Prominence Driven Character Animation

This paper details the development of a fully automated system for character animation implemented in Autodesk Maya. The system uses prioritised speech events to algorithmically generate head, body, arms and leg movements alongside eyeblinks, eyebrow movements and lip-synching. In addition, gaze tracking is also generated automatically relative to the definition of focus objects- contextually important objects in the character\u27s worldview. The plugin uses an animation profile to store the relevant controllers and movements for a specific character, allowing any character to run with the system. Once a profile has been created, an audio file can be loaded and animated with a single button click. The average time to animate is between 2-3 minutes for 1 minute of speech, and the plugin can be used either as a first pass system for high quality work or as part of a batch animation workflow for larger amounts of content as exemplified in television and online dissemination channels

Basic gestures as spatiotemporal reference frames for repetitive dance/music patterns in samba and charleston

THE GOAL OF THE PRESENT STUDY IS TO GAIN BETTER insight into how dancers establish, through dancing, a spatiotemporal reference frame in synchrony with musical cues. With the aim of achieving this, repetitive dance patterns of samba and Charleston were recorded using a three-dimensional motion capture system. Geometric patterns then were extracted from each joint of the dancer's body. The method uses a body-centered reference frame and decomposes the movement into non-orthogonal periodicities that match periods of the musical meter. Musical cues (such as meter and loudness) as well as action-based cues (such as velocity) can be projected onto the patterns, thus providing spatiotemporal reference frames, or 'basic gestures,' for action-perception couplings. Conceptually speaking, the spatiotemporal reference frames control minimum effort points in action-perception couplings. They reside as memory patterns in the mental and/or motor domains, ready to be dynamically transformed in dance movements. The present study raises a number of hypotheses related to spatial cognition that may serve as guiding principles for future dance/music studies

Dynamic motion coupling of body movement for input control

Touchless gestures are used for input when touch is unsuitable or unavailable, such as when interacting with displays that are remote, large, public, or when touch is prohibited for hygienic reasons. Traditionally user input is spatially or semantically mapped to system output, however, in the context of touchless gestures these interaction principles suffer from several disadvantages including memorability, fatigue, and ill-defined mappings. This thesis investigates motion correlation as the third interaction principle for touchless gestures, which maps user input to system output based on spatiotemporal matching of reproducible motion. We demonstrate the versatility of motion correlation by using movement as the primary sensing principle, relaxing the restrictions on how a user provides input. Using TraceMatch, a novel computer vision-based system, we show how users can provide effective input through investigation of input performance with different parts of the body, and how users can switch modes of input spontaneously in realistic application scenarios. Secondly, spontaneous spatial coupling shows how motion correlation can bootstrap spatial input, allowing any body movement, or movement of tangible objects, to be appropriated for ad hoc touchless pointing on a per interaction basis. We operationalise the concept in MatchPoint, and demonstrate the unique capabilities through an exploration of the design space with application examples. Finally, we explore how users synchronise with moving targets in the context of motion correlation, revealing how simple harmonic motion leads to better synchronisation. Using the insights gained we explore the robustness of algorithms used for motion correlation, showing how it is possible to successfully detect a user's intent to interact whilst suppressing accidental activations from common spatial and semantic gestures. Finally, we look across our work to distil guidelines for interface design, and further considerations of how motion correlation can be used, both in general and for touchless gestures

Coupled whole-body rhythmic entrainment between two chimpanzees

Dance is an icon of human expression. Despite astounding diversity around the world’s cultures and dazzling abundance of reminiscent animal systems, the evolution of dance in the human clade remains obscure. Dance requires individuals to interactively synchronize their whole-body tempo to their partner’s, with near-perfect precision. This capacity is motorically-heavy, engaging multiple neural circuitries, but also dependent on an acute socio-emotional bond between partners. Hitherto, these factors helped explain why no dance forms were present amongst nonhuman primates. Critically, evidence for conjoined full-body rhythmic entrainment in great apes that could help reconstruct possible proto-stages of human dance is still lacking. Here, we report an endogenously-effected case of ritualized dance-like behaviour between two captive chimpanzees – synchronized bipedalism. We submitted video recordings to rigorous time-series analysis and circular statistics. We found that individual step tempo was within the genus’ range of “solo” bipedalism. Between-individual analyses, however, revealed that synchronisation between individuals was non-random, predictable, phase concordant, maintained with instantaneous centi-second precision and jointly regulated, with individuals also taking turns as “pace-makers”. No function was apparent besides the behaviour’s putative positive social affiliation. Our analyses show a first case of spontaneous whole-body entrainment between two ape peers, thus providing tentative empirical evidence for phylogenies of human dance. Human proto-dance, we argue, may have been rooted in mechanisms of social cohesion among small groups that might have granted stress-releasing benefits via gait-synchrony and mutual-touch. An external sound/musical beat may have been initially uninvolved. We discuss dance evolution as driven by ecologically-, socially- and/or culturally-imposed “captivity”

Social Timing in Preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (M.Phil)

Social timing plays a concurrent and long-term role in social interactions. Cyclicity (a person's coordination of speech, body movements etc.) and synchrony (the coordination between individuals) are especially important. Synchronous interactions in childhood affect later developments, such as language development and emotion regulation. In ASD, timing and social timing are abnormal, which may adversely affect or even cause impairments. Evidence of interactional synchrony skills in ASD is sparse, therefore I sought to investigate cyclicity and synchrony skills in ASD. Video-recordings of interaction with and without music between children with ASD and a caregiver (N = 14; 2 to 8 years) were analysed using an adaptation of the well-established Monadic Phase coding scheme. Time-series analysis enabled quantification of cyclicity, level of synchrony (coherence) and significant synchrony. Cyclicity was present in most interactions (76-90%). Coherence scores ranged from .08-.39. Synchrony was present in 19% of time-series without and 60% of time-series with music. Music significantly enhanced presence of synchrony (p < .000) and indicated a trend for enhanced cyclicity (p = .058) and coherence (p = .063). No change over time was observed. Therefore, preschoolers with ASD engaged in rhythmic social timing but consistency was low and diminished compared to neurotypical infants. Music enhanced social timing considerably. No change over time was likely due to fluctuations in children's willingness to engage. Findings are limited by the lack of interrater reliability and control group. The aim of the thesis, to contribute to social timing evidence in ASD was achieved. The method successfully quantified social timing parameters, compared data to previous studies and showed that music enhanced social timing performance. Recommendations for further study include replication with a larger group, more time points, and control groups. This method could be applied to other settings to investigate the concurrent effect of music on social timing

Do we dance because we walk? The impact of regular vestibular experience on the early development of beat production and perception

Movement to music is a universal human behaviour (Savage, Brown, Sakai & Currie, 2015). Whilst the strong link between music and movement is clearly bidirectional, the origins are not clear. Studying the emergence of rhythmic skills through infancy provides a window into the perceptual and physical attributes, experience, and contexts necessary, to attain the basics of human musicality. This thesis asks whether the human experience of bipedal locomotion, as a primary source of regular vestibular information, is crucial for sensorimotor synchronisation (SMS), spontaneous motor tempo (SMT), and impacts rhythm perception. The first experiment evidences the emergence of tempo-flexibility when moving to music between 10- and 18-months-of-age. The following study is the first to show that experience of locomotion, including from infant carrying, predicts the temporal matching of infant movement to music. Curious if carrying practices influence the very rhythms that we naturally produce, a large-scale correlational study finds infant SMT is predicted by parent height, but not infant’s own body size, such that infants with taller caregivers show a slower SMT than those with shorter caregivers. We contend that this reflects infant experience of being carried by their caregiver. The fourth experiment confirms that experience of being carried at a novel tempo can alter the rhythms infant spontaneously produce. Finally, we asked how information from being carried during locomotion might be changing rhythm perception; specifically, if infants show greater activation of their sensorimotor system when hearing rhythms that match the tempo at which they were carried. Combined, these studies present a highly original piece of research into the ways in which early experiences of locomotion may impact fundamental musical skill