Simulation is used to evaluate the behavior and the performance of a system before the development of a real system. During simulation the simulator informs a modeler about the model states. In this case, text is generally used to express the simulation result. But it limits the freedom of expression. Animation can solve this problem. And animation can be used in other areas such as model validation and verification, communication, presentation and so on.
Animation for simulation is different from studio animation focusing on photo-realistic expression. It focuses on effective and accurate expression. For this reason the animation system needs to be easy to use and can reuse animation models and control animation precisely. Hierarchical animation satisfies these requirements. But present hierarchical animation systems can only construct hierarchical animation models. Hierarchical animation model construction may increase the freedom of expression, but it is not efficient for hierarchical simulation and hierarchical model verification. This thesis proposes HAM(Hierarchical Animation systeM) that can construct hierarchical scenes beyond hierarchical models.
HAM is a simulator-independent animation system so that it can be used in many simulation environments. Hierarchical scene construction of HAM is efficiently applicable to hierarchical model verification. We can also use HAM for representation, communication, education, and so on.
HAM is composed of three parts. The first part is an animation language Ani++ used to control animation process. The second part is a scene constructor to construct animation models and scenes. The last part is an animation engine that includes Ani++ interpreter and renderer.
