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Images from SentientSpace1.0 a stereoscopic live mocap performance at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia 2004. See images and video from the performance by clicking here!

Ruth Gibson and HellenSky at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia 2004

Motion Capture was rarely used by artists for extending the borders of dancemaking partly because the costs for the necessary experimentation were prohibitive. However, in the last few years, we see more dance/performance and digital artists working together on a regular basis and in different countries with these technologies. ( eg Susan Kozel and Kirk Woolford, Sally Jane Norman, Richard Lord and Christian Hogue, Paul Kaiser and Merce Cunningham/Bill T. Jones, Bruno Martelli and Ruth Gibson, Yvonne Fontijn and Karin Post, etc). They represent what might be considered an evolved “critical mass” of work wherein this technology has reached a key moment of integration into dance and movement arts field.
- Scott deLahunta Dialogues on Motion Capture 1999 IDAT

Extract from Article in Juice Magazine....

Dance and New Technology
Many of you have expressed an interest in working with new technologies such as the Motion Capture equipment at essexdance. For most of you, this is unchartered territory. Through interviews with several leading dance artists in the field, this article looks into what is involved in this kind of work, and gives you ideas of how to pursue your interest.

What is Motion Capture and what can it do?
In the past, Motion Capture was a program used mainly on film sets, to animate characters such as Gollum in 'The Lord of the Rings'. However, over the years there has been an increasing interest in using the equipment to create live and web-based art, in particular dance. One of the most exciting developments in the field was essexdance's successful bid to the Arts Council of England to purchase its own Motion Capture rig. This has been complemented by extensive support for artists, through an associate artist scheme and other training opportunities.

Motion Capture consists of a rig (a 3.25x4x4m cast aluminium frame embedded with 540 sensors and electronics) and a 'capture suit'. The capture suit has thirty sensors, attached to those key parts of the body that the artist wishes to capture moving (usually the joints). The frame can then pick up all the movements made by those sensors, and relay them back to the computer. What happens from there is up to the individual artist.The information is presented as a 'skeleton' model of the movement which can be viewed from any angle, and the artist can then create various 'skins' with which to clothe this basic figure. It is worth noting that this is the most time-consuming part of the process: on estimate about 10% of the time is spent working with the rig and 90% working with the data on the computer.

Hypervision at essexdance

igloo
Ruth Gibson and Bruno Martelli have been collaborating since 1995, drawing on Ruth's background in dance and Bruno's technological expertise. Ruth is now an associate artist at essexdance. They are experts in their field, but warn potential dance technology artists that it can be a difficult journey. The first thing that anyone with experience in new technology will tell you is that it is an extremely costly and time consuming business. Although Ruth and Bruno have been collaborating for eight years now, and have been lucky enough to work with the most professional resources, they have not yet created a product (video, cd) from their work with this equipment. For some, warns Ruth, working in this detailed way can feel restrictive and dry. On the technical side, it also involves a very steep learning curve, even for those with some experience.

On a more positive note, the challenges are a part of what makes it exciting, and they do not come without rewards. For Ruth, the idea of taking away all the physical aspects of dance and looking at pure movement, looking at how uniquely we each move, is really exciting. She has even found that people in other parts of the world have recognised her through seeing her movement in Motion Capture work. If all this seems a little daunting, Ruth and Bruno point out that there are ways to make this kind of work without using the most expensive technology. For example, you can make a video of a dancer, and then use less expensive software to animate over your film, or you can project animation onto a dancer and then film the result.

Rajni Shah Editor, Juice magazine Artist Development
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© Juice Magazine 2003

dotdotdot

The physical and the virtual meet most agreeably in dotdotdot - Joining the dots by Steve Boxer

A landscape from beyond the edges of the browser window that gives glimpses of unseen places. dotdotdot is constructed using several different motion capture systems and improvised performances creating abstract digital portraits. These animated avatars move and react to players inputs within an online virtual environment. The brainchild of Igloo - aka Bruno Martelli and Ruth Gibson - dotdotdot physically resides on two laptops hooked up to plasma screens.

dotdotdot’s accessibility belies its underlying complexity. At its heart is movement data, motion-captured from six dancers. Launch the program - having chosen one of six dancing forms - and you are presented with a dancing figure with which you can interact. Visually, the figures come in a variety of forms: from collections of dots which mirror the raw motion-capture data, via a figure that looks like it was constructed from pipecleaners to a figure constructed from typography. Instantly, you grasp the possibilities offered by motion-capture.

Each dancing figure can be rotated and repositioned using the mouse (they all respond to mouse input in subtly different ways), panned and zoomed in and out. Extra visual effects can be applied to many of them, such as the addition of trails. The overall effect is fascinating and certainly leads to musings about the body and technology: however inorganic the figures look, they move in a human manner. The ability to rotate can create interesting visual effects - it is possible, with some of the dancing figures, to create the illusion that you are looking up at them from underneath the dancefloor, for example.
Gibson’s choreography for the motion-captured dancers took in several styles of dance, including contact improvisation: Gibson explains that one dancer wore sensors while their contact improve partner did not - creating the effect of an invisible presence.

Martelli, meanwhile explains the complexity of the installation: five software packages were used to get from mocap data to end-product - namely Hypervision, Filmbox, Maya, Director and Shockwave. Martelli is working to put dotdotdot on the web - he says that thanks to Shockwave’s advanced compression, even a five-minute looping dance sequence equates to a 600Kb download.

Reprinted with kind permission of Steve Boxer

dotdotdot is a Future Physical Commission produced by igloo
supported by the Arts Council Dance Department with assistance from essexdance

© Steve Boxer 2003

CREATION MAGAZINE INTERVIEW - ACTING UP

August 2000

The Holy Grail of Motion Capture is to produce lifelike CG characters. But as Ruth Gibson, an experienced mocap performer, explains, it’s often the mistakes that create the best animation.
Over the last two years I have been working with digital textiles designer Jane Harris. We have been capturing data at Oxford Metrics using the Vicon System. We have found that improvising with the optical system gained better results rather than predetermined phrases. This year we had the opportunity to test the fantastic upgraded Vicon8 which now has real-time capabilities.
As a professional choreographer and dancer I have been frustrated by the soulless representation of physical movement in the digital realm. Whilst striving for the grace,articulation and individualism of the physical form, I have been disappointed by both the clunky representations and the slick simulations which seem to be prevalent in feature films and video games.

How many times in the trade press have we read that we ‘no longer have to tolerate unrealistic movement?’ as Mark Cale from System 3 puts it: ‘It’s how objects and people react in the real world and it should be the Holy Grail of all developers to try and simulate that realism.’
CG characters walk badly. Which is not suprising as one of the hardest things to do as a performer is to simply walk naturally. I have always been a fan of Pixar’s animations, as the toys,insects and even humans in these movies somehow gain license to be stylised as the story encourages room for the imagination.

In real life, for an arm to swing outwards there is always a slight move inwards to propel the arm out, just as it is necessary to bend before a jump. In Gladiator and Titanic, the background people seem locked in a void, isolated in a vacuum of nowhere, where gravity and subtlety are missed and mechanical motion exists. I am unimpressed by both the walking, ambling and background characters in these two films as there seems to be no anticipation of actions. We have no idea where the movement intention is, where a character is going or where they have come from.
George Lucas mentions how bad the camerawork in the pod race from Star Wars Episode One makes for spontaneity and authenticity. I believe the same is true with accidents in collecting mocap data. More often than not, the virtuoso or accurate looks bland and wooden compared to the glitches and accidents which allow more scope for suspension of disbelief.

My passion for motion capture may stem from my past as a National Youth Fencer, wired up for a match. Motion capture is an unexplored art form. It is incredible identifying someone from merely a series of dots on screen no embellishing graphics - just pure, stripped down motion. At the same time, it is great wearing the Mocap suit and being lifted in the air by someone unsuited and viewing the data: The absurdity of seeing a head sensor that falls off or becomes loose; the beauty of the stray sensors starting to orbit the body. To push the boudaries of mocap development we need to look at content and what we are trying to communicate.

My obsession with motion capture has recently been re-ignited as we now have real-time capabilities with both the magnetic and optical systems. The door has opened for more live applications. We need to follow the extensions of puppeteering and develop broader movement interfaces. The beginnings have started and games are off the screen and into live situations but thre is so much more to done. Time in the kit is essential to both developer and artist if VR and live applications are to prosper.

© Creation Magazine 2000

Independent - My Technology 15 January 2001


A creator of fantasy fabrics that move with the times - Jane Harris:

‘For my final PhD project, I worked with Ruth Gibson, a trained dancer. She had the optical sensors on the main joints of her body - her wrists,elbows,and shoulders - and there were no wires, unlike with magnetic-based motion capture, so she moved however she wished. The data gets processed immediately, which means I can see easily what movement works well.

The motion capture is sophisticated enough to capture Ruth’s dancing style, and it was a very deliberate choice to use a trained dancer. If I had used motion capture of someone walking, for instance, the emphasis would’ve been on the walking rather than the movement of the fabric. Ruth was recognised by someone who saw the installation”

Pixel Raiders website

© Independent Newspaper 2001