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Klappentext Digital character development consumes a large percentage of the development time of every animated film or video! and is widely viewed as the next major area of advance in computer games. This field now spans the areas of cognition! anatomy! animation! computer graphics! theater! and psychology. 'Digital Chracter Development' guides both students and professionals who need a thorough understanding of character development in order to make decisions about the creation of their own characters. This text bridges the gap between algorithm and software-agnostic applications.
List of contents
Part I: Introduction ; 1. Overview; What defines a digital character; The "Uncanny Valley"; How does style dictate setup?; 2. History; Overview of digital characters in film; Video games; Multimedia; 3. Introduction; Nomenclature; Joint rotations; Geometry mesh surface types; 4. Motion Systems; Anatomy; Joint mechanics; Joint placement; Joint hierarchies; Constraints and high level control; User interface; 5. Deformation Systems; Deformation order; Basic deformations: skinning; Shape interpolation; Layering deformation methods; Joint-free deformations; 6. Face Setup; Anatomy; Frameworks for effective face rigging; Mixing deformation methods; Secondary motion for realism; Psychology behind facial expressions; Part III: Animation Technology ; 7. "Traditional" Techniques; Forward kinematics; Inverse kinematics; 8. Motion Capture; Marker-based motion capture; Marker-less motion capture; 9. Procedural Animation; Artificial intelligence; 10. Multi-Character Systems; Crowds; Behavioral animation; Path-finding and decision making; Part IV: Conclusions ; 11. The Future of Digital Characters; 12. Character Interactivity
