PhD (Information Technology)

Research Topic:

“Mathematical based procedural Animation of Quadrupeds in 3D Environment”. 

Research Area/Field: Computer Graphics and Animation

Name of PhD. Student: Mr. Zeeshan Bhatti 

University: International Islamic University Malaysia

Status: Currently in Second Semester

Abstract

The animation of articulated quadruped (four legged) objects such as Horses or Lions poses a major challenge because of the many degrees of freedom and range of possible movements involved. Key-framing – being the traditional technique provides support only at a low level- the animator tediously creates various control rigs to control and manipulate joint angles or coordinates for each bone type and its degree of freedom. The process of animating a character from pose to pose through key-framing may seem simple in application but in practice is quite tedious, long and grim, especially when animating quadrupeds. Achieving the accurate realistic timing curve is a difficult and daunting task for an animator. The use of Second animation technique - motion capture (mocap) also possesses difficulties and problems. From the cost of the mocap equipment, to technical understanding of the system at hardware level and then implementation issues in an 3D environment, make it a very difficult and tedious process. In my research I aim to work on developing a system which will make animating quadrupeds a very stress-free and automated process through the use of procedural animation. In order to simplify and automate the process of character animation, I purpose the use of higher level technique called procedural animation where mathematical expressions and models can be used to achieve automated movements and animation of these various characters types, hence creating realistic looking animation easily and quickly. Through mathematics exact locomotion of character gaits, knowledge about particular motions or motion processing aspects can be directly incorporated into the control algorithms to achieve accurate timing curves. Then using these algorithms, the entire process of animating a virtual character of various types such as Horses, Lions and Dogs can be simplified and automated.

Research Aim

To develop an involuntary  and accurate animation of quadrupeds with automatic rigging system of various character types  allowing a two tier animation control curve with base simulation being driven through dynamic mathematical model  using  procedural  algorithm and the top layer with a custom user controlled  animation provided with intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). The User will be given various manipulators and attributes to control and manipulate the locomotion  gaits of the characters and choose between various types of simulated motions from walking, running, trotting, turning etc. with complete custom controls to easily extend the base simulation as per requirements.