A Sketching Interface for Articulated Figure Animation

Abstract

We introduce a new interface for rapidly creating 3D articulated figure animation, from 2D sketches of the character in the desired key frame poses. Since the exact 3D animation corresponding to a set of 2D drawings is ambiguous we first reconstruct the possible 3D configurations and then apply a set of constraints and assumptions to present the user with the most likely 3D pose. The user can refine this candidate pose by choosing among alternate poses proposed by the system. This interface is supported by pose reconstruction and optimization methods specifically designed to work with imprecise hand drawn figures. Our system provides a simple, intuitive and fast interface for creating rough animations that leverages our users existing ability to draw. The resulting key framed sequence can be exported to commercial animation packages for interpolation and additional refinement.