This practice-led research investigates a design framework within an artistic context for the implementation of Whole Body Interactive (WBI) performance systems that employ real-time motion capture technology. Following an Interaction Design perspective I engage in exploring the requirements for composers, dancers, musicians and performers and their expectations, within a series of transdisciplinary collaborative artistic projects. Integral to this investigation is a comprehensive review and analysis of the progression of interactivity in fine art, music, dance and performance practices, presented in this thesis. As I am particularly concerned with the seamless transfer of the tacit skills and the implicit knowledge of non-digital artists and practitioners to a WBI performance setting, my practical explorations emerged in the contexts of music improvisation - Untitled#1, contemporary dance - Untitled#2, contemporary music composition - Hiroshima, and traditional dance - Duende. Adopting a Holistic Design approach, the experience and knowledge gained from my first practical explorations led to the design and implementation of a WBI prototyping software environment called EnActor, used in tandem with the Orient wireless inertial motion capture system, developed by the Research Consortium in Speckled Computing, at the University of Edinburgh. EnActor provides a simple and effective solution to the problem of linking physical actions to rich digital media responses and can serve as a blueprint for the development of other WBI design software, since it has operated successfully as a prototype, addressing a wide range of WBI design briefs in various contexts. In this thesis I introduce the role of the WBI designer as a specialist interaction designer able to conceptualise WBI scenarios and implement complete systems that operate within various levels of body sensing and control. I also propose the development of WBI systems that are autonomous and unsupervised, and I explore various compositional concepts and mappings that are implemented as automatic, semi-automatic or manual modules and ultimately arranged into layers and to series of blocks that represent complete compositions. Following the understanding of interactivity as a property between systems, I identify the design of three basic types of WBI performance systems that differ in how a user engages with them: methodical, empirical and dialectic. Overall this research aims to facilitate designers and artists interested in the use of real-time motion capture systems in dance, music, theatre and performance art applications.

No description available.

The Ambient Sound Engine is a complex and highly specialized computer utility built for work with interactive performance. It has been made possible with the dedicated contributions of numerous students and professors. My personal contributions to this project have resulted in a wide array of learning experiences. I have learned to work with database software, advanced coding environments, UI implementations in Java, and advanced sound manipulation. In the end I hope that I have created a unique and valuable product that wili provide function to the industry of interactive performance. The Ambient Sound Engine is a utility that will allow quickly adaptable environments to be simulated in surround sound. It required an interface that could respond quickly to required changes, could store a large amount of configuration and sound data, and an interface that could be navigated easily for the users to utilize.

Neste trabalho é apresentada a biblioteca AIM, uma biblioteca de objetos Pd que combina ferramentas de análise de áudio e síntese de imagens para a geração de acompanhamentos visuais para uma entrada musical. O usuário estabelece conexões que determinam como os parâmetros musicais afetam a síntese de objetos gráficos, e controla estas conexões em tempo-real durante a performance. A biblioteca combina um protocolo de comunicação para intercâmbio de parâmetros musicais e visuais com uma interface fácil de usar, tornando-a acessível a usuários sem experiência em programação de computadores. Suas áreas possíveis de aplicação incluem a musicalização infantil e a indústria de entretenimento. / This thesis describes the AIM library, a Pd object library which combines audio analysis and image synthesis tools for generating visual accompaniments to musical input data. The user establishes connections that determine how musical parameters affect the synthesis of graphical objects, and controls these connections in real-time during performance. The library combines a straightforward communication protocol for exchanging musical and visual parameters with an easy-to-use interface that makes it accessible for users with no computer programming experience. Its potential applications areas include children\'s musical education and the entertainment industry.

This study focuses on the manifestation of mediated experiences in digital media environments in the visual arts, conducted by human-computer interactive technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality, in order to construct a framework for understanding experience through diverse artistic experiments. My inquiry is constructed through analysis of the connections, indications and reflections of mediated experience in various interactive virtual environments, and discusses the profound and related connections among media, technology and experience in the context of digital interactive arts. Further, a number of representative artworks, particularly in the territory of digital interactive arts, are examined in order to map the concept of mediated experience. The study of the philosophical, social and cultural roots of experience is at the center of this project. This research can be considered a trial that brings theoretic discourse into art practices, and vice versa. By situating the discussion through case studies of artworks, readers are better able to read abstract concepts in actual artistic practices and develop a deeper understanding of the topic. These considerations, from a broader point of view, pave the road for the future manipulation and application of interactive digital media in public visual art. Digital interactive art as a complex of technology and conceptual exploration is an ideal vehicle for embarking on the research into the instinctive and emotional feelings generated by human-computer interactive experiences. / Graduate / 0357 / 0326 / 0984 / 0377 / 67865805@qq.com

Neste trabalho é apresentada a biblioteca AIM, uma biblioteca de objetos Pd que combina ferramentas de análise de áudio e síntese de imagens para a geração de acompanhamentos visuais para uma entrada musical. O usuário estabelece conexões que determinam como os parâmetros musicais afetam a síntese de objetos gráficos, e controla estas conexões em tempo-real durante a performance. A biblioteca combina um protocolo de comunicação para intercâmbio de parâmetros musicais e visuais com uma interface fácil de usar, tornando-a acessível a usuários sem experiência em programação de computadores. Suas áreas possíveis de aplicação incluem a musicalização infantil e a indústria de entretenimento. / This thesis describes the AIM library, a Pd object library which combines audio analysis and image synthesis tools for generating visual accompaniments to musical input data. The user establishes connections that determine how musical parameters affect the synthesis of graphical objects, and controls these connections in real-time during performance. The library combines a straightforward communication protocol for exchanging musical and visual parameters with an easy-to-use interface that makes it accessible for users with no computer programming experience. Its potential applications areas include children\'s musical education and the entertainment industry.

The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of virtual character design on user emotional experience and user behavior in a simulated environment. With simulation training increasing in popularity as a tool for teaching social skills, it is essential that social interactions in virtual environments provide authentic opportunities for practice (Swartout et al., 2006). This study used Interactive Performance Theory (Wirth, 2012) to examine the effect of designing a virtual buddy character with ineffective traits instead of effective or expert traits. The sample population for this study (n = 145) consisted of first year university students enrolled in courses in the fall of 2013 at the University of Central Florida. Data on participant emotional experience and behavior were collected through questionnaires, researcher observations, and physiological signal recording that included participant heart rate and galvanic skin response. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variances (MANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance, and qualitative thematic coding of participant verbal behavior and written responses. Results of the analysis revealed that participants who interacted with an ineffective virtual buddy character had statistically significant higher averages of verbal statements to the antagonist in the simulated environment and statistically significant lower perceptions of antagonist amiability than participants who interacted with an effective virtual buddy. Additionally, participants who interacted with a virtual buddy of the opposite gender gave statistically significant higher ecological validity scores to the simulated environment than participants who interacted with a virtual buddy of the same gender. Qualitative analysis also revealed that participants tended to describe the female buddy character with more ineffective traits than the male buddy character even though effective and ineffective design conditions were equally divided for both groups. Further research should be conducted on the effect of virtual buddy character design in different types of simulation environments and with different target audiences.

VJ表演隱藏著一種矛盾性。VJ表演之觀眾特徵，較常表現出非主流的品味，傾向於追求與眾不同的體驗，與對於自主權的掌握展現較高的積極性。然而享受音樂表演意味著某種程度的沈浸與忘我，在觀賞表演時需暫時捨棄自身的自主權與主體性方有可能真正享受其中，這之間便產生了控制與被控制的矛盾。當互動科技的元素介入到VJ表演時，這種矛盾性就會更加明顯，甚至被揭露與強調。互動科技的加入旨在過程中使人們能夠參與，讓人們擁有做決定或影響表演的權力。故互動的VJ表演具有控制權矛盾之特徵，而這樣的矛盾性應當被表演設計者所發現並探索。本研究希望透過理論爬梳與作品實踐，探索互動加入在VJ表演時如何提高觀眾的參與感。於是如何盡量減少互動所造成的干擾性以完成一場互動表演，便成為本研究關心的一項重點。 　　在內容主題上，台灣民間信仰是關於控制與被控制一個很好的轉喻。故此計畫將設計一個以台灣民間信仰為主題的互動VJ表演，並利用台灣民間信仰來反映觀眾主體性矛盾與控制權矛盾的不同面相。

在過去傳統劇場展演的藝術型態，因爲欠缺互動，易形成台上的表演與台下觀眾互動不頻繁的隔閡。近年來，結合科技與藝術的數位互動展演成為一種創新的表演形態。但在開發互動展演會有技術難度，完成腳本後可能會因為缺乏彈性和擴充性，重複進行一樣的表演，或是再由專業的劇場與程式相關人員反覆修改需求。本研究為解決上述遇到的問題，研發應用在數位展演上的圖型化領域專屬語言編輯器，讓終端使用者可以藉由階段性的操作完成腳本，也可根據不同需求更新背景或角色函式庫。另外，透過實體與虛擬角色的骨架資料繫結的方式，也解決在整合虛擬與實體平台的互動中，實體裝置收到感測器資料，卻無法直接解析取得裝置名稱的問題。於系統上本研究增加使用者自主控制元件和創作腳本，使虛實互動的創作更加彈性。 / In traditional performance, there is little interaction between actors and their audience. Recently, due to the advance of information and communication technology, art and culture are combined with technology mediated interaction between actors and their audience to create a new style of digital interactive performance. However, there are still many technical barriers in developing digital interactive performance. Essentially, the scripts for such performance are usually fixed, or with limited programmability. As a result, one performance will be repeated played or requires a lot of efforts to modify it. This thesis aims to address the issue of programmable scripts with a visual editor and supporting execution environment. In particular, we focus on helping performance director to develop programmable scripts that enable the flexible interaction between physical characters and their virtual counterparts. Our editing tool allows end-users to write scripts using drag-and-drop elements we developed on top of the Blockly framework. Besides detailed descriptions of the design and implantation of our tool, preliminary evaluation results are also presented.

For my thesis project for the Masters of Fine Art in Film and Digital Media, I designed and produced Evelyn Offscreen, an alternate reality game (ARG) that was facilitated by interactive performance. The goal was to create an interactive experience that allowed several players to collaboratively create story across numerous media within the field of alternate reality gaming. The approach used in Evelyn Offscreen was intended to provide a degree of creative freedom to the players that has not been demonstrated in other ARG experiences and to use digital media to capture information about the relative effectiveness of the different techniques that were employed. During the month of October 2009, Evelyn Offscreen invited players to participate in an overarching story as characters. The game existed simultaneously through several media platforms such as Ning, twitter, and blogger as well as scenes located in Central Florida where players could embody their character in a real world setting. The results revealed insights into techniques for massive collaboration of story and player reactions to this hybrid form of alternate reality gaming and interactive performance.