SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING COMPUTER ANIMATED GRAPHICAL IMAGES OF AN EXTERIOR PATCH SURFACE LAYER OF MATERIAL STRETCHING OVER AN UNDERSTRUCTURE

A process for generating animated graphical images of an exterior patch surface of an exterior layer disposed over an animated underlying structure includes the steps of: generating and arranging a plurality of underlying patches each being in a rest position to form an underlying patch surface representing an underlying structure disposed in a rest position; generating and arranging a plurality of exterior patches to form an exterior patch surface superimposed over the underlying structure in the rest position, each of the exterior patches having an associated array of control points; transforming the control points of the exterior patches into a polygonal mesh of vertex points each being coincident with at least one of the control points; establishing a binding positional relationship between each of the vertex points and an associated closest one of the underlying patches to the vertex point; animating the underlying structure causing a displacement in the position of at least one of the underlying patches relative to the rest positions of the underlying patches, and resulting in a deformed underlying structure; moving at least a portion of the vertex points based on the associated binding positional relationships and displacements in the positions of the associated closest underlying patches; and generating a plurality of reconstructed exterior patches each having an array of control points at least some of which are coincident with relaxed positions of associated ones of the vertex points of the polygonal mesh, the reconstructed exterior patches defining a deformed exterior patch surface superimposed over the deformed underlying structure.