Animating Horse Gaits and Transitions

Animations of horses are commonly used for entertainment purposes. A realistic animated model must move with a gait appropriate to its velocity. We present a kinematic animation system in which a horse model moves using gaits and transitions based on predictions from Dynamic Similarity theory. A Genetic Programming technique is used to evolve gait motion with dynamically adjustable limb extent. The system is controlled in real-time using a MIDI controller system based around the model's Froude number. We were successful in producing high quality animations of the horse's natural gaits and transitions.