Hi,

I'm Dr Simon Cooper BSc PhD and monkeyswithspoons.com is my online portfolio and blog.

 

I am a researcher working at the PROTECT Research Center at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK, currently applying computer games technology to improve the security and reliability of Critical Infrastructures.

 

I enjoy making computer games, creating artwork/graphics, websites and audio.

 

...I also think monkeys are cool.

Charisma Project

30th Mar, 2012

The Charisma Project (2010-2011) was a short research project between the LJMU Games Lab (myself and Dr Chris Carter)  and BBC R&D. We created an animation system that would play and edit existing facial animation and audio files using our adapted version of the MPEG-4 FAPs standard. We simplified the animation to use the existing animation file data to map FDP feature points to control a bone rig linked to a 3d head model skin using weight painted areas of effect.

 

Here is a short video of the Charisma Player which shows an animation file being loaded and played, whilst showing the normal and debug views. The debug menu can show wireframe, normals, bone rig, model bounds, fps count and animation stats. This video was quickly recorded directly from the computer monitor using a mobile phone to show to a friend, so if I get some spare time I will eventually upload a direct screen capture with better audio/video quality.

 

3d Buildings

1st Feb, 2012

I recently created another low poly building scene in 3ds Max. It is based on a number of random reference photos of shops and city blocks and loosely resembles the Bradbury Building in L.A.