Collaborative art in 3D
The blue-c project across four departments at ETH Zurich was an interdisciplinary initiative. From it came not only a spin-off but also the Living Canvas project at The Glasgow School of Art in Scotland where actors wear “virtual costumes”.
The cross-departmental blue-c project was an interdisciplinary initiative with wide reaching effects. With Liberovision, an ETH Zurich spin-off, sports scenes can be viewed even when they were not captured by television cameras. And now with
Living Canvas, a project under the technical direction of Dr. Martin Naef, an
ETH Zurich graduate at the Glasgow School of Art’s Digital Design Studio, the performing arts are being further transformed through the art and science of turning
actors’ bodies into projection surfaces.
blue-c
blue-c drew participants from architecture, computer vision, computer graphics and
mechanical engineering. The goal was to develop collaborative systems that
would allow viewers to experience being present at a live location while being
physically located a remote site. Telepresence would allow viewers to behave
and react as though they were present at the remote location.
Dr. Naef recalls the challenge and ambitions of the blue-c project, “By rendering a fully three-dimensional, live representation of the remote user, we would create the illusion of everybody being in the same locale. This would enable a much more natural mode of interaction than previous means, such as video conferencing.”
Eight years later and despite the technological breakthroughs that produced Liberovision and Living Canvas, some of the challenges set out in the blue-c project still remain to be conquered. However, the Living Canvas project does take some of its concepts further. For example, while aimed at the entertainment world the Living Canvas project has much wider potential, especially for its motion tracking capability. In comparison to blue-c, Dr. Naef says, Living Canvas is a much simpler, less complex and costly system than blue-c, which nonetheless provides a similar sense of presence.
Living Canvas is the first technology that enables performers to interact with
recorded visuals, which is particularly useful for modern theatre. Until now, there was no way to bridge the gap. Performers were obliged to follow strict choreography in their efforts to match a carefully prepared video. The approach was cumbersome - and now no longer necessary, says Martin Naef. “Living Canvas frees the artist
from such restrictions by following the performer on stage using very fast
machine vision technology and adapting the projected video according to the
position and pose of the moment.”
Living Canvas: bridging two worlds
Now the gap between the real, the augmented and the virtual is closing. Dr Naef explains: “Living Canvas tries to inject some virtuality into the real stage environment. By doing this as seamlessly as possible, we hope to bridge the two worlds, as well as expand the artist’s visual language.”
The sense of deep satisfaction that Dr Naef derives from his work comes
from giving the general public access to scientific research, even though the
public may not be aware of the technological complexities that help make a
stage performance enjoyable. For him, the attraction of computer graphics is a combination of challenges. They include the mathematical, algorithmic and engineering aspects that express themselves in what he sums up as “tangible output in the form of beautiful and expressive images”.
It is the subtlety that is beguiling. “In theatre”, Martin Naef says, “the
most successful technology is the one that does not consciously register with
the audience. We do not want the audience to realise that we are dealing with a
high-tech projection system. Rather,
we want to take them away on a journey; immerse them in the story. Living Canvas will be a success if the viewers walk out of the show, still remembering the beautiful scenes or uncanny situations, all the lights and the colours, and only later start wondering how we have actually managed to pull this off.”
Still to come
While Living Canvas is a synthesis of technological components, it also is a learning process. From its originalpurpose of being a virtual wardrobe for performers, it was soon recognised thatthe technology could be used for anything from a very flexible lighting system(a full-colour follow-spot, for example) to highlighting specific parts
of the body for abstract performances or even a means for one player to play a range of different characters. CathieBoyd, Theatre Cryptic’s artistic director, sees it as more. There is potential, she says, for introducingtime or positional offsets that would create a “ghost” to follow the character. And, instead of focussing only on performers, the technology also could be tailored to follow objects on the set, thus
creating a dynamic stage.
Living Canvas is example of “how art and science can successfully interact”, Dr. Naef believes. But, he insists, it is the human element that makes it all work. “We hope that successful completion of the project in 2010 will help to reduce the fear of contact between artists and scientists, and inspire further exciting collaborations.”
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