SKELETAL ANIMATION IN EMBODIED AGENTS

1 - 24 . (canceled)

25 . An Actuation System for animating a Virtual Character or Digital Entity comprising:

a processor;

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores:

values defining a plurality of Joints associated with a Skeleton of the Virtual Character or Digital Entity, and

at least one Actuation Unit Descriptor defining respective Skeletal Poses with respect to a first Skeletal Pose; and

program instructions stored in the memory and that, upon execution by the processor, cause the processor to:

drive the Actuation Unit Descriptor using Rotation Parameters and one or more of the Joints of the Skeleton using corresponding Actuation Unit Descriptors multiplied by corresponding Activation Weights.

26 . The Actuation System of claim 25 , wherein the first Skeletal Pose is a Skeletal Base Pose.

27 . The Actuation System of claim 26 , wherein Rotation Parameters are representations of rotation configured to combine linearly.

28 . The Actuation System of claim 27 , wherein each Actuation Unit Descriptor is configured to drive a single Joint.

29 . The Actuation System of claim 27 , wherein each Actuation Unit Descriptor is configured to drive multiple Joints.

30 . The Actuation System of claim 29 , wherein applying a rotation transformation of each Actuation Unit Descriptor to the skeleton produces a motion of skeleton parts reflective of contraction or relaxing one or more muscles in a biological system having a skeletal topology similar to the skeletal topology of the Virtual Character or Digital Entity.

31 . The Actuation System of claim 30 further comprising an Actuation Unit Descriptor Combiner for controlling Virtual Character or Digital Entity animation, wherein the Actuation Unit Descriptor Combiner is configured to combine a plurality of Actuation Unit Descriptors using a linear equation.

32 . The Actuation System of claim 31 further comprising an Actuation Unit Descriptor Mapper for estimating parameter values for the Actuation Unit Descriptor Combiner for a given pose parameterized in terms of joint angles, which comprises:

converting given pose parameters to a set of rotation vector values associated with rotation of skeleton parts around particular joints,

constructing a structure containing the rotation parameters associated with each joint of the skeleton, and

obtaining Actuation Unit Descriptor weights through solving a least squares problem.

33 . A method of generating an animation of a Skeleton of a Virtual Character or Digital Entity comprising:

defining a plurality of Actuation Unit Descriptors as animation controls configured to change rotation and/or translation values of one or more Joints of the Skeleton;

converting the plurality of Actuation Unit Descriptors into Rotation Parameters;

using the Rotation Parameters to blend and convert two or more input animations to an Actuation Unit Descriptor space to generate one or more animations; and

composing and playing back the one or more animations on a joint-driven skeleton using any rotation representation.

34 . A method for animating arm reaching in a Virtual Character or Digital Entity comprising:

receiving a desired location of an end effector of an arm of a Virtual Character or Digital Entity in a parameter space;

retrieving example poses, each associated with a coordinate of an end effector and pose Actuation Unit Descriptors;

generating interpolated poses by interpolating poses using the example poses as interpolation nodes, wherein interpolation is performed in parameter space with a coordinate of an end effector as a parameter and pose Actuation Unit Descriptors as values; and

animating the arm reaching using the interpolated poses.

35 . The method of claim 34 wherein interpolation uses a meshless or mesh base technique that represents solutions through a weighted combination of interpolation node values.