2D Shape Transformation Using 3D Blending

Computer animation is one of the key components of a multimedia document or presentation. Shape transformation between objects of different topology and positions is an open modeling problem in computer animation. We propose a new approach to solving this problem for two given 2D shapes. The key steps of the proposed algorithm are: dimension increase by converting input 2D shapes into halfcylinders in 3D space, bounded blending with added material between the half-cylinders, and making cross-sections for getting frames of the animation. We use the bounded blending set operations defined using R-functions and displacement functions with the localized area of influence applied to the functionally defined 3D half-cylinders. The proposed approach is general enough to handle input shapes with arbitrary topology defined as polygons with holes and disjoint components, set-theoretic objects, or analytical implicit curves. The obtained unusual amoeba-like behavior of the 2D shape combines metamorphosis with the non-linear movement on the plane.