Center for Image in Science and Art _ UL
Animating Virtual Humans
Author: João Miguel Pires de Carvalho (MsC student supervised by Ana Paula Cláudio)
Date: December 2009
Description: The left figure shows a 3D model of a human with a complete skeleton; the central and right figures exhibit the face of the model with two distinct expressions, displaying the bones as blue segments. Comparing central and right figures it can be observed that some bones have been moved; as a matter of fact, these moves have caused the changes in the facial expression of the model.
The following paragraphs summarize the process.
The whole body surface of the virtual human is approximated by a set of adjacent polygons, called a polygonal mesh. Meshes with smaller and more numerous polygons provide best approximations of the body surface, but are more demanding in terms of processing power and data storage.
The animator has to (patiently) associate every bone in the skeleton to a set of neighboring vertices of the polygonal mesh. After having made all these associations, whenever he changes the position of a bone, the corresponding vertices are moved. New poses of the model are obtained by moving the correct bones. The software tool is capable of generating an animation showing the interpolated movements from one pose to another. Step by step an animation appears.
Technique: Blender (3D modeling software- free software tool); the model was obtained for free in the internet.
Source: n/a
Image and caption provided by: Ana Paula Cláudio, DI-FCUL (Department of Informatics of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon) and LabMAg (Laboratory of Agent Modeling)
Animating Virtual Humans
Author: João Miguel Pires de Carvalho (MsC student supervised by Ana Paula Cláudio)
Date: December 2009
Description: The left figure shows a 3D model of a human with a complete skeleton; the central and right figures exhibit the face of the model with two distinct expressions, displaying the bones as blue segments. Comparing central and right figures it can be observed that some bones have been moved; as a matter of fact, these moves have caused the changes in the facial expression of the model.
The following paragraphs summarize the process.
The whole body surface of the virtual human is approximated by a set of adjacent polygons, called a polygonal mesh. Meshes with smaller and more numerous polygons provide best approximations of the body surface, but are more demanding in terms of processing power and data storage.
The animator has to (patiently) associate every bone in the skeleton to a set of neighboring vertices of the polygonal mesh. After having made all these associations, whenever he changes the position of a bone, the corresponding vertices are moved. New poses of the model are obtained by moving the correct bones. The software tool is capable of generating an animation showing the interpolated movements from one pose to another. Step by step an animation appears.
Technique: Blender (3D modeling software- free software tool); the model was obtained for free in the internet.
Source: n/a
Image and caption provided by: Ana Paula Cláudio, DI-FCUL (Department of Informatics of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon) and LabMAg (Laboratory of Agent Modeling)