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Animation toolkit based on a database approach for reusing motions and models

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Abstract

As animations become more readily available, simultaneously the complexity of creating animations has also increased. In this paper, we address the issue by describing an animation toolkit based on a database approach for reusing geometric animation models and their motion sequences. The aim of our approach is to create a framework aimed for novice animators. Here, we use an alternative notion of a VRML scene graph to describe a geometric model, specifically intended for reuse. We represent this scene graph model as a relational database. A set of spatial, temporal, and motion operations are then used to manipulate the models and motions in an animation database. Spatial operations help in inserting/deleting geometric models in a new animation scene. Temporal and motion operations help in generating animation sequences in a variety of ways. For instance, motion information of one geometric model can be applied to another model or a motion sequence can be retargeted to meet additional constraints (e.g., wiping action on a table can be retargeted with constraints that reduce the size of the table). We present the design and implementation of this toolkit along with several interesting examples of animation sequences that can be generated using this toolkit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Akanksha & Zhiyong Huang

  2. Media Division, A*STAR Institute for Infocom Research (I2R), Singapore, Singapore

    Zhiyong Huang

  3. Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA

    B. Prabhakaran

  4. College of Computer Studies, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines

    Conrado R. Ruiz Jr.

Authors
  1. Akanksha
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  2. Zhiyong Huang
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  3. B. Prabhakaran
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  4. Conrado R. Ruiz Jr.
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Correspondence to Zhiyong Huang.

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Akanksha, Huang, Z., Prabhakaran, B. et al. Animation toolkit based on a database approach for reusing motions and models. Multimed Tools Appl 32, 293–327 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-006-0054-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-006-0054-y

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