Native Dancer: Jingle Dancer, Motion updates 2
Author: Ariann Rousu – Native Dancer Digital Artist
Summary
In the Previous Native Dancer Blog, Motion Updates I highlighted steps that were taken to get the Jingle Character in Motion. Since then, the Jingle Dancer has been made to be dancing, using the Motion Data collected using an Xsens Motion Capture suit. In this post I will discuss what steps were taken to get to this stage, and what steps will be taken next. The Native Dancer team hopes to have all three Dancer characters in the VR Headset Demo, to display at this year’s UND Wacipi Powwow.
Xsens Motion
As mentioned in previous blogs, we used an xsens motion capture system to collect our characters dances. The jingle dancing motion, is now attached to our character and matches the skeleton profile of the character. This means the character is dancing using our motion data. Just like the other two dancers, the animation has gone through some modifications with her hand placements. This is modified in the Unreal Engine, by fixing the keyframes of the animation. Below you can see the current state of the jingle dancer as its dancing and being tested visually with various dress structures.
What’s Next?
Next, we would like to have her clothing moving more realistically similar to the previous Grass and Fancy Shawl Dancer. This has been difficult to do, due to the added hanging elements. Proven to be a timely task, it is also the reason for the various dresses being tested. I have applied the jingles to the dresses in two different ways to test, as it still is not clear how we will be simulating the jingles yet.
Carbon for Maya
For the previous dancers, we have already implemented cloth physics using uDraper in the Unreal Engine. Moving forward, I will determine which jingle dress works best, as the cloth physics is implemented. Instead of uDraper we will be using Carbon for Maya, to test how this works for the Jingle Dress. I will also be using Carbon to re-cache the Fancy Shawl dancer to compare the two tools more side by side.
