SandCanvas: new possibilities in sand animation

Abstract

Sand animation is a performance art technique in which an artist tells stories by creating animated images with sand. Inspired by this medium, we have developed a new multi-touch digital artistic medium named SandCanvas that simplifies the creation of sand animations. The elegance of sand animation lies in the seamless flow of expressive hand gestures that cause images to fluidly evolve, surprising and delighting audiences. While physical sand animation already possesses these properties, SandCanvas enhances them. SandCanvas's color and texture features enable faster, more dramatic transitions, while its mixed media and gesture recording features make it possible to create entirely new experiences. Session recording and frame capture complement these capabilities by simplifying post-production of sand animation performances.