Experimenting Prioritized IK for Motion Editing

Abstract

The presented work illustrates the potential of an IK algorithm enforcing priorities among constraints for motion editing. Motion capture is a very efficient technique to deliver believable motions but usually most of the captured motions need to be edited before they match the end-user’s needs. Motion editing can be achieved by applying constraints to parts of the animated character while trying to retain most of the original motion. However all constraints are not equal: some have more importance than others for the animator. The sequences presented here were obtained with an IK solver that allows the user to associate a priority level to a constraint (without limitation in the number of priority levels). We first provide a short overview of the edited sequence prior to describe the general framework of the test application and the potential of the IK algorithm with priorities. We focus especially on the first case where three priority levels are exploited to provide a fine control over the arm animation. The two next cases focus on the specification of goals attached to mobile frames. A general discussion reviews the advantages and limitations of the recent state of the IK algorithm.