Hierarchical Motion Brushes for Animation Instancing

International audienceOur work on "motion brushes" provides a new workflow for the creation and reuse of 3D animation with a focus on stylized movement and depiction. Conceptually, motion brushes expand existing brush models by incorporating hierarchies of 3D animated content including geometry, appearance information, and motion data as core brush primitives that are instantiated using a painting interface. Because motion brushes can encompass all the richness of detail and movement offered by animation software, they accommodate complex, varied effects that are not easily created by other means. To support reuse and provide an effective means for managing complexity, we propose a hierarchical representation that allows simple brushes to be combined into more complex ones. Our system provides stroke-based control over motion-brush parameters, including tools to effectively manage the temporal nature of the motion brush instances. We demonstrate the flexibility and richness of our system with motion brushes for splashing rain, footsteps appearing in the snow, and stylized visual effects

Live Texturing of Augmented Reality Characters from Colored Drawings

Coloring books capture the imagination of children and provide them with one of their earliest opportunities for creative expression. However, given the proliferation and popularity of digital devices, real-world activities like coloring can seem unexciting, and children become less engaged in them. Augmented reality holds unique potential to impact this situation by providing a bridge between real-world activities and digital enhancements. In this paper, we present an augmented reality coloring book App in which children color characters in a printed coloring book and inspect their work using a mobile device. The drawing is detected and tracked, and the video stream is augmented with an animated 3-D version of the character that is textured according to the child's coloring. This is possible thanks to several novel technical contributions. We present a texturing process that applies the captured texture from a 2-D colored drawing to both the visible and occluded regions of a 3-D character in real time. We develop a deformable surface tracking method designed for colored drawings that uses a new outlier rejection algorithm for real-time tracking and surface deformation recovery. We present a content creation pipeline to efficiently create the 2-D and 3-D content. And, finally, we validate our work with two user studies that examine the quality of our texturing algorithm and the overall App experience

Chronic constipation diagnosis and treatment evaluation: The "CHRO.CO.DI.T.E." study

Background: According to Rome criteria, chronic constipation (CC) includes functional constipation (FC) and irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C). Some patients do not meet these criteria (No Rome Constipation, NRC). The aim of the study was is to evaluate the various clinical presentation and management of FC, IBS-C and NRC in Italy. Methods: During a 2-month period, 52 Italian gastroenterologists recorded clinical data of FC, IBS-C and NRC patients, using Bristol scale, PAC-SYM and PAC-QoL questionnaires. In addition, gastroenterologists were also asked to record whether the patients were clinically assessed for CC for the first time or were in follow up. Diagnostic tests and prescribed therapies were also recorded. Results: Eight hundred seventy-eight consecutive CC patients (706 F) were enrolled (FC 62.5%, IBS-C 31.3%, NRC 6.2%). PAC-SYM and PAC-QoL scores were higher in IBS-C than in FC and NRC. 49.5% were at their first gastroenterological evaluation for CC. In 48.5% CC duration was longer than 10 years. A specialist consultation was requested in 31.6%, more frequently in IBS-C than in NRC. Digital rectal examination was performed in only 56.4%. Diagnostic tests were prescribed to 80.0%. Faecal calprotectin, thyroid tests, celiac serology, breath tests were more frequently suggested in IBS-C and anorectal manometry in FC. More than 90% had at least one treatment suggested on chronic constipation, most frequently dietary changes, macrogol and fibers. Antispasmodics and psychotherapy were more frequently prescribed in IBS-C, prucalopride and pelvic floor rehabilitation in FC. Conclusions: Patients with IBS-C reported more severe symptoms and worse quality of life than FC and NRC. Digital rectal examination was often not performed but at least one diagnostic test was prescribed to most patients. Colonoscopy and blood tests were the "first line" diagnostic tools. Macrogol was the most prescribed laxative, and prucalopride and pelvic floor rehabilitation represented a "second line" approach. Diagnostic tests and prescribed therapies increased by increasing CC severity

Computer Vision for Supporting Fashion Creative Processes

Computer vision techniques are powerful tools to support and enhance creative workflows in fashion industries. In many cases, designer sketches and drawings, made with pen or pencil on raw paper, are the starting point of a fashion workflow. Then, such hand-drawn sketches must be imported into a software, to convert the prototype into a real-world product. This leads to a first important problem, namely, the automatic vectorization of sketches. Moreover, the various outcomes of all creative processes consist of a large number of images, which depict a plethora of products, from clothing to footwear. Recognizing product characteristics and classifying them properly is crucial in order to avoid duplicates and support marketing campaigns. Each feature could eventually require a different method, spacing from segmentation, image retrieval, to machine learning techniques, such as deep learning. Some state-of-the-art techniques and a novel proposal for line extraction and thinning, applied to fashion sketches, are described. Newly-developed methods are presented and their effectiveness in the recognition of features is discussed