Robotics methods for task-level and behavioral animation

Abstract

Introduction One of the most important categories of figures in Computer Animation is the articulated figure. There are three ways of animating these linked figures: 1. by recreating the tools used by traditional animators 2. by simulating the physical laws which govern motion in the real world 3. by simulating the behavioral laws which govern the interaction between the objects. The first approach corresponds to methods heavily relied upon by the animator: rotoscopy, shape transformation, parametric keyframe animation (see Chapter 8). The second way guarantees a realistic motion by using kinematics and dynamics. The problem with this type of animation is controlling the motion produced. The third type of animation is called behavioral animation and takes into account the relationship between each object and the other objects. Moreover the control of animation may be performed at a task- level. In summary, at a time t, the methodology of calculating the 3D scene is as follows: 1