The main goal of this project was to familiarize readers with the techniques used in real-time animation of 3D characters. This work is focused on two types of animation: keyframe animation and skeletal animation. There are described algorithms for software and hardware accelerated model deformations, keyframe interpolations, animation blending, inverse kinematics and ragdoll. The result of this project is a framework, which consists of an animation library, examples demonstrating library functions and tools for export animations from 3D Studio Max and MilkShape 3D.

Since the introduction of high end graphical workstations, computer animation has quickly replaced the traditional means of animation. Nowadays computer animation has many applications e.g. video games, motion picture industry, media, weather forecasting and many others. This master thesis discusses various techniques used to created animations using computers. Keyframing, is the most common approach in computer animation. Borrowing its name from the concept of traditional hand animation, the workflow process remained the same. Basic principles of animation using key-frames are explained and an Interactive Animation Editor solution based on keyframing is proposed and the implementation of this editor is described. Editor uses the Kochanek-Bartels interpolation of values between each key-frame.

This study seeks to understand upper limb tremor in subjects with essential tremor (ET). A thorough understanding of tremor distribution will allow for the more effective development of tremor suppression devices, which offer an alternative to current treatments. Previous studies primarily focused on tremor in the hand only. This study seeks to characterize the distribution of tremor throughout the upper limb. We measured tremor in 25 subjects diagnosed with ET using motion capture, which provided 0displacement information of the limb during multiple postural and kinetic tasks. Inverse kinematics allowed us to analyze the motion capture data in the 7 major degrees of freedom (DOF) of the upper limb. The power spectral density estimate was used to determine: relative tremor magnitude throughout the DOFs, tremor variation between tasks, variation between subjects, and frequency variations between DOFs. Data analysis revealed that tremor increase is roughly proximal to distal. We also show that tremor magnitude in kinetic tasks is significantly higher than in postural tasks. Although we found some variation in tremor distribution between subjects, the roughly proximal to distal increase in tremor severity holds for several subsets of the study population. Finally, we found that tremor frequency doesnt vary significantly (<<> 1 Hz) between DOFs, in subjects with severe tremor. Our study shows that tremor distribution is quite stereotyped between subjects with ET. Furthermore, we have shown that tremor is greatest in the distal DOFs. This provides a compelling starting point for the development of future tremor suppression devices.

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<p dir="ltr">Inverse kinematics is the fundamental study of robot motion in space. Usually, the control command for a robot is only given by target position and orientation, in which the motions of the joint motors are found from the inverse kinematics. For the specified position or orientation, there are often multiple inverse kinematics solutions. The traditional method obtains all these solutions and then selects one of them according to some rules, such as minimum energy, shortest distance, shortest time, etc. In this thesis research, weighted multi-objective genetic algorithm (WMOGA) and weighted multi-objective particle swarm optimization (WMOPSO) are developed to solve energy-aware inverse kinematics by considering that the energy consumption of the robot is proportional to the total amount of joint rotations to the target pose. Therefore, the objective functions are proposed based on minimizing the target position error, target orientation error, and total amount of joint rotations to obtain the inverse kinematics solution. The algorithms developed in this thesis use a weighted sum of the multiple objective functions to iterate over a certain range of weights to obtain the inverse kinematics solution within the required error range. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm can be applied to the robotic model with any number of degrees of freedom. The trajectories solved by the proposed WMOGA and WMOPSO algorithms are verified by simulations and validated by the physical robotic arm. The achieved inverse kinematic solutions demonstrate a promising performance and have the potential for applications of the inverse kinematics of robotics.</p>

This work deals with the creation of a graphic demo with the use of inverse kinematics. It explains the motivations that led to the creation of the demo; it briefly mentions the history of the demo as well as the principles of animation. It describes in detail the fundamentals of inverse kinematics as well as the terminology needed for the understanding of inverse kinematics. It also includes some selected algorithms. The issue of inverse kinematics is further developed in the part of the work where the principles of skinning are being described. The principles of the collision detection are also mentioned here. The conclusion consists of a detailed explanation of some of the techniques used in graphic demo, such as the L-systems or procedural textures.

This thesis proposes an architecture of animation engine flexible enough to support large scale of animation algorithms with unified approach to each one of them. One of the major goals of the engine is to support creation of very complex animation seqences with high degree of animation execution control. The main animation technique used in the engine is skeletal animation and some variants of this technique are already implemented within, but it was never meant to be skeletal animation only engine and is designed that way.

Haptic feedback is a growing phenomenon that incorporates the sense of touch through tactile sensations such as vibrations, electrical signals, air pressure, and sound waves or through force feedback, which employs torques and/or forces to replicate the pressure and weight of a simulated object. Utilizing haptic technology establishes a communication bridge between the user and the technical component, enhancing the user's understanding of the technical component's surroundings. This thesis focuses on designing a force feedback haptic device with an impedance control strategy, enabling the imposition of dynamic behavior during simulated robot interactions. Impedance control is a commonly employed approach in haptic devices, utilizing a mass-spring-damper model to vary stiffness, damping, and inertia levels, thereby simulating realistic forces and torques in master-slave interactions.  Initially, a haptic device resembling the shape of a Delta robot was designed using Solidworks, with size and weight distribution serving as the primary design considerations. Subsequently, the device was further represented using a generic robot description format, incorporating the design's joints and links. This representation was then paired with kinematic connections delineating the robot's motion and dynamic matrices to simulate the robot's movement. Alongside the integration of an impedance control strategy, simulations were conducted to emulate robot interactions. These simulations tested the system under various conditions, including scenarios with and without introduced torque disturbances. Including torque disturbances was intended to enhance the simulation's realism and assess the impact of impedance control parameter choices on the system's behavior. In summary, the research concludes how a closed-chain robot, the Delta robot, can be modeled as a haptic device with an impedance control strategy, offering valuable guidance for future research. / Haptisk återkoppling är ett växande fenomen som integreras i allt fler användningsområden. Genom att återskapa känslan av att röra vid eller interagera med föremål, antingen genom att simulera taktila sensationer som vibrationer, elektriska signaler, lufttryck och ljudvågor eller genom att återge kraftåterkoppling till användaren, kan användarens förståelse för tekniska komponenter och deras omgivning öka. Kraftåterkoppling möjliggör imitation av tryck och vikt hos simulaterade objekt, vilket förbättrar realismen i användarupplevelsen. Detta examensarbete har inriktat sig på att designa en haptisk pryl med kraftåterkoppling och en styrmekanism baserad på impedanskontroll. Genom att implementera impedanskontroll kan dynamiska beteenden inkorporeras i systemet genom varierande styrka, dämpning och tröghet. Dessa impedansparametrar möjliggör realistiska simuleringar av kraft och vridmoment i samband med virtuella robotinteraktioner. Först utformades en haptisk pryl som efterliknar formen av en Delta-robot med hjälp av CAD-programmet Solidworks. Här var storlek och viktfördelning primära överväganden i designprocessen. Därefter representerades enheten genom en generisk robotbeskrivning som inkluderade dess leder och länkar. Denna representation kopplades sedan ihop med kinematiska samband som reglerade enhetens rörelse. Tillsammans med integreringen av impedanskontrollstrategin genomfördes simuleringar som efterliknade robotinteraktioner. Dessa simuleringar omfattade olika scenarier, inklusive de med vridmomentsstörningar och de utan. Syftet med att inkludera vridmomentsstörningar var att öka realismen i simuleringen och utvärdera påverkan av valda parametrar för impedanskontrollen på systemets beteende. Sammanfattningsvis har detta arbete resulterat i utformningen av en haptisk pryl med kraftåterkoppling, som efterliknar en Delta-robot. Prylen har modellerats som en trädstruktur, med kinematiska samband som sammanfogar dess ändnoder. Det här arbetet har bidragit till kunskapen om hur realistiska haptiska interaktioner kan skapas och öppnat möjligheter för framtida forskning och utveckling inom detta område.