A programming approach for complex animations. Part I. Methodology

This paper gives a general methodology for symbolic programming of complex 3D scenes and animations. It also introduces a minimal set of animation pri mitives for the functional geometric language PLaSM. The symbolic approach to animation design and implementation given in this paper goes beyond the traditional two-steps approach to animation, when a modeler is coupled, mor e or less loosely, with a separate animation system. In fact both geometry and motion design are performed in a unified programming framework. The rep resentation of the animation storyboard with discrete action networks is al so introduced in this paper. Such a network description seems well suited f or easy animation analysis, maintenance and updating. It is also used as th e computational basis for scheduling and timing actions in complex scenes, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.