Realization of dynamic interaction of virtual creatures with neural controller

The objective of this study is to establish a new computer-aided animation method using agent-based and physics-modeling-based animation. The specific problem considered in this paper is the realization of the adaptive behavior of a virtual creature placed in a complex environment and the automatic animation of the creature´s behavior. The virtual creature is regarded as an autonomous agent that has sensors, actuators, and controllers. For controlling the virtual creature, an artificial neural network and a central pattern generator are adopted as the controllers. An optimization algorithm is introduced for training the controllers. Numerical experiments prove that the virtual creature realizes effective motions (walking behavior) to reach the destination and to avoid obstacles and other creatures.