View-Dependent Character Animation [Hardcover]

Creating moving camera character animations in 3D is a multi-faceted computer graphics and computer vision problem that requires a formal representation of the moving camera, and efficient algorithms to help author manage and render the multitude of character poses required for the animation. This well-researched book introduces view-dependent character animation, covering all the relevant background work. Numerous example animations are offered to explain and illustrate this versatile technique.

Computer generated 3D animation has matured over the years into a complex art form. Coordinating and presenting the character's movement in three dimensions to convey a specific idea to the audience requires artistic and technical skills, and often a labourious iterative trial-and-error process to get it right. Creating moving camera character animations in 3D is a multi-faceted computer graphics and computer vision problem. Warranting a formal representation of the moving camera, and efficient algorithms to help author the multitude of character poses required for the animation. It is also necessary to deal with issues pertaining to camera and character pose interpolation and visualization of the association between the two. The solution to this problem has to be efficient and elegant from the perspective of a computer scientist, and make sense and be intuitive to use.

This well-researched book contains a large number of example animations to explain and illustrate this versatile technique.

Introduction.- Principles of Animation.- The Animation Pipeline.- Moving-camera Character Animation.- Designing a Framework for View-Dependant Animation.- Tour of the Book.- A Framework for View-Dependant Animation.- Prior Work.- The View Space.- Distance of Viewpoint.- Other Extensions.- Chapter Summary.- View-Dependant Animation from Sketches.- Prior Work.- Overview of the Pipeline.- Inputs.- Recovering the Camerls%