Recording Movement with Motion Capture Animation Technology: A Field Test

记录人类动作以供以后分析的能力对人类学中的各种主题至关重要，包括对运动和手势交流的研究。录像带，通常用来记录这种运动的方法，对这一目的用处有限。例如，简单的录像不能创建可以数字分析或评估的动作记录，而不会有人类评分员受到受试者外貌等无关特征影响的风险。这个项目将探索运动捕捉动画技术的潜力，以改进人类学家在野外环境中记录运动的方式。动作捕捉技术最常用于创建电影中动画角色的动作，但它也被广泛用作研究动作、手势和面部表情的研究工具。直到最近，动作捕捉技术还相当繁琐，有时甚至需要表演者被绑在电脑上，或者穿上精心制作的运动感应服。然而，现在只需使用一组带频闪灯的摄像机、一台笔记本电脑和表演者关节和四肢上的小反光镜，就可以创建详细而逼真的动画。这项新技术使得在几乎任何环境下建立动作捕捉工作室成为可能。这项研究将建立在罗格斯牙买加对称项目的基础上，该项目已经记录了近十年的身体和行为数据。将在牙买加的圣伊丽莎白教区建立一个动作捕捉工作室，记录舞蹈表演。使用动作捕捉技术来记录舞蹈将为研究人员提供表演的记录，然后可以独立于个体的外表进行评估。除了动画，他们还将收集表演者的一系列身体测量数据，并填写一份关于健康和生殖状况的问卷。对舞蹈的关注还将使研究人员能够在理论水平上将这项研究与信号理论、性选择理论和舞蹈民族志联系起来，并检验从这些理论得出的假设。这一项目将产生各种好处和更广泛的影响。这将是第一次在人类学领域使用运动捕捉技术。未来，这项技术可能会被证明对舞蹈以外的许多主题的数据收集有用，包括移动和手势交流。计算机科学家和人类学家的参与将促进这两个领域之间的合作，丰富两者。鉴于舞蹈是一个流行的话题，许多门外汉都会与之相关，这个项目也可能受到广泛的关注，从而提高公众对科学的理解。

The ability to record human movements for later analysis is essential to a variety of topics in anthropology, including research on locomotion and gestural communication. Videotape, the method normally used to record such movements, is of limited usefulness for this purpose. For example, simple videotaping does not create a record of the movements that can be digitally analyzed or that can be evaluated without the risk that human raters will be influenced by such extraneous features as subjects' physical appearance. This project will explore the potential of motion capture animation technology to improve the way anthropologists record motion in field settings. Motion capture technology is most commonly used to create the movements of animated characters in films, but it is also widely in use as a research tool for studies of motion, gesture, and facial expression. Until recently, motion capture technology was rather cumbersome, sometimes even requiring that the performer be tethered to a computer or wear an elaborate motion-sensing suit. Now, however, it is possible to create detailed and lifelike animations using only an array of video cameras with strobe lights, a laptop computer, and small reflectors on the performer's joints and extremities. The new technology makes it possible to set up a motion capture studio in virtually any setting.This study will build upon the Rutgers Jamaican Symmetry Project, which has been recording physical and behavioral data for almost a decade. A motion capture studio will be established in St. Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, to record dance performances. Using motion capture technology to record dances will provide the researchers with records of the performances that can then be assessed independently of the individual's appearance. In addition to the animations, they will also be collecting a series of physical measures of the performers and administering a questionnaire about health and reproductive status. The focus on dance will also allow the researchers to connect this research at a theoretical level with signaling theory, sexual selection theory, and dance ethnography and to test hypotheses derived from those theories. This project will generate a variety of benefits and broader impacts. It will be the first use of motion capture technology in an anthropological field setting. In the future this technology may prove useful for data collection on many topics other than dance, including locomotion and gestural communication. The involvement of both computer scientists and anthropologists will foster partnerships between these two fields, enriching them both. Given that dance is a popular topic to which many lay people can relate, this project is also likely to receive widespread attention and so enhance public understanding of science.