- Full title Multitude: Ferramenta intelixente para a xeración de comportamentos de multitudes
- Funding entity Xunta de Galicia
- Researchers Francisco Javier Bellas Bouza, José Antonio Becerra Permuy, Pilar Caamaño Sobrino, Richard J Duro Fernández, Alejandro García del Valle, Fernando López Peña, Juan Monroy Camafreita, Alejandro Paz López, Abraham Prieto García, Gervasio Varela Fernández
- Start date 07/10/2008
- End date 06/10/2010
- Bren Entertainment S.A.
- Universidade da Coruña
Description
In this project, done in collaboration with the Bren Entertainment company, we have succeeded in developing a software tool for creating 3D scenes with a multitude of characters in an automatic and intuitive way.
To be more specific, this research project had two main goals:
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Firstly, finding a way to specify crowd scenes in 3D animation. This method should be fairly intuitive so that operators without advanced programming skills can define behaviour.
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Secondly, creating an artificial intelligence (AI) tool capable of generating the desired scene based on these specifications. It is meant to be used with the visual programming system developed by Bren Entertainment.
Having studied several alternatives, we decided that all the information had to be painted onto the background. We concluded that it was essential to define a set of predefined types of behaviour labelled with an identifying tag. When a scene is defined, each kind of behaviour would be associated with a colour channel. Thus, depending on the intensity of drawing in a given zone, there would be an expected response.
The AI tool we have developed consists of four main modules: the AI one, a second for calculating quality, a third for executing scenes and the fourth one for retrieving and accessing information. Based on the use of a neural network that controls the behaviour of each individual, the tool is designed to work automatically with the help of an evolutionary algorithm.