Drawing from motion capture : developing visual languages of animation

The work presented in this thesis aims to explore novel approaches of combining motion capture with drawing and 3D animation. As the art form of animation matures, possibilities of hybrid techniques become more feasible, and crosses between traditional and digital media provide new opportunities for artistic expression. 3D computer animation is used for its keyframing and rendering advancements, that result in complex pipelines where different areas of technical and artistic specialists contribute to the end result. Motion capture is mostly used for realistic animation, more often than not for live-action filmmaking, as a visual effect. Realistic animated films depend on retargeting techniques, designed to preserve actors performances with a high degree of accuracy. In this thesis, we investigate alternative production methods that do not depend on retargeting, and provide animators with greater options for experimentation and expressivity. As motion capture data is a great source for naturalistic movements, we aim to combine it with interactive methods such as digital sculpting and 3D drawing. As drawing is predominately used in preproduction, in both the case of realistic animation and visual effects, we embed it instead to alternative production methods, where artists can benefit from improvisation and expression, while emerging in a three-dimensional environment. Additionally, we apply these alternative methods for the visual development of animation, where they become relevant for the creation of specific visual languages that can be used to articulate concrete ideas for storytelling in animation

The Relationship Between RATS-splines and the Catmull and Clark B-splines

This paper presents the relationship between the Recursive Arbitrary Topology Splines (RATS) method, derived by the authors, and the Catmull and Clark recursive B-Spline method. Both methods are capable of defining surfaces of any arbitrary topology of control points. They "fill-in" n-sided regions with four-sided patches. The Catmull & Clark method is derived from the midpoint subdivision of B-splines whereas the RATS method is derived from the midpoint subdivision of Bézier splines. RATS generates an additional set of patches defining the border of the surface but the RATS inner surface is identical to the Catmull and Clark surface. This paper illustrates this relationship between the two methods

The relation between rats-splines and the catmull and clark b-splines

This paper presents the relationship between the Recursive Arbitrary Topology Splines (RATS) method, derived by the authors, and the Catmull and Clark recursive B-Spline method. Both methods are capable of defining surfaces of any arbitrary topology of control points. They "fill-in" n-sided regions with foursided patches. The Catmull & Clark method is derived from the midpoint subdivision of B-splines whereas the RATS method is derived from the midpoint subdivision of Bézier splines. RATS generates an additional set of patches defining the border of the surface but the RATS inner surface is identical to the Catmull and Clark surface. This paper illustrates this relationship between the two methods

Task Allocation in Foraging Robot Swarms:The Role of Information Sharing

Autonomous task allocation is a desirable feature of robot swarms that collect and deliver items in scenarios where congestion, caused by accumulated items or robots, can temporarily interfere with swarm behaviour. In such settings, self-regulation of workforce can prevent unnecessary energy consumption. We explore two types of self-regulation: non-social, where robots become idle upon experiencing congestion, and social, where robots broadcast information about congestion to their team mates in order to socially inhibit foraging. We show that while both types of self-regulation can lead to improved energy efficiency and increase the amount of resource collected, the speed with which information about congestion flows through a swarm affects the scalability of these algorithms