Vertex Animation Textures for Digital Human Mesh Rendering

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Solution Overview

Problem

The rendering of deformable meshes in real time is computationally heavy and memory-intensive due to the storage and processing of redundant information, particularly when handling blend shapes for anatomically correct animations in digital humans.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of Vertex Animation Textures (VATs) and JSON files to store only the necessary delta positions of vertices, reducing memory usage and processing load by compressing animation frames into a texture format, allowing for efficient blending between different body types and shapes.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Manufacturing precision

If deformable meshes are stored and processed with complete geometry information for anatomically correct animations, then animation accuracy and realism are improved, but memory usage and computational load increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveanimation accuracyVSAvoidmemory usage
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the essential animation data (vertex displacement deltas) from complete mesh geometry, storing only the differences needed for animation rather than full mesh information. This separation allows accurate animation rendering while dramatically reducing stored data volume.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent transforms 3D vertex position data into 2D texture map coordinates, encoding vertex displacements as texture pixels. This dimensional transformation compresses animation data efficiently while preserving all necessary information for accurate mesh deformation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Manufacturing precision

If complete mesh data is processed for each animation frame, then rendering quality is maintained, but processing speed decreases due to redundant information

Engineering Contradiction:
Improverendering qualityVSAvoidprocessing speed
Core Design Contradiction:
Manufacturing precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the essential animation deltas from complete mesh data, discarding redundant static geometry information that doesn't change during animation. This extraction maintains rendering quality while reducing processing overhead.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent performs preliminary processing to separate static mesh geometry from dynamic animation data, preparing optimized data structures in advance. This preliminary action ensures high-quality rendering during runtime without processing redundant information.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Stability of the object's composition

If blend shapes are used to interpolate between different facial expressions and body shapes, then animation smoothness is improved, but memory requirements increase due to storing multiple geometry sets

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveanimation smoothnessVSAvoidmemory requirements
Core Design Contradiction:
Stability of the object's compositionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the displacement information needed for blend shape interpolation, storing vertex delta positions rather than complete intermediate geometry sets. This maintains smooth animation transitions while minimizing stored data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system encodes blend shape data in texture map format, transforming multi-dimensional geometry information into compact 2D texture representations. This enables smooth interpolation calculations with minimal memory footprint.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentUS20240070983A1Method and system for generating anonymized digital humans
Publication Date: 2024.02.29 UNITY TECH SF
  • US20240070983A1 patent drawing
  • US20240070983A1 patent drawing
  • US20240070983A1 patent drawing

AI summary

A method of populating a digital environment with an anonymous humanoid digital character is disclosed. One or more values are randomly determined for one or more target human properties. An asset pool is searched for assets that are compatible with the one or more values. The assets include a human body mesh. A blend of height and weight vertex animation textures (VATs) is applied to the human body mesh. The blended human body mesh is placed into the digital environment.