Homepage of Roland Geraerts

We study how we can automatically create a data structure that represents the walkable surfaces in such an environment, and how it can be updated dynamically and efficiently when it changes. We refer to this structure as a navigation mesh. This mesh enables efficient crowd simulation, which is our next topic of research. We study and develop a crowd simulation framework and its components, which ranges from global (AI) planning to local animation. We create models for realistic crowd behaviors, which includes studying how (groups of) people move and avoid collisions in such environments, based on agent profiles and semantics (such as terrain annotations).

Camera Planning in Virtual Environments Using the Corridor Map Method

A render of start view in the city environment.

Abstract

Planning high-quality camera motions is a challenging problem for applications dealing with interactive virtual environments. This challenge is caused by conflicting requirements. On the one hand we need good motions, formed by trajectories that are collision-free and keep the character that is being followed in clear view. On the other hand, we need frame coherence, i.e. the view must change smoothly such that the viewer does not get disoriented. Since camera motions dynamically evolve, good motions may require the camera to jump, leading to a broken frame coherence. Hence, a careful trade-off must be made. In addition to this challenge, interactive applications require real-time computations, preventing an exhaustive search for `the best' solution.

We propose a new method for planning camera motions which tackles this trade-off in real-time. The method can be used for planning camera motions of NPC's and first-person characters. Experiments show that high-quality camera motions are obtained for both scenarios in real-time.

Reference

Roland Geraerts. Camera Planning in Virtual Environments using the Corridor Map Method. In The Second International Workshop on Motion in Games (MIG'09), Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) 5884, pp. 194-209, 2009.