Modeling of 3D human cartoon and caricature characters

Abstract

In the market of toys and cartoon industry, successful product implies a handsome profit. However, design criteria and guidelines for human cartoon and caricature characters are still largely relied on the knowledge and experience of human master designers. In consequence, return on investment for new human cartoon and caricature product development cannot be easily assessed. Time compression integration with contemporary computer-aided design and manufacturing cannot be fully streamlined. The project aims to study the design criteria and guidelines for human cartoon and caricature characters and their integration with CAD/CAID software. A brief review of lexicographic meaning of cartoon, caricature, and comic (C³) is conducted. A comprehensive review and mathematical formulation for popular C³ current practice is then worked out. These include the deformation, transformation, the golden ratio, the fun house or magic mirror, the fisheye lens, and the five point perspective. Since different C³ masters will have their own artistic styles, computerized workflows starting from capturing C³ master's style are proposed. In particular, a novel capturing theory makes use of both the allometric proportion theory from developmental biology and the universality characteristic of acupuncture points in Chinese medicine. Simplified human face results are used to illustrate the theories. In summary, the mathematical principles of C³ transformations for CAD/CAID implementation are studied and explained. This covers both geometrical style independent C³ transformations as well as human master style dependent C³ transformation. Future extension on CAD/CAID implementable non-human C³ transformation is also possible.