Animations, whether they are in movies, television, or video games, would not capture the viewer’s interest if they were not accompanied by music. Music can set the tone for a scene and is generally added after the animation has been completed. It takes a large amount of work to coordinate a piece of music with a final animation, especially when specific movements must occur at certain times in the song. This paper describes a method of automatically synthesizing an animation that synchronizes with the input music. Our system allows the user to choose a piece of music and a character and outputs a synchronized animation that expresses the emotion and intent of the music through movement.

The tempo, beat levels, and dynamic levels are extracted from the music and used to drive the animation. The user inputs a music file, a character created in Alias-Wavefront’s Maya, and a script file. The script file gives the user the freedom to decide what movements will be used in the animation, when they will be performed, and by which body part of the character. These mappings, as defined in the script file, allow the user to experiment with different ways of arranging movement and music to create a unique animation. Our animation system is designed for use by a wide range of users, not just those who are proficient at animation or musically inclined. Our technique concentrates on simplicity of movement and user control for creating a unique music-driven animation.

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