Whilst advances in real-time computer graphics continue to permit the development of increasingly vivid virtual worlds, the degree of interaction between the environment and the animated characters within remains relatively limited. There has been little research into the realistic real-time simulation of creatures with the ability to scale arbitrary surfaces and fully explore their environment. Natural looking animations of such feats would greatly enhance immersion in computer games, as well as being of benefit to fields such as phobia therapy and Artificial Life research.

We present a system for dynamically animating ground based arthropods in real-time, capable of traversing realistically across a complex, arbitrary environment. The physical simulation of the virtual world further grounds the creatures, enabling complex emergent animations to form.

Taken from 'L ap Cenydd, W Teahan, "The Dynamic Animation of Ambulatory Arthropods", Proc. of Theory and Practice of Computer Graphics 2007, Bangor, pp21-28. ISBN 978-3-905673-63-0. Winner of Ken Brodlie Prize for Best Paper'.

Videos

High Quality videos (DivX web plugin required)

Example Spiders - YouTube
Articulated Spiders v2 - YouTube

Links

Arachnid Simulation : Scaling Arbitrary Surfaces
The Dynamic Animation of Ambulatory Arthropods
Technical Report (draft).

Contact

Llyr ap Cenydd
William J. Teahan