Design Document:



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A Puppet Show with No Strings Attached

Progress Document

The purpose of this Design Document is to detail concepts and ideas behind this project, as well as to show their progress and growth. This guide is a growing and changing document which serves to clarify our goals and thoughts behind the development of constructing such an innovative museum exhibit. As new ideas and objectives arrive or the old ones get modified, this document will be updated accordingly.

Overview of the Project

How do you play with something you can’t touch? This is the basic dilemma presented to the Animateering project by the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum. Sometimes puppets are too old to be handled, as the condition deteriorates with time. Trying to make the public aware of these treasures becomes an increasing challenge, since having static displays only sparks so much interest, especially in a child. Our solution is to create a three-dimensional version of each puppet, and allow others to “touch” it through digital means. Doing so allows the public to explore the movements of the puppets without damaging their physical bodies. Thus the puppets are immortalized.

The Animateering Team

Brenda Harger: co-Project Advisor

Randy Pausch: co-Project Advisor

Chia Hao Cheng: Modeler, Stage Designer, Animator

Corey Revilla: Technical Director, Lead Programmer, Animator

Patrick McKiernan: Asst. Modeler

Eileen Shiue: Asst. Programmer, Painter, Designer, Animator, Documentation

Tom Smith: Producer, Lead Painter, Web Designer, Animator

Allison Styer: Painter, Web Designer, Interface Designer, User Testing, Lead Animator

As we will be working with different groups of people outside of our core group, we have also designated separate liaisons for each one:

Children’s Museum contact: Tom Smith

Exhibit Installation Artist contact: Allison Styer

Faculty contact: Tom Smith

Panda contact: Corey Revilla

X-Gaming contact: Eileen Shiue

Outsourcing

As the project involved much more work than we alone could handle in one semester, we had to turn to the following people, to whom we give a great special thanks:

Craig Lipchin and Shawn Walters:

X-Gaming consultants, who not only supplied us with all the hardware we needed, but also gave us helpful input throughout.

Matt Kucic and Brad Stokan:

Assistant modelers who allowed us to complete all the puppets that didn’t fit in our time scope

Our Client: Pittsburgh Children’s Museum ()

January, 2003: The Children’s Museum has asked the Entertainment Technology Center’s “Virpets” team to build a project that allows children to play with digital models of their existing puppet collection. This puppet collection includes marionettes, shadow, hand, and rod puppets. Of these are included rare and historical puppets, including a vast spectrum ranging from those of Jim Henson Productions to Javanese Shadow Puppets.

May, 2003: Due to difficulties with implementing the technology and vision together, the shadow puppets have been eliminated from the project, as they are two-dimensional and would be hard to manipulate in the interface of a 3d environment.

September, 2003: The Children’s Museum has asked the fall team, renamed “Animateering”, to complete what the spring team started with Virpet Theater, and so will be expecting the final product of the exhibit to be completed in December, with ideally forty puppets in the digital collection. The exhibit will then be warehoused until September of 2004, when it will be installed in a spaced called “The Attic”, located in the Children’s Museum’s new wing (formerly the old planetarium).

Why the name Animateering?

Animateering stands for “Animated Puppeteering.” It is the new name of the technology, as well as the project; however, the name of the actual exhibit in the Children’s Museum will ultimately be a different name. The project name needs to reflect the activity that was being created, while the name of the exhibit should reflect not only the activity, but the space in which it is being held. The plan is to present a list of relevant titles to the Children’s Museum, and have them make a final decision on which name they feel would best elicit interest in guests at the museum.

Exhibit Design

The exhibit (temporarily named “Puppets in the Attic”) will be installed on the third floor of expansion of the Children’s museum, in “The Attic” (see fig. 1). The Animateering project will be set up facing the entrance wall, where there are floor to ceiling windows (see fig. 2). On one of the windows will be a scrim, a thin cloth in which any projected image can be viewed from both sides. Thus the performance of the children can be seen from outside of the Attic space, to entice visitors to enter the Attic and see what lies within. Facing the scrim from the inside will be the kiosk where the controls are housed, and to the right will be framed glass cabinets set into the wall containing the puppets that have been modeled and presenting in the digital medium (see fig. 3).

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fig. 1 “The Attic” space in the new wing of the Children’s Museum

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fig. 2 The location of our exhibit in relation to the entrance

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fig. 3 The projected design of our exhibit space

There were a few considerations in designing the kiosk that the Children’s Museum will be building- We decided on having one solid box instead of two so that the wires connecting all the hardware will be invisible to visitors at the museum.

One idea that we will be working with the Children’s museum to implement is rigging spotlights to accentuate the puppets in their space when chosen by a child playing at the kiosk. Another decision, which will need to be decided in finality by the Children’s Museum, is to have a second projection along that wall being, housed in yet another frame to match the Panopticon-like theme of the puppet exhibit. The wall projection would then become the main projection, with the kiosk facing it instead of the scrim, which would then be a secondary projection whose sole purpose would be to draw visitors into the Attic. The technical side of the exhibit is to be finished by December of 2003, but it will not be installed permanently until September, 2004, when the new wing opens. There is, however, the possibility of the exhibit being temporarily installed in the old Children’s Museum’s space during the summer, and being kept at the Entertainment Technology Center for demos until then.

Kiosk Design

Last semester the setup was very bulky, yet there was no way to house all of the machines running the exhibit at once since there were three computers involved. The exposed mess of wires was accepted at the time because it was merely a prototype, but since we need to have a professional looking exhibit, exposed wires is simply an unacceptable consideration. Now that the system has been streamlined down to one machine and the monitors are flat touch screens, it became possible and imperative to house all the hardware and electronics within one box for aesthetics' sake.

Since all the hardware needs to be taken into consideration, it is up to us to design our single kiosk, although the Children's Museum has taken the onus of actually building the structure. What will eventually happen is that they will build the shell of the kiosk, and then hand the top of it over to us so that we can install the interface, since that is under our control as well.

When it came down to designing the kiosk, though, more than just the hardware needed to be taken into consideration. The height and reach of a child was one of those factors. We temporarily set the height of the tallest point of the kiosk to three feet, with stipulations that there would be stepstools for those who were smaller, since we didn't want the adults to find it too uncomfortable should they want to play with their little ones. The top is slanted down to make it easier for children to reach for all the interactive components, as it makes the actual width of the kiosk smaller. These concerns also ultimately affected our physical interface design.

Since we were working with X-Gaming to build the controls for the exhibit, we assumed that we would have two separate parts of each station- the touch screen, and then the control panel. Upon further discussion with Craig and Shawn from X-Gaming, we realized that we could place the joysticks and the buttons wherever we wanted, so it became possible to incorporate everything into one single panel. This fortunate turn made it possible to shrink the kiosk size down considerably, since the space in the Children's museum would not be spacious enough to allow a large kiosk without strangling the traffic around the exhibits.

The first kiosk design (see fig. 4) is simply a merging of the two setups from before- just a simple box with a slanted top. The advantage to this is that the two sets of joysticks can be placed side by side so that if there is only one child available to play, s/he can control both puppets to some extent.

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fig. 4 Miniature model of the first kiosk design

The other two kiosk designs were originally conceptualized in the event that there would be two projections, and that it would be interesting to have each child looking at a different screen (see fig. 5 & 6). This could be changed by manipulating the angle at which each side of the kiosk was placed. Because of the difference in resolution of the two different materials we would be projecting on (scrim vs. screen), we decided that the children should be looking at the same screen, so we stayed with a more open angle.

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fig.5 Miniature model of the second kiosk design

The kiosk that we (as well as the Children's Museum) thought would be best was the kiosk that was angled in such a way that the children at each side would be angled towards each other (see fig. 6), thus encouraging communication between the two sides.

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fig. 6 Miniature model of the third kiosk design

11/22/03: Ultimately, the design and construction of the kiosk will be the Children’s Museum’s responsibility, so we only had to build prototype stations for each puppet for our own purposes. This included giving demos in our space at the Pittsburgh Technology Center as well as user testing down at the Children’s Museum. The user testing also gave Thad, the designer for the exhibit and new wing, a better idea of what he would need to incorporate into the kiosk.

Our Software Background

The Animateering technology was first created as the Virpets technology by students Shawn Patton, Elan Ruskin, Jon Parise, and Ken Strickland, who worked with advisor Frank Garvey to create a digital performance medium. It was then adapted by Cort Stratton and Ingrid Moncada in the Spring of 2002 and used to “perform” Rift, a theatrical Piece created expressly for the medium. Then, in the Spring of 2003, the Children’s Museum made their request, and the new team, Chia Hao Cheng, Cheryl Platz, Tom Smith, Matt Udvari, and Jichen Zhu, first used the technology to create a museum exhibit, which the Fall 2003 team is expected to improve. This is a notable project line in the ETC family because it is one of the first original bodies of work to survive into a fourth development cycle.

Starting off the semester, the software system consists of three main components:

• The Stage: Main server and the graphics and display engine

• PuppetMaster: Character rigging and control utility

• A series of XML utilities for authoring program-specific files

With the exception of the XML utilities, the Virpets system is implemented in C/C++, utilizing the Lithtech 3.1 game engine.

Software Goals

The biggest task this semester is to create and maintain usability and robustness in the program. Because there will be a permanent installment at the end of this semester in the Children’s Museum where they will not have the developers easily accessible, the system needs to be self-invoking enough that it can be up and running with a push of a button. It also needs the robustness to guarantee that they will not have maintenance problems in the future. To ensure this, the platform of the system will be converted from Lithtech to Panda, a 3-d engine created by Disney, and developed at the Entertainment Technology Center.

Current Software Goals/Status

09/10/03: The current goal is to replace all the faulty hardware from last semester, and to reinstall the old Virpets system onto the new machines. The server machine had started off not functioning, and after being replaced it needed to have all the software reinstalled, which brought to attention other problems with the machine. After all of the server issues had been resolved, one of the client machines broke beyond repair, and had to be replaced as well.

09/14/03: Now that all the machines have been replaced as necessary, the goal now is to have the Virpets system from last semester with Lithtech up and running, so that the programmers on the team can get familiar with what is expected for the conversion to Panda. One tentative goal, stemming from the failure of multiple machines, is to eliminate the need for more than one machine, so that the system overall has less of a chance to fail.

09/24/03: The Virpet Theater is up and running, although there have been problems with the interface. The touch screen has been brought in and hooked up, although due to the 85-step Lithtech setup the machines have not been restarted to fully take into effect the touch screen. The switch to Panda has begun in earnest; models from both Max and Maya have been successfully imported and manipulated.

09/30/03: Interactive control of the puppets is being worked on, and has been implemented, although not to the extent that is expected by the time everything is up and running. Scene and music changes are also being looked into.

10/15/03: Interactive control of the puppets has been implemented, but only digitally, as Panda does not currently support analog joysticks. Disney as well as the Panda team has been contacted about developing the feature soon for a new installation of Panda.

10/20/03: Scene changes have been mapped to a button on the interface. Analog joysticks have been hooked up into Panda; however, this means interactive control of the puppets will need to be reworked. Meanwhile, everything has been successfully streamlined down from three computers to one, without any foreseeable problems in that regard.

11/10/03:

Our Hardware Background

The setup for the Virpets Theater involved two stations so that children can collaborate to make stories for themselves. Each station contains:

• Two joysticks controlling different types of movement in the puppets

• Computer running PuppetMaster (with keyboard for loading)

• Monitor displaying the puppet options

• Trackball mouse attached to the station for navigating the display

Additionally there is the server machine which is the root of the whole system, tying in the two puppets that are being manipulated and displaying them on a virtual stage projected onto the wall.

Hardware Goals

Again, the current goal is to get the setup from last semester fixed so that it can be tested as far as stability and usability in the hardware, and so changes can be suggested and implemented. The Animateering team will be consulting with the X-Gaming company to design a better physical interface which will be suitable for children. Suitable in this case can be defined as easy to understand/use, and unbreakable. Another general idea is to streamline the old design, as well as adding more options and degrees of movement for experimentation by guests. The first step that has been taken is that a touchscreen has been acquired in order to make the interface less cumbersome for the children- through user testing it has been discovered that faced with a screen with choices, a child’s first instinct is to choose by touch. The mouse/trackball itself had been a weak point, not only in being awkward, but also in being able to be forcibly (and sometimes accidentally) removed from the station.

Current Hardware Design

09/11/03: The ideal projected design for the project at this stage would be to keep the two joystick configuration, but to complement it with a group of buttons that could force collaboration among children per puppet. The timeline of building and receiving parts has jumped from two days to two weeks, so it is imperative that the team gets a working prototype to test out the feasibility of the X-gaming design. Once a clear plan has been laid out for the X-Gaming consultants, an order will be placed for the parts needed.

09/14/03: Complications in ordering parts have arisen, as the group is looking to use analog joysticks rather than digital ones to allow subtle movements in the major joints. The controls will have to be custom built, so meanwhile, to allow for the testing to start as soon as possible, a two-player arcade panel (see fig. 8) with digital joysticks will be reprogrammed to accommodate the project, and once the parts have been ordered, built, and shipped, the software will be changed to reflect the new analog controls.

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fig. 8 the two-player arcade panel , with the original keyboard configuration

The plan is for the initial testing to remain within the team, where it can be determined how many buttons would be necessary based on how many animations the team can create for each puppet. After the number has been adjusted from the two player setup, a first prototype can be carved out of a blank, single player arcade panel, placing the joysticks where it is deemed appropriate, with the projected configuration of the buttons. While the team waits for the analog joysticks to be made and shipped, user testing will be available with the digital setup so that feedback can be obtained about the layout of the controls. Thus after the analog joysticks have been acquired, the final design of the control panel can be built to accommodate the new hardware.

09/28/03: Analog joysticks have been made to order, and have been confirmed to work with the old system. Since the analog joysticks are larger than the original digital ones the team had to work with, a new control board will have to be designed and built to accommodate them.

09/30/03: The hardware setup has been completely redesigned to allow more space efficiency so that the kiosk design can be more streamlined. The current design involves setting the touchscreen into the same panel as the controls, with the joysticks and buttons set around it (see fig.9).

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fig. 9 current hardware interface design

This eliminates the concern of spreading the components of the kiosk out too much to be readily accessible to children.

10/15/03: The setup shown in figure 5 has been mocked up. All four joysticks have been rigged to the single-computer setup, and the buttons have been rewired and connected to the keyboard. The touch screen has been connected and is working; calibration so far is an issue- the touch is not accurate, and the touch screen seems to need to be the primary monitor to map to the proper screen. This raises the concern that it might not be possible to connect two touch screens to one computer without hardware problems.

10/20/03: The touch screen issue has been fixed with the addition of a video card- as long as each touch screen has its own video card, it allows for calibration, and works down to specific touches. For example, on the windows task bar, the start menu can be opened by touch without difficulty, as can any of the options it raises.

10/23/03: A frame with a piece of scrim stretched over it has become our temporary testing screen- the image seems clear enough unless closely examined.

10/28/03: After midsemester presentations, a new hardware interface has been designed (see fig. 9) since there were concerns with the buttons being confused with interacting with the touch screen rather than with animations and scene changing. The new design places the joysticks between the touch screen and the buttons to eliminate the confusion. Also, the placement of the buttons has been randomized to ensure that there is no sense of having to push buttons in a particular order. Behind the buttons there will ideally be some relevant image to the experience. They will remain unlabelled as to keep the element of exploration in the exhibit.

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fig. 9 new hardware interface design

The buttons will be controlling the following interactions:

• Changing background scenery

• Changing background music

• Spinning animation with a “wheee” sound effect

• Jumping animation with a “boing” sound effect

• Dancing/Unique animation

• Waving animation with a “hiiii” sound effect

11/2/03: A new kiosk prototype has been built in preparation of the user testing scheduled for November 4, complete with the hardware installation.

Art Background

In the last iteration of Virpets, the pipeline involved the following steps:

• Modeling the puppets in both Maya and 3d Studio Max

• Mapping and painting them in Deep Paint

• Skinning and boning them in 3d Studio Max

• Exporting to the PuppetMaster from 3d Studio Max

• Rendered into action by Lithtech

There were some attempts at creating multiple stages for the Virpets to “perform” on, but many of them were discarded due to distracting features such as columns and curtains. Others were not used because they did not fit in with the overall theme; often times the stage would be too specific to certain puppets, where it was needed to be general enough to accommodate any and all puppets.

Art Goals

This semester the project is looking to revamp its overall theme to make it more fun, exciting, and attractive to kids. Another major goal is to confirm the pipeline from Maya to Deep Paint, back to Maya, and then importing into Panda. For the semester, the digitalization of the complete puppet collection will be finished, including character animations for each puppet. This will include designing and implementing ambient animations such as blinking, as well as simple body language portraying boredom for when the puppets are not being played with. Design changes will be occurring in the interface, the puppets, and the stage to make them all blend together as one cohesive project. Additional stages will also be designed and created consistent to the new design. These changes will include any theatrical transformations needed in order to heighten the liveliness and fun for children in the experience. Throughout these design changes, the Animateering team will be assisting the Children’s Museum in designing the environment and matching the project’s artwork to their goals. Lastly, the Animateering exhibit will be permanently installed at the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum at the end of this iteration.

Current Art Status

9/14/03: The old webpage design has been scrapped, and a new webpage has been designed and is in the process of being built. This time around, the webpage will be richer in aesthetics as well as content. The colors are brighter and deeper, and there will be many more pictures documenting the experience available once the page is completed. The modeling of the fifteen newly acquired puppets has begun, and an additional modeler, Patrick McKiernan, has been recruited to assist the team in creating the digital puppets more rapidly.

10/19/03: A few interfaces have been mocked up in html, as there is no connection yet to Panda from outside programs. They have been successfully tried out on the touch screen. Currently there are five new puppets completed, and are in the process of being animated

The Collection of Puppets

The original puppet collection contained eighty puppets, of which eleven were digitalized last semester. The projected number of puppets that the Children’s Museum wants to have in the final exhibit is about twenty-eight, as they realized that eighty puppets was too large of a scope given the timeline they were requesting. Adding to that the desire to build more stages for the puppets to perform on, there will be a shortage of modeling power compared to the painting capacity. The projected timeline per puppet is six to seven days, so the current sole modeler will ideally be able to complete thirteen models by the end of the semester. Thus it was necessary to bring more modelers onto the team- currently the new addition is Patrick McKiernan, a second year student at the Entertainment Technology Center. As the Children’s Museum has given the team fourteen puppets from last semester (some of them, like shadow puppets, were eliminated), there has been another acquisition of seventeen puppets to create from physical reference. There are a few puppets, including a Mystic from Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, which are unable to leave the museum, and will be modeled from digital pictures and video clips.

Other Design Elements

One of the aspects of the exhibit that we needed to take into consideration is having an attraction mode for when the exhibit is not being played with. The current idea we are in the process of implementing is to have a closed curtain after the system has been idle for 20 seconds or so. Shortly after that, the curtain will start rustling, and a puppet will peek its head out to entire passer-by’s. Upon having either the touch screen or one of the buttons pressed, the curtain will open with a short music clip. If a puppet has been chosen, it will be on stage, otherwise, the experience will start with two default puppets on stage. When a different puppet from the one on stage has been chosen, there will be a short animation of the old puppet being removed form stage with a hook, and the new puppet dropping in from above (see fig. 10).

fig. 10 Storyboard of pre-animated scenes [pic]

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