MEL Scripts群體運動控制程式之開發與研究及相關創作

3D動畫技術在現今的電影已使用的非常頻繁，像是浩大場面需要大量的演員化作軍隊、操控無數的道具物品或各式珍奇異獸奔跑得畫面都會交由電腦動畫去處理，這類場面便作為群體運動的一部份。如今群體運動無法光靠使用粒子特效的單一動向方式讓觀眾滿足，必須對群體物件做出移動方向不同的設定，還要更細膩地變換群體中個別物件的動作。製作群體運動的軟體逐漸成熟且功能資源非常豐富，但相對於價格也是不斷提高，讓許多喜愛製片者在成本問題上，較難以取得軟體應用。為了減輕製作者們的成本負擔，著手研究動畫軟體及程式語言，開發出方便製作群體運用的操作介面。

　　在本研究使用Maya的Mel Scripts做開發，透過指令編譯出群體運動的使用者操作介面。內容是能夠創造出大量的路徑曲線並相互做好碰撞偵測功能，還有障礙線的佈置避免穿透或行走出動畫場景；也可以在場面上隨機座標產生許多目標物件，讓製作人群或軍隊等能夠減少許多調整時間。任由使用者控制群眾的數量，並由指令部署達到更符合作品製作時的效率，最後還有添加預覽影片的功能。

3D animation technology has been used very frequently in the film industry. Crowd motion is like a huge scene that needs a lot of actors to play the army, and it need to control countless prop items or various animals that have to run. These will be handled by computer animation. Nowadays crowd motion cannot use particle special effects to satisfy the audience. These must be set to move in different directions, but also to transform each animation. The software for making crowd motion has gradually matured, but the price is also very expensive. Many people who like to make videos have difficulty obtaining these softwares on the issue of cost. In order to reduce the cost, this research try to investigate animation software and programming languages, and developed an operation interface that facilitates the production of crowd motion.

　　This research uses Maya's Mel Scripts for development, and compiles the crowd motion user interface through commands. The content is able to create a large number of path curves and do collision detection functions with each other, as well as the arrangement of obstacle lines to avoid going out of the scene. It can also duplicate many target objects at random coordinates on the scene, so that the production crowd or army can reduce many adjusting times. This program allows users to control the number of crowds, and deploy by instructions to achieve more efficiency in the production of the works, and finally have the function of previewing videos.