Layering method for feather animation
First Claim
1. A method of animating feather elements, comprising:
- specifying initial positions for a skin surface;
specifying initial positions for a plurality of feather elements, each feather element including a shaft having a root at a proximal end for attaching the feather element to the skin surface at a root-attachment point and a tip at a distal end away from the skin surface, and the feather element further including vane structures extending laterally from the shaft;
specifying positions for the skin surface at an animated time;
determining a feather-ordering sequence for placing the feather elements on the skin surface;
determining positions for a plurality of skirt elements that provide spatial extensions for the skin surface at the animated time;
determining positions for a plurality of feather-proxy elements that provide spatial extensions for the feather elements at the animated time, wherein the feather-proxy elements are determined from the skirt elements according to the feather-ordering sequence, and the feather-proxy elements satisfy a separation criterion for avoiding intersections between the feather-proxy elements; and
determining positions for the feather elements at the animated time by extracting the feather elements from the feather-proxy elements.
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Abstract
A method of animating feather elements includes: specifying initial positions for a skin surface and for feather elements; specifying positions for the skin surface at an animated time; determining a feather-ordering sequence for placing the feather elements on the skin surface; determining positions for skirt elements that provide spatial extensions for the skin surface at the animated time; determining positions for feather-proxy elements that provide spatial extensions for the feather elements at the animated time; and determining positions for the feather elements at the animated time by extracting the feather elements from the feather-proxy elements. The feather-proxy elements are determined from the skirt elements according to the feather-ordering sequence, and the feather-proxy elements satisfy a separation criterion for avoiding intersections between the feather-proxy elements.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A method of animating feather elements, comprising:
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specifying initial positions for a skin surface;
specifying initial positions for a plurality of feather elements, each feather element including a shaft having a root at a proximal end for attaching the feather element to the skin surface at a root-attachment point and a tip at a distal end away from the skin surface, and the feather element further including vane structures extending laterally from the shaft;
specifying positions for the skin surface at an animated time;
determining a feather-ordering sequence for placing the feather elements on the skin surface;
determining positions for a plurality of skirt elements that provide spatial extensions for the skin surface at the animated time;
determining positions for a plurality of feather-proxy elements that provide spatial extensions for the feather elements at the animated time, wherein the feather-proxy elements are determined from the skirt elements according to the feather-ordering sequence, and the feather-proxy elements satisfy a separation criterion for avoiding intersections between the feather-proxy elements; and
determining positions for the feather elements at the animated time by extracting the feather elements from the feather-proxy elements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of determining a feather-ordering sequence for animating feather elements, comprising:
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specifying initial positions for a skin surface;
specifying initial positions for a plurality of feather elements, each feather element including a shaft having a root at a proximal end for attaching the feather element to the skin surface at a root-attachment point and a tip at a distal end away from the skin surface, and the feather element further including vane structures extending laterally from the shaft;
determining an initial vector field on at least a portion of the skin surface from the initial positions for the feather elements, wherein the initial vector field includes a plurality of vectors and each vector has a magnitude and a direction;
determining a feather-ordering vector field from the initial vector field to enable an integration of the feather-ordering vector field; and
determining the feather-ordering function through the integration of the feather-ordering vector field, wherein values of the feather-ordering function at the root-attachment points of the feather elements determine the feather-ordering sequence for animating the feathers elements. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An apparatus for animating feather elements, the apparatus comprising a computer for executing computer instructions, wherein the computer includes computer instructions for:
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specifying initial positions for a skin surface;
specifying initial positions for a plurality of feather elements, each feather element including a shaft having a root at a proximal end for attaching the feather element to the skin surface at a root-attachment point and a tip at a distal end away from the skin surface, and the feather element further including vane structures extending laterally from the shaft;
specifying positions for the skin surface at an animated time;
determining a feather-ordering sequence for placing the feather elements on the skin surface;
determining positions for a plurality of skirt elements that provide spatial extensions for the skin surface at the animated time;
determining positions for a plurality of feather-proxy elements that provide spatial extensions for the feather elements at the animated time, wherein the feather-proxy elements are determined from the skirt elements according to the feather-ordering sequence, and the feather-proxy elements satisfy a separation criterion for avoiding intersections between the feather-proxy elements; and
determining positions for the feather elements at the animated time by extracting feather elements from the feather-proxy elements. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus for determining a feather-ordering sequence for animating feather elements, the apparatus comprising a computer for executing computer instructions, wherein the computer includes computer instructions for:
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specifying initial positions for a skin surface;
specifying initial positions for a plurality of feather elements, each feather element including a shaft having a root at a proximal end for attaching the feather element to the skin surface at a root-attachment point and a tip at a distal end away from the skin surface, and the feather element further including vane structures extending laterally from the shaft;
determining an initial vector field on at least a portion of the skin surface from the initial positions for the feather elements, wherein the initial vector field includes a plurality of vectors and each vector has a magnitude and a direction;
determining a feather-ordering vector field from the initial vector field to enable an integration of the feather-ordering vector field; and
determining the feather-ordering function through an integration of the feather-ordering vector field, wherein values of the feather-ordering function at the root-attachment points of the feather elements determine the feather-ordering sequence for animating the feathers. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. A computer-readable medium that stores a computer program for animating feather elements, the computer program comprising instructions for:
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specifying initial positions for a skin surface;
specifying initial positions for a plurality of feather elements, each feather element including a shaft having a root at a proximal end for attaching the feather element to the skin surface at a root-attachment point and a tip at a distal end away from the skin surface, and the feather element further including vane structures extending laterally from the shaft;
specifying positions for the skin surface at an animated time;
determining a feather-ordering sequence for placing the feather elements on the skin surface;
determining positions for a plurality of skirt elements that provide spatial extensions for the skin surface at the animated time;
determining positions for a plurality of feather-proxy elements that provide spatial extensions for the feather elements at the animated time, wherein the feather-proxy elements are determined from the skirt elements according to the feather-ordering sequence, and the feather-proxy elements satisfy a separation criterion for avoiding intersections between the feather-proxy elements; and
determining positions for the feather elements at the animated time by extracting feather elements from the feather-proxy elements. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A computer-readable medium that stores a computer program for determining a feather-ordering sequence for animating feather elements, the computer program comprising instructions for:
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specifying initial positions for a skin surface;
specifying initial positions for a plurality of feather elements, each feather element including a shaft having a root at a proximal end for attaching the feather element to the skin surface at a root-attachment point and a tip at a distal end away from the skin surface, and the feather element further including vane structures extending laterally from the shaft;
determining an initial vector field on at least a portion of the skin surface from the initial positions for the feather elements, wherein the initial vector field includes a plurality of vectors and each vector has a magnitude and a direction;
determining a feather-ordering vector field from the initial vector field to enable an integration of the feather-ordering vector field; and
determining the feather-ordering function through an integration of the feather-ordering vector field, wherein values of the feather-ordering function at the root-attachment points of the feather elements determine the feather-ordering sequence for animating the feathers. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41)
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Specification