StoryTIME: development of a tangible interface for storytelling

Abstract

The production of 3D digital animated sequences is an iterative process where ideas are scrutinized by members of the production team until they are finalized. Production teams are comprised of many individuals with varying levels of expertise in a broad spectrum of disciplines such as screen writing, animating and directing. It is imperative that everyone involved understands the development tasks for the production. To facilitate the communication of ideas, the prototyping process typically begins with the development of a storyboard that is then turned into a 3D previsualization. This process requires specialized training to be effective. This thesis presents StoryTIME, a system designed to simplify the storyboarding and digitalization process by leveraging tangible interfaces and projected augmented reality. The presented system works by capturing and recording the motion of physical props such as small toys and figurines which are then applied to a virtual counterpart. We discuss the design and development of the system followed by a user study that investigates its effectiveness with respect to traditional animation prototyping systems.