Real-time Motion Alignment for Animated Characters
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rendering applications face challenges in generating realistic animation sequences for non-player characters (NPCs) by smoothly transitioning from locomotion to performed motions, often resulting in motion artifacts such as sliding or jumping, due to the limitations of motion graphs in aligning and orienting characters during these transitions.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced to generate a behavioral gridmap that aligns a locomotion sequence with a performed motion sequence by creating a behavioral motion space from locomotion and performed motion spaces, using registration curves and parametric motion datapoints to define motion plans and rotations, allowing for real-time alignment and orientation of characters without storing multiple behavioral gridmaps for different rotations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If motion graphs are used to transition from locomotion to performed motion, then character motion can be generated, but motion artifacts such as sliding, jumping, or skipping appear that look unnatural
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-computes a behavioral gridmap that stores optimal transition parameters and orientation data before runtime. This preliminary preparation allows the character to smoothly transition from locomotion to performed motion without real-time computation delays or alignment errors, eliminating motion artifacts like sliding and jumping.
Solution Approach 2:
The behavioral gridmap acts as an intermediary data structure that bridges locomotion motion space and performed motion space. It contains pre-calculated transition information that mediates the complex alignment requirements between different motion types, simplifying the transition process and ensuring natural-looking motion sequences.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple behavioral gridmaps are stored for different rotations of goal location, then real-time alignment for various orientations is achieved, but storage requirements increase substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The behavioral gridmap is designed as a universal data structure that can serve multiple goal orientations through parametric transformations. Rather than storing separate gridmaps for each rotation, a single gridmap can be adapted to different orientations by applying rotational transformations to the stored transition parameters, reducing storage requirements while maintaining versatility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses parameter transformations to adapt the behavioral gridmap for different goal orientations. By changing rotational parameters rather than storing complete separate gridmaps for each orientation, the system achieves adaptability for various goal locations and rotations while minimizing storage requirements through efficient parameter encoding.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for real-time, goal-directed performed motion alignment for computer animated characters. A sequence of periodic locomotion may be seamlessly aligned with an arbitrarily placed and rotated non-periodic performed motion. A rendering application generates a sampling of transition locations for transition from a locomotion motion space to a performed motion space. The sampling is parameterized by control parameters of the locomotion motion space. Based on the location and rotation of a goal location at which the performed motion is executed, a particular transition location may be selected to define a motion plan to which a performed motion sequence may then appended. Advantageously, by utilizing a look-up of pre-computed values for the control parameters of the motion plan, the rendering application may minimize the computational cost of finding the motion plan to move the character to a location to transition to a performed motion.