filename : Tho14a.pdf entry : article conference : ACM SIGGRAPH 2014, Vancouver, Canada, 10-14 August, 2014 pages : 64:1--64:9 year : 2014 month : August title : Computational Design of Linkage-Based Characters subtitle : author : Thomaszewski, Bernhard and Coros, Stelian and Gauge, Damien and Megaro, Vittorio and Grinspun, Eitan and Gross, Markus booktitle : ACM Trans. Graph. ISSN/ISBN : 0730-0301 editor : publisher : ACM publ.place : New York, NY, USA volume : 33 issue : 4 language : English keywords : animation, fabrication, interactive design, linkage design, mechanical characters abstract : We present a design system for linkage-based characters, combining form and function in an aesthetically-pleasing manner. Linkage-based character design exhibits a mix of discrete and continuous problems, making for a highly unintuitive design space that is difficult to navigate without assistance. Our system significantly simplifies this task by allowing users to interactively browse different topology options, thus guiding the discrete set of choices that need to be made. A subsequent continuous optimization step improves motion quality and, crucially, safeguards against singularities. We demonstrate the flexibility of our method on a diverse set of character designs, and then realize our designs by physically fabricating prototypes.