Hybrid motion graph for character motion synthesis

• A novel framework of Hybrid Motion Graph (HMG) is proposed for motion synthesis.
• The graph-based structural control is enhanced by local continuous field control.
• The scale of HMG may be extended by assembling the separate motion class fields.
• Smooth transitions act as the bridges across different motion fields of classes.
• HMG realizes fast connectivity among motion classes and high responsiveness.

ObjectiveThis paper proposes a novel framework of Hybrid Motion Graph (HMG) for creating character animations, which enhances the graph-based structural control by motion field representations for efficient motion synthesis of diverse and interactive character animations.MethodsIn HMG framework, the motion template of each class is automatically derived from the training motions for capturing the general spatio-temporal characteristics of an entire motion class. Typical motion field for each class is then constructed. The smooth transitions among motion classes are then generated by interpolating the related motion templates with spacetime constraints. Finally, a hybrid motion graph is built by integrating the separate motion fields for each motion class into the global structural control of motion graph through smooth transition.ResultsIn motion synthesis stage, a character may freely ‘switch’ among different motion classes in the hybrid motion graph via smooth transitions between motion templates and ‘flow’ within each class through the continuous space of motion field with agile and the continuous control process.ConclusionExperimental results show that our framework realizes the fast connectivity among different motion classes and high responsiveness and interactivity for creating realistic character animation of rich behaviors with limited motion data and computational resources.