Summary

For his Spring 2023 Sabbatical, ACCAD alum Wobbe F. Koning collaborated with members of the ACCAD community to create an interactive Virtual Reality (VR) experience on the theme of enticing and luring, attention grabbing, and having to give something up when we give in to the attraction.

Motion Capture was used to create the movements that grab the user’s attention and invite them to go to a place in space. The data from this Motion Capture is sparsely represented, with a limited amount of points used to display that motion. The presumption was that humans are extremely good at recognizing other human motion, and are able to recognize it with limited visualization. At the start of the experience, users have to find the dots representing the human figure in a cloud of points.  And indeed, users usually are able to do so when a very limited amount of points is used for this figure.

Using motion capture was essential for this project, as creating hand animated motion with the same level of realism is extremely hard and time consuming. Being able to make use of the Motion Lab at ACCAD was instrumental in the creation of this VR experience. As was the help of the dedicated staff and students.

An initial version of the project was presented at the 2023 ACCAD open house, in the Motion Lab. Based on the feedback received, the project is being further developed.

Project Team

Conceived and Directed by Wobbe F. Koning

Brain Trust: Kyoung Swearingen, Scott Swearingen, Vita Berezina-Blackburn, Raven Serenity Espina Glover

Motion Capture: Vita Berezina-Blackburn, William Yuan

Motion Capture Performers: Vivian Corey, Ishmael Konney, Yukina Sato

Experience Build by Raven Serenity Espina Glover, Wobbe F. Koning

Unity/VR consultant: Jeremy Patterson

3D Modeling: Emma Burns, Wobbe F. Koning

Audio: Wobbe F. Koning

Audio Consultants: Jean-Yves Münch, Marc Ainger

Project supported by Monmouth University

Thank You to Lexi Clark-Stilianos, Felicity Murphy, Matt Lewis, Maria Palazzi, Elaine Smith, and the rest of the ACCAD community at The Ohio State University.