CurveThis: A Tool to Create Controllable Massive Crawling

Abstract

Forming the shape of an animated character from hundreds of thousands of crawling bugs, as shown in the film of The Sorcerer`s Apprentice, is a challenging shot for most animators. It is desirable to have the massive motions of the crawling bugs or growing vine generated automatically by procedures to avoid time-consuming key-framing. On the other hand, the motions also need to be controllable to achieve specific artistic effects. In other words, a desirable tool for creating this kind of animation should allow the director to specify desirable visual effects such as heading toward common destinations and following surface constraint, and then the animation should be generated automatically.