Cascadeur

Cascadeur is a cell phone app that works on the principle of a neural network. It can animate objects that fall into the camera lens. For this purpose, it uses internal algorithms that create animations for such objects in real time.

Development

To develop the neural network, data from the characters in the game Shadow Fight was used. Thanks to this, it was possible to extract 2 million poses, which formed the basis of the neural network. To fill the internal database, 95 percent of the available materials were used. The remaining 5 percent was needed to properly calibrate the neural network and teach it to animate objects more correctly. To create the neural network itself, a relatively simple technique called Self Normalizing Neural Networks was used. In a nutshell, it is an activation and initialization function that is required to anticipate the behavior of an object. Due to this it is possible to create control points from which the neural network pushes back during the construction of its animations. The AI itself was created using a five-layer model.

Capabilities

The point of Cascadeur is to make the work of animators easier. They no longer need to place all the control points in the skeletal animation themselves. Now this will be done by a neural network, providing a draft version of the movement of objects. And in addition to the realism of the created model, the AI also uses data about the modeled environment. Thus, all animations get reliability not only in terms of movements, but also in terms of the physical model. In addition to building the animations themselves, you can also think about and edit the trajectories of movements, which opens access to the creation of complex movements during which the interaction with objects in the environment. In addition, thanks to the ability to copy and re-generate, to create a suitable request becomes much easier. And to improve the existing result, you should use the built-in editor. It will allow you to slightly modify the poses in order to adjust them to the ideals of your project.

Main Features

• The program is needed to create skeletal animation based on a neural network;
• Produces results with a simple query;
• There is a built-in editor for finalizing animations.