Simulation Levels of Detail for Real-time Animation

When su cient computing power is available dy namic simulation can be used as a source of mo tion for real time interactive virtual environments In this paper we explore techniques for reducing the computational cost of simulating groups of crea tures by using less accurate simulations for individ uals when they are less important to the viewer or to the action in the virtual world The less accu rate or lower level of detail simulations can be dy namic with fewer degrees of freedom hybrid kine matic dynamic or purely kinematic As a test of the e ectiveness of this approach we implemented an environment with dynamically simulated legged creatures Because the creatures switch smoothly among di erent levels of detail for the underlying simulation we can achieve real time performance for a larger group of creatures than would be possible if each creature were dynamically simulated To be useful in this test case the method must meet two criteria the outcome of the game must be essen tially unchanged and the viewer s perception of the motion must be the same While it is not possible to make de nitive measurements of these criteria we assess the performance gain from using di erent levels of detail and make a preliminary assessment of the e ect that the decreased accuracy has on the outcome of the sample game