Anais do IX SIBGRAPI'96 (1996), -

Virtual Humans for Animation, Ergonomics, and Simulation

Abstract:

Virtual humans are here. The last few years have seen great maturation in the computation speed and control methods needed to portray 3D humans suitable for real interactive applications. I will describe the state of the art through a discussion of the Jack software and its evolution at the University of Pennsylvania. The definition, manipulation, animation, and performance analysis of virtual human figures will be examined. From modeling reasonable body sizes and shape, through control of the highly redundant body linkage, to simulation of plausible motions, human figures offer numerous computational challenges. Enhanced interactive control is provided by natural behaviors such as multiple constraints, looking, reaching, balancing, lifting, stepping, walking, grasping, and so on. A sense-control-act structure permits reactive behaviors that are locally adaptive to the environment. Parallel "programs" based on finite-state machines and task planners can be used to drive animated human agents through complex tasks. Example situations are drawn from human factors in engineering design, real-time agent simulation, and medical applications.

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