Real-Time Avatar Construction Using Shape Tape

Motion capture is used in video games and computer animated films to create realistic animations of moving virtual characters. In games and films, an actor’s motion is captured offline, saved, and finally replayed to animate a virtual character. The same principles can be applied to Virtual Reality (VR), but the motion capture must be done in real-time so when a user moves, her corresponding virtual character – her avatar – mimics her movement. Additionally, the user must identify with her avatar, so the shape of the avatar’s limbs should closely match the shape of the human’s in length, radius, and curvature. Finally, the avatar should also be able to interact with other virtual objects in the environment, thus we need a representation that is suitable for use with collision detection algorithms. In this paper, we analyze the problem of tracking a user’s limbs with Shape Tape and constructing a virtual representation of the user in real-time. We will compare and contrast this problem to problems in sampling/reconstruction, geometric modeling and computational geometry and finally introduce possible solutions.