US 8,139,068 B2 · Three-dimensional animation of soft tissue of characters using controls associated with a surface mesh

Abstract

A face, as well as any other soft tissue of a character, can be animated much in the same way that a skeleton is animated by creating a soft tissue solver attached to the surface mesh. In particular, deformation objects are associated with regions of the surface mesh. The deformation objects deform the mesh according to deformation operators in response to a change in a control object. This soft tissue solver can be generated automatically given a set of salient points specified on an input mesh and a format file for the class of objects of which the input mesh is an example. The format file specifies what the salient points are, and the relative placement of the deformation objects and control objects as functions of the salient points. Specific deformation operators can be defined and associated, through the format file, with the deformation objects and control objects. The format file for a class of objects, such as for human and humanoid heads, and related operators can be determined based on experimentation and observation of the object being modeled. Through such a soft tissue solver, the behavior of the deformation of the surface mesh is quantified and controlled by direct manipulation of the points on the mesh. Thus, the surface of the object can be animated in a manner similar to how animation of a skeleton is defined using inverse kinematics. Because the surface of the object is directly related to its appearance or aesthetics, this animation capability is referred to herein as “quantitative aesthetics.”

Claims27

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method for generating a soft tissue solver for a computer animation application executed by a processor, comprising:

receiving a three-dimensional mesh;
receiving input from a user that directly identifies one or more salient points on the three-dimensional mesh;
computing, using the processor, locations of helper points on the three-dimensional mesh based on locations of the one or more salient points on the three-dimensional mesh, wherein the location of at least one helper point is defined as a percentage along a line between two salient points on the three-dimensional mesh;
generating, based on the locations of the helper points on the three-dimensional mesh and the locations of the one or more salient points on the three-dimensional mesh, one or more guidelines associated with three-dimensional mesh;
and
automatically generating a soft tissue solver based on the one or more salient points on the three-dimensional mesh and the one or more guidelines associated with the three-dimensional mesh, wherein the soft tissue solver includes a deformation region represented by points in the three-dimensional mesh, a deformation object representing only a single weight associated with the deformation region and a displacement that is applied to the deformation region, and a deformation operator that specifies a deformation to the deformation object according to a change in a control object that is a point or curve on the three-dimensional mesh.

3 more elements

A method for creating computer-generated animation in an animation application executed by a processor of an object defined by a three dimensional mesh, comprising:

receiving a soft tissue solver including the three-dimensional mesh, wherein the soft tissue solver includes one or more control objects, wherein each of the control objects includes a point or curve on the three-dimensional mesh, one or more deformation objects associated with the mesh, wherein each of the deformation objects represents only a single weight associated with a deformation region of the three-dimensional mesh and a displacement that is applied to the deformation region, and one or more deformation operators, wherein each of the deformation operators is associated with one of the control objects and one of the deformation objects, and specifies deformation to the associated deformation object according to a change in the control object, and wherein deformation of the associated deformation object is associated with deformations of the three-dimensional mesh;
and
permitting the user to separately manipulate each of the control objects to establish a pose,
wherein, via the processor, the soft tissue solver is generated based on one or more helper points on the three-dimensional mesh and one or more guidelines associated with the three-dimensional mesh, the one or more helper points are generated based on the locations of one or more salient points on the three-dimensional mesh identified by the user, the location of at least one helper point is defined as a percentage along a line between two salient points on the three-dimensional mesh, and the one or more guidelines are derived based on the helper points on the three-dimensional mesh and the locations of the one or more salient points on the three-dimensional mesh.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Three-dimensional animation of soft tissue of characters using controls associated with a surface mesh

Life of this patent

Three-dimensional animation of soft tissue of characters using controls associated with a surface mesh

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims27