Animation engine with hair animation using attenuation fields
AssigneePixar
InventorOlivier Soares
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Computer-generated images based on force field effects are generated by evaluating force field data and animated data. The force field data includes force field directional vectors and the animated data includes density values for an animated model. The force field data and the animated data are splattered on separate multi-dimensional grids. An animation system determines a vector path, starting at a point in the grid containing the animated model, based on the directional vectors and the density values along the vector path are integrated to determine an attenuation factor for the point. The attenuation factor provides a value for accurately determining the movement of the animated model at the point when the force field is present.
Claims21
In an animation system that generates images based on animation inputs and object data, a computer-implemented method of determining movement of an object visible in the generated images based on force field effects, the method comprising:
- determining a density grid of the object, wherein each point of a plurality of points of the density grid includes a density value;
- determining a force field grid based on forces determined separately from the object, wherein each force field point of the force field grid includes a force field direction;
- applying the force field grid to the density grid to determine an attenuation factor for each point of the plurality of points;
- and
- determining movement of the object based on force field effects of the force field grid at each point using the attenuation factor for each point of the density grid.
An animation system for generating images based on animation inputs and object data, comprising:
- one or more processors associated with one or more computer systems;
- and
- a memory configured to store a set of instructions to be executed by the one or more processors, the set of instructions comprising:
- a) instructions for determining a density grid of the object, wherein each point of a plurality of points of the density grid includes a density value;
- b) instructions for determining a force field grid based on forces determined separately from the object, wherein each force field point of the force field grid includes a force field direction;
- c) instructions for applying the force field grid to the density grid to determine an attenuation factor for each point of the plurality of points;
- and
- d) instructions for determining movement of the object based on force field effects of the force field grid at each point using the attenuation factor for each point of the density grid.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable program code for generating images based on animation inputs and object data, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:
- program code for determining a density grid of the object, wherein each point of a plurality of points of the density grid includes a density value;
- program code for determining a force field grid based on forces determined separately from the object, wherein each force field point of the force field grid includes a force field direction;
- program code for applying the force field grid to the density grid to determine an attenuation factor for each point of the plurality of points;
- and
- program code for determining movement of the object based on force field effects of the force field grid at each point using the attenuation factor for each point of the density grid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.