System and method for real-time pose-based deformation of character models

A computer-readable non-transitory medium encoded with a computer program system for animating a graphic character, comprising:

• a modeling component configured to provide via at least one processor a character model associated with controls for animating the character model and to create a directed graph which contains nodes representing operations that responsive to the controls, act on the character model, and connections each of which represents data flow from a source end to a destination end;
• a dependency solver component configured to determine via at least one processor the order of operations;
• and
• a graph compiler component configured to compile via at least one processor the directed graph into a sequence of instructions that perform the operations represented by the nodes;
• wherein the directed graph includes a zero-dependency node that does not depend on any remaining nodes, the dependency solver commencing with the zero-dependency node to determine dependencies of the remaining nodes resulting in a list of the nodes according to the order of operations.

A computer-readable non-transitory medium encoded with instructions configured to be executed by a processor, the instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the performance of a method for animating a graphic character, comprising:

• providing a character model associated with controls for animating the character model;
• creating a directed graph which contains nodes representing operations that responsive to the controls, act on the character model, and connections each of which represents data flow from a source end to a destination end;
• providing the directed graph to a dependency solver, wherein the order of operations is determined;
• and
• compiling the directed graph into a sequence of instructions that perform the operations represented by the nodes;
• wherein the directed graph includes a zero-dependency node that does not depend on any remaining nodes, the dependency solver commencing with the zero-dependency node to determine dependencies of the remaining nodes resulting in a list of the nodes according to the order of operations.