Intelligent Camera Control Using Behavior Trees

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
Departmental Papers (CIS)
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
Computer Sciences
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Markowitz, Daniel
Shoulson, Alexander
Contributor
Abstract

Automatic camera systems produce very basic animations for virtual worlds. Users often view environments through two types of cameras: a camera that they control manually, or a very basic automatic camera that follows their character, minimizing occlusions. Real cinematography features much more variety producing more robust stories. Cameras shoot establishing shots, close-ups, tracking shots, and bird’s eye views to enrich a narrative. Camera techniques such as zoom, focus, and depth of field contribute to framing a particular shot. We present an intelligent camera system that automatically positions, pans, tilts, zooms, and tracks events occurring in real-time while obeying traditional standards of cinematography. We design behavior trees that describe how a single intelligent camera might behave from low-level narrative elements assigned by “smart events”. Camera actions are formed by hierarchically arranging behavior sub-trees encapsulating nodes that control specific camera semantics. This approach is more modular and particularly reusable for quickly creating complex camera styles and transitions rather then focusing only on visibility. Additionally, our user interface allows a director to provide further camera instructions, such as prioritizing one event over another, drawing a path for the camera to follow, and adjusting camera settings on the fly.We demonstrate our method by placing multiple intelligent cameras in a complicated world with several events and storylines, and illustrate how to produce a well-shot “documentary” of the events constructed in real-time.

Advisor
Date of presentation
2011-11-01
Conference name
Departmental Papers (CIS)
Conference dates
2023-05-17T07:27:50.000
Conference location
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Markowitz, D., Kider, J., Soulson, A., & Badler, N., Intelligent Camera Control Using Behavior Trees, Motion in Games (MIG), Nov. 2011, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25090-3_14
Recommended citation
Collection