EA Wants To Use AI for Smoother In-Game Animations With Yet Another Patent

The proposed system would make development easier and diversify in-game animations.

Story Highlights

  • EA has published a patent that wants to automate transition animations by automatically creating the movement between the starting and ending points of a pose using the goal-driven animation system.
  • It argues that it is quite difficult to handle all the possible transition animations of in-game characters manually. However, the system described by the company can solve the major dilemma using AI.
  • The Goal Driven Animation system by EA can be used to improve transition animations on the spot. One application of this system is creating highly tuneable animations in FIFA games.
  • EA has already published patents to automate in-game character animations and models. One of the systems it secured wants to replace motion capture using AI tech to create animations instead.

EA is among the leading gaming publishers leading the charge into adopting the new dawn of AI tech into its entries. It has published yet another patent that seeks to automate a huge facet of in-game character animations using AI. The company talks about using a goal-driven animation system that wants to smoothen character animations by automatically creating the movement between the starting and ending points of a pose.

The goal-driven animator 102 is a system and/or method (e.g., as defined by computer readable instructions) that generates transition animations (e.g. intermediate animation frames) based on a current pose and a real-time goal (e.g. target pose or target animation).”

The patent dubbed “GOAL DRIVEN ANIMATION” will handle the transition animations of in-game characters by using the newly proposed system. EA argues that it becomes increasingly difficult to handle the possible transition animations of all the in-game characters. The quality of these in-game animations can also be time-consuming to assess manually. In the end, tweaking transition animations near real-time can be quite a hurdle.

EA has published the patent to automate this tedious step and dynamically generate transition animations using AI tech.


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[It can enable] the creation of animation transitions that are as dynamic as the gameplay in which they can be used. The transition animations are based in part on a path through the game environment (referred to herein as a ‘trajectory’) that is calculated between a current pose and a target animation pose.”

The Goal Driven Animation system by EA can be used to improve transition animations on the spot; for example, a sports game with a bundle of players that uses a lot of animations at every turn. Characters playing with a ball in a FIFA entry would require tuneable, high-level control of animations. It would also be vital to iron out the errors in the created transition animations. The newly patented system can achieve all this using AI.

The image shows a flow diagram of an example method of goal driven animation.
The image shows a flow diagram of an example method of goal-driven animation.

There is a lot to the legal document, as it is filled with technical aspects. All in all, we can expect EA to utilize this system in fast-paced entries like its FIFA franchise in the future. The giant conglomerate has also published similar patents in the past, including one to replace motion capture tech by using AI to create in-game character animations. It also secured a system to automate the animations of in-game character models.

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Source
Patentscope

Shameer Sarfaraz is a Senior News Writer on eXputer who loves to keep up with the gaming and entertainment industries devoutly. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science and several years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.

Experience: 4+ Years || Education: Bachelor in Computer Science.

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