This spline would then define a path for the character to follow. The mid 1980's saw a shift from this approach to physical-based modeling. Now a character would have his motion determined by predefined forces such as gravity. However, behavioral modeling is a growing area of interest. Here the actor's motions are defined in terms of behavior and personality now becomes part of a character.
Movement is performed using vision-based obstacle avoidance.
In the research I saw, an octree was used to represent the division of 3D space. The scene is generated by using standard computer graphics methodology and then accessing the Z-buffer data. Since the Z- buffer is used for hidden surface removal, a range estimate to all visible objects is thus obtained. The goal is to introduce personality traits to a character and then to automate the character's movements using behavior-based modeling. Another research effort involves the synthetic generation of human emotions.