Patent ID: 7233327

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling a pose of a three-dimensional object including one or more interconnected three-dimensional structures, comprising: means for specifying a first control object having a first pose in three dimensions, and a second control object having a second pose in three dimensions, wherein a pose is defined by at least a direction and a roll around the direction; means for receiving data defining a path in the three-dimensional object and associated with the first and second poses; means for generating position and direction information for each of the one or more interconnected three-dimensional structures in three dimensions along the defined path in the three-dimensional object, such that each three-dimensional structure is associated with a different intermediate position alone the path and a direction at its intermediate position; and means for determining an amount of roll around the direction for each of the one or more interconnected three-dimensional structures using quaternion interpolation between the roll of the first pose and the roll of the second pose.