Abstract Human Mapping

Computer Vision in Performing Arts

Student: Giulio Interlandi

Teacher: Marco Moltisanti

Subject: Computer Vision

Accademia di Belle Arti di Catania March 2017

This thesis is a project about video mapping in performative arts.
One-year research has been carried out on the video mapping methods and the possibilities to make the video mapping fit the human body’s shape.

During the Mapping Festival, held in Geneva in 2015, I found inspiration to research in this field, especially after having attended a workshop about Mapping and Interactions called “Opera III”. On that occasion, the sensors were fastened on the human body moving all around the projection area, free from any kind of video mapping and fully merged within the projection area as a mere element of it. We wanted to take a further step.

A sketch on processing has been created through Kinect® to take over the body shape, including also the Syphon library to output the alpha component in Resolume Arena®. For the final mapping MadMapper® has been used as it is a very powerful and easy software for the the video mapping.

The core of this project is the video mapping designed to follow exclusively the movements of the performer’s body.

Despite the original version was imagined for theatre, this project’s potential applications in several different areas make it the perfect candidate for further research.

More closely, this work consists of four parts, as listed below:

Hardware:

Kinect®, laptop and projector.

Software:
Processing®, MadMapper® and Resolume Arena®.

Installing / Mapping:
Calibrating the projection on the human body requires the presence of different bodies on the scene.

Performance:
Contemporary dance improvisation to experiment and create with technology.