EasySkinning: Target-oriented skinning by mesh contraction and curve editing

Abstract

Skinning, a critical process in animation that defines how bones influence the vertices of a 3D character model, significantly impacts the visual effect in animation production. Traditional methods are time-intensive and skill-dependent, whereas automatic techniques lack in flexibility and quality. Our research introduces EasySkinning, a user-friendly system applicable to complex meshes. This method comprises three key components: rigid weight initialization through Voronoi contraction, precise weight editing via curve tools, and smooth weight solving for reconstructing target deformations. EasySkinning begins by contracting the input mesh inwards to the skeletal bones, which improves vertex-to-bone mappings, particularly in intricate mesh areas. We also design intuitive curve-editing tools, allowing users to define more precise bone influential regions. The final stage employs advanced deformation algorithms for smooth weight solving, crucial for achieving desired animations. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate that EasySkinning not only simplifies the creation of high-quality skinning weights but also consistently outperforms existing automatic and interactive skinning methods.