Soft Walks: Real-Time, Two-Ways Interaction between a Character and Loose Grounds

TL;DR

This paper introduces a real-time method for simulating two-way interactions between characters and loose terrains, including ground deformation and vegetation, to enhance realism in films and games.

Contribution

It presents a novel layered control and deformation approach that enables real-time, physically plausible interactions with complex terrains and vegetation.

Findings

Real-time deformation of ground and vegetation achieved.

Consistent character gait on varied slopes demonstrated.

Applicable to any character morphology.

Abstract

When walking on loose terrains, possibly covered with vegetation, the ground and grass should deform, but the character's gait should also change accordingly. We propose a method for modeling such two-ways interactions in real-time. We first complement a layered character model by a high-level controller, which uses position and angular velocity inputs to improve dynamic oscillations when walking on various slopes. Secondly, at a refined level, the feet are set to locally deform the ground and surrounding vegetation using efficient procedural functions, while the character's response to such deformations is computed through adapted inverse kinematics. While simple to set up, our method is generic enough to adapt to any character morphology. Moreover, its ability to generate in real time, consistent gaits on a variety of loose grounds of arbitrary slope, possibly covered with grass, makes it an interesting solution to enhance films and games.