Understanding Motion Capture for Computer Animation discusses the latest technology developments in digital design, film, games, medicine, sports, and security engineering. Motion capture records a live-motion event and translates it into a digital context. It is the technology that converts a live performance into a digital performance. In contrast, performance animation is the actual performance that brings life to the character, even without using technology. If motion capture is the collection of data that represents motion, performance animation is the character that a performer represents. The book offers extensive information about motion capture. It includes state-of-the-art technology, methodology, and developments in the current motion-capture industry. In particular, the different ways to capture motions are discussed, including using cameras or electromagnetic fields in tracking a group of sensors. This book will be useful for students taking a course about digital filming, as well as for anyone who is interested in this topic. Completely revised to include almost 40% new content with emphasis on RF and Facial Motion Capture Systems Describes all the mathematical principles associated with motion capture and 3D character mechanics Helps you budget by explaining the costs associated with individualized motion capture projects

The physical processes which initiate and maintain motion have been a major concern of serious investigation throughout the evolution of scientific thought. As early as the fifth century B. C. questions regarding motion were presented as touchstones for the most fundamental concepts about existence. Such wide ranging philosophical issues are beyond the scope of this book, however, consider the paradox of the flying arrow attri buted to Zeno of Elea: An arrow is shot from point A to point B requiring a sequence of time instants to traverse the distance. Now, for any time instant, T, of the sequence the arrow is at a position, Pi' and at Ti+! the i arrow is at Pi+i> with Pi ::I-P+• Clearly, each Ti must be a singular time i 1 unit at which the arrow is at rest at Pi because if the arrow were moving during Ti there would be a further sequence, Til' of time instants required for the arrow to traverse the smaller distance. Now, regardless of the level to which this recursive argument is applied, one is left with the flight of the arrow comprising a sequence of positions at which the arrow is at rest. The original intent of presenting this paradox has been interpreted to be as an argument against the possibility of individuated objects moving in space.

Mobile robots operating in real-world, outdoor scenarios depend on dynamic scene understanding for detecting and avoiding obstacles, recognizing landmarks, acquiring models, and for detecting and tracking moving objects. Motion understanding has been an active research effort for more than a decade, searching for solutions to some of these problems; however, it still remains one of the more difficult and challenging areas of computer vision research. Qualitative Motion Understanding describes a qualitative approach to dynamic scene and motion analysis, called DRIVE (Dynamic Reasoning from Integrated Visual Evidence). The DRIVE system addresses the problems of (a) estimating the robot's egomotion, (b) reconstructing the observed 3-D scene structure; and (c) evaluating the motion of individual objects from a sequence of monocular images. The approach is based on the FOE (focus of expansion) concept, but it takes a somewhat unconventional route. The DRIVE system uses a qualitative scene model and a fuzzy focus of expansion to estimate robot motion from visual cues, to detect and track moving objects, and to construct and maintain a global dynamic reference model.

At the end of the 20th century nearly all developed nations have become countries of immigration, absorbing growing numbers of immigrants not only from developed regions, byt increasingly from developing nations of the Third World. Although international migration has come to play a central role in the social, economic, and demographic dynamics of both immigrant-sending and immigrant-receiving countries, social scientist have been slow to construct a comprehensive theory to explain it. Efforts at theoretical explanation have been fragmented by disciplinary, geographic, and methodological boudaries. Worlds in Motion seeks to overcome these schisms to create a comprehensive theory of international migration for the next century. After explicating the various propositions and hypotheses of current theories, and identifying area of complementarity and conflict, the authors review empirical research emanting from each of the world's principal international migration systems: North America, Western Europe, the Gulf, Asia and the Pacific, and the Southern Cone of South America. Using data from the 1980s, levels and patterns of migration within each system are described to define their structure and organization. Specific studies are then comprehensively surveyed to evaluate the fundamental propositions of neoclassical economics, the new economics of labour migration, segmented labour market theory, world systems theory, social capital theory, and the theory of cumulative causation. The various theories are also tested by applying them to the relationship between international migration and economic development. Although certain theories seem to function more effectively in certain systems, all contain elements of truth supported by empirical research. The task of the theorist is thus to identify which theories are most effective in accounting for international migration in the world today, and what regional and national circumstances lead to a predominance of one theoretical mechanism over another. The book concludes by offering an empirically-grounded theoretical synthesis to serve as a guide for researchers and policy-makers in the 21st century.

This is the first book which informs about recent progress in biomechanics, computer vision and computer graphics – all in one volume. Researchers from these areas have contributed to this book to promote the establishment of human motion research as a multi-facetted discipline and to improve the exchange of ideas and concepts between these three areas. The book combines carefully written reviews with detailed reports on recent progress in research.

The physical processes which initiate and maintain motion have been a major concern of serious investigation throughout the evolution of scientific thought. As early as the fifth century B. C. questions regarding motion were presented as touchstones for the most fundamental concepts about existence. Such wide ranging philosophical issues are beyond the scope of this book, however, consider the paradox of the flying arrow attri buted to Zeno of Elea: An arrow is shot from point A to point B requiring a sequence of time instants to traverse the distance. Now, for any time instant, T, of the sequence the arrow is at a position, Pi' and at Ti+! the i arrow is at Pi+i> with Pi ::I-P+• Clearly, each Ti must be a singular time i 1 unit at which the arrow is at rest at Pi because if the arrow were moving during Ti there would be a further sequence, Til' of time instants required for the arrow to traverse the smaller distance. Now, regardless of the level to which this recursive argument is applied, one is left with the flight of the arrow comprising a sequence of positions at which the arrow is at rest. The original intent of presenting this paradox has been interpreted to be as an argument against the possibility of individuated objects moving in space.

Human action analysis and recognition is a relatively mature field, yet one which is often not well understood by students and researchers. The large number of possible variations in human motion and appearance, camera viewpoint, and environment, present considerable challenges. Some important and common problems remain unsolved by the computer vision community. However, many valuable approaches have been proposed over the past decade, including the motion history image (MHI) method. This method has received significant attention, as it offers greater robustness and performance than other techniques. This work presents a comprehensive review of these state-of-the-art approaches and their applications, with a particular focus on the MHI method and its variants.