Human Motion and Animation
Human Motion and Animation is a research topic within Control and Systems Engineering. Science Explorer counts 13k research works in it since 1951. 17.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.
This cluster of papers explores various techniques for synthesizing and controlling human-like motion, including character animation, inverse kinematics, interactive control, physics-based animation, and virtual reality applications. It covers topics such as deep learning frameworks for motion synthesis, efficient retrieval of motion capture data, real-time motion retargeting, and the use of AI in virtual environments.
- Motion Synthesis
- Character Animation
- Inverse Kinematics
- Interactive Control
- Physics-based Animation
- Human Motion Data
- Virtual Reality
- Deep Learning
- Motion Capture
- Biped Locomotion
- Research works
- 13k fractional, since 1951
- In the world top 10%
- 2.3k per year above
- Top-10% rate
- 17.3% share of its works in the world top 10%
- Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
- 0% the tick is no change
Which countries lead Human Motion and Animation research?
By volume, China and the United States publish the most (964 and 405 works in 2022–2025).
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 China 964 works
- 2 United States 405 works
- 3 Japan 220 works
- 4 India 170 works
- 5 Indonesia 154 works
- 6 South Korea 125 works
- 7 Germany 106 works
- 8 United Kingdom 105 works
- 9 France 79 works
- 10 Canada 64 works
How concentrated that is
The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.
Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.
Which institutions lead Human Motion and Animation research?
By volume in 2022–2025, Tsinghua University publishes the most Human Motion and Animation research, followed by Zhejiang University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
By volume, 2022–2025
- 1 Tsinghua UniversityChina 28 works
- 2 Zhejiang UniversityChina 23 works
- 3 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 23 works
- 4 Peking UniversityChina 19 works
- 5 Beijing University of Posts and TelecommunicationsChina 17 works
- 6 The University of TokyoJapan 16 works
- 7 Beijing Institute of TechnologyChina 16 works
- 8 Carnegie Mellon UniversityUnited States 15 works
- 9 Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 15 works
- 10 Beihang UniversityChina 15 works
Who are the leading researchers in Human Motion and Animation?
The most-cited researchers publishing on Human Motion and Animation include Jitendra Malik, Ming–Hsuan Yang and Thomas S. Huang.
- 1 Jitendra Malik United States 12k citations
- 2 Ming–Hsuan Yang United States 7.4k citations
- 3 Thomas S. Huang United States 7.4k citations
- 4 Trevor Darrell United States 6.7k citations
- 5 Leonidas Guibas United States 6.3k citations
Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.
Where is Human Motion and Animation research done?
The largest centres of Human Motion and Animation research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), Shanghai (China) and Seoul (South Korea). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Shenzhen.
Largest cities, 2022–2025
Where it is the local speciality
- ShenzhenCN · 50.3 works4.9×
Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Human Motion and Animation than the world average.
Where is the best place to study Human Motion and Animation?
Among universities, judged by research, Carnegie Mellon University, ETH Zurich and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.
One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.
| # | University | Score | Top 10% | Specialisation | Works | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carnegie Mellon UniversityUnited States | 61.0 | 36.2% | 12.7× | 15 | -21.4% |
| 2 | ETH ZurichSwitzerland | 58.6 | 46.9% | 5.7× | 12 | +32.1% |
| 3 | Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHong Kong | 56.3 | 31.3% | 8.8× | 10 | -12.4% |
| 4 | University of Hong KongHong Kong | 55.3 | 36.1% | 5.0× | 13 | +45.9% |
| 5 | Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore | 54.2 | 34.9% | 6.3× | 15 | -43.8% |
| 6 | Tsinghua UniversityChina | 54.1 | 30.5% | 4.8× | 28 | +21.7% |
| 7 | Korea Advanced Institute of Science and TechnologySouth Korea | 46.2 | 12.6% | 9.8× | 14 | +13.7% |
| 8 | National University of SingaporeSingapore | 45.7 | 38.7% | 4.1× | 12 | -51.3% |
| 9 | Peking UniversityChina | 44.6 | 26.7% | 4.0× | 19 | +34.2% |
| 10 | Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina | 44.2 | 22.4% | 3.5× | 22 | +61.5% |
Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.
Is Human Motion and Animation research growing?
Output in 2018–2022 was 0% lower than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025.
The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.
Which topics inside it are moving
Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.