Posing 3D characters in virtual reality through in-the-air sketches

Generating computer animations is a very labor-intensive task, which requires animators to operate with sophisticated interfaces. Hence, researchers continuously experiment with alter- native interaction paradigms that could possibly ease the above task. Among others, sketching represents a valid alternative to traditional interfaces since it can make interactions more expressive and intuitive; however, although the literature proposes several solutions leveraging sketch-based interfaces to solve different computer graphics challenges, they are still not fully integrated in the computer animation pipeline. At the same time, Virtual Reality (VR), is becoming commonplace in many domains, and recently started to be recognized as capable to make it easier also the animators’ job, by improving their spatial understanding of the animated scene and providing them with interfaces characterized by higher usability and effectiveness. Based on all of the above, this paper presents an add-on for a well-known animation suite that combines the advantages offered by a sketch-based interface and VR to let animators define poses and create virtual character animations in an immersive environment.