Cooperation and collaboration between actors and virtual models on stage

Abstract

The employment of virtual human models interacting with actors is often used in science fiction and fantasy movies with sophisticated, off-line, 3D rendering tools. During the making of the movie the interaction between actors and models is limited. Because, when the action is recorded the actor is always alone and the interacting model is super-imposed on the film using special re-impression techniques. Those techniques are not reliable in a theatrical environment, because people attend physically to the performance, and a real interaction between actors and models is needed. The goal of the authors' research is the realization of a prototype of such a system that can track actor's movements and animate a 3D model of the actor, real-time controlled, that plays inside a virtual world.<>