting aerosol lenses could also combine their power to synthesize a much larger aperture in space to enable challenging goals such as exoplanet detection. Furthermore, this effort could establish feasibility of key issues related to material properties, remote manipulation, and autonomy characteristics of cloud in orbit. There are several types of endeavors (science missions) that could be enabled by this type of approach, i.e. it can enable new astrophysical imaging systems, exoplanet search, large apertures allow for unprecedented high resolution to discern continents and important features of other planets, hyperspectral imaging, adaptive systems, spectroscopy imaging through limb, and stable optical systems from Lagrange-points. Future micro-miniaturization might hold promise of a further extension of our dust aperture concept to other more exciting smart dust concepts with other associated capabilities

Motion Capture of Hands in Action Using Discriminative Salient Points

Abstract. Capturing the motion of two hands interacting with an object is a very challenging task due to the large number of degrees of freedom, self-occlusions, and similarity between the fingers, even in the case of multiple cameras observing the scene. In this paper we propose to use discriminatively learned salient points on the fingers and to estimate the finger-salient point associations simultaneously with the estimation of the hand pose. We introduce a differentiable objective function that also takes edges, optical flow and collisions into account. Our qualitative and quantitative evaluations show that the proposed approach achieves very accurate results for several challenging sequences containing hands and objects in action.