Pilot: Increasing Creative Exploration with Computer Tools that Support Spontaneity & Embodiment

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The goal of this project is to determine if tools that are designed to support spontaneity and embodiment can increase user creativity. Spontaneity and embodiment are key components of creative work in the arts, particularly in the ideation and exploration phases, but have been poorly supported in software. There is good evidence that their inclusion in computer tools has the potential to significantly increase creativity. In order to test this hypothesis, novel new computational tools will be developed for interactive sketching and animation. Two applications will be targeted: One, a system for free-form drawing and animation, allows users to interactively sculpt 3D images by moving tracked markers through space. These drawings can then be immediately animated by grabbing handles that are automatically fit to them and dragging these with 3D gestures. The second application will provide a more narrowly defined task: controlling the style of a walking animation. The user will be able to do this by making spatial gestures to define the parameters in a walking model. Both of these applications will be designed and evaluated to support spontaneity and embodiment. This work benefits society through the discovery of new insights into creativity and by the creation of new computer artifacts that support creative production. Members of the performance community will be included in the research, leading to cross-fertilization with a group not normally involved in technology development. Results will be published broadly and the research will also be demonstrated to the public through a theatre production, along with the press coverage likely to result from that. Both undergraduate and graduate students will participate in the research, including members of underrepresented groups, such as women. The results of the work will also be included in courses in computer science and digital production.