Systems and Methods For Applying Animations or Motions to a Character

• US 20100302257A1
• Filed: 05/29/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kipman, Alex A., Perez, Kathryn Stone, Margolis, Jeffrey
• Granted Patent: US 8,803,889 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/474
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/215 comprising means for detecting acoustic signals, e.g. using a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/428 involving motion or position input signals, e.g. signals representing the rotation of an input controller or a player's arm motions sensed by accelerometers or gyroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/57 Simulating properties, behaviour or motion of objects in the game world, e.g. computing tyre load in a car race game A63F13/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/812 Ball games, e.g. soccer or baseball
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/816 Athletics, e.g. track-and-field sports
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/833 Hand-to-hand fighting, e.g. martial arts competition A63F13/837 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/1087 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. a camera
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5593 involving scheduling aspects
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6607 for animating game characters, e.g. skeleton kinematics
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/69 Involving elements of the real world in the game world, e.g. measurement in live races, real video
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8005 Athletics
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8011 Ball
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/40 of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10028 Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30196 Human being; Person
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion motion estimation for coding, decoding, compressing or decompressing digital video signals H04N19/43, H04N19/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/251 : involving models
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/23 : Recognition of whole body movements, e.g. for sport training

Abstract

An virtual character such as an on-screen object, an avatar, an on-screen character, or the like may be animated using a live motion of a user and a pre-recorded motion. For example, a live motion of a user may be captured and a pre-recorded motion such as a pre-recorded artist generated motion, a pre-recorded motion of the user, and/or a programmatically controlled transformation may be received. The live motion may then be applied to a first portion of an the virtual character and the pre-recorded motion may be applied to a second portion of the virtual character such that the virtual character may be animated with a combination of the live and pre-recorded motions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for blending motions, the computer-implemented method comprising:

capturing a live motion of a user;

receiving a pre-recorded motion; and

applying the live motion to a first portion of a virtual character and the pre-recorded motion to a second portion of the virtual character.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein pre-recorded motion comprises at least one of the following:

a pre-recorded motion of the user;

an artist developed motion; and

a programmatically controlled transformation.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an image, wherein the images includes a human target associated with the user;

generating a model of the user based on the human target in the received image.

4. The computer-implemented of claim 3, further comprising:

adjusting the model of the user to mimic a movement by the user; and

capturing the adjusted model of the user to capture the live motions of the user.

5. The computer-implemented of claim 4, wherein applying the live motion to the first portion of the virtual character and the pre-recorded motion to the second portion of the virtual character further comprises:

mapping one or more body parts of the virtual character to one or more joints in the model of the user; and

mapping one or more body parts of the virtual character to one or more body parts of a character model associated with the pre-recorded motion.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein applying the live motion to the first portion of the virtual character and the pre-recorded motion to the second portion of the virtual character further comprises:

disabling one or more joints in the model of the user that correspond to the one or more body parts in the second portion of the virtual character;

disabling one or more joints in the character model associated with the pre-recorded motion that correspond to the one or more body parts in the first portion of the virtual character; and

blending the live motion associated with the adjusted model of the user with the pre-recorded motion associated with the character model in response to disabling the one or more joints in the model of the user and the one or more joints in the character model; and

animating the first portion and the second portion of the virtual character with the blended live and pre-recorded motions.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a gesture from the user, wherein the gesture is associated with a command to apply an animation to the virtual character.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the live motion and the pre-recorded motion is applied to the respective first and second portions of the virtual character in response receiving the gesture from the user.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for blending motions, the computer executable instructions comprising instructions for:

applying a pre-recorded motion to a virtual character;

receiving a first gesture from a user;

capturing a live motion of the user; and

applying the live motion to at least a portion of the virtual character in response to receiving the first gesture.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein pre-recorded motion comprises at least one of the following:

a pre-recorded motion of the user;

an artist developed motion; and

a programmatically controlled transformation.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for receiving a second gesture from the user.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions for applying the pre-recorded motion to the portion of the virtual character in response to receiving the second gesture.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions for instructions for applying the pre-recorded motion to the portion of the virtual character in response to receiving the second gesture for:

blending the live motion of the user with the pre-recorded motion over predetermined number of frames; and

animating the virtual character with the blended live and pre-recorded motion over the predetermined number of frames; and

animating the virtual character with the pre-recorded motion after the predetermined number of frames.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for:

receiving an image, wherein the images includes a human target associated with the user;

generating a model of the user based on the human target in the received image;

adjusting the model of the user to mimic a movement by the user; and

capturing the adjusted model of the user to capture the live motion of the user.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions for capturing the live motion of the user comprise instructions for adjusting the model of the user to mimic a movement by the user;

and capturing the adjusted model of the user to capture the live motion of the user.

16. A system for rendering a model of a user;

the system comprising;

a processor, wherein the processor executes computer executable instructions, and wherein the computer executable instructions comprise instructions for;

receiving a pre-recorded motion and a live motion of a user;

mapping one or more body parts of a virtual character to one or more joints in a first model of the user associated with the live motion;

mapping one or more body parts of the virtual character to one or more body parts of a second model associated with the pre-recorded motion; and

animating the virtual character with the pre-recorded motion and the live motion.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein pre-recorded motion comprises at least one of the following:

a pre-recorded motion of the user;

an artist developed motion; and

a programmatically controlled transformation.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the instructions for animating the virtual character with the pre-recorded motion and the live motion further comprise instructions for:

disabling one or more joints in the first model of the user that correspond to the one or more body parts in a second portion of the virtual character;

disabling one or more joints in the second model associated with the pre-recorded motion that correspond to the one or more body parts in a first portion of the virtual character; and

blending the live motion associated with the first model of the user with the pre-recorded motion associated with the second model in response to disabling the one or more joints in the first model of the user and the one or more joints in the second model; and

animating the first portion and the second portion of the virtual character with the blended live and pre-recorded motions.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising instructions for receiving a gesture from the user, wherein the gesture is associated with a command to apply an animation to the virtual character.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the virtual character is animated with the live motion and the pre-recorded motion in response receiving the gesture from the user.