Pixar

Meng Yu

David E Baraff

Timothy S Milliron

Christine Waggoner

Chen Shen

William Reeves

An interactive multi-mesh modeling system allows users to employ a variety of modeling techniques to interactively create objects for a variety of different tasks or tools. Some of these different tasks or tools can have requirements for computer-generated representations of objects on which they operate. These requirements may differ from how some computer-generated representations were originally created (e.g., 3D solid objects output using solid modeling techniques vs. 2D flat 'panel constructed' objects required for some computer simulations). Thus, the interactive multi-mesh modeling system may further employ a variety of techniques for taking a source computer-generated representation of an object and providing the automatic creation, management, and maintenance of instances or versions of the source. The interactive multi-mesh modeling system may further employ a variety of techniques for the automatic management and transfer of information defined thereon or associated with these meshes.

Interactive multi-mesh modeling system

An interactive multi-mesh modeling system may allow users to employ a variety of modeling techniques to interactively create one or more objects for a variety of different tasks or tools. The interactive multi-mesh modeling system may employ a variety of techniques for taking a source computer-generated representation of an object and providing the automatic creation, management, and maintenance of instances or versions of the source, and any information defined thereon or associated therewith, that are suitable for several different tasks. The interactive multi-mesh modeling system may further employ a variety of techniques for retesselating meshes based on determining new vertices and edges immediately in response to traversing an input mesh space.

Structured polygonal mesh retesselation

An interactive multi-mesh modeling system may allow users to employ a variety of modeling techniques to interactively create one or more objects for a variety of different tasks or tools. The interactive multi-mesh modeling system may employ a variety of techniques for taking a source computer-generated representation of an object and providing the automatic creation, management, and maintenance of instances or versions of the source, and any information defined thereon or associated therewith, that are suitable for several different tasks. The interactive multi-mesh modeling system may further employ a variety of techniques for receiving edits to a first polygonal mesh that affect at least one of the one or more features designated in removal information and updating the removal information to preserve removal of the at least one of the one or more features designated in the removal information.

Annotation-based mesh modification

Systems and methods for positioning a component of an inverse kinematics (IK) controlled animated object relative to a surface object. To help users deal with foot-ground (or other object-object) interactions efficiently, a foot-ground locking system is provided as a preprocessor to an inverse kinematics (IK) controller to automatically pose the foot on the ground. The foot is first rotated to reach the maximal contact area with the ground, then translated to touch the ground, and finally deformed to conform more tightly to the ground. The system works properly with other foot shape deformations, such as toe, heel, and ball rotations. The foot-ground locking can be used either as an interactive tool to help animators identify where the ground is or as a batch postprocessing tool to clean up foot-ground contacts whenever the animation or ground environment is changed.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Meng Yu