IMAGINE team

IMAGINE - Intuitive Modelling and Animation for Interactive Graphics & Narrative Environments

IMAGINE is a joint team between Laboratoire Jean-Kuntzmann and INRIA.

The fast increase of computational power and of memory space naturally leads the users of virtual environments to expect increasingly complex and detailed 3D content. Unfortunately, digital modeling techniques did not change as fast in the last two decades, leaving two main alternatives to the creators of virtual worlds: designing (or capturing), positioning and then animating each 3D object one by one; or using procedural generation methods whenever possible, despite their global and rather indirect mode of control.

The challenge we aim to address is user-centred efficient, interactive creation of animated 3D content, focusing on intuitive methodologies for conveying user intent. This includes developing representations, procedural methods and interactive control tools within three focal areas:

1. Shape design: We aim to create intuitive tools for designing and editing 3D shapes, from arbitrary ones to shapes that obey application-dependent constraints (such as, for instance, being developable, to model virtual objects made of cloth or of paper).
2. Motion synthesis: Our goal is to design methods to convey and control real-time 3D motion and deformation, from motion of passive objects, materials or mechanisms to plausible animation of virtual creatures.
3. Narrative design: Lastly, we aim to develop methodologies for designing narrative content (stories) for virtual creatures and cameras on virtual stages, as a way to replace physical storyboard, and other direction, casting, and editing tools.

The creative tool that we intend to develop for in the long term can be thought of as an expressive virtual pen, enabling to make the design of shapes, motions and stories directly possible in virtual form. Achieving this long-term goal would enable any user to seamlessly create, edit and interact with virtual content within the same system, from conceptual design to interaction with the resulting prototypes, followed by refinement and finalization stages. In addition to meeting specific needs of digital artists, this should impact engineers and scientists interested in interacting with virtual models of their objects of study, educators aiming at quickly conveying their ideas, as well as the general public looking for a new expressive media.

IMAGINE - Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann INRIA Rhone-Alpes Inovallée 655 avenue de l'Europe Montbonnot 38334 Saint Ismier Cedex

Téléphone : 04 76 61 54 59 Télécopie : 04 76 61 54 66 http://imagine.inrialpes.fr

IMAGINE is a team of the Laboratoire Jean Kuntzmann research lab (UMR 5224, between CNRS, Grenoble INP, INRIA, UJF, UPMF) and a project of INRIA.