A programming approach for complex animations. Part I. Methodology

This paper gives a general methodology for symbolic programming of complex 3D scenes and animations. It also introduces a minimal set of animation primitives for the functional geometric language PLaSM. The symbolic approach to animation design and implementation given in this paper goes beyond the traditional two-steps approach to animation, where a modeler is coupled, more or less loosely, with a separate animation system. In fact both geometry and motion design are performed in a unified programming framework. The representation of the animation storyboard with discrete action networks is also introduced in this paper. Such a network description seems well suited for easy animation analysis, maintenance and updating. It is also used as the computational basis for scheduling and timing actions in complex scenes.