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| SIGGRAPH 99, Los angeles |
The underling UI concept of Dance Studio begun with
an analysis of what the user was triying to do, rather than with the
notion of what the screen should display. The metaphor was intended
to be a video/stage production studio ( on air, off-air) in which
the user plays various roles, the dacer, the director and the post-production
engineer.
Christopher Cowan |
| related works |
| Office Advantage |
| MetaFlash |
| Icon design |
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The Art of desining Interfaces
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| Off air mode, screen |
Dance Studio
1998, Metacreations
Developed
in partnership between MetaCreations and KATrix/Millennium RUSH, Dance
Studio allowed dance enthusiasts of all ages to easily create their own
custom animated "dance videos." With an easy-to-use interface,
cutting-edge real-time interactive technology, and loads of user-controlled
choices.
The product didn't do well, but had some lovely 3D work
in it.
There was even an advertising campaign on some
kids channels in the US
>>>Play
QuickTime television commercial
Dance Studio, allowed you create your own music video,The
dancers were fully animated three-dimensional characters, so you could
change their clothing and nationality.
first the user choosed
the music and then selected a dancer for a particular dance style like
country or disco. Finally, you selected the 3-D environment in which your
character danced, which can range from the streets of London to a hip-hop
subway scene.
Now you can choreograph the moves of your dancer.
The key to the character animation is the ability to have the dancers
automatically move naturally, in the style of their dance and to the music.
You don't have to specify the movement of each arm and leg or individual
joint, but instead you can concentrate on guiding the general movement
of the dance and the "intelligent" dancers will follow your
direction in their style.
Once the dance is choreographed, you become the video director and control
the camera angles and lighting effects during the performance. Since the
dancers and the scene are full 3-D objects, you can move the camera anywhere
in the scene to see the dance action from any point of view. You can record
a movie of your final performance to share with friends, or mix and match
the music and dance styles to see what happens.
"This is the first time that characters inside a computer have intelligence,
and know how to act on their own'.
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