Sketching-out virtual humans: From 2d storyboarding to immediate 3d character animation

Virtual beings are playing a remarkable role in today’s public entertainment, while ordinary users are still treated as audiences due to the lack of appropriate expertise, equipment, and computer skills. In this paper, we present a fast and intuitive storyboarding interface, which enables users to sketch-out 3D virtual humans, 2D/3D animations, and character intercommunication. We devised an intuitive “stick figurefleshing-outskin mapping” graphical animation pipeline, which realises the whole process of key framing, 3D pose reconstruction, virtual human modelling, motion path/timing control, and the final animation synthesis by almost pure 2D sketching. A “creative model-based method” is developed, which emulates a human perception process, to generate the 3D human bodies of variational sizes, shapes, and fat distributions. Meanwhile, our current system also supports the sketch-based crowd animation and the storyboarding of the 3D multiple character intercommunication. This system has been formally tested by various users on Tablet PC. After minimal training, even a beginner can create vivid virtual humans and animate them within minutes

Between Sense and Sensibility: Declarative narrativisation of mental models as a basis and benchmark for visuo-spatial cognition and computation focussed collaborative cognitive systems

What lies between `\emph{sensing}' and `\emph{sensibility}'? In other words, what kind of cognitive processes mediate sensing capability, and the formation of sensible impressions ---e.g., abstractions, analogies, hypotheses and theory formation, beliefs and their revision, argument formation--- in domain-specific problem solving, or in regular activities of everyday living, working and simply going around in the environment? How can knowledge and reasoning about such capabilities, as exhibited by humans in particular problem contexts, be used as a model and benchmark for the development of collaborative cognitive (interaction) systems concerned with human assistance, assurance, and empowerment? We pose these questions in the context of a range of assistive technologies concerned with \emph{visuo-spatial perception and cognition} tasks encompassing aspects such as commonsense, creativity, and the application of specialist domain knowledge and problem-solving thought processes. Assistive technologies being considered include: (a) human activity interpretation; (b) high-level cognitive rovotics; (c) people-centred creative design in domains such as architecture & digital media creation, and (d) qualitative analyses geographic information systems. Computational narratives not only provide a rich cognitive basis, but they also serve as a benchmark of functional performance in our development of computational cognitive assistance systems. We posit that computational narrativisation pertaining to space, actions, and change provides a useful model of \emph{visual} and \emph{spatio-temporal thinking} within a wide-range of problem-solving tasks and application areas where collaborative cognitive systems could serve an assistive and empowering function.Comment: 5 pages, research statement summarising recent publication

Brands and movie making: using storyboards to develop spatial design students' understanding of narrative

Spatial designers use sketch perspectives as a design development tool because they can offer a powerful means of representing physical form on a flat surface. However, whilst perspectives can depict the appearance of a building, they do not describe it as a narrative sequence of events and experiences. Storyboards can do this because they enable a scheme to be investigated and represented in a multi-sensory and dynamic way, but students can find them difficult to use effectively. The University of Bedfordshire's innovative 'Brands and Movie-Making' project addresses this by requiring its spatial design undergraduates to make experimental movies, providing a powerful vehicle for the development of storyboard-drawing skills and a firm base for the discipline-specific work-to-come. But its effectiveness is limited because the students appear reluctant to draw by hand, and this will be investigated further

Film as database: a visual analysis of 2001: A Space Odyssey

This paper reports on research that explores new possibilities for experiencing film as a digital database. The way we access, interact with and experience film is changed with new digital tools and initial visual experiments towards the design of a graphical user interface respond to this change. The film 2001:A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick is the focus for the research. It is essentially a visual film with an expanded context of critical writing and archived material. Two visual outcomes that map the use of red within scenes of the film will be demonstrated in order to critique and review the film in its new context

Playful and creative ICT pedagogical framing : A nursery school case study

This article reports on the findings of a one-year qualitative study in which a nursery school used information and communication technology (ICT) and a digital media consultant as a catalyst for cultural change leading to teachers’ improved pedagogical framing and children’s enhanced learning dispositions. The pedagogic framing included the children making mini-movies and avatars which were uploaded onto the nursery website. It is argued that such innovative and creative ICT pedagogy was strongly motivational and afforded opportunities for coconstruction and sustained shared thinking (SST) as it engaged with children’s and families’ digital cultural habitus. The research reports on field notes, interviews and observations (n ¼ 15) of child peer interactions and teacher child interactions

Artistic participatory video-making for science engagement

This paper uses theatre to frame reflexive discussions on the use of participatory video making for science engagement. The ‘JuxtaLearn’ research project is presented as a case-study that focuses on performance concepts such as audience, purpose, improvisation or final production as a lens for supporting technology-enabled creative exploration. Three different approaches were taken to creative participatory video making processes: co-creation by learners, as a communication tool for researchers and as a public engagement tool. Differing expectations about the timing and aim of the research process created considerable debate among the research team regarding the control of and purpose of filmmaking. It was not the topic of debate within the film that was deemed controversial, but more who, when and in what ways these debates occurred. Theatrical and HCI concepts of audience, performance ownership, improvisation and storyboarding, boundary object creation, participation and boundary creatures are foci of debate within the project

Sprinting for creative economy growth – a case study of a business planning and rapid prototyping toolkit for the Brazilian creative economy sector

This article reflects on the development of a creative economy training product and toolkit developed by Coventry University with SEBRAE (the Brasilian Micro and Small Business Support Service) and funded by British Council. It was devised following two weeks creative economy scoping visits in autumn 2017 in Brasil. The scoping visits identified the need for a fun and “disruptive” business planning experience leading to rapid prototyping which would allow new creative economy ideas to be brought to market at low development cost – “Sprint”. A one day micro Sprint was tested in four locations in Brazil to excellent feedback in late 2017. The client subsequently requested a three day version of the methodology to invest more time in the cultural change of the creative entrepreneur and the development of an associated toolkit. However, this Sprint has subsequently also been rolled out in a super condensed 3 hour version piloting in 2019 and 2020 in Ukraine through British Council Creative Spark programmes. The toolkit offers skills and techniques to train creative entrepreneurs and their mentors in enabling the growth of the creative economy in their communities. This paper predominantly focuses on the implementation of the client commissioned three day Sprint

A learning design for student-generated digital storytelling

The literature on digital video in education emphasises the use of prefabricated, instructional-style video assets. Learning designs for supporting the use of these expert-generated video products have been developed. However, there has been a paucity of pedagogical frameworks for facilitating specific genres of learner-generated video projects. Informed by two studies, this article describes the development of a learning design for a popular genre: learner-generated digital storytelling. A particular learning design representation is used to present a structured description of an approach to digital storytelling, and issues are raised relating to future iterations of the design. © 2011 Taylor & Francis