Rig Animation With a Tangible and Modular Input Device

Abstract

We propose a novel approach to digital character animation, combining the benefits of modular and tangible input devices and sophisticated rig animation algorithms. With a symbiotic software and hardware approach, we overcome limitations inherent to all previous tangible devices. It allows users to directly control complex rigs with 5-10 physical controls only. These compact input device configurations - optimized for a specific rig and a set of sample poses - are automatically generated by our algorithm. This avoids oversimplification of the pose space and excessively bulky devices.