Computer Aided Motion Design System

Because of improvement of graphic computing performance in recent years, individual users are able to create not only graphic design but also movie contents. In the near future, novel interfaces will be indispensable for amateur users without special skills or knowledge. However, GUIs in conventional animation environments require complicated and menu operations, and also familiarized users who learned them with higher cost and longer learning time. Moreover, key frame interpolation methods are usually applied to the input of motions, which is the most basic process of animation production. When treating motions with velocity variation, this input method requires iterative numeric adjustment operation. In this paper, we propose a novel interface for motion design by which users can input the velocity variation applying bodily movement of drawing. In the interface, the system sets the parameter plane that corresponds to the input screen such as a pen tablet besides a virtual space where the object is arranged. Control variables of the motions (rotation, translation, etc.) are allocated in each axis of the parameter plane. Users can treat temporal changes of these variables only by 2D drawings on the tablet surface and perform a number of 2D drawings through a trial-and-error process to explore his/her desired motions. Experimental results with a prototype agree that the proposed motion design method is suitable for especially beginner users. Moreover, as for the fluctuation of the drawing, experimental results clear that the frequency parameter that controls the impression of the motion can be controllable by filtering in the Fourier coefficients.