Synthetic motion capture: Implementing an interactive virtual marine world

Abstract

Biomechanical simulation enables the realistic animation of animals in virtual worlds, but at significant computational cost. Synthetic motion capture is a low-cost technique that prescribes (i) the capture of motion data through the systematic simulation of biomechanical animal models and (ii) compilation of the captured data into kinematic action repertoires rich enough to support elaborate behavioral animation. Synthetic motion capture in conjunction with level-of-detail geometric modeling and object culling during rendering has enabled us to transform a system designed for the realistic offline biomechanical/behavioral animation of artificial fishes into a real-time, interactive, stereoscopic, virtual undersea experience.