Plausible motion simulation for computer graphics animation

Accuracy is the ubiquitous goal of dynamic simulation, in order to yield the “correct” motion. But for creating animation, what is really of interest is “plausible” motion, which is somewhat different. We discuss what we mean by plausible simulation, how it differs from “accurate” simulation, and why we think it’s a worthwhile area to study. The discussion touches on questions of physically plausible vs. visually plausible motion, plausible simulation in a noisy or textured environment, and probability measures for motion, as well as issues for forward and inverse problems.