Project Presentation

The objective of the European ESPRIT Project CHARM is to develop a Comprehensive Human Animation Resource Model allowing the 3D reconstruction of the human body from medical images and the dynamic simulation of its complex musculoskeletal structure including the simulation of muscular contraction and the finite element deformation of the soft tissues. After several months of work, the target of developing a comprehensive model has been perceived as too ambitious for a 3-years project. Initial work has thus been concentrated on the shoulder-arm complex, which is commonly considered as one of the most complex articulations in the human body. Though very limited validation has been realised compared with the initial expectations, the developments achieved in CHARM constitute an initial step for further advances in research, and open ways for future work.

Anatomists have found the VHD model as a golden standard for structure identification and labeling. The models developed could be of use for medical education, as well as clinical applications like surgical simulation. Orthopaedists and Sport scientists consider our developments as offering insights with no precedent in the complex kinematics of the articulations and in the unknown neuromuscular control strategies. They feel concerned for the possibility to develop and test several control strategies by performing virtual experiments. Their expectations is that we overstep the standard level to achieve pathology and prosthetic simulations. Finally, from our point of view as members of the computer graphics research community, CHARM constitute an unpreceding performance towards realistic physically-based modeling and animation of the human body.

CHARM Home Page
walter_maurel@yahoo.fr