Through the combination of puppet design and technology, we have created a puppet that transfers the puppeteer’s actual body movements on to a virtual 3D character in real time. After researching different types of puppets with respect to how they relate to the puppeteer’s body movements, we designed a hybrid puppet using elements of full-body puppets and rod marionettes that provides direct mapping of the puppeteer’s body as well as a clear way for any performer understand the movements required to manipulate the puppet.
The puppet is approximately two and half feet tall and proportioned similar to a person. It is constructed with wooden bones and uses potentiometers as sensors for the joints. The puppeteer wears the puppet on his torso. Straps suspend the puppet from the shoulders; a belt holds the bottom of the puppet’s spine against the puppeteer’s torso, and the puppet’s feet attach to the puppeteer’s thighs, just above his knees, using velcro straps. The puppeteer controls the arms by grasping the puppets hands and moving them. When the puppeteer walks, the puppet’s knees and hips move along with him. When he waves, the puppet waves. These and other movements are captured using our sensors, sent to the computer, and translated on to a 3D character.
Technically, the puppet uses potentiometers, which rotate with the joints as the puppeteer moves, as sensors. These rotations induce a change in the voltage across the potentiometer, which is read by an Arduino microcontroller and formated for interpretation by the computer. The data is sent wirelessly to the computer using Bluetooth. The computer runs a custom 3D engine that interprets the data from the puppet and translates it onto a skeleton based on information set in an XML character file. The engine and puppet setup gives us the capability to map the data on to multiple different characters. Future additions will allow us to have multiple characters in on scene and to record and playback animations, and blend prerecorded animations and movements from the puppet to create a hybrid virtual character.