Extracting camera-control requirements and camera movement generation in a 3D virtual environment

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes a new method to generate smooth camera movement that is collision-free in a three-dimensional virtual environment. It generates a set of cells based on cell decomposition using a loose octree in order not to intersect with polygons of the environment. The method defines a camera movement space (also known as Configuration Space) which is a set of cells in the virtual environment. In order to generate collision-free camera movement, the method holds a path as a graph structure which is based on the adjacency relationship of the cells, and makes the camera move on the graph. Furthermore, by using a potential function for finding out the force that aims the camera at the subject and a penalty function for finding out the force that restrains the camera on the graph when the camera moves on the graph, we generate smooth camera movement that captures the subject while avoiding obstacles. Several results in static and dynamic environments are presented and discussed.

REFERENCES

• 1: L. E. Kavraki, P. Švestka, J. C. Latombe and M. H. Overmars. Probabilistic roadmaps for path planning in high-dimensional configuration spaces. Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Vol. 12, Num. 4, pp. 566--580, 1996.
• 2: L. K. Dale and N. M. Amato. Probabilistic roadmaps-putting it all together. Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Vol. 2, pp. 1940--1947 2001.
• 3: J. J. Kuffner, Jr and S. M. LaValle. RRT-connect: an efficient approach to single-query path planning. Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Vol. 2, pp. 995--1001, 2000.
• 4: S. M. LaValle, M. S. Branicky and S. R. Lindemann. On the relationship between classical grid search and probabilistic roadmaps. Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 23, Num. 7--8, pp. 673--692, 2004.
• 5: C. W. Warren. Fast path planning using modified A* method. Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Vol. 2, pp. 662--667, 1993.
• 6: K. Azarm and G. Schmidt. Integrated mobile robot motion planning and execution in changing indoor environments. Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE, Vol. 1, pp. 298--305, 1994.
• 7: M. Herman. Fast, three-dimensional, collision-free motion planning. Robotics and Automation, IEEE, Vol. 3, pp. 1056--1063, 1986.
• 8: J. Rosell, C. Vázquez and A. Pérez. C-space decomposition using deterministic sampling and distances. Intelligent Robots and Systems, IEEE, pp. 15--20, 2007.
• 9: Mark. Deloura, Game Programming Gems, Charles River Media, Inc., Rockland, MA, 2000
• 10: Gino van den Bergen, Efficient collision detection of complex deformable models using AABB trees, Journal of Graphics Tools, v.2 n.4, p.1-13, April 1997
• 11: P. E. Hart, N. J. Nilsson and B. Raphael. A formal basis for the heuristic determination of minimum cost paths. Systems Science and Cybernetics, IEEE, Vol. 4, Num. 2, pp. 100--108, 1968.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.4 Hypertext/Hypermedia

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Human Factors

Keywords:
camera control, interactive system, octree, path planning, video game, virtual reality