Our last post about real-time motion capture using Kinect seems to be pretty popular. And for the small amount of time (only a few hours) that we put into this example, the results are satisfying – but we can do better! We have updated the project and included a brand new sample. The new sample uses skeleton mapping to animate 3D models using Kinect. The code is much simpler, and exchanging the 3D model is a lot easier. We have also updated the example application to use Kinect SDK v1.0 instead of Kinect SDK beta2. You can download the sample project (including the source code) at the end of this post.
Here are the results of the new sample application:
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A while ago we discussed in the Forum how to use the Microsoft Kinect SDK to animate a character model in real-time and how to apply movement constraints (e.g. joint rotation limits). Yesterday our company got a new Kinect device and I figured I might spend the rest of the afternoon trying to write a small XNA sample.
Here is the result: (You can download the source code below the video.)
The latest release of the DigitalRune Engine contains a new sample called GameStatesSample which covers a some of the basics:
The result is a stripped down XNA application – no fancy graphics, no gameplay, just a few screens and menus. Take a look:
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Skeletal animation is the most common way to animate a 3D character: Transformations are applied to a set of bones (skeleton), which is then used to deform the mesh (skin) of the character. When using key frame animations the bone transforms need to be stored at certain key times. Depending on the complexity of the character and the length of the animation, the required amount of data can become quite large. Let’s see what we can do to reduce the amount of data.
Here is a code snippet that draws the bones of a 3D character skeleton for debugging (similar to the original SkeletonHelper.DrawBones method). The result looks like this:
(Click image to enlarge.)
Here is the code:
Manually creating good ragdolls in code can be tough. This blog post takes you on a hands-on ragdoll creation journey and provides several tips.
The DigitalRune Animation library supports ragdolls. DigitalRune Animation has a lot of helpful methods for character animation and ragdoll creation, but it does not yet have a method that visualizes ragdoll constraints. Choosing good joint limits and correct joint orientations can be really difficult without a visualization. – But do not fear, constraint visualization is here!
The following .zip archive contains a “RagdollHelper” class that draws constraints for a ragdoll. It also contains an updated “DudeRagdollCreator.cs”.
In DigitalRune Animation, motion retargeting (or more precise: animation retargeting) is the process of transferring the animations of one character to another character with a different skeleton topology.
In the video below, the walk animation of the Dude model (left) is applied to the PlayerMarine model (right).
At the first look the models seem similar, but a look at skeletal structure reveals a number of differences: …
This time we take a look at the TwoJointIKSolver class of DigitalRune Animation. This IK solver can be used to control an arm or a leg. In the following video the IK solver is used for foot placement:
The DigitalRune Animation library contains several inverse kinematics (IK) controllers that can be used to procedurally animate a 3D character. This blog post demonstrates the Look-At IK solver. So, have a look:
We are about to release the first (alpha) version of our new animation library for XNA: DigitalRune Animation.
I am currently working on the documentation and have just finished writing the summary of all features. This library is packed with features! I dare to say that this is the most comprehensive animation library for .NET and XNA to date.
(I am personally really excited about this new product. It is the result of months – actually years – of research and hard work.)
The current alpha release of the DigitalRune Game UI does not not have built-in support for animations. This will change when we release our DigitalRune Animation library. Here is a preview video of an XNA application with animated GUI controls:
In the last blog post (Scattered Interpolation – Example 1: Smooth Height Fields) we introduced the concept of scattered interpolation, how scattered interpolation is supported in DigitalRune Mathematics, and how it can be used to create smooth height fields. Here is another example that shows how useful this technique is. The mathematical details of scattered interpolation will follow in the next blog post.
A big hello to all readers,
here is a brief status update to let you know where our current development focus lies.
A minor update including small bugfixes and improved samples will arrive next week.
We are also working on a Windows Phone 7 dice app. The D20 dice app will hit the Windows Phone 7 market place in the next weeks. The source code will be released as a free premium download for all existing DigitalRune Physics users.
Still under development. Currently, the development has sparked two new byproducts: The DigitalRune Game UI library and the DigitalRune Animation library.
This is a collection of various links about character animation and related topics.
A collection of the most useful blog articles can be found here:
Article Collection (on Documentation page)
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