Systems and methods for locking inverse kinematic (IK) objects to a surface object
US8508535B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 9, 2009 |
| Grant date | Aug 13, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 11, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06T13/00
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
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.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.