The virtual sailor: An implementation of interactive human body modeling

The primary focus of the Virtual Sailor project is the creation of virtual actors, for training and other applications where human figures must be coordinated. By the term virtual actor is meant computer animated figures that can mimic human beings in physical form, function and behavior. The underlying techniques and software systems for creating the skin, bone, and muscles of aspects of interactive human body models are discussed. The approach combines a kinematic description of the human skeletal system with a finite element model of the skin and soft tissue of the face. A set of numerical techniques is presented that allows implementation of these models efficiently so that they can be used in a real-time simulation environment. To animate these figures, a set of control systems to mimic basic human behaviors is being formulated