Abstract
We present Puppet Master, a system that enables designers to
rapidly create interactive and autonomous character behaviors (e.g.,
of a virtual character or a robot) that react to a main character controlled
by an end-user. The behavior is designed by demonstration,
allowing non-technical artists to intuitively design the style, personality,
and emotion of the character, traits which are very difficult
to design using conventional programming approaches. During
training, designers demonstrate paired behavior between the main
and reacting characters. During run time, the end user controls the
main character and the system synthesizes the motion of the reacting
character using the given training data. The algorithm is an
extension of image analogies [Hertzmann et al. 2001], modified to
synthesize dynamic character behavior instead of an image. We
introduce non-trivial extensions to the algorithm such as our selection
of features, dynamic balancing between similarity metrics,
and separate treatment of path trajectory and high-frequency motion
texture. We implemented a prototype system using physical
pucks tracked by a motion-capture system and conducted a user
study demonstrating that novice users can easily and successfully
design character personality and emotion using our system and that
the resulting behaviors are meaningful and engaging.
Refereed
No
