Investigating facial animation production through artistic inquiry

Studies into dynamic facial expressions tend to make use of experimental methods based on objectively manipulated stimuli. New techniques for displaying increasingly realistic facial movement and methods of measuring observer responses are typical of computer animation and psychology facial expression research. However, few projects focus on the artistic nature of performance production. Instead, most concentrate on the naturalistic appearance of posed or acted expressions. In this paper, the authors discuss a method for exploring the creative process of emotional facial expression animation, and ask whether anything can be learned about authentic dynamic expressions through artistic inquiry

A critical assessment of the animator's artistic ownership over motion captured performances

The intention of this research report is to critically assess, as well as theoretically expand upon, the increasingly contentious area regarding character performance in computer generated (CG) animation for feature films that utilize motion capture technology. This paper specifically aims to investigate whether or not the use of motion capture in live-action visual effects, in the pursuit of creating CG characters that are as realistic as possible, has eroded the artistic autonomy of character animators and their artistic ownership of the performances of these characters. Through the analysis and comparison of pertinent case studies, it should become apparent that this perception is not absolute, and is largely dependent on the kinds of characters intended to be portrayed and the kind of film that they are to be portrayed in. It will be shown that motion capture can be a very effective collaborative tool not only in the relationship between directors and actors, but also between animators and actors under the creative supervision of directors

Generative comics: a character evolution approach for creating fictional comics

Comics can be a suitable form of representation for generative narrative. This paper provides an argument for this based on an analysis of properties of the comics medium, and describes a tool for character design and comic strip creation that applies interactive evolution methods to characters in a virtual environment. The system is used to interactively create artificial characters with extreme personality traits inspired by well-known comics characters

Choreographic and Somatic Approaches for the Development of Expressive Robotic Systems

As robotic systems are moved out of factory work cells into human-facing environments questions of choreography become central to their design, placement, and application. With a human viewer or counterpart present, a system will automatically be interpreted within context, style of movement, and form factor by human beings as animate elements of their environment. The interpretation by this human counterpart is critical to the success of the system's integration: knobs on the system need to make sense to a human counterpart; an artificial agent should have a way of notifying a human counterpart of a change in system state, possibly through motion profiles; and the motion of a human counterpart may have important contextual clues for task completion. Thus, professional choreographers, dance practitioners, and movement analysts are critical to research in robotics. They have design methods for movement that align with human audience perception, can identify simplified features of movement for human-robot interaction goals, and have detailed knowledge of the capacity of human movement. This article provides approaches employed by one research lab, specific impacts on technical and artistic projects within, and principles that may guide future such work. The background section reports on choreography, somatic perspectives, improvisation, the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System, and robotics. From this context methods including embodied exercises, writing prompts, and community building activities have been developed to facilitate interdisciplinary research. The results of this work is presented as an overview of a smattering of projects in areas like high-level motion planning, software development for rapid prototyping of movement, artistic output, and user studies that help understand how people interpret movement. Finally, guiding principles for other groups to adopt are posited.Comment: Under review at MDPI Arts Special Issue "The Machine as Artist (for the 21st Century)" http://www.mdpi.com/journal/arts/special_issues/Machine_Artis

Videopelit ja pukutaide - analogisten pukusuunnittelumetodien digitalisointi

This thesis explores ways of integrating a costume professional to the character art team in the game industry. The research suggests, that integrating costume knowledge into the character design pipeline increases the storytelling value of the characters and provides tools for the narrative. The exploration of integrating a costume professional into game character creation as a process is still rare and little information of costume in games and experiences in transferring an analogue character building skillset into a digital one can be found, therefore this research was generated to provide knowledge on the subject. The research's main emphasis is on immersion-driven AAA-games that employ 3D-graphics and human characters and are either photorealistic or represent stylized realism. Technology for depicting reality is advancing and digital industries have become aware of the extensive skills required to depict increasingly realistic worlds. Also, tools for character art are beginning to lean on actual costume construction: the pattern based cloth simulation software entitled Marvelous Designer has become the industry standard for character clothing. The material of this thesis is based on the author's experience as an intern and Costume Artist at the game company Remedy Entertainment and on data collection in the form of participant observation, conversational interviews, archival searches and assorted documents as an internal employee of the company. Therefore, an ethnographical research that applies to qualitative, descriptive, nonmathematical and naturalistic research methods is utilized in this thesis. The result of this research is a costume production pipeline for integrating a costume professional into the game character design process. It is formed by comparing costuming processes of game and film industries to explore the similarities and differences in methods to analyze the most effective combination of these two. The final pipeline introduces the costume professional’s position during the different stages of the character design process. Furthermore, the thesis categorizes aspects essential for a costume designer to internalize in order to become a functional part of the Character Art team and the skills and knowledge required to support the character design in a production. This research identifies the need for costume knowledge in realistic AAA-games. When employing a costume professional into a game production, this thesis offers tools and vocabulary for collaboration. Costume designers are Character Artists, but with different tools and skill set and costume design can be seen as a live form of character art.Tämä opinnäytetyö käsittelee pukusuunnittelua peliteollisuudessa ja pukusuunnittelijan tarvetta hahmosuunnitteluprosessissa. Tutkimuksen materiaali perustuu kirjoittajan omaan kokemukseen harjoittelijana ja pukusuunnittelijana (Costume Artist) Remedy Entertainment -peliyhtiön hahmosuunnittelutiimissä. Työ esittelee eri peliyhtiöiden hahmotiimien käyttämiä pukusuunnittelumetodeja ja arvioi, miten pukusuunnittelun tiedostaminen erillisenä osana hahmosuunnitteluprosessia ja puvun kerronnallisten elementtien tunnistaminen ja hyödyntäminen tukee uskottavan pelihahmon luomista realistisissa peleissä. Tutkimuksen lähtökohtana on ajatus, että pukusuunnittelun integroiminen hahmosuunnitteluprosessiin syventää hahmoa ja kuluttajan pelikokemusta ja näin ollen nostaa pelin arvoa tuotteena. Tutkimuksen tuloksena syntyi uusi pukusuunnittelun tuotantolinja (Costume production pipeline) peliteollisuuden käyttöön. Se esittelee pukusuunnittelijan asemoitumisen pelituotannon hahmosuunnitteluprosessiin. Teknologinen kehitys mahdollistaa yhä realistisempien digitaalisten todellisuuksien luomisen, jonka seurauksena peliteollisuus työllistää enenevässä määrin myös perinteisten alojen erityisosaajia, kuten arkkitehtejä sekä elokuva-alan valosuunnittelijoita. Myös digitaalisen hahmonluonnin työvälineet nojaavat jo tosielämän vaatetuotantoon: vaatesimulaatio-ohjelma Marvelous Designer perustuu vaatteiden kaavoihin ja on laajalti käytössä pelihahmojen suunnittelussa. Pelit, joita tutkimus tarkastelee, ovat AAA-pelejä, jotka hyödyntävät 3D-grafiikkaa ja ihmishahmoja ja jotka ovat joko photorealistisia tai edustavat tyyliteltyä realismia. Tutkimuksen materiaali on koostettu keskustelullisista, strukturoimattomista haastatteluista, kirjoittajan työpäiväkirjasta, yhtiön edellisten pelien arkistomateriaaleista, sekä yhtiön sisäisistä ohjeistuksista. Tutkimus esittelee keinoja, joilla fyysisen ihmisvartalon kanssa työskentelemään kouluttautunut pukusuunnittelija voi integroitua digitaaliseen hahmonluontiprosessiin ja osoittaa, että pukusuunnittelijat ovat analogisilla metodeilla työskenteleviä hahmosuunnittelijoita. Hahmosuunnittelun etu suhteessa esitystaiteen pukusuunnitteluun on vapaus näyttelijän fyysisen ruumiin sekä fysiikan lakien tuottamista rajoitteista. Vaatesuunnittelu keskittyy vaatteeseen ja pukusuunnittelu fyysisen ihmisruumiin ja vaatteen synnyttämään kombinaatioon ja interaktioon, mutta hahmosuunnittelu tarjoaa pukusuunnittelullisesti rajoittamattoman vapauden hahmotulkintaan

What do Collaborations with the Arts Have to Say About Human-Robot Interaction?

This is a collection of papers presented at the workshop What Do Collaborations with the Arts Have to Say About HRI , held at the 2010 Human-Robot Interaction Conference, in Osaka, Japan

Dynamic Cloth for the Digital Character

Cloth simulation tends to have a lingering reputation for being notoriously complex and therefore casually avoided. Very few artists are enthusiastic about a cloth simulator\u27s primary use, and perhaps even fewer would consider cloth simulation for anything other than clothing. This thesis presents typical practices of cloth simulation based on the artistic perspective of a Cloth Technical Director (TD) who worked on the animated feature film and applied case study, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009). Through proof of concept using a generic character, simple props, and commercial software, key techniques are demonstrated to replicate the workflow of clothing the digital character as performed by artists at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The result is a set of methods aided to un-complicate the workflow of clothing the digital character