Introduction
In a broad sense, Computer Animation (in brief: Animation)
is concerned with procedures, algorithms, software and
hardware for the purpose of synthesising real world objects
and processes, as well as events of fantasy and imagina-
tion. As such, animation belongs to the larger fields of VR
(virtual reality) or VE (virtual environment). Technically and
scientifically the ISPRS Special Interest Group on “Anima-
tion” is mainly concerned with objects in motion (typically
humans, animals, plants, etc.), as opposed to topographi-
cal and GIS-relevant objects, which are treated by other
ISPRS Working Groups. Since the issue of animation, as it
is perceived in this SIG, is fairly new to ISPRS, the prime
focus of our group was to build up relations between sci-
entists of the different disciplines, making up the animation
community. The long-term goal would then be to upgrade
this SIG to a Working Group, in order to give animation the
status it deserves within ISPRS.
State of the Science and Technology
Image-based animation is a wide field which draws scientists
from many disciplines. World-wide there are such a vast
number of conferences and other events which relate to
visualisation and animation that it is very difficult to give a
comprehensive picture of the state of all sciences involved.
Photogrammetrists seem to enter this field only reluctantly.
They obviously consider it an exotic area offering not much
gai. We believe that this attitude is fundamentally wrong and
that photogrammetric experts could contribute quite a lot to
this ever-increasing market. This is true in particular at this
very moment, in which animation people turn more and more
to image-based techniques for more realistic landscape, city,
face and body modelling and motion estimation.
As indicated by the conferences which were co-organised by
our group, we see a great variety of sensors, platforms and
data being used in this field (satellite, aerial and terrestrial
images, laser scanners, video theodolites, mobile mapping
cars, spectrometers, computer radiographs, x-rays, mag-
netic positioning devices, DTMs/GIS, maps, historic maps,
historic and current reports). A similar variety holds for the
processing algorithms used (image and template matching,
deformable contour models, feature extraction of points,
lines and regions, optical flow, tracking in image and object
space, slit scanning, video mosaicking, DTM modelling,
DSM segmentation, reflectance modelling and so forth).
At the Onuma conference alone we encountered the follow-
ing array of applications: landscape modelling, city model-
ling-including historic towns, tourist guide, dynamic process
simulation, vehicle and human motion, bone mineral density
determination, stomach wall analysis, traffic sign recognition,
roadside image database generation, power lines, slope
management, coral reef, sea surface temperature, biomass,
flame detection, violin bowing, refraction analysis, solar
energy simulation. It is obvious from these facts that the use
of photogrammetry in visualisation and animation is both sci-
entifically interesting and technically rewarding. It is to be
hoped that ISPRS will recognise this fact and pay more
attention to these issues in the near future. As a very inter-
esting and appealing animation entry Web page we recom-
mend: ligwww.wpfl.ch.
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000. ——
The Commercial Scenery
Among the many research issues in animation, two central
problems are of particular interest to this SIG: motion cap-
ture and surface reconstruction (possibly under motion
and deformation). Since photogrammetrists are not very
familiar with the animation scene we give here some infor-
mation about commercial data capture systems.
There are already quite a number of commercial motion
capture systems available, some on a magnetic basis
(UltraTrak Pro, Flock of Birds, Motion Star), others using
optical techniques (Integrated Body Capture, HiRez,
VICON, Multi Trax, Face Trax, Face Tracker, Photo4D,
APAS, MacReflex, Cyber Sight, Biovision, BioMechanics,
Sim Graphics, HISIS 2001, Clovis).
Here is a sample of vendors of motion-capture tools:
Adaptive Optics, Cambridge, MA; Ascension Technology,
Burlington, VT, Compint, Nepeau, Ontario; Digital Image
Design, New York, NY, Elektra Shock, LA, Motion Analysis,
Santa Rosa, CA; Oxford Metrics, Oxford, England; Polhe-
mus, Colchester, VT; Virtual Technologies Inc., Palo Alto,
CA.
The optical systems are either tracking devices for a set of
(retroreflective) points or systems for reconstructing faces or
facial expression.
For 2-D face tracking, systems are offered by the following
vendors: Adaptive Optics, Cambridge, MA; Digits ‘n Art,
Montreal, Canada; Motion Analysis, Santa Rosa, CA: Sim
Graphics, South Pasadena, CA; Vierte Art GmbH, Munich,
Germany.
For 3-D object reconstruction a number of low-end Sys-
tems are available, such as 3D Builder Pro (3D Construc-
tion Company, TN), Photo Modeler (Eos Systems, Inc.,
Vancouver, Canada), 3D Express (3rd Dimension Tech-
nologies Inc., CA), ShapeCapture (NRC,Ottawa), Wire-
frame Express (Synthonics, CA).
Most systems do have in common that very little pho-
togrammetric expertise is incorporated (exceptions: Photo
Modeler, Integrated Body Capture, HiRez, ShapeCapture).
Therefore not much is known in general about perform-
ance in terms of both precision and reliability. It should be
a vital goal of the photogrammetric community to let the
animation people, in particular those concerned with
motion capture and surface reconstruction, know about
the capabilities of videogrammetric concepts.
Plans for the Future
The participants in the Onuma Workshop have agreed that
it would be appropriate to the relevance of the topic to
hold such an international workshop every two years. The
next one is planned for Ayutthaya, Thailand, 26 February-
1 March 2001 and is concerned with Recreating the Past-
Visualisation and Animation in Cultural Heritage. The idea
is to continue with these Workshops into the future and to
try to attract to these events people from the animation
community as well.
As to the future of this group, we recommend a continua-
tion as SIG, because activity in this area within ISPRS is
still not at the required level to form a Working Group, as
evidenced by the contributions to the XIXth ISPRS Con-
gress.
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