Motion capture assisted animation: texturing and synthesis

Abstract

We discuss a method for creating animations that allows the animator to sketch an animation by setting a small number of keyframes on a fraction of the possible degrees of freedom. Motion capture data is then used to enhance the animation. Detail is added to degrees of freedom that were keyframed, a process we call texturing. Degrees of freedom that were not keyframed are synthesized. The method takes advantage of the fact that joint motions of an articulated figure are often correlated, so that given an incomplete data set, the missing degrees of freedom can be predicted from those that are present.