Lucasfilm Entertainment Company Ltd.

Frederic P Pighin

Cary Phillips

Steve Sullivan

Michael Koperwas

Kiran Bhat

Eduardo Hueso

Jerome Scholler

Christopher David Twigg

Rachel Rose

Jason Smith

Jung-Seung Hong

Julien F Cohen Bengio

A system includes a computing device that includes a memory configured to store instructions. The system also includes a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method that includes receiving multiple representations of one or more expressions of an object. Each of the representations includes position information attained from one or more images of the object. The method also includes producing an animation model from one or more groups of controls that respectively define each of the one or more expressions of the object as provided by the multiple representations. Each control of each group of controls has an adjustable value that defines the geometry of at least one shape of a portion of the respective expression of the object. Producing the animation model includes producing one or more corrective shapes if the animation model is incapable of accurately presenting the one or more expressions of the object as provided by the multiple representations.

Facial animation models

A system includes a computing device that includes a memory and a processor configured to execute instructions to perform a method that includes receiving multiple representations of one or more expressions of an object. Each representation includes position information attained from one or more images of the object. The method also includes producing an animation model from one or more groups of controls that respectively define each of the one or more expressions of the object as provided by the multiple representations. Each control of each group of controls has an adjustable value that defines the geometry of at least one shape of a portion of the respective expression of the object. Producing the animation model includes producing one or more corrective shapes if the animation model is incapable of accurately presenting the one or more expressions of the object as provided by the multiple representations.

The subject matter of this specification can be embodied in, among other things, a method that includes determining a transform of a portion of constituent components of a source shape. The transform includes one or more states for the portion of constituent components of the source shape. The method also includes accessing a mapping function that associates the one or more states with one or more controls for a target shape, where the one or more controls configured for access by a user for manipulating constituent components of the target shape. The method includes outputting a transform for the target shape based on the one or more controls associated with the transformed constituent components of the source shape.

Animation control retargeting

A system includes a computer system capable of representing one or more animated characters. The computer system includes a blendshape manager that combines multiple blendshapes to produce the animated character. The computer system also includes an expression manager to respectively adjust one or more control parameters associated with each of the plurality of blendshapes for adjusting an expression of the animated character. The computer system also includes a corrective element manager that applies one or more corrective elements to the combined blendshapes based upon at least one of the control parameters. The one or more applied corrective elements are adjustable based upon one or more of the control parameters absent the introduction of one or more additional control parameters.

Controlling animated character expression

A system includes a computing device that includes a memory for storing instructions. The computing device also includes a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method that includes combining, in a nonlinear manner, a first set of vertex displacements that represent the difference between a first animated expression and a neutral animated expression with a second set of vertex displacements that represent the difference between a second animated expression and the neutral animated expression. The number of vertices associated with the first set of vertex displacements of the first animated expression is equivalent to the number of vertices associated with the second set of vertex displacements of the second animated expression.

Combining shapes for animation

A system includes a computing device that includes a memory configured to store instructions. The computing device also includes a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method that includes receiving a model that represents the geometry of an animated character and represents a primary deformation applied the geometry of the character. The applied primary deformation is relative to a rest geometry of the character. The method also includes applying a secondary deformation to the geometry of the received character model. The applied secondary deformation is relative to the primary deformation applied to the geometry of the character.

Refining animation

A motion library can be created by generating motion feature vectors for at least some of multiple frames of a video sequence using a 3D mesh, each motion feature vector corresponding to characteristics of the body deformation in one of the frames. The A user can select a subset of the frames. For each frame in the subset, the user can define settings for controls of an animation character, the settings selected by the user to correspond to the body deformation in the respective frame. Mappings are generated using the settings and the motion feature vectors, the mappings regulating the controls based on multiple motion feature vectors. The motion library can be used to generate an animation from an actor performance.

Generating animation from actor performance

A system includes a computing device that includes a memory configured to store instructions. The computing device also includes a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform a method that includes identifying a portion of a representation of a character in an animation. The identified portion is associated with a feature of the character to be represented in a reconstructed version of the animation. The method also includes compressing the identified portion of the character representation and other portions of the character representation to produce a model of the character that is capable of reconstructing the animation.

Animation compression

A computer-implemented method includes identifying a representation of a feature of an animated character by inverting a skinned representation of the feature in one position. The inversion includes a non-linear inversion of the skinned representation of the feature. The method also includes skinning the identified feature representation to produce the animated character in another position.

Inversion of post-skinning features

A system includes a computing device that includes a memory for storing one or more animations (e.g., a first and a second animation), and a model compressor. The model compressor quantifies similarities between the first animation and the second animation, and, groups the first and second animation based upon the quantified similarities. The model compressor is also configured to compress the first animation and the second animation to produce a first model that represents the content of the first animation and the second animation.

Animation with adjustable detail level

Controlling animated character expressions

Systems and methods are described, which create a mapping from a space of a source object (e.g., source facial expressions) to a space of a target object (e.g., target facial expressions). In certain implementations, the mapping is learned based a training set composed of corresponding shapes (e.g. facial expressions) in each space. The user can create the training set by selecting expressions from, for example, captured source performance data, and by sculpting corresponding target expressions. Additional target shapes (e.g., target facial expressions) can be interpolated and extrapolated from the shapes in the training set to generate corresponding shapes for potential source shapes (e.g., facial expressions).

Animation retargeting

Among other disclosed subject matter, a computer-implemented method for generating a surface representation of an item includes identifying, for a point on an item in an animation process, at least first and second transformation points corresponding to respective first and second transformations of the point. Each of the first and second transformations represents an influence on a location of the point of respective first and second joints associated with the item. The method includes determining an axis for a cylindrical coordinate system using the first and second transformations. The method includes performing an interpolation of the first and second transformation points in the cylindrical coordinate system to obtain an interpolated point. The method includes recording the interpolated point in a surface representation of the item in the animation process.

Generating a surface representation of an item

A computer-implemented method includes identifying a representation of a feature of an animated character by inverting an skinned representation of the feature in one position. The inversion includes a non-linear inversion of the skinned representation of the feature. The method also includes skinning the identified feature representation to produce the animated character in another position.

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Sausalito, CA, United States of America

Frederic P Pighin