Annotation of Animated 3D Objects

This paper presents a novel approach to illustrate dynamic procedures in tutoring materials by analyzing corresponding animations. We propose two strategies: (i) to enhance animations with secondary elements (e.g., textual annotations and arrows) and (ii) to generate visual summaries, i.e. illustrations where secondary elements provide indications of the direction and the extent of moving objects in animations. We propose metrics aiming at an unambiguous and frame-coherent layout in animations. Moreover, we integrated real-time algorithms to layout secondary elements in animations into an interactive 3D browser. In order to test the impact of various conflicting functional and aesthetic layout requirements, our system contains several algorithms and strategies, which are compared in a user study. Finally, this paper presents result of applying our approach to enhance scientific illustrations and technical documentation.