Yanfeng Chen and Michelle Kwasny Advisor: Keith Edwards
Blocky is a system utilizing sketching interface for complex motion synthesis. Following the model of Motion Doodles, users may sketch the desired character motion in the form of arcs and lines. These sketches are then analyzed and turned into individual actions by sketch beautification, corner detection, and symbol recognition. Once the analysis is complete, the standard motions such as walking and running are tweaked based on the local characteristics of the sketch such as the speed and trajectory to create complex motion for the character. Currently, the system supports motion synthesis with 3 different types of motions and gestures commands such as replay and selection. Early user research on a sketch-based interaction language shows that no two users sketch the same way, but some patterns emerge for categories of actions, such as selection and movement.