Source:
Hsin Huang, Hsin-Chien Huang, Chun-Feng Liao, Ying-Chun Li, Tzu-Chieh Tsai, Li-jia Teng, Shih Wei Wang. 2015. Future circus: A performer-Guided Mixed-reality Performance Art. In UbiComp/ISWC’15 Adjunct Adjunct Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing and Proceedings of the 2015 ACM International Symposium on Wearable Computers, Pages 551-556, Osaka, Japan — September 07 – 11, 2015
Summary : The article “Future circus: A performer-Guided Mixed-reality Performance Art” introduces a mixed- reality performance art using motion capture and wearable computing. With this technology the performer and the virtual characters are able to interact to each other in real-time. The virtual effects are pre-made animations and can move with the help of other performer who is wearing motion capture devices.
The authors mention that for them is important to show the performer skills and not only what his/hers “clone” is doing. In other words to have them both (performer and animation) be part of the show. The topic of this performance is also important to mention. It is about a special circus. It is special because the story takes place in a world where the animals are extinct and the “animals” shown there are made of animal’s remains. Their souls are trapped in the body of a human being. Thank him the remains can still move, he controls them. But the circus master has the human locked in a cage. Then a little girl finds out what is going on and she helps the animal souls to heal trough dancing and at the end they go in peace to heaven. The performance is very interesting because touches topics like, animal abuse, environment, etc.
Visuals are very important in this performance, they use colors to enhance the feelings of the audience. All the performers wear motion sensors (live performers AND the performer hiding in the backstage), that means all of them have an influence in the animation. All the motion data are transmitted in real-time. For example, when the performer spins, the light in the animation get brighter.
The technology behind is called WISE-Platform. And is a low cost technology with incredible results, however fitting the performers to animal animations still not satisfactory. The exciting part of this technology is that the animation is not only able to mirrors the performer but also to react and interact with the other performers.
Relevance for our project: This article is relevant to our project because it give us the option to experiment (if possible) with the WISE-Platform and if it is really low cost as the article says we can be able to make something amazing. Also the fact that they have such a nice story behind motivates me more to find a serious topic to work on and make people conscious about some important think that is happening in the world.
