Doppelganger (2003) - Garnet Hertz, Adrian Herbez, Pei-Yi Ko

An Exploration of Transcorporal Representation of Motion Capture Data





Aesthetic Objectives

This software system is designed to explore the translation of human movement onto non-human objects, in the process separating bodily movement from its original source and recontextualizing it. By re-mapping human motion and analyzing its dynamics in time, space and shape, we will explore perceived humanness within gestures and the essence of expressive motion (dance).

By creating our own application, we built environment that allows the viewer to engage the data in three dimensions and interact with it in real time. This application also has the potential to serve as a choreographic tool to create aesthetically enchanting composition of movements.


Technical Overview

The software reads motion capture data files (CSM) and renders them in realtime 3D. The CSM is read into an internal representation that includes both the positional data it contains as well as angles of joints that are extrapolated from the positions of the markers. In other words, this application takes the CSM point data and translates it into angles.

Also, software includes a custom file format to represent the manner in which the human-based motion of the CSM is re-mapped onto a non-human subject. This file type will be referred to as "BOD" (for body, as opposed to motion) and is composed of human-readable text.

The BOD format contains:


Software Demonstration (Video Documentation)







Garnet Hertz (2003) - http://www.conceptlab.com