Computer Science Department
Point-and-Click App. for Animating Objects in OpenGL
Cody Whitesell
This project will allow users with little or no experience in programming to manipulate objects in OpenGL to create simple key-frame animations. Through this application users will simply utilize the mouse to select existing objects, achieved through the use of a "picking" algorithm, and manipulate or change their properties such as position and color via mouse-position tracking or menus accessed when a mouse-button is clicked. Finally, users will ultimately be able to manipulate a pre-existing robot and save the individual manipulations as a series of key-frames, the graphical equivalent of how "claymations" such as Gumby or Wallace and Gromit are created, that can be played back in a smooth sequence from start to finish. Ultimately it would be the goal for this project to extend to the dynamic creation of objects and the ability to "attach" those objects to one another so a user could create complex figures with various moveable parts from the ground up.