Reusable interactions for animation

This paper identifies reusable interactions and presents them as an important construct for the development and reuse of software for computer animation. A reusable interaction manages the flow of information among software components. They are first-class entities that are easy to adapt, to organize hierarchically, and to operate dynamically. In computer animation and other time-dependent systems, communications among components evolves as (simulated) time advances. With reusable interactions, developers carefully identify and control this evolution. A novel approach for computer animation that employs reusable interactions is presented in the form of the RASP toolkit. The toolkit provides tools to manage and to organize hierarchically interactions over time. The hierarchical organization of the tools promote multiple levels of reuse. Each level introduces greater means to coordinate the interactions and to reuse them appropriately.