BEAPS: incorporating shape dynamics in virtual agents focusing on customizing the mesh for pose space actions

Abishek Sampath Kumar

doi:10.17918/00001438

Video games have become highly detailed not only visually but also in terms of interactivity: Advanced agent control architectures enable immersive performances of game characters, autonomously adapting behavior based on skeletal animations to the narrative context; Simulation of particle-based soft-body dynamics enable novel expressive interactive behaviors using real-time mesh deformation. Interactive soft-body dynamics are not commonly applied to game characters and are usually only passively applied to environmental objects as special effects without involvement in game play or reactive mechanics. Integrating controllers of soft-body dynamics with agent control architectures in a tractable way would allow for a wide range of new dynamic effects for interactive characters and reactive environmental objects. I demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating soft-body simulations in an agent prototyping pipeline. The BEAPS system (Behaviors for Expressive and Adaptive Particle Systems) allows for interactive soft-body effects as actions usable in agent behaviors and suitable for coordinating expressive interactivity in a narrative context. Skeletal animation is combined with a soft-body simulation which adds physically based effects. Users of the system can deform and customize the mesh as well as adjust soft-body parameters to adapt these effects and integrate them into a behavior library. In order to demonstrate the value of coordinating behaviors for poses and the mesh effects in a narrative setting, controllers that act as an intermediary between the modules for altering soft body dynamics and a central agent coordinator have been built. A modular hierarchical framework is most suitable for extending behaviors that allow for interactive customization and runtime parameterization. Example scenarios and effects are created in the KADAPT agent prototyping library to demonstrate the value of interactive modules for soft dynamics when coordinated with behavior control. The system's capabilities are evaluated with respect to traditional and data-driven approaches to character animation. BEAPS is a step towards improving the visual and interactive appeal of autonomous virtual agents and their actions. The ability of the designer to alter or customize the mesh via dynamic effects that arise as result of interactive soft-body simulation allows for more diverse and expressive mechanics for humanoid and non-humanoid agents in games.

BEAPS: incorporating shape dynamics in virtual agents focusing on customizing the mesh for pose space actions

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BEAPS: incorporating shape dynamics in virtual agents focusing on customizing the mesh for pose space actions

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