This article presents an approach for generating steering behaviors of groups of characters based on the space colonization algorithm that has been used in the past for generating leaf venation patterns and tree structures. In this article, the underlying idea of the space colonization algorithm is adapted to control the motion of virtual characters, providing robust and realistic group behaviors by adjusting just a few parameters. The main contributions of this work are the robustness, flexibility, and simplicity of the proposed approach to control groups of characters in an interactive way, providing path planning and a series of group behaviors, such as group formation, alignment among others. We also introduce a possible extension of this model to provide collision avoidance among agents, mainly focused on crowd simulation. In addition, an interactive tool is provided to allow an easy manner for controlling the motion of virtual characters.
This paper describes a model for generating steering behaviors of groups of characters based on the biologically-motivated space colonization algorithm. This algorithm has been used in the past for generating leaf venation patterns and tree structures, simulating the competition for space between growing veins or branches. Adapted to character animation, this model is responsible for the motion control of characters providing robust and realistic group behaviors by adjusting just a few parameters. The main contributions are related with the robustness, flexibility and simplicity to control groups of characters.
In this paper we explore the use of Petri Nets as a tool to control the movements of articulated figures in computer animations. This approach permits us to describe the animation sequence by means of the treatment of events present in its execution. An advantage of this method is that the control may be abstracted in different levels, spanning from the definition of the relation among limbs for a single movement to behavioral directives. In addition, our treatment of events hides the mathematical model that describes the movement in fact, allowing the animators to choose the better technique for their applications. In this paper we use an inverse kinematics tool for this purpose. The use of Petri Nets also allows previewing the behavior of the animation before starting any shot.
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