The Institute ofImageof Image Information and Television Engineers

MIP2002-19, AI T2002-19, NIM2002-19, VI S2002-19 ' DATABASE SYSTEM AND ITS TOOLS FOR PRODUCTIQN.

Fumio Sumi and Masayuki Nakopima ' ./ '

Graduate School of Infbrmation Science and Enginee'ring Tokyo InStitute of Tlechnology 12-1 Ookayama 2-chome, Meguro-ku Tokyo,.1,.P2-,e.552 Japan, l ' ' f t・・ E-mail:{sumi, nakajima}@img.cS,t'itech,ac.jp

as talenti experience and knowhow. It is exPected Such

technology that' productien of animatien' i's efficiently.

ABSTRACT There are two apptohk]hes to sol"e above mentioned ' problems,

Creating an animation sequence needs tremendous . Developing a technique of generating motion eM- workioads and talented to specify and con- ciently. trol motions. But lt is very popular to make complgtely 'technique' . Developing a new animation without reusing existing sequences of System anci of reusing the animation. One of the reasons is the diMculty of retar- existing animation sequences.

getting the motion to the other models and deform ation The technology to create motion efficiently is re- of the model shapes. If it is possible to provide the an- searched very much, Especially, there are many works imation database, we can eMciently produce a pew an- 'But using kinematics and motiori dynamics[1]N[7], to imation sequence using existing sequences. There are use these method, animators should take care about many research works in retargetting the motion dota the kinematic structure of the charakter and this is a captured from system, but those are high hurdle for animators. alrnost for 3D and there is none of ' While, the work for reuse the existing materials is the works in 2D animation. liinited in reusing triotiori captured data' 6r facial ani- We propose a standard 2D anirnation database sys- mation sequences. tem, in which there are model data with motion in This paper provid'es the solution for above M'entioned Teusable form, ・and utility tools for deformation of ''' '' ''' ' ''' ''' 'problems. model shapes and motions., We develop such techniques T'he remaindbr of the paper"is orga4i'zed"'as fbllows: implemented in the tools as reusable form of rpaking in the next section, vie 6riefly'describe r'elated work. model shapes by vectorization, and educing motlons Section 3 describes the detaiI of animation'database from input bi-tmap images. sYstem.'Iri section 4, we desicribe our result. We con- '61ude with a'brief dLiscussi6n'6f oifr mdih'ed'si gdvEh-

tages and limitations, and directions fot future' Work. t tt tt t t t. /tt. t 1.t tt/ 1. INTRQDUCTION

Currently, It becomes easy to create comp'uter graph- . ies rnovies on the sake of progress of computer graphics 2・ RELATED WORK

''' ''' '・ ''' ' technology, Especially, modelling and rendering tech- -'' ' ' ' niques advanced very much so that CG images become In 3D cotnputer graphics, it is pOpular to reuse some ・ ' much as real as photograph. data such as modelling data. It is selling many model 'tetargettin・g'motion But, it is still requires tremendous workload and time data. The're are many works in to make the 6omputer animation with such realistic captured data to other different -models[8].

motion as creator desired. Moreover, the quality of There is the work in facial animation area, that is

animation works depend on the 's skills such copying the motion to the other model[9]. -73-

NII-Electronic Library Service The Institute ofImageof Image Information and Television Engineers

While, in 2D animation, .t,her,e ai;e many works in morphing reseamch[101A-[13],-but th.ere is few ulork ' i 'is in other than morphing[14i,[15] and none of the 2D(inginai'.tmages-3DModelDataIu

reuse technology using existing animation sequences.

The traditional celluloid animation requires much more

worklgad than that of 3D animation and it is hoped t / AnimationDatabase that the production proce$s will be computerized. Funetions of Teols for Database :

+Vectorizatiofiofimage StandardModelData StandardAnimationSequeriees + 3D to ・2D conversiQi .

+ Set feature ef lines o 3. ANIMATION DATABASE SYSTEM points ' +Grotipihg+Makingkeyfiair)es AnimationSequeneeLibfary 3.1 System Overview +interpolationbetweenkeyframes We propose the technique developing standard ani- User'sModelDataand mation database system for 2D animation. producing UseAnirmatioil o AnimatiofiSegueflces The existing animatien sequence is stored in the

database in-reusable form which have the standard

model with motion. The user can use the animation Figure 1: The Functional DiagraJn of Database System sequence as it is, or can applY it to the user's charac-

ter by deforrning the standard model and inotion. The This tool is used when we want to select request- tools for creating database and using stored animation ing sLandard aniniation sequence. Preview and fraJne sequences are also developed and providecl. editing functions are also '(3) provided. Applicatiou tool 3.1.1 Animatiori Database '[Vhis 'following tool has the functioTls: Deforming the The animation consists of tbe following database st'andard modei to user's model, ad,iusting and applying

its usage: parts by the motion to user's' model. Reusable fbrm of stand4rd axiimation sequences (1) {4) Database management tool There are standard model's vectorized data and de- This is thg database maintenance tool. T'he follow- tected motion from input amimation frames. This part ing functions are provided: Data addition, deletion, is used internally by system foi/ animation warping to retreat'al and backup. the other mL}dels.

(2) Standard animation sequences 3.2 Provided Database Content This part is used by users. All sequence data are

stored in 2D bitmap irnages without color. The gontent (1) Standard Animation Sequences examples are described in subsection 3.2. In this part, the fo11owing sequences are included: (3) Animatiop sequence library This part is used as it is. All animation sequences e Human locomotion: Running, Walking, Skipping,

are 2D cQlored bitmap image data. This animation etc.

sequence is used as it is. e Human facial expression: Taking, Smiling, Sur- Figure 1 shows the fuilctional diagrain of the anima- prising, Crying, Angry, etc. tion database system.

e Quadruped animais: Dog, Cat, Sheep, Horse, etc. 3.1.2 7bols for Database System e Birds: Pigeon, Seagutl, Crow, Swm}, Eagle, etc. (1) Database creation teol This tool is used for registering the data to the . Natural phenomena: Raining, Snowing, Wlnd, database system. The rnain function of this tool is mak- Surface of river, Stream of river, Fire fiame, etc. ing input data to be reusable. The conversion function from 3D mode! data to 2D model is included in this (2) Animation Llbrary "The toel.(2) The sarnple animation eptitled, PVind and VVd-

Retrieval tool ter Cuardians", ls in the library. This title !asts about -74-

/

NII-Electronic Library Service The Institute ofImageof Image Information and Television Engineers

fiveiiPnutes. Users.cgl.}.edit th,jssarnple in .vPeir pwn .manrier to create'.nevy sequence. Standard Model StandardAnimation Some of standard. anrmation sequences such as nat- ・i, 'gg-l,N,, t t tt ssl ural with ."',tti r x ' if -i"x '・.i--S, l ` Metion V:ctor 3.3 Making, Reusable Forrp. [ i> .f e t ' tt 4,t'/""IIS・ x The st'an.dard animation ' tsequence is given /by the "-k. seriesi ef 2D binary'irnage frames. When we cre'ate the S.-i))>'c...V-E.-,i'".) .tt/f standard animation database, we sh6uld create them in

reusable form[ The standard model shape' is extfacted smpbefonnahon frorn these bihary images by the piocess of the fo11owing stge1.y.and.ft.dj,"st steps.(1) S>7g x'As.

Vectorizat'ion 'cbnverted AnimationvLlarpmg a vector The 2D binaryimage is tO drdwing t4., image using vector tracing algorithm[181. Pixels are

approximated in straight lines. t".'.'fill.il,\% (2) Making correspondent feature points between franles ! fA,. kxx x. x. The correspondent feature points of lines are ex- i; traeted vectgrized frQm impges. The pattern matching £ .r lY algorithms are used for automated searching ,correspon- TargetFvTodelAJ#mFtion.

dences: Thesg feature poipts are used.for deforming the Figure 2: Animation Warping Overview standard mq, del to vser ls.medels. (3) .Extracting ruptipn vectors from the series of frames same as the standard model was convereed. The ri}atching algoritbms are. alseused fbr process pattern 'us- extracting rnotion.s a Next, the eorrespondehces are searched and set froru geries of frames. Motion ing the reusable vectors are noted in a set of direction and distance dis- formatdata of standard animation'se-

in the database. of feature quence placement'We points. Motion warping tried to use the several algorithms for the pattern (2) When we warp thg motion matching such as template-matching, Iine-matching, s.tandard/ to the target modei, we should corisider'the relaocation-matching, structured matching[17] and ra- displacementof model by the deformation.The stanclard motign vector isad- dial bases function (RBF)[16]. RBF is weil known in to the target model in size and direction, and is its powerfu1 interpelation and matching capability. We justed fitting to the target model. Then used Nagao's algorithm[18],[19] for detecting motion the animation warp-

ing to the target is completed. and correspondent feature peints . paodel Figure 2 shows the overview of animation wafping.

3.4 Animatign Warping

When.we use the standard animation sequences to 4i RESUL[It

our crwn Character(target model), we should defbrm the

shape of standard model and modify its motion to fit This project is on' the way. The standard animation for the target model. This is the warping. qnimation sequences are mostly made and ready to use., The animation warping is made in next two steps. The animation warping is succeeded betwebn the (1) Deforming the shape of the standard model similar type of models. But theie are soirte issues to The shape defbrmation process is made in the fol- be solved that the tafge't model has ,the quite diffk]rent

lowing ways. lines to the standard model. In extracting motion vec-

First, the target model is input to the system in bi- tors and feature points, we faced some d!ficulties in the nary image form, The target model is vectorized as fo11owing cases: Ttaiisltion, Division, Merging, Fading, -75-

NII-Electronic Library Service The Institute ofImageof Image Information and Television Engineers

"The and Emersion of lines. We should impTove the vector [7] Fumio Sumi, Hirotaka Imagawa, Animator- tracing algoTithm to be more sensitive aJid accurate on Oriented Motion Gengrator, Aniipaiium, Based the above mentioned cases. The correspondent feature on a Hutnanoid Robot-Control Algofithmi;; Sig- points of models should be more automated. graph2001'Skecthes and APplications, Conference Abstracts and Applications, p.147, Aug. 2001

"Retagetting (81 M. Gleicher, Motion to New Char- acters", Siggraph98 Proceedings, pp33-42, 1998 5. CONCLUSION "E.xpression l9] Jun-Ybng Nob, Ulrich. Neumann, Clopjng:',..Siggraph2001,,Confer,ence Pro.ceeding, We have proposed the standard 2D animation pp.2Z7-288., Ap,g. ,2001 , database system, that the existing animatien sequence RenghuaYan,NaDyuki[Ibkuda, JuinichiMiyamichi, is stored ip, the reusable form. The key [10]・ Vechnoiogypf "Image Ybfigma'o Ni, MoEphing by Spacial .Thin- making reusable is to trace lines from'6itf'tiap pixel im- Plate Spline Transfbrrnation", Transactions of In- age and to detect motion vectors from images in a series fbrmation Processing Society of Japan, V61.37, of fralnes. No.1, pp49-59, Jati. 1996 We will improve our algorithm for more complex and "A Thomas W. Sederbergi. Eugene Greenwod3 different target model and motion. [11]

Physically Based Approch to 2-D Shape Blend- Wk} will extend this system to more widely usable by ing", Computer Graphics, Vbl.26, preparing such tools fbr coloring, 3D to 2D conversion (Siggraph92), No.2, July 1992 and 3D animation. pp25-34, 'Neely,'']feature-Based [12] Thaddeus Beier, Shawn IMage Metainorphosis" :, Compater Gtaphics, (Sig- graph92), Vol.26, No,2, pp35t42, July 1992 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS [13] Jelrhes R. Kent, Wayne E. Carlson, Richard "Shape' E. Parent, [Ibeansformation for Poly'hed- This work is supported by Digital Content Associa- eral Objects'', Cdmputer Graphics, tion of Japan. The total system is deve}oped bM Fujitsu ,(Sigglaph92), Vdl.26, No.2,'pp47-54, July 1992 Social Science Laboratory Limited. The sample con- Peter L{tWl'nowicz, Lance Williams, i'Animating tent and standard animatien sequepces of the database ['i4] Images with Drawings", Sig.grp,ah94.' are provided by Toei Animation Limited, [15] Stephen E. Librande, ''E!ample-Based Character MIT Master Thesis, Aug, 1992 ' REFEREN()ES Pr4wing", t - , , ,/ ,.-. .,,, ・Z.oran, [161.Andr-ew,Wt,tkin, Popovic,"M.Qtlon,Wptrp- "Controlling ing",,In proceeaing Qf Siggrpah9p', .Aug. 1995 [1] P.Issacs,MzF.Choen, DYnathic SimL Takashi Matsuyama, Hidekazu Arita, Makoto Na- ulatien with Kinemeltlc 9onstrains7, [17] ''''' ' $iggraph87,' '' "A Llne Drawings 1987' gaD, Structural Matching of pp215-224, t t ' Using Spacial Relations,between Li"e Segrrientsl', [2] e Constraints",sig- S. ;.nylltl`,kge.b",ii,l.i,a-S;,・.gl.S,p,..ai//e`,il,p, 1[tansactions of Information Processing Society of Japan, Vol.24, No.6, Nov. ,!983 ''Interactive [3] M.F.Choen, Spacetime Control for [[bmoharu Nagao, "Basic Resahrch on Shape Ek- Animation", Siggraph92,.pp293-302, 1991 [18] l, / ./,,..,・・,, ,./ 'Applications tra=tton Methods- and.Their to Au- [4] A.Whtt, M.Watt, "Adva"ced Animatien and Ren- 'Binary tomati'c' Understa:iding' of Image" s Doctor Techpiquesi',Addison-Wesley,, New Ybrk, 'Tecbnelegy, Thesis, [[bkyo-Institute・of June 1990 l;/i2ng 'Tbmoharu Nagao, Takeshi Agui,'Masay. uki Naka- "Multi-Leve} [19] B.M.Blumberg, TIA.Galyean, Direc- 'frorn [5] "Extraction jima, of arbitrary shapes a noisy tion of Autpnori}ous Creatnres fOr Real Time Vir- binary image using pseudo view field tracer", SPIE tual Environments", Ce{nputerGraphicsVbl.30,

Visual Communieations' and Image Processine, No.3, pp47-54, 1995 Oct. 1990 "Improv: [6] KPerlin, A.Goldberg, A System for Script.i'ng Interactive Actors in Virtual Wbrlds';, Siggraph96, pp205-216, l996 -76-

/

NII-Electronic Library Service