| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20100020073 | Automatic generation of human models for motion capture, biomechanics and animation - An automated method for the generation of (i) human models comprehensive of shape and joint centers information and/or (ii) subject specific models from multiple video streams is provided. To achieve these objectives, a kinematic model is learnt space from a training data set. The training data set includes kinematic models associated with corresponding morphological models. A shape model is identified as well as one or more poses of the subject. The learnt kinematic model space and the identified shape model are combined to generate a full body model of the subject starting from as few as one-static pose. Further, to generate a full body model of an arbitrary human subject, the learnt kinematic model space and the identified shape model are combined using a parameter set. The invention is applicable for fully automatic markerless motion capture and generation of complete human models. | 01-28-2010 |
| 20100073361 | INTERACTIVE DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND DELIVERY OF 3D CHARACTER MOTION DATA THROUGH THE WEB - Systems and methods are described for animating 3D characters using synthetic motion data generated by generative models in response to a high level description of a desired sequence of motion provided by an animator. In a number of embodiments, an animation system is accessible via a server system that utilizes the ability of generative models to generate synthetic motion data across a continuum to enable multiple animators to effectively reuse the same set of previously recorded motion capture data to produce a wide variety of desired animation sequences. In several embodiments, an animator can upload a custom model of a 3D character and the synthetic motion data generated by the generative model is retargeted to animate the custom 3D character. One embodiment of the invention includes a server system configured to communicate with a database containing motion data including repeated sequences of motion, where the differences between the repeated sequences of motion are described using at least one high level characteristic. In addition, the server system is connected to a communication network, the server system is configured to train a generative model using the motion data, the server system is configured to generate a user interface that is accessible via the communication network, the server system is configured to receive a high level description of a desired sequence of motion via the user interface, the server system is configured to use the generative model to generate synthetic motion data based on the high level description of the desired sequence of motion, and wherein the server system is configured to transmit a stream via the communication network including information that can be used to display a 3D character animated using the synthetic motion data. | 03-25-2010 |
| 20100134490 | REAL TIME GENERATION OF ANIMATION-READY 3D CHARACTER MODELS - Systems and methods for automatically generating animation-ready 3D character models based upon model parameter and clothing selections are described. One embodiment of the invention includes an application server configured to receive the user defined model parameters and the clothing selection via a user interface. In addition, the application server includes a generative model and the application server is configured to generate a 3D anatomical mesh based upon the user defined model parameters using the generative model, the application server includes at least one clothing mesh template including a clothing mesh, a template skeleton, and skinning weights and the application server is configured to apply the clothing mesh from the clothing mesh template corresponding to the user clothing selection to the generated 3D anatomical mesh to create a clothed mesh, the application server is configured to adjust the template skeleton of the clothing mesh template corresponding to the user clothing selection based upon the shape of the clothed mesh, the application server is configured to generate skinning weights based upon the skinning weights of the clothing mesh template corresponding to the user clothing selection, and the application server stores an animation-ready 3D character model including the clothed mesh, the adjusted skeleton, and the generated skinning weights. | 06-03-2010 |
| 20100149179 | DATA COMPRESSION FOR REAL-TIME STREAMING OF DEFORMABLE 3D MODELS FOR 3D ANIMATION - Systems and methods are described for performing spatial and temporal compression of deformable mesh based representations of 3D character motion allowing the visualization of high-resolution 3D character animations in real time. In a number of embodiments, the deformable mesh based representation of the 3D character motion is used to automatically generate an interconnected graph based representation of the same 3D character motion. The interconnected graph based representation can include an interconnected graph that is used to drive mesh clusters during the rendering of a 3D character animation. The interconnected graph based representation provides spatial compression of the deformable mesh based representation, and further compression can be achieved by applying temporal compression processes to the time-varying behavior of the mesh clusters. Even greater compression can be achieved by eliminating redundant data from the file format containing the interconnected graph based representation of the 3D character motion that would otherwise be repeatedly provided to a game engine during rendering, and by applying loss-less data compression to the data of the file itself. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100259547 | WEB PLATFORM FOR INTERACTIVE DESIGN, SYNTHESIS AND DELIVERY OF 3D CHARACTER MOTION DATA - Systems and methods are described for animating 3D characters using synthetic motion data generated by motion models in response to a high level description of a desired sequence of motion provided by an animator. In a number of embodiments, the synthetic motion data is streamed to a user device that includes a rendering engine and the user device renders an animation of a 3D character using the streamed synthetic motion data. In several embodiments, an animator can upload a custom model of a 3D character or a custom 3D character is generated by the server system in response to a high level description of a desired 3D character provided by the user and the synthetic motion data generated by the generative model is retargeted to animate the custom 3D character. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100285877 | DISTRIBUTED MARKERLESS MOTION CAPTURE - Systems and methods for performing remote markerless motion capture to drive 3D animations in real time in accordance with embodiments of the invention are described. One embodiment of the invention includes an optical device connected to a data acquisition device, where the combination of the optical device and the data acquisition device is configured to perform markerless motion capture, and a server system configured to communicate with the data acquisition device via the Internet. In addition, the server system is configured to receive motion capture data from the data acquisition device, and the server system is configured to generate motion data to animate a 3D character model based upon the received motion capture data. | 11-11-2010 |
