Patent ID: 8289331

Claim:
A method of determining a pose of a dynamics system, the method comprising: receiving a graph of motion elements, wherein the graph defines relationships between the motion elements; receiving a motion input for a first motion element in the graph of motion elements; propagating the motion input through the graph of motion elements to a second motion element associated with an asymmetric animation link, wherein the asymmetric animation link includes a direction attribute; determining a propagation direction of the motion input from the first motion element to the second motion element; comparing, by operation of one or more computer processors, the propagation direction attribute of the asymmetric animation link; in response to the propagation direction being aligned with a forward direction of the direction attribute of the asymmetric animation link, defining an active subgraph of the dynamics system including the first motion element, the second motion element, and at least one additional motion element connected with the second motion element through the asymmetric animation link; in response to the propagation direction being aligned with a reverse direction of the direction attribute of the asymmetric animation link, defining the active subgraph of the dynamics system including the first motion element and the second motion element, wherein the second motion element has an end position in the active subgraph of the dynamics system; and providing at least the active subgraph of the dynamics system and the motion input to a dynamics analysis system to determine a pose of at least the active subgraph of the dynamics system.