TY - GEN

T1 - Towards crowd-sourced parameter optimisation for procedural animation

AU - Henshall, Gareth

AU - Teahan, William

AU - Ap Cenydd, Llyr

PY - 2015/10/1

Y1 - 2015/10/1

N2 - Procedural animation systems are capable of synthesizing vivid organic character motion automatically. However, these systems can consist of hundreds of interlinked parameters, yielding a very large search space of potential animations and emergent behaviours. Parametrised Animation is also notoriously difficult to automatically optimise, as the resultant motion or behaviour can be subtle, complex and subjective. We describe a web-based simulation that enables multiple users to interactively rate the animation of a randomly generated population of virtual creatures based on a prescribed criteria. A record of each individual rating is stored and used to seed subsequent generations, thereby guiding the system towards exhibiting a desired type of motion or behaviour. We start by introducing issues inherent to procedural animation techniques and survey related work. We then describe our prototype implementation that allows multiple users to interactively shape the parameters of a snake-like animation system in real-time. We conclude by discussing the next steps of our research, including the optimisation of procedurally animated dolphins.

AB - Procedural animation systems are capable of synthesizing vivid organic character motion automatically. However, these systems can consist of hundreds of interlinked parameters, yielding a very large search space of potential animations and emergent behaviours. Parametrised Animation is also notoriously difficult to automatically optimise, as the resultant motion or behaviour can be subtle, complex and subjective. We describe a web-based simulation that enables multiple users to interactively rate the animation of a randomly generated population of virtual creatures based on a prescribed criteria. A record of each individual rating is stored and used to seed subsequent generations, thereby guiding the system towards exhibiting a desired type of motion or behaviour. We start by introducing issues inherent to procedural animation techniques and survey related work. We then describe our prototype implementation that allows multiple users to interactively shape the parameters of a snake-like animation system in real-time. We conclude by discussing the next steps of our research, including the optimisation of procedurally animated dolphins.

U2 - 10.1109/CW.2015.57

DO - 10.1109/CW.2015.57

M3 - Conference contribution

SP - 379

EP - 381

BT - 2015 International Conference on Cyberworlds

CY - Visby, Sweden

ER -