Systems and methods for enabling animation of a secondary asset in online multi-player video games
AssigneeActivision Publishing, Inc.
InventorAlexander Bereznyak
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for constructing an offline graph structure configured to enable controlled character motion synthesis in a multi-player online gaming include a graph structure that has a plurality of master nodes and edges such that each master node is representative of a set of similar dominant poses and edges are representative of plausible transitions between these dominant poses. Motion is generated at runtime by navigating through the graph structure and applying dominant poses from the plurality of master nodes. Since, an online game describes a desired motion of a character using a plurality of control parameters therefore, transitions that match the plurality of control parameters most closely are selected from the graph structure.
Claims24
A computer-implemented method of generating a graph structure configured to enable a synthesis of character motion in a multi-player online video game, the method comprising:
- receiving motion capture data;
- identifying a plurality of dominant poses from the motion capture data;
- comparing each dominant pose of the plurality of dominant poses against each remaining pose of the plurality of dominant poses;
- grouping the dominant poses to form one or more master pose nodes, wherein the dominant poses in each of the one or more master pose nodes are indicative of similar motion over a time window;
- adding a plurality of transitions based on successive dominant poses present in each master pose node, wherein each of the plurality of transitions represents pairs of dominant poses that are sufficiently similar for selection in an animation sequence;
- calculating shape, mesh, UVs and skin corresponding to a secondary asset associated with the character;
- calculating and storing inverse blend shapes and normal maps for the plurality of dominant poses;
- storing the inverse blend shapes and normal maps per build, per gaming level or per platform;
- and
- invoking and applying, at runtime, the stored inverse blend shapes and normal maps with metadata from the plurality of dominant poses to mesh and shader in desired proportions or weights.
A system of generating a graph structure configured to enable a synthesis of character motion in a multi-player online video game, the system comprising:
- at least one game server in communication with a plurality of player client devices, wherein the at least one game server has a non-volatile memory for storing a plurality of programmatic code which, when executed, cause a processor to:
- receive motion capture data;
- identify a plurality of dominant poses from the motion capture data;
- compare each dominant pose of the plurality of dominant poses against each remaining pose of the plurality of dominant poses;
- group the dominant poses to form one or more master pose nodes, wherein the dominant poses in each of the one or more master pose nodes are indicative of similar motion over a time window;
- add a plurality of transitions based on successive dominant poses present in each master pose node, wherein each of the plurality of transitions represents pairs of dominant poses that are sufficiently similar for selection in an animation sequence;
- calculate shape, mesh, UVs and skin corresponding to a secondary asset associated with the character;
- calculate and store inverse blend shapes and normal maps for the plurality of dominant poses;
- store the inverse blend shapes and normal maps per build, per game level or per platform;
- and
- invoke and apply, at runtime, the stored inverse blend shapes and normal maps with metadata from the plurality of dominant poses to mesh and shader in desired proportions or weights.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.