Graphical Modeling of Human Muscles

Abstract

Muscle simulation is an important component of human modeling. However, there have been few attempts to demonstrate, in an anatomically-correct way, muscle structures and the way in which these change during motion. This chapter proposes a feature-based approach to muscle modeling which attempts to provide models for human musculature based on the real anatomical structures. These models provide a good visual description and form a sound basis for further developments towards medically-accurate simulation of human bodies. Three major problems have been addressed: geometric modeling, deformation and texture. To allow for the wide variety of muscle shapes encountered in the body, the geometric models are based on muscle features identified from radiological data. The results are realistic models with correct anatomical structures, the deformation of these muscle models is fully controlled by, and consistent with, the motion of underlying joint. We suggest a general deformation model that can be adopted for many of our muscle models, but we also model separately the deformation of specific cases for which the general model is not suitable. Interactions between muscles are also taken into account to avoid penetration occurring between adjacent muscles in our model. To provide a suitable visual effect, an algorithm was developed to generate the muscle texture directly on the model surface, rather than by using conventional pattern mapping on to the surface. Some results are presented on the geometric modeling, the deformation and the texture of muscles related to the knee.