Hyun, KyunglyulLee, KyunghoLee, JeheeJoaquim Jorge and Ming Lin2016-04-262016-04-2620161467-8659https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.12815The behavioral structure of human movements is imposed by multiple sources, such as rules, regulations, choreography, habits, and emotion. Our goal is to identify the behavioral structure in a specific application domain and create a novel sequence of movements that abide by structure-building rules. To do so, we exploit the ideas from formal language, such as rewriting rules and grammar parsing, and adapted those ideas to synthesize the three-dimensional animation of multiple characters. The structured motion synthesis using motion grammars is formulated in two layers. The upper layer is a symbolic description that relates the semantics of each individual's movements and the interaction among them. The lower layer provides spatial and temporal contexts to the animation. Our multi-level MCMC (Markov Chain Monte Carlo) algorithm deals with the syntax, semantics, and spatiotemporal context of human motion to produce highly-structured, animated scenes. The power and effectiveness of motion grammars are demonstrated in animating basketball games from drawings on a tactic board. Our system allows the user to position players and draw out tactical plans, which are animated automatically in virtual environments with three-dimensional, full-body characters.10.1111/cgf.12815103-113