Table Tennis

A high-level state-machine controller selects and adapts motion capture swings that are subsequently followed by a tracker to make simulated athletes move. The simulated table tennis players share a controlled volley in this figure. For full-body animation, a lower-body controller maintains balance based on a set of rules.

The simulated table tennis player can hit incoming balls to different regions of the opponent's court based on the user's input. This level of control provides a handle for directing the player according simple commands: Hit to the left, right, or center.

Here is a comparison of human and simulated motion for table tennis swing. The actor's motion data collected at the same time as the live footage drives the upper body of the simulated player.