A Web-based Animation Authoring Application for Quadrupedal Characters

Abstract

Creating animation for quadrupedal characters via key-framing is time consuming; furthermore, motion capture is expensive and cannot easily be applied to animals. Procedural animation can combat these limitations. However, procedural animation requires a certain amount of technical and mathematical prowess. In order to address these issues, this thesis delivers a web-based application capable of creating expressive animation using a procedural approach. The web-based interface allows the user to create a gait cycle for any quadrupedal shape through a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables the animator to easily modify character representation and gait parameters. Once the user has obtained their desired animation cycle, the animation data from the new web-based application can be exported directly into a preferred animation pipeline. This system provides a lightweight tool that saves the user time and requires minimal expertise. It also does not add to the cost of software and/or hardware and facilitates animation authoring from any computer with internet access and a web browser.