13,178 research outputs found
Sketch-based virtual human modelling and animation
Animated virtual humans created by skilled artists play a remarkable role in todayās public entertainment. However, ordinary users are still treated as audiences due to the lack of appropriate expertise, equipment, and computer skills. We developed a new method and a novel sketching interface, which enable anyone who can draw to āsketch-outā 3D virtual humans and animation.
We devised a āStick FigureFleshing-outSkin Mappingā graphical pipeline, which decomposes the complexity of figure drawing and considerably boosts the modelling and animation efficiency. We developed a gesture-based method for 3D pose reconstruction from 2D stick figure drawings. We investigated a āCreative Model-based Methodā, which performs a human perception process to transfer usersā 2D freehand sketches into 3D human bodies of various body sizes, shapes and fat distributions. Our current system supports character animation in various forms including articulated figure animation, 3D mesh model animation, and 2D contour/NPR animation with personalised drawing styles. Moreover, this interface also supports sketch-based crowd animation and 2D storyboarding of 3D multiple character interactions. A preliminary user study was conducted to support the overall system design. Our system has been formally tested by various users on Tablet PC. After minimal training, even a beginner can create vivid virtual humans and animate them within minutes
Sketching-out virtual humans: From 2d storyboarding to immediate 3d character animation
Virtual beings are playing a remarkable role in todayās public entertainment, while ordinary users are still treated as audiences due to the lack of appropriate expertise, equipment, and computer skills. In this paper, we present a fast and intuitive storyboarding interface, which enables users to sketch-out 3D virtual humans, 2D/3D animations, and character intercommunication. We devised an intuitive āstick figurefleshing-outskin mappingā graphical animation pipeline, which realises the whole process of key framing, 3D pose reconstruction, virtual human modelling, motion path/timing control, and the final animation synthesis by almost pure 2D sketching. A ācreative model-based methodā is developed, which emulates a human perception process, to generate the 3D human bodies of variational sizes, shapes, and fat distributions. Meanwhile, our current system also supports the sketch-based crowd animation and the storyboarding of the 3D multiple character intercommunication. This system has been formally tested by various users on Tablet PC. After minimal training, even a beginner can create vivid virtual humans and animate them within minutes
Towards virtual communities on the Web: Actors and audience
We report about ongoing research in a virtual
reality environment where visitors can interact with
agents that help them to obtain information, to perform
certain transactions and to collaborate with them in order
to get some tasks done. Our environment models a
theatre in our hometown. We discuss attempts to let this
environment evolve into a theatre community where we
do not only have goal-directed visitors, but also visitors
that that are not sure whether they want to buy or just
want information or visitors who just want to look
around. It is shown that we need a multi-user and multiagent
environment to realize our goals. Since our environment
models a theatre it is also interesting to investigate
the roles of performers and audience in this environment.
For that reason we discuss capabilities and personalities of agents. Some notes on the historical development of networked communities are included
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
Sketching-out virtual humans: A smart interface for human modelling and animation
In this paper, we present a fast and intuitive interface for sketching out
3D virtual humans and animation. The user draws stick figure key frames first and
chooses one for āfleshing-outā with freehand body contours. The system
automatically constructs a plausible 3D skin surface from the rendered figure, and
maps it onto the posed stick figures to produce the 3D character animation. A
ācreative model-based methodā is developed, which performs a human perception
process to generate 3D human bodies of various body sizes, shapes and fat
distributions. In this approach, an anatomical 3D generic model has been created with
three distinct layers: skeleton, fat tissue, and skin. It can be transformed sequentially
through rigid morphing, fatness morphing, and surface fitting to match the original
2D sketch. An auto-beautification function is also offered to regularise the 3D
asymmetrical bodies from usersā imperfect figure sketches. Our current system
delivers character animation in various forms, including articulated figure animation,
3D mesh model animation, 2D contour figure animation, and even 2D NPR animation
with personalised drawing styles. The system has been formally tested by various
users on Tablet PC. After minimal training, even a beginner can create vivid virtual
humans and animate them within minutes
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
On combining the facial movements of a talking head
We present work on Obie, an embodied conversational
agent framework. An embodied conversational agent, or
talking head, consists of three main components. The
graphical part consists of a face model and a facial muscle
model. Besides the graphical part, we have implemented
an emotion model and a mapping from emotions to facial
expressions. The animation part of the framework focuses
on the combination of different facial movements
temporally. In this paper we propose a scheme of
combining facial movements on a 3D talking head
Dynamic Influence Networks for Rule-based Models
We introduce the Dynamic Influence Network (DIN), a novel visual analytics
technique for representing and analyzing rule-based models of protein-protein
interaction networks. Rule-based modeling has proved instrumental in developing
biological models that are concise, comprehensible, easily extensible, and that
mitigate the combinatorial complexity of multi-state and multi-component
biological molecules. Our technique visualizes the dynamics of these rules as
they evolve over time. Using the data produced by KaSim, an open source
stochastic simulator of rule-based models written in the Kappa language, DINs
provide a node-link diagram that represents the influence that each rule has on
the other rules. That is, rather than representing individual biological
components or types, we instead represent the rules about them (as nodes) and
the current influence of these rules (as links). Using our interactive DIN-Viz
software tool, researchers are able to query this dynamic network to find
meaningful patterns about biological processes, and to identify salient aspects
of complex rule-based models. To evaluate the effectiveness of our approach, we
investigate a simulation of a circadian clock model that illustrates the
oscillatory behavior of the KaiC protein phosphorylation cycle.Comment: Accepted to TVCG, in pres
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