Cage-based deformation transfer

We present a cage-based method for transferring animation from a mesh sequence or motion capture data to geometric models in variant representations. To reach the aimed generality, the target model is first embedded into a cage by Green Coordinates interpolation, which preserves the geometric details inherently. The deformation gradient sequences of some user-selected points on the source are then extracted and used as the gradient constraints in the cage to guide the target deformation. The variation of deformation gradients in the cage is minimized to avoid degeneration and ensure smoothness of the result. Position and length constraints can also be applied for more controls. The optimal positions of target cage vertices can be efficiently evaluated by solving a non-linear minimization problem in terms of a few variables. The main advantage of our algorithm is that both source and target can be in a wide range of shapes and deformation representations. Moreover, we can transfer the deformation from multiple sequences onto a single target model. & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.