Patent ID: 7545379

Claim:
A method of animation executed by a computer of representing a character including two three-dimensional bodies by a set of points, the bodies having mutually intersecting points, comprising the acts of: detecting a set of intersecting points of the two bodies defining an interpenetration; moving a location of at least some points of the set of intersecting points so as to remove the intersection; increasing a volume of at least one of the bodies to preserve an initial volume of the body by: prior to moving the locations of the intersecting points, computing the initial volume of the body by multiplying, for a plurality of polygons enclosing the body, the area of each polygon times the distance from the polygon area to the center of the body and summing the results; computing the volume of the body, after the locations of the intersecting points are moved, by multiplying, for the plurality of polygons enclosing the body, the area of each polygon times the distance from the polygon area to the center of the body and summing the results; for each of a plurality of points on the surface of the body displacing the point on the surface of the body by a weighted value; smoothing a location of the intersecting points; and repeating the acts of detecting, moving, increasing and smoothing for each of a plurality of animation key frames.