cSpacesdfsdfs Index Home Intro Extracting Solving Applying Conclusions References

Tools and Resources Homemade Software The software we used to do the actual retargetting and constraint modification is really the main workhorse for this project and was written by Micheal Gleicher. The system reads BVH (BioVision Hierarchy format) files and Python scripts that specify the constraints. The program uses OpenGL to draw the skeleton and the constraints and the solver is quick enough to resolve the motion in real time. This allows a user to not only drag constraints around on the fly and edit the motion, but also quickly add, remove, or change constraints and resolve the motion very fast. This step is very important in the retargetting process to maintain an acceptable motion. Due to size and proportion differences in the original and new skeleton, simply applying the motion to the new skeleton would cause all sorts of nasty artifacts such as skating feet. With our software the the solver can create a new motion, keeping what is most important, particularily solid footplants. Other constraints can easily be added to control other elements or to clean up the new motion. This is discussed later. The Models The models we used came from various places. The baby and ant models were provided to of by Hou Soon Ming, and our many thanks go to him for allowing us to use his fabulous models. His library of model can be found at . The Gremlin is from an unknown author, but was downloaded from the Virtual Characters Archives Network library of models. The alien we got from a CD purchased from Zygote Media Group. The Renderer To create our final renders we used 3D Studio MAX version 2.5 and the Character Studio 2 Plugin. The models were attached to underlying skeletons using Physique and rendered using the standard MAX renderer. For more information on 3D Studio MAX visit the Kinetix web page at www.ktx.com.