Artistically Based Computer Generation of Expressive Motion

Understanding how to create the right movement for a specific character is a significant open problem in computer animation. This same problem, however, has been at the heart of the work of performance artists for hundreds of years. In this work, we try to learn from the lessons contained in the performing arts literature so that we can apply them to creating rich, engaging, animated characters. Three classes of movement properties are identified: those relating to shape, those relating to transitions and those relating to timing. Computational models of some of these properties have been developed and are briefly detailed. A software framework is also presented that allows these properties to be applied independently to a character’s movement. The resulting animation system allows the key aesthetic aspects of movement to be quickly varied and allows motion to be easily customized for a particular character.