# Human Motion Generation: A Survey

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.10894 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.10894/

## Key facts

- Cited by 96 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 143 of its 223 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 20 Jul 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 143)

- [Learning Transferable Visual Models From Natural Language Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00020/) (2021)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.10752/) (2021)
- [Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.02155/) (2022)
- [Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13456/) (2020)
- [A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.04948/) (2018)
- [PointNet: Deep Learning on Point Sets for 3D Classification and Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.00593/) (2016)
- [Neural Discrete Representation Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.00937/) (2017)
- [Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGAN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04958/) (2019)
- [ScanNet: Richly-annotated 3D Reconstructions of Indoor Scenes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1702.04405/) (2017)
- [DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14988/) (2022)
- [Progressive Growing of GANs for Improved Quality, Stability, and Variation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10196/) (2017)
- [Improved Techniques for Training GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.03498/) (2016)
- [Video Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.03458/) (2022)
- [Variational Inference with Normalizing Flows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.05770/) (2015)
- [Unsupervised Representation Learning with Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.06434/) (2015)
- [Expressive Body Capture: 3D Hands, Face, and Body from a Single Image](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.05866/) (2019)
- [Matterport3D: Learning from RGB-D Data in Indoor Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1709.06158/) (2017)
- [AMASS: Archive of Motion Capture as Surface Shapes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.03278/) (2019)
- [Habitat: A Platform for Embodied AI Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1904.01201/) (2019)
- [Alias-Free Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.12423/) (2021)
- [Null-text Inversion for Editing Real Images using Guided Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.09794/) (2022)
- [Human Motion Diffusion Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14916/) (2022)
- [Realtime Multi-Person 2D Pose Estimation using Part Affinity Fields](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.08050/) (2016)
- [The Replica Dataset: A Digital Replica of Indoor Spaces](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.05797/) (2019)
- [NTU RGB+D: A Large Scale Dataset for 3D Human Activity Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1604.02808/) (2016)
- [VIBE: Video Inference for Human Body Pose and Shape Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.05656/) (2019)
- [T2M-GPT: Generating Human Motion from Textual Descriptions with Discrete Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.06052/) (2023)
- [Executing your Commands via Motion Diffusion in Latent Space](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04048/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 96)

- [Multi-Track Timeline Control for Text-Driven 3D Human Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.08559/) (2024)
- [RingID: Rethinking Tree-Ring Watermarking for Enhanced Multi-Key Identification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.14055/) (2024)
- [Seamless Human Motion Composition with Blended Positional Encodings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.15509/) (2024)
- [Move as You Say, Interact as You Can: Language-guided Human Motion Generation with Scene Affordance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.18036/) (2024)
- [Generating Human Interaction Motions in Scenes with Text Control](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.10685/) (2024)
- [GENMO: A GENeralist Model for Human MOtion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.01425/) (2025)
- [Motion Anything: Any to Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.06955/) (2025)
- [Motion Flow Matching for Human Motion Synthesis and Editing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.08895/) (2023)
- [LaserHuman: Language-guided Scene-aware Human Motion Generation in Free Environment](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.13307/) (2024)
- [Towards Variable and Coordinated Holistic Co-Speech Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.00368/) (2024)
- [in2IN: Leveraging individual Information to Generate Human INteractions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.09988/) (2024)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Human Video Generation: Challenges, Methods, and Insights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.08428/) (2024)
- [A Survey on Human Interaction Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.12763/) (2025)
- [Human Motion Video Generation: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.03883/) (2025)
- [Generative Physical AI in Vision: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.10928/) (2025)
- [Freetalker: Controllable Speech and Text-Driven Gesture Generation Based on Diffusion Models for Enhanced Speaker Naturalness](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.03476/) (2024)
- [A Cross-Dataset Study for Text-based 3D Human Motion Retrieval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.16909/) (2024)
- [Aligning Human Motion Generation with Human Perceptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.02272/) (2024)
- [SAT-HMR: Real-Time Multi-Person 3D Mesh Estimation via Scale-Adaptive Tokens](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.19824/) (2024)
- [BioPose: Biomechanically-accurate 3D Pose Estimation from Monocular Videos](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.07800/) (2025)
- [SoPo: Text-to-Motion Generation Using Semi-Online Preference Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.05095/) (2024)
- [A Survey on 3D Human Avatar Modeling -- From Reconstruction to Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.04253/) (2024)
- [MixerMDM: Learnable Composition of Human Motion Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.01019/) (2025)
- [MOSPA: Human Motion Generation Driven by Spatial Audio](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.11949/) (2025)
- [LPM 1.0: Video-based Character Performance Model](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.07823/) (2026)
- [Local Action-Guided Motion Diffusion Model for Text-to-Motion Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.10528/) (2024)
- [MotionRL: Align Text-to-Motion Generation to Human Preferences with Multi-Reward Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.06513/) (2024)
- [HOI-Dyn: Learning Interaction Dynamics for Human-Object Motion Diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.01737/) (2025)
- [FrankenMotion: Part-level Human Motion Generation and Composition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.10909/) (2026)
- [Social Motion Prediction with Cognitive Hierarchies](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.04726/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Human motion generation aims to generate natural human pose sequences and shows immense potential for real-world applications. Substantial progress has been made recently in motion data collection technologies and generation methods, laying the foundation for increasing interest in human motion generation. Most research within this field focuses on generating human motions based on conditional signals, such as text, audio, and scene contexts. While significant advancements have been made in recent years, the task continues to pose challenges due to the intricate nature of human motion and its implicit relationship with conditional signals. In this survey, we present a comprehensive literature review of human motion generation, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first of its kind in this field. We begin by introducing the background of human motion and generative models, followed by an examination of representative methods for three mainstream sub-tasks: text-conditioned, audio-conditioned, and scene-conditioned human motion generation. Additionally, we provide an overview of common datasets and evaluation metrics. Lastly, we discuss open problems and outline potential future research directions. We hope that this survey could provide the community with a comprehensive glimpse of this rapidly evolving field and inspire novel ideas that address the outstanding challenges.