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Dance and Technology Zone
- http://www.altavista.digital.com/
- http://www.hotbot.com/
- http://filament.illumin.co.uk/umbrella/lifeforms.html
This site, from the Illuminations/ Digital Dance, has some simple layperson description of what Lifeforms 2.0 is capable of.
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Bianca van Dillen's report on Joost Mebius's work with developing movement animations which look like Lifeforms. "His demonstration was interesting then because he developed movement animations in a context with a stage set and props, somethinf LifeForms (LF) was not offering yet. By that occasion he wanted to visit the atelier to see how LF was working. I am still unsure if he knows what LF can do. To my opinion many problems he works on are solved by LF. However the information that shocked me the most was that he was more or less working an a voluntary basis, besides his theaching job, less seriously involved than I thought he would be as an researcher at the TU in Delft".
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Also at Delft is the programmer who was working in the last Cyberstudio to make link between Lifeforms/ Motion Capture (Polhemus system) to animate LifeForms characters in realtime (or using it to automatically notate dancer's movements) at Motek. ACTION -- email Kirk Woolford for his name?
Future Moves People: TU Delft (dr. ir. Hans Furneé, ir. Jan Cees Sabel van Delft Motion Analyses en ir. Hans van Veenendaal) -- I think Jan Cees Sabel is the guy... email Kirk.
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The Electric Body Project is a software tool for creating choreography using gestural sampling and body mapping techniques. Movement is sampled using Ascension Technologies Flock of Birds, a six degree of freedom motion capture system. The Electric Body Project is a standalone software package running on the SGI platform designed to work as a plugin with LifeForms choreographic software. It offers output of file format compatibility creating movement for choreography and animation. What was previously accessible only through synthesized movement phrases in Life Forms, can now be accessed and explored with real-time sampled movement phrases input directly from a participant "dancing" within the system.
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The CAVE User's Guide (1994) -- The CAVE was developed at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, Univ. of Illinois Chicago. "The CAVE (CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment) is a projection-based VR system that surrounds the viewer with 4 screens. The screens are arranged in a cube made up of three rear-projection screens for walls and a down-projection screen for the floor; that is, a projector overhead points to a mirror, which reflects the images onto the floor. A viewer wears stereo shutter glasses and a six-degrees of freedom head-tracking device. As the viewer moves inside the CAVE, the correct perspective and stereo projections are calculated for each wall. A second sensor and buttons in a wand held by the viewer provide interaction with the virtual environment."
- ACTION: VR -- think about contact Judith Wessel; Mark Coniglio has offered assistance; Jason Marchant; Thecla Schiphorst; Barriedale Operahouse (ChoreoGraph).
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There is a CAVE in Amsterdam... at SARA
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Help at Media Lab from Robbie, Aadjan (van der Helm) Aadjan email, Rene and Arno (3-d animators: Isabelle Jenniches).
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Investigate These Links:
Christian Griesbeck projects like 'limelight' http://www.rz.uni-frankfurt.de/~griesbec/LIMEE.HTML
"The project Limelight, named as a reminiscence to the film of Charles Chaplin, is a modular program which integrates all components, who are necessary for a professional computer aided choreographing. The work in Limelight is project-oriented. In the project-window you collect all media belonging to the choreography. The media ranges from the storyboard, music (as sample and as notation), video, pictures to animation control data and dance-notation. Some media will be imported other media will be entered here or generated. The media could be synchronised via a common timecode. An important instrument is Labanotation from which a computer animation will be generated. As host-program of LabanPad (a program for interactive labanotation input -- using Apple Newton Palmtop) the notation can be imported or newly entered in Limelight. In opposition to the small display of the Apple Newton computer you could work stationary in a large format. Labanotation is also the basis of a future expert system for choreography."
David Rodger's site: http://farben.latrobe.edu.au/motion/dance.html
Jack: http://www.transom.com/
Transom Technologies, Inc. is the world’s leading provider of human modeling and simulation software. Over
100 industrial, government and academic organizations throughout the world use the company’s digital human technology to improve product designs, refine manual workplace procedures, and create compelling simulations.
Flavia Sparacino at MIT Media Lab: http://www-white.media.mit.edu/~flavia/
Roma Agrawal: http://www.arch.buffalo.edu/~agrawal/tech.html and http://www.arch.buffalo.edu/~agrawal/index.html
Tina Laporta: http://www.users.interport.net/~laporta and http://wintermute.aec.at/traces
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ACTION: install POSER (bring in cdrom)
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On Lifeforms Product Page: ElectricImage BioVision Plugin "Interested in using ElectricImage with motion capture data? Purchase the ElectricImage BioVision plugin and interface seemlessly with Life Forms. Create animations or edit your data right in Life Forms and export out to ElectricImage to finish your animation!" --
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Web Developer.com® Guide to 3D Avatars
Sue Ki Wilcox -- This book offers a unique perspective on avatars- inside guides to lead people through complex virtual worlds-combining a how-to approach with real-world business concerns. CD-ROM contains demo software and models for avatars. A companion Web site will also be updated in conjunction with inquiry.com. Table of Contents Catching the Wave. Working with 3DGraphics. USING AVATAR CONSTRUCTION SETS. AvatarMaker: Sven Technologies. Avatar Assembler from Cosmo Software. Poser from MetaCreations. 3D Assistant from 3D Planet. VRML Avatars. Oz: "Who Would You Like to be Today?" Le Dieuxieme Monde: Second World. Figure Sculptor by Attic Graphics. OnLive! The Audio Pioneers. WORKING WITH PRE-BUILT BODIES. Ergonomic Avatars and Virtual Humans. Ready to Wear: 3D Clip Art Avatars. PROFESSIONALS POLISH. Skimming the Surface with Voxels: Animatek. 3D Scanning for a Perfect Avatar. Cybermasks. GIVING THE BREATH OF LIFE. LifeForms: Bringing Avatars to Life. Keeping Things Moving: Behavioral Animation Versus Motion Capture. Beyond Snowcrash: The Future of Avatars.
"Avatars are the 3-D representatives of people that inhabit virtual worlds. They serve as our mediums to interact with 3-D worlds for activities such as playing interactive games or walking through an architectural model of a home. And just like people, the potential variations are infinite, from how they look and move to what they see and think. This is a complete guide to understanding, creating. and using avatars in virtual worlds."
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Digital Image Design Incorporated -- interesting input devices such as Monkey 2 a hands-on desktop input device for keyframing and performance capture. Engineered to provide exceptional freedom in designing motion, Monkey 2 can be manipulated any way you want. Twist him. Bend him. Pose him as you see fit. Your on-screen 3D character follows.
It is possible to organise a demonstration when in NYC? Works with the following software:
- Microsoft: SoftImage 3D
- Alias|Wavefront:PowerAnimator
- Alias|Wavefront: Kinemation
- Kinetix: 3DStudio Max
- Nichimen Graphics: N-World
- Transom Technologies Inc: JACK
- NewTek: Lightwave3D
Some basic concepts/ keywords:
1)
Keyframing -- Traditional animation proceeds with the head animator sketching "key frames" and having others create all of the frames in between them. The Monkey 2 allows easy creation of key frames for 3D animators, using forward kinematics for complete control of all joints. The Monkey 2 is used in this way in creating animation for entertainment and games.
2)
Real-time performance capture -- Some animators prefer to let puppeteers manipulate the armature in real time in order to get puppet-like motion into their scene. Monkey 2 has been carefully designed to allow easy real-time manipulation and a smooth, comfortable feel.
Send them email monkey@didi.com to see what's up... possibility to borrow Monkey?? for cyberstudio ??
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Siggraph Report 1997 on mocapture --> character animation: online forum with many comments
Are classical animation techniques better suited to imparting life to
computer-animated characters than performances captured from an actor or
puppeteer via motion capture or digital input devices? The panel focused on
the application and value of the many forms of motion-capture technology
in CG character animation: full-body motion capture systems, digital and
stop-motion armatures, and other real-time physical input media.
- Organizer Gordon Cameron Softimage, Inc.
- Panelists Andre Bustanoby Digital Domain
- Steph Greenberg Independent Animator
- Olivier Ozoux Softimage, Inc.
- Craig Hayes Tippett Studios
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ACTION: read online forum siggraph 97 and check out games industry
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Jason Marchant comments:
What do you want out of an animation program with regards to dance? Life
Forms is a good choreographic process tool. I haven't seen the
realization of movement made simpler in any other 3D animation tool in
terms of time and cost. Life Forms exports directly to vrml 2.0 and
accepts biovision data. Life Forms runs on multiple platforms like my PB
520.
Lar Lubovich's approach does make sense. I find working with multiple
figures in Life Forms is relatively easy and a great way to visualize
complex movement patterns in space to different rhythms.
If your intersted in incorporating dance in virtual 3D environments you
might want to check out the Biovision group. I believe they are set up in
California possibly the City of Angels but it could be San Francisco.
When I plugged in some of the mocap examples into Life Forms it was as
real as animated movement could look. As good as the 3DStudioMax
dancing baby demo. In mocap every frame is a key frame but it is
interesting to try and combine some keyframe animation with mocap and see
how the data can be manipulated.
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Here is a link to a press release from June 97 which seems strongly to indicate integration with lifeforms/ mocap/ studio max, etc. http://www.electricimg.com/textonly/PressRelease/lifeformsT.html
Thacker, Eugene. .../visible_human.html/digital anatomy and the hyper-texted body. Published online in CTHEORY-THEORY, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE-VOL 21, NO 1-2, Article 60, 98/06/02, Editors: Arthur and Marilouise Kroker.
The NPAC Visible Human Viewer http://www.npac.syr.edu/projects/vishuman/VisibleHuman.html. There are three types of image slices -- Axial, Sagittal, and Coronal. Small (preview) images for each of these viewpoints are displayed in the main panel of the viewer. Moving one of the cutting lines will create a new slice through the Visible Human. You can then select 'load' to pop up and then possibly print/ download the selected 'slice'. (had to use Internet Explorer - crashed Netscape]
The Biometric Digest - a monthly publication presenting an executive news digest on biometrics, identification, security, fraud, finger imaging, voice recognition, retinal scanning and other means of positive identification.
Floating Point Unit (Body without Organs piece is named Thacker's article -- relationship with Artaud] -- another Thacker thing, an Artaud quote apparently "make human anatomy dance at last".
One topic for further consideration is the linking of ‘traditional’ dance notation systems into this ‘new’ software: i.e. Labanotation/ Benesh -- in realtime?
Digital Choreographic Software for Dance Makers: At present, the only viable software 'tool' for choreographers is Lifeforms (some would say Poser). This project proposes to research the possibility for a 'new' software tool for choreographers. This research takes into account that the digital space is an 'alternative' space for dancemaking and therefore the project immediately is concerned with issues of aesthetics/ architectures, etc. The project sees itself as creating a framework within which to support but also question/ challenge current dancemaking assumptions and methodologies.
Procedure -- to investigate:
- 1) input devices such as motion capture
- 2) computer interfaces / other means for working with data once captured
- 3) 3-d modeling/ animation software
- 4) output/ projection devices
At present, this initial pre-research phase of the project is being supported by the V2 -- Media Lab in Rotterdam, NL.