Looping motion space registration for real-time character animation

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to render an animation sequence from a plurality of looping motion clips included in a looping motion space, by performing the steps of:

• determining a number of motion cycles performed by a character object depicted in each of a plurality of motion clips that includes a first motion clip and a second motion clip, wherein a first number of motion cycles performed by the character object in the first motion clip is less than a second number of motion cycles performed by the character object in the second motion clip;
• processing each of the first motion clip and the second motion clip to generate a plurality of looping motion clips, wherein each looping motion clip includes the same number of motion cycles bounded by the first number of motion cycles;
• identifying a first looping motion clip and a second looping motion clip from the plurality of looping motion clips to blend together, wherein each of the first and second looping motion clips depicts the character object performing an equal number of motion cycles, at least one of the first looping motion clip or the second looping motion clip is padded so that the first frame of the first looping motion clip is identical to the first frame of the second looping motion clip and the last frame of the first looping motion clip is identical to the last frame of the second looping motion clip, and a first frame of the first looping motion clip is synchronized with a first frame of the second looping motion clip so that the motion cycles in each of the first and second looping motion clips are in phase with one another;
• rendering a first frame of the animation sequence by blending the first frame of the first looping motion clip and the first frame of the second looping motion clip;
• rendering subsequent frames of the animation sequence by blending each subsequent frame of the first looping motion clip with a corresponding subsequent frame of the second looping motion clip;
• and
• upon determining that a last frame of the first looping motion clip and a last frame of the second looping motion clip have been blended and rendered as a frame of the animation sequence, rendering a next frame of the animation sequence by blending the first frame of the first looping motion clip and the first frame of the second looping motion clip.

A method for generating a looping motion space, comprising

• selecting a plurality of motion clips that includes a first motion clip and a second motion clip to include in the looping motion space;
• and
• invoking a looping motion space generation tool provided by a rendering application executing within a computer system, wherein the looping motion space generation tool is configured to:
• determine a number of motion cycles performed by a character object depicted in each of a plurality of motion clips that includes a first motion clip and a second motion clip, wherein a first number of motion cycles performed by the character object in the first motion clip is less than a second number of motion cycles performed by the character object in the second motion clip,
• process each of the first motion clip and the second motion clip to generate a plurality of looping motion clips, wherein each looping motion clip includes the same number of motion cycles bounded by the first number of motion cycles,
• identify a first looping motion clip and a second looping motion clip from the plurality of looping motion clips to blend together, wherein each of the first and second looping motion clips depicts the character object performing an equal number of motion cycles, at least one of the first looping motion clip or the second looping motion clip is padded so that the first frame of the first looping motion clip is identical to the first frame of the second looping motion clip and the last frame of the first looping motion clip is identical to the last frame of the second looping motion clip, and a first frame of the first looping motion clip is synchronized with a first frame of the second looping motion clip so that the motion cycles in each of the first and second looping motion clips are in phase with one another,
• render a first frame of the animation sequence by blending the first frame of the first looping motion clip and the first frame of the second looping motion clip,
• render subsequent frames of the animation sequence by blending each subsequent frame of the first looping motion clip with a corresponding subsequent frame of the second looping motion clip, and
• upon determining that a last frame of the first looping motion clip and a last frame of the second looping motion clip have been blended and rendered as a frame of the animation sequence, render a next frame of the animation sequence by blending the first frame of the first looping motion clip and the first frame of the second looping motion clip.