Motion Graphs in Blender

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to demonstrate how motion graphs can be created in Blender in order to create synthesize a variety character animations from a small set of character motions. Our MoGraph add-on implements motion graphs as described in Motion Graphs paper by Kovar, Gleicher, and Pighin from SIGGRAPH 2002. The add-on can import set of motion captured BVH files and construct a motion graph based on some given parameters. This motion graph can be stored in memory and used until Blender is running, or can be baked to a file in a compact format so that it can be retrieved later without the need of re-computation. This motion graph can be used to generate arbitrary length motions that is composed of frames from the original motions and some generated transition frames between them. The add-on can also perform path synthesis where the the animation required to make the character traverse an arbitrary path is generated from the motion graph. The path can be any arbitrary path specified by an animator. Also planned is an extension for use in the game engine mode of Blender for interactive character control.