Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Research on a method of creating digital shadow puppets based on parameterized templates

  • Published:
Multimedia Tools and Applications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Shadow play is an ancient traditional folk art in China and a precious Chinese artistic treasure. However, with the continuous diversification of entertainment forms, traditional shadow play art is gradually fading out of sight and even facing the possibility of having no successor. A fast method of creating digital shadow puppets based on parameterized templates is proposed in this paper. Adopting this method can transform the materials of a shadow character designed by an artist into a digital shadow puppet that can be interactively controlled by hand gestures. This paper classifies digital shadow puppets based on an analysis and summary of traditional shadow play art and designs the corresponding parameterized template for each type. In addition, a control method for shadow puppets based on the Leap Motion device is designed and implemented in this paper in accordance with common human hand gestures and the requirements for controlling shadow puppets. Based on the above work, we design and implement a platform for digital shadow story creation and performance and test the proposed method on this platform. The experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper can quickly create digital shadow puppets that can be interactively controlled and allow shadow plays to be performed based on gesture control. The research ideas and achievements of this paper help promote the development of digital shadow play technology and have great significance to the inheritance and development of traditional shadow play art.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chen K, Johan H (2017) Interactive authoring of bending and twisting motions of short plants using hand gestures. Comput Anim Virtual Worlds 28(6):e1747. https://doi.org/10.1002/cav.1747

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. ElKoura G, Singh K (2003) Handrix: Animating the human hand. In: ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics symposium on Computer Animation, San Diego, California, pp 110–119. https://doi.org/10.2312/SCA03/110-119

  3. Hsu SW, Li TY (2005) Generating secondary motions in shadow play animations with motion planning techniques. In: Buhler J (ed) ACM SIGGRAPH 2005. Sketches, Los Angeles, California, p 69. https://doi.org/10.1145/1187112.1187195

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Li Q, Hua QY, Feng J, Niu W, Wang H, Zhong J (2011) Design and Implementation of Interactive Digital Shadow Simulation System. In: Ma M (ed) Communication Systems and Information Technology. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 100. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21762-3_24

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Liang H, Chang J, Deng SJ, Chen C, Tong RF, Zhang JJ (2017) Exploitation of multiplayer interaction and development of virtual puppetry storytelling using gesture control and stereoscopic devices. Comput Anim Virtual Worlds 28(5):e1727. https://doi.org/10.1002/cav.1727

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Liang H, Deng SJ, Chang J, Zhang JJ, Chen C, Tong RF (2018) Semantic framework for interactive animation generation and its application in virtual shadow play performance. Virtual Reality 22(2):149–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-018-0333-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lu F, Tian F, Jiang YY, Cao X, Luo WC, Li G, Zhang XL, Dai GZ, Wang HA (2011) ShadowStory: creative and collaborative digital storytelling inspired by cultural heritage. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Vancouver, BC, Canada, pp 1919–1928. https://doi.org/10.1145/1978942.1979221

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Oshita M, Oshima H, Senju Y, Morishige S (2016) Character motion synthesis by principal component analysis and motion control interface by hands. Comput Anim Virtual Worlds 27(6):532–545. https://doi.org/10.1002/cav.1673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Piman S, Talib AZ (2012) An intelligent instructional tool for puppeteering in virtual shadow puppet play. In: Camurri A, Costa C (eds) Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment. INTETAIN 2011. Lecture notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, social informatics and telecommunications engineering, vol 78. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30214-5_13

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Rhodin H, Tompkin J, In Kim K, Varanasi K, Seidel HP, Theobalt C (2014) Interactive motion mapping for real-time character control. Comput Graphics Forum 33(2):273–282. https://doi.org/10.1111/cgf.12325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Shi Y, Ying FT, Chen X, Pan ZG, Yu JG (2014) Restoration of traditional Chinese shadow play-Piying art from tangible interaction. Comput Anim Virtual Worlds 25(1):33–43. https://doi.org/10.1002/cav.1530

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Yan ZF, Jia ZY, Chen YH, Ding HL (2016) The interactive narration of Chinese shadow play. In: international conference on virtual reality and visualization. IEEE, Hangzhou, China, pp 341–345. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICVRV.2016.63

    Book  Google Scholar 

  13. Yao C, Xiao J, Guo TQ, Xia L (2010) Real-time digitised shadow play performance method based on multi-point interactive controlling method. Int J Comput Appl Technol Res 38(1):86–92. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijcat.2010.034142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhang MM, Chen X, Pan ZG (2004) Interaction study of digital shadow play using the Kinect. In: SIGGRAPH Asia 2014, Shenzhen, China, 2014. doi:https://doi.org/10.1145/2668975.2669006

  15. Zhu YB, Li CJ, Shen IF, Ma K-L, Stompel A (2003) A new form of traditional art: visual simulation of Chinese shadow play. In: ACM SIGGRAPH, vol 2003. Sketches and Applications, San Diego, California, p 2003. https://doi.org/10.1145/965400.965458

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Science and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Teng Li & Weiqun Cao

  2. Engineering Research Center for Forestry-oriented Intelligent Information Processing of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing, 100083, China

    Teng Li & Weiqun Cao

Authors
  1. Teng Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Weiqun Cao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Weiqun Cao.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, T., Cao, W. Research on a method of creating digital shadow puppets based on parameterized templates. Multimed Tools Appl 80, 20403–20422 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-021-10726-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-021-10726-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation