Giving Santos™ Realism: Real-Time Visualization
Movements of an avatar's (i.e., articulated replication of a human in a digital environment) joints in the real-time VSR application environment are computed on a joint-by-joint basis over time and therefore not a result of traditional 3D animation techniques like key framing, inverse kinematics (IK), or the use of IK constraints. However, traditional 3D modeling, texturing, and animation-rigging techniques are used to prepare an avatar for deployment in the VSR environment.
The actual 3D model can be regarded as the "e;skin"e; of the avatar. This "e;skin"e; can be thought of as an infi nitely thin but hollow shell that defi nes the avatar's shape.
Once the shape of the avatar is created, shaders (a compilation of effects that dictate how a 3D surface responds to light) and textures (2D images that are projected onto or wrapped around 3D surfaces) are used to provide the avatar's shape with the visual cues necessary to create the illusion of human skin.
By themselves, 3D models, shaders, and textures can provide very convincing renderings that suggest human form, but this form cannot be moved until it is bound to a hierarchical joint structure.
This hierarchical joint structure, referred to as an IK skeleton, is a series of interdependent local coordinate systems strategically positioned at locations within the 3D model to suggest shoulders, elbows, knees, etc.
