Human skin model capable of natural shape variation

Abstract

In the production of character animation that treats living things moving at will, as in the case of humans and animals, it is important to express natural action and realistic body shape. If we can express these freely and easily, we will be able to apply character animation to many fields, such as the simulation of dances and sports, and electronic stand-ins. The computer graphics technique may be one of the most effective means to achieve such goals. We have developed human skin model capable of natural shape variation. This model has a skeleton structure, and free form surfaces cover the skeleton just like skin. The model permits continuous motion of every components of the skeleton according to actions. During such movements, the skin retains smoothness and naturalness. We are verifying the human skin model by producing several short animation pieces.