DRACO: Bringing life to illustrations

Abstract

Draco [4] is a sketch-based interface that allows artists and casual users alike to add a rich set of animation effects to their drawings, seemingly bringing illustrations to life. While previous systems have introduced sketch-based animations for individual objects, our contribution is a unified framework of motion controls that allows users to seamlessly add coordinated motions to object collections. We propose a framework built around kinetic textures, which provide continuous animation effects while preserving the unique timeless nature of still illustrations. This enables many dynamic effects difficult or not possible with previous sketch-based tools, such as a school of fish swimming, tree leaves blowing in the wind, or water rippling in a pond. A user study with professional animators and casual users demonstrates the variety of animations, applications and creative possibilities our tool provides.