Using inverse kinematics to position articulated figures

• Main Author: Kuder, Karen Cynthia
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4199

Computer-assisted animation is an active research area in computer graphics. Within this field, many systems are being developed that allow traditional animators to utilize computers in the animation process. The ability to position articulated figures is of particular interest. A method called inverse kinematics allows the user to position a figure by specifying a desired goal location for a particular segment of the figure. An algorithm is employed to compute the required changes to the joint angles of the figure in order to move the segment to the desired location. This thesis describes an experiment that was conducted to compare three different inverse kinematic methods: the Jacobian method, the C C D method and the 1DOF method. Subjects used the methods to manipulate the pose of a given articulated figure in an attempt to match a specified goal pose. Results from the experiment indicate that overall, the 1DOF method produced the best matches (in terms of speed and accuracy). However, no single method had superior performance for all of the positioning tasks that were studied. Consequently, an animation system should offer the user the choice of at least two of the positioning methods. === Science, Faculty of === Computer Science, Department of === Graduate