Abstract: Curve-skeletons are powerful shape descriptors able to provide higher level information on topology, structure and semantics of a given digital object. Their range of application is wide and encompasses computer animation, shape matching, modelling and remeshing. While a universally accepted definition of curve-skeleton is still lacking, there are currently many algorithms for the curve-skeleton computation (or skeletonization) as well as different techniques for building a mesh around a given curve-skeleton (inverse skeletonization). Despite their widespread use, automatically extracted skeletons usually need to be processed in order to be used in further stages of any pipeline, due to different requirements. We present here an advanced tool, named SkeletonLab, that provides simple interactive techniques to rapidly and automatically edit and repair curve skeletons generated using different techniques proposed in literature, as well as handcrafting them. The aim of the tool is to allow trained practitioners to manipulate the curve-skeletons obtained with skeletonization algorithms in order to fit their specific pipelines or to explore the requirements of newly developed techniques.
Authors: S. Barbieri, P. Meloni, F. Usai, L. D. Spano, R. Scateni.
An Interactive Editor for Curve-Skeletons: SkeletonLab.
Computers & Graphics, 60:23-33.
Elsevier, 2016.
Abstract: Starting from the triangle mesh of a digital shape, mainly an articulated object, we produce a coarse quad layout that can be used in character modeling and animation. Our quad layout follows the intrinsic object structure described by its curve skeleton; it contains few irregular vertices of low degree; it can be immediately refined into a semi-regular quad mesh; it provides a structured domain for UV-mapping and parametrization. Our method is fast, one-click and it does not require any parameter setting. The user can steer and refine the process through simple interactive tools during the construction of the quad layout.
Abstract: Curve-skeletons are well known shape descriptors, able to encode topological and structural information of a shape. The range of applications in which they are used comprises, to name a few, computer animation, shape matching, modelling and remeshing. Different tools for automatically extracting the curve-skeleton for a given input mesh are currently available, as well as inverse skeletonization tools, where a user-defined skeleton is taken as input in order to build a mesh that reflects the encoded structure. Although their use is broad, an automatically extracted curve-skeleton is usually not well-suited for the next pipeline step in which they will be used. We present a tool for creating, editing and repairing curve-skeletons whose aim is to allow users to obtain, within minutes, curve-skeletons that are tailored for their specific task.
Abstract: We present here the preliminary results of our efforts towards the de?nition of a novel paradigm for the procedural generation of pseudo-animals, using a grammar-based approach. With the term “pseudo-animal” we denote a living being characterized by a set of features mimicking the ones of real animals, but not necessarily belonging to existing species. The generation of these pseudo-animals should also plausibly re?ect the properties of the environment where the model will live.