The Design of a 3D Character Animation System for Digital Twins in the Metaverse

TL;DR

This paper presents a modular, cost-effective 3D character animation system for digital twins in the metaverse, validated through a game-based case study, enabling flexible customization for various industrial and educational applications.

Contribution

The authors introduce a modular framework for 3D avatar animation that reduces costs and enhances flexibility compared to traditional motion capture methods.

Findings

Successful implementation of a data-driven 3D animation system using motion primitives.

Validation through a peg solitaire game case study demonstrating qualitative and quantitative results.

Framework's adaptability for diverse applications in Industry 4.0, education, and health.

Abstract

In the context of Industry 4.0, digital twin technology has emerged with rapid advancements as a powerful tool for visualizing and analyzing industrial assets. This technology has attracted considerable interest from researchers across diverse domains such as manufacturing, security, transportation, and gaming. The metaverse has emerged as a significant enabler in these domains, facilitating the integration of various technologies to create virtual replicas of physical assets. The utilization of 3D character animation, often referred to as avatars, is crucial for implementing the metaverse. Traditionally, costly motion capture technologies are employed for creating a realistic avatar system. To meet the needs of this evolving landscape, we have developed a modular framework tailored for asset digital twins as a more affordable alternative. This framework offers flexibility for the independent customization of individual system components. To validate our approach, we employ the English peg solitaire game as a use case, generating a solution tree using the breadth-first search algorithm. The results encompass both qualitative and quantitative findings of a data-driven 3D animation system utilizing motion primitives. The presented methodologies and infrastructure are adaptable and modular, making them applicable to asset digital twins across diverse business contexts. This case study lays the groundwork for pilot applications and can be tailored for education, health, or Industry 4.0 material development.