Interactive avatar control: Case studies on physics and performance based character animation

Abstract

This paper focuses on the problem of interactive avatar control. Interactive avatar control is a subclass of character animation wherein users are able to control the movement and animation of a character given its virtual representation. Movements of an avatar can be controlled in various ways such as through physics, kinematics, or performance-based animation techniques. Problems in interactive avatar control involve how natural the movement of the avatar is, whether the algorithm can work in real time or not, and how much details in the avatar's motions the algorithm allows users to control. In automated avatar control, it is also necessary for the algorithm to be able to respond to unexpected changes and disturbances in the environment.

We discuss two of our works that focus on deploying a physics-based controller to different simulation platforms for automated avatar control, and performance-based avatar control for a virtual try-on experience. With our work, we illustrate how character animation techniques can be employed for avatar control.