Fast neural network emulation of dynamical systems for computer animation

Computer animation through the numerical simulation of physics-based graphics models offers unsurpassed realism, but it can he computationally demanding. This paper demonstrates the possibility of replacing the numerical simulation of nontrivial dynamic models with a dramatically more efficient "NeuroAnimator" that exploits neural networks. NeuroAnimators are automatically trained off-line to emulate physical dynamics through the observation of physics-based models in action. Depending on the model, its neural network emulator can yield physically realistic animation one or two orders of magnitude faster than conventional numerical simulation. We demonstrate NeuroAnimators fur a variety of physics-based models.