Dreamworks Animation LLC

Andrew John Weber

Galen Gerald Gornowicz

To generate a skin-attached element on a skin surface of an animated character, a region of the skin surface within a predetermined distance from a skin-attached element root position is deformed to form a lofted skin according to one of a plurality of constraint surfaces, where each of the plurality of constraint surfaces does not intersect with each other. A sublamina mesh surface constrained to the lofted skin is created. A two-dimensional version of the skin-attached element is projected onto the sublamina mesh surface. The lofted skin is reverted back to a state of the skin surface prior to the deformation of the region of the skin surface.

Collision free construction of animated feathers

A method of animating feather elements includes: specifying initial positions for a skin surface and for feather elements; specifying positions for the skin surface at an animated time; determining a feather-ordering sequence for placing the feather elements on the skin surface; determining positions for skirt elements that provide spatial extensions for the skin surface at the animated time; determining positions for feather-proxy elements that provide spatial extensions for the feather elements at the animated time; and determining positions for the feather elements at the animated time by extracting the feather elements from the feather-proxy elements. The feather-proxy elements are determined from the skirt elements according to the feather-ordering sequence, and the feather-proxy elements satisfy a separation criterion for avoiding intersections between the feather-proxy elements.

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Glendale, CA, United States of America

Andrew John Weber