Does anyone know where i can find gobs of LifeForms(TM) animations? We're
working on software that "learns" what particular styles of dance
look like and then tries to bridge two key frames with dance that matches
the "genre" it's been trained on. In order to train
the computer we need a large corpus of human movement that is an honest
and (approximately) complete representation of how the body moves. We've
already built a small corpus of ballet using the short sequences from LifeForms'
PowerMoves CD that we purchased last semester. Although the CD has been
extremely helpful in the beginning stages of the project it is still too
small to meet our needs. For instance, even after training on every
sequence we could get our hands on, there are still some "lock-states" the
joints can enter. These lock-states are particular joint orientations the
computer has never seen examples of how to exit.
Right now, we're heavily using LifeForms and so are requesting animations in
that format, but would also appreciate suggestions about other animation
alternatives that are out there. Ideally, we would love to set up a motion
capture system of some sort and let live dancers train the algorithms. We just
don't know how affordable, how practical, and how reliable these motion capture
systems are...
Any pointers to existing animation archives or people that might be
willing to contribute their own work to the cause would be greatly
appreciated. Thanks!
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josh stuart
professional research assistant
dr. elizabeth bradley's lab
department of computer science
university of colorado
stuartj@cs.colorado.edu
(303) 492-8425
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