Stylistic Motion Decomposition

We propose a novel method for interactive editing of motion data based on motion decomposition. Our method employs Independent Component Analysis to decompose motion data into meaningful components that capture different aspects of that motion. The user interactively identifies suitable components and manipulates them based on a proposed set of operations. In particular, the user can transfer components from one motion to another in order to create new and novel motions that retain desirable aspects of the style and expressiveness of the original motion. For example, a clumsy walking motion can be decomposed so as to separate the clumsy nature of the motion from the underlying walking pattern. The clumsy component can then be applied to a running motion, which will then yield a clumsy-looking running motion. Our approach is simple, efficient and intuitive since the components are themselves motion data. We demonstrate that the proposed method can serve as an effective tool for interactive motion analysis and editing.