HUMAN MOTION ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS USING GRAPHICAL BIOMECHANICS MODELS IN SPORTS ACTIVITIES

Abstract

In many applications the study of human movement using a computer is very useful. One such application is the three-dimensional reconstruction of the structure of the human body and its movement using sequences of images and graphic models. For this reconstruction to be accurate and precise the person analyzed and the virtual human (humanoid) must have similar anthropometric characteristics. A process is therefore defined that attempts to adjust the humanoid to the morphology of the person, a process which can be very laborious and subjective if done manually or by selection of points. This article presents a process of semiautomatic matching between person and humanoid. Once this process is carried out we are ready to analyze and represent the movements under study. The study is adapted to specific sports activities. In these cases the adjustment process can be assisted by the computer. At present, it is used in indoor spaces, but its use in outdoor spaces is also intended. The system requires no markers or special clothing to be worn by the athlete or sports participant, and its range of application is therefore very wide. Also very important are its portability into domestic environments using VRML 2.0 and the H-anim standard for specification of virtual humanoids. This advantage is very important because experts can visualize movements on any personal computer with a commercial Internet browser.