Method of Inferring Microdetail on Skin Animation
AssigneeWeta Digital Limited
InventorsEmiliano Padovani, Artur Vill
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A computer-implemented method and system for modeling an outer surface, such as skin. The method includes, under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions, defining a plurality of microstructures such as microstructures to be displayed in microstructure locations on a geometric model of a character or inanimate object, and generating a volumetric mesh including the plurality of microstructures. The volumetric mesh is configured to be applied to the geometric model as an outer surface (e.g., skin) covering the geometric model.
Claims19
A computer-implemented method of modeling an outer surface, the method comprising:
- under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions:
- performing at least one procedural modeling process that defines a plurality of microstructures to be displayed in microstructure locations of the plurality of microstructures on a geometric model;
- and
- generating a volumetric mesh comprising the plurality of microstructures, the volumetric mesh having a resolution determined, at least in part, by the microstructure locations of the plurality of microstructures, the volumetric mesh being configured to be applied to the geometric model as the outer surface, wherein the outer surface represents covering the geometric model.
A computer-implemented method of modeling skin, the method comprising:
- under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions:
- obtaining a geometric model of at least a portion of a character, the geometric model comprising an initial mesh defined by a first number of polygons;
- obtaining microstructure parameter values;
- generating microstructure locations based, at least in part, on a first set of the microstructure parameter values;
- generating an intermediate mesh by generating microstructures at the microstructure locations, the intermediate mesh comprising a second number of polygons, the second number of polygons being greater than the first number of polygons, the second number of polygons being determined, at least in part, by the microstructure locations, a microstructure appearance of the microstructures being based, at least in part, on a second set of the microstructure parameter values;
- and
- generating a volumetric mesh comprising the microstructures, the volumetric mesh being configured to be applied to the geometric model as skin covering the portion of the character.
A system, comprising:
- at least one first computing device configured to implement a grooming processor configured to receive a three-dimensional geometric model and microstructure parameter values, generate microstructure locations based, at least in part, on a first portion of the microstructure parameter values, and generate an adaptive mesh that includes microstructures positioned at the microstructure locations;
- and
- at least one second computing device configured to implement a mesh modeler, the grooming processor being configured to send coarse grooming geometry to the mesh modeler, the coarse grooming geometry comprising the adaptive mesh, the three-dimensional geometric model, and a second set of the microstructure parameter values, the mesh modeler being configured to generate a volumetric mesh based on the coarse grooming geometry, the volumetric mesh being configured to cover the three-dimensional geometric model.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.