Generating animated sequences from 3D wholebody scans

Three-dimensional images of human subjects are, today, easily obtained using 3D wholebody scanners. 3D human images can provide static information about the physical characteristics of a person, information valuable to professionals such as clothing designers, anthropometrists, medical doctors, physical therapists, athletic trainers, and sculptors. Can 3D human images can be used to provide more than static physical information? This research described in this paper attempts to answer the:question by explaining a way that animated sequences may be generated from a single 3D scan. The process starts by subdividing the human image into segments and mapping the segments to those of a human model-defined in a human-motion simulation package. The simulation software provides information used to display movement of the human image. Snapshots of the movement are captured and assembled to create an animated sequence. All of the postures and motion of the human image come from a single three-dimensional scan. This paper describes the process involved in animating human figures from static 3D wholebody scans, presents an example of a generated animated sequence, and discusses possible applications of this approach.