Megan Simulator (XKCD)

Stick-figure model

This is a simple/fun stick-figure model of Megan (XKCD character).

A user-friendly GUI allows users to generate model movements, visualize the results in real-time, as well as create snapshots and videos. A variety of predefined (and somewhat silly) environments will have Megan dancing, jumping, painting, skating, and more (see accompanying video for an example).

Model highligts:
Pose can be controlled using PCA-based "natural" pose/articulatory dimensions
Model includes automatically-maintained state parameters and dynamic physics-based rules
Simple physics-based rules allow walking/jumping: while on the floor changes in pose will make Megan pivot over her standing foot -or other extremity- with perfect equilibrium; inertia/gravity modeling allows jumps, hair movement, wind effects, etc.

GUI highlights:
Define random trajectories in pose space and load/save trajectories from a mat file
Change movement speed/extent or manually browse through the pose trajectories at the desired pace
Choose among 5 pre-defined environments (none / little planet / pool skating / painting / wave riding) with more to come.
Fine-tune physics rules and environment look with a great variety of user-definable settings
Create snapshots or videos of your results

Visit this Trendy plot (http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/trendy/plots/1547) for a one-painting-a-day display of Megan's artwork
Stay tuned for Cody challenges associated with this model, and have fun!