Bruce Randall Donald
Professor
brd@cs.dartmouth.edu

Ph.D. MIT, 1987

Graphics, Haptics, and Animation

1. Prototyping Animation Motion Control with Haptic Programmable Force Fields, Workshop on "Motion Support in Virtual Prototyping," (with Fred Henle) Stanford, May 5-7, 1999. [PostScript] [CS TR99-353] [Animations]

   	(L) Follow mode in the haptic interface. (R) 3DSMax output of authored motion.

   Abstract: We are exploring techniques for animation authoring and editing using a haptic force-feedback device. In our system, a family of animations is encoded by a bundle of trajectories. This bundle in turn defines a time-varying, higher-order vector field on a configuration space for the animation. A haptic input device provides a low-dimensional parameterization of the resulting dynamical system, and the haptic force feedback permits browsing and editing of the space of animations, by allowing the user to experience the vector field as physical forces.
   
   
   
   
   

   Animations

   Here are some animations authored with our system:
   
   "Robot Aerobics" (12.8Mb)
   
   • This clip shows a number of figures performing what appears to be a short aerobics routine or martial arts form. The variations in the motions are due to the freedom in the system--the haptics encourage similarity to the default behavior but permit expressive deviation.

   Other work in graphics and animation.