Graphics-intensive computer games are no longer restricted to high-performance desktops, but are also available on a variety of portable devices ranging from notebooks to PDAs and mobile phones. Battery life has been a major concern in the design of both the hardware and the software for such devices. Towards this, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) has emerged as a powerful technique. However, the showcase application for DVFS algorithms so far has largely been video decoding, primarily because it is computationally expensive and its workload exhibits a high degree of variability. This paper investigates the possibility of applying DVFS to interactive computer games, which to the best of our knowledge has not been studied before. We show that the variability in the workload associated with a popular First Person Shooter game like Quake II is significantly higher than video decoding. Although this variability makes game applications an attractive candidate for DVFS, it is unclear if DVFS algorithms can be applied to games due to their interactive (and hence highly unpredictable) nature. In this paper, we show using detailed experiments that (surprisingly) interactive computer games are highly amenable to DVFS. Towards this we present a novel workload characterization of computer games, based on the game engine for Quake II. We believe that our findings might potentially lead to a number of innovative DVFS algorithms targeted towards game applications, exactly as video decoding has motivated a variety of schemes for DVFS. Read more...

Real-time rendering of realistic motion of fluids is a method that immerses a player into an interactive application such as computer games. Interaction of fluids with rigid bodies is important because fluids and rigid bodies move influencing each other. Fluid simulation based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is useful for rendering a visually plausible behaviour of fluids. However, due to the high computational cost of CFD, real-time rendering of fluids needs a fast simulation. This paper describes the particle-based fluid simulation based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics which includes interactions between fluids and rigid bodies, its fast implementation, and the manner of rendering a realistic water surface with optical phenomena such as reflection, refraction, and the Fresnel effect. The proposed method enables real-time animation of water with rigid body interaction. Read more...

Interactive generation of falling motions for virtual character with realistic responses to unexpected push, hit or Collision With tire environment is interesting work to many applications, such as computer games, film production, and virtual training environments. In this paper, we propose a new method to simulate protective behaviors in response to tire ways a human may fall to the ground as Well as incorporate tire reactive motions into motion capture animation. It is based on simulated trajectory prediction and biomechanics inspired adjustment. According to the external perturbations, our system predicts a motion trajectory and uses it to select a desired transition-to sequence. At tire same time, physically generated falling motions will fill ill the gap between tire two-motion capture sequences before and after the transition. Utilizing a parallel simulation, our method is able to predict a character's motion trajectory real-time under dynamics, Which ensures that the character moves towards the target sequence and makes the character's behavior, more life-like. Our controller is designed to generate physically plausible motion-following all upcoming motion with adjustment from biomechanics rules, Which is key to avoid air unconscious look for a character during the transition. Based on a relatively small motion database, our system is effective in generating various interactive falling behaviors. Read more...

Animation of three-dimensional digital characters is still a major hurdle in the production of films and video games. This paper analyzes the technology of autonomous embedded agents as a solution to this challenge. Multi-layering and heterogeneity are chosen as desirable principles for the design of digital characters. The FreeWill+ animation framework has been developed with these principles in mind. Its general structure as well as some of its special features are presented. Automatic action acquisition based on the Q-learning technique has been presented as an extended example of the system capabilities. Read more...

Computer Graphics (CG) animations of natural phenomena are currently widely used for movies and in video games. Granular materials occur widely in nature, and therefore it is necessary that CG animations represent ground surfaces composed of a granular material as well as model deformations when the granular material comes into contact with other physical rigid objects (called solid objects). In this paper, we propose a deformation algorithm for ground surfaces composed of granular material. The deformation algorithm is divided into three steps: (1) detection of the collision between a solid object and the ground surface, (2) displacement of the granular material and (3) erosion of the material at steep slopes. The proposed algorithm can handle solid objects of various shapes, including concave polyhedra by additionally using a layered data structure called the Height Span Map. Furthermore, a texture sliding technique is presented to render the motion of granular materials. In addition, our implementation of the deformation algorithm can be used at interactive frame rates. Read more...

As simulation and rendering capabilities continue to increase, volumetric effects like smoke, fire or explosions will be frequently encountered in computer games and virtual environments. In this paper, we present techniques for the visual simulation and rendering of such effects that keep up with the demands for frame rates imposed by such environments. This is achieved by leveraging functionality on recent graphics programming units (GPUs) in combination with a novel approach to model non physics-based, yet realistic variations in flow fields. We show how to use this mechanism for simulating effects as demonstrated in Figure 1. Physics-based simulation is performed on 2D proxy geometries, and simulation results are extruded to 3D using particle or texture based approaches. Our method allows the animator to model and to flexibly control the dynamic behavior of volumetric effects, and it can be used to create plausible animations of a variety of natural phenomena. Read more...

The increasing use of animated characters and avatars in computer games and 3D online worlds requires increasingly complex behaviour with increasingly simple and easy to use control systems. This paper presents a system for user-controlled actions that aims at simplicity and ease of use while being enhanced by modern animation techniques to produce rich and complex behaviour. We use inverse kinematics based motion adaptation to make pre-existing pieces of motion apply to new targets. The expressiveness of the character is enhanced by adding autonomous behaviour, in this case eye gaze behaviour. This behaviour is generated autonomously but is still influenced by the actions that the user is requesting the character to perform. The actions themselves are simple for a designer with no programming experience to design and for an end user to customise. They are also very simple to invoke. Read more...