Simulating and Evaluating the Local Behavior of Small Pedestrian Groups

Recent advancements in local methods have significantly improved the collision avoidance behavior of virtual characters. However, existing methods fail to take into account that in real life pedestrians tend to walk in small groups, consisting mainly of pairs or triples of individuals. We present a novel approach to simulate the walking behavior of such small groups. Our model describes how group members interact with each other, with other groups and individuals. We highlight the potential of our method through a wide range of test-case scenarios. We evaluate the results from our simulations using a number of quantitative quality metrics, and also provide visual and numerical comparisons with video footages of real crowds.

1 Introduction

Virtual worlds are ubiquitous in video games, training applications and animation films. Such worlds, to become more lively and appealing, are populated by a large number of characters. Typically, these characters should be able to navigate through the virtual environment in a human-like manner, avoiding collisions with other characters and the static part of the environment. As a result, a realistic and physically correct simulation of virtual humans has become a necessity for interactive worlds and games.