Physics Based Animation and AI
There have been a couple articles on the topic of physically accurate animation lately. UCLA has some new technology that simulates a body accurately enough to be assumed human -- it's actually a skeleton in the demo. Physically Based Animation is a hot technology now, as it saves much development time for the artists, and looks much better! Recent examples are the hairy fur coates in Monsters Inc, and the waves in 'The Perfect Storm'.
The link with games is obvious, since this reduces the keyframes and scripting (some call that AI) required by a great amount. Smarter control would simplify the process even more still.
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