During dynamic activities, the surface of the human body moves in many subtle but visually significant ways: bending, bulging, jiggling, and stretching. We present a technique for capturing and animating those motions using a commercial motion capture system and approximately 450 markers. Although the number of markers is significantly larger than that used in conventional motion capture, it is only a sparse representation of the true shape of the body. We supplement this sparse sample with a detailed, actor-specific surface model. The motion of the skin can then be computed by segmenting the markers into the motion of a set of rigid parts and a residual deformation (approximated first as a quadratic transformation and then with radial basis functions). We demonstrate the power of this approach bycapturing flexing muscles, high-frequency motions, and abrupt decelerations on several actors.

Park, S.I., Hodgins, J.K. 2006. Capturing and Animating Skin Deformation in Human Motion. ACM Transactions on Graphics (SIGGRAPH 2006),25(3), 881-889.

TECHNICAL DIRECTION

Sang Il Park

Jessica Hodgins

ARTISTIC DIRECTION

Moshe Mahler

MOTION CAPTURE

Justin Macey

Michael Lentine

AJ Dinsmore

MUSIC

Mark Mahler

Thomas Massella