Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real-time by computers. It is most commonly used in film and television production, but has also been utilized in interactive theme park attractions and live
theatreTheatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion...
.
The exact definition of what is and is not digital puppetry is subject to debate within the puppetry and
computer graphicsComputer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of pictorial data by a computer....
communities, but it is generally agreed that digital puppetry differs from conventional
computer animationComputer animation is the art of creating moving images with the use of computers. It is a subfield of computer graphics and animation. Increasingly it is created by means of 3D computer graphics, though 2D computer graphics are still widely used for stylistic, low bandwidth, and faster real-time...
in that it involves performing characters in real time, rather than animating them frame by frame.
Digital puppetry is closely associated with
motion captureMotion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement onto a digital model. Initially invented in Scotland, it is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications...
technologies and 3D animation. Digital puppetry is also know as Virtual Puppetry, Performance Animation, Living Animation, Live Animation or Realtime Animation (although the latter also refers to the animation generated by computer game engines).
MachinimaMachinima is the use of real-time three-dimensional graphics rendering engines to generate computer animation. The term also refers to works that incorporate this animation technique...
is another form of digital puppetry and Machinima performers are increasingly being identified as puppeteers.
Early experiments
One of the earliest pioneers of digital puppetry was Lee Harrison III. He conducted experiments in the early 1960s that animated figures using analog circuits and a cathode ray tube. Harrison rigged up a body suit with potentiometers and created the first working motion capture rig, animating 3D figures in real-time on his CRT screen. He made several short films with this system, which he called ANIMAC
Waldo C. Graphic
Perhaps the first truly commercially successful example of a digitally animated figure being performed and rendered in real-time is
Waldo C. GraphicWaldo C. Graphic is a computer-generated puppet character who appeared in the movie Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D and the television series The Jim Henson Hour. He was performed by Steve Whitmire...
, a character created in 1988 by
Jim HensonJames Maury "Jim" Henson , was one of the most widely known puppeteers in American history. He was the creator of The Muppets...
and Pacific Data Images for the Muppet television series
The Jim Henson HourThe Jim Henson Hour was a short-lived television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the popular Muppet characters.- Format :...
. Henson had been trying to create computer generated puppets as early as 1985 and Waldo grew out of experiments Henson conducted to create a computer generated version of his character
Kermit the FrogKermit the Frog is one of puppeteer Jim Henson's most famous Muppet creations, first introduced in 1955. Kermit was performed by Henson until his death in 1990. Since then he has been performed by Steve Whitmire. He was voiced by Frank Welker in Muppet Babies and occasionally in animation...
.
Waldo's strength as a computer generated puppet was that he could be controlled by a single puppeteer (
Steve WhitmireSteve Whitmire is a puppeteer with The Jim Henson Company and Sesame Workshop. He has been the performer of two signature Muppets - Kermit the Frog and Sesame Street's Ernie - since the passing of their creator, Jim Henson, in 1990. Characters original to Whitmire include Rizzo the Rat, Lips...
) in real-time in concert with conventional puppets. The computer image of Waldo was mixed with the video feed of the camera focused on physical puppets so that all of the puppeteers in a scene could perform together. (It was already standard Muppeteering practice to use monitors while performing, so the use of a virtual puppet did not significantly increase the complexity of the system.) Afterwards, in post production, PDI re-rendered Waldo in full resolution, adding a few dynamic elements on top of the performed motion.
Waldo C. Graphic can be seen today in
Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3DJim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D is an attraction found at Disney's Hollywood Studios, part of the Walt Disney World Resort, and at Disney's California Adventure Park, part of the Disneyland Resort.- Premise :...
at the
Disney's Hollywood StudiosDisney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. Spanning 135 acres in size, its theme is show business, drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s...
and
Disney's California AdventureDisney's California Adventure Park is a theme park in Anaheim, California, adjacent to Disneyland Park and part of the larger Disneyland Resort. It opened on February 8, 2001...
theme parks.
Mike Normal
Another significant development in digital puppetry in 1988 was Mike Normal, which Brad DeGraf and partner Michael Wahrman developed to show off the real-time capabilities of
Silicon GraphicsSilicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark and Abbey Silverstone...
' then-new 4D series workstations. Unveiled at the 1988
SIGGRAPHSIGGRAPH is the name of the annual conference on computer graphics convened by the ACM SIGGRAPH organization. The first SIGGRAPH conference was in 1974. The conference is attended by tens of thousands of computer professionals...
convention, it was the first live performance of a digital character. Mike was a sophisticated talking head driven by a specially built controller that allowed a single puppeteer to control many parameters of the character's face, including mouth, eyes, expression, and head position.
The system developed by deGraf/Wahrman to perform Mike Normal was later used to create a representation of the villain Cain in the motion picture
RoboCop 2RoboCop 2 is a 1990 cyberpunk film set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. It is the sequel to the 1987 film RoboCop.-Plot:...
, which is believed to be the first example of digital puppetry being used to create a character in a full-length motion picture.
Trey StokesTrey Stokes is an American filmmaker and puppeteer, best known for his Star Wars parody series Pink Five, and his puppeteering work on various movie, TV, and motion-ride projects....
was the puppeteer for both Mike Normal's SIGGRAPH debut and
Robocop II.
Ratz
In 1994, the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
introduced a live digital puppet cat called Ratz, in the TV show
Live & KickingLive & Kicking was a BBC Saturday morning children's magazine programme, running from 1993 to 2001. The fourth in a succession of Saturday morning shows, it was the replacement for Going Live!, and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, comedy, competitions and the showing of...
. He became the first real-time rendered digital puppet to appear on live TV. He also co-presented Children's BBC, and was eventually given his own show, RatzRun.
Electronic Marionette
Zaven ParéZaven Paré is a French new media artist who was born in 1961. He met Piotr Kowalski and Nicolas Schöffer from 1981 to 1983, and exposed his first bionic structure the same year in the Modern Art Museum of Paris...
designed in 1996, his first electronic
marionetteA marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires, formerly strings but dropped due to increased durability of wires; a marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control...
for stage from a source of video retro-projection for the Canadian director Denis Marleau. This experiment was followed in 1999 by a
digitalA digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...
version, controlled by a keyboard, for the show which he directed at the Performing Arts department in CalArts (Californian Institute of the Arts). In 2002, he projected the analogic version of the electronic marionette, controlled by voice, this time for the french author Valère Novarina at the
Festival d'AvignonThe Festival d'Avignon, or Avignon Festival, is an annual arts festival held in French city of Avignon. Founded in 1947 by Jean Vilar, it is the oldest extant festival in France and one of the world's greatest...
.
Cave Troll and Gollum on "The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of The Ring" (2001)
In 2000,
Ramon RiveroRamon Rivero is a pioneer of Performance animation using Realtime Optical Motion Capture for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ....
was the first person to perform a digital puppet using Optical Motion Capture against pre-recorded action footage of a feature film. The character was the Cave Troll on the first episode of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The motion capture technology was created by Biomechanics Inc in Atlanta (now Giant Studios), Ramon's ideas contributed to enhancements to the technology, directly related to markering systems; virtual feedback of footage and computerised versions of the film sets; as well as the retargeting software called CharMapper (short for Character Mapper). Although the final footage was made with keyframe animation, a few seconds of Ramon's original performance can still be appreciated in the film. The character Gollum, tested by Ramon but performed by Andy Serkis, was also made with the same technology and is still considered the epitome of a virtual character in the film industry. Contrary to the Cave Troll, most of the animation of Gollum made it to the final footage using the original motion captured performance.
Bugs Live
A more recent example of digital puppetry from 2003 is "Bugs Live", a digital puppet of
Bugs BunnyBugs Bunny is a fictional character who appears in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of animated films produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions, which became Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1945. In 2002, he was named by TV Guide as the greatest cartoon character of all time, an honor he shares...
created by Phillip Reay for Warner Brothers Pictures. The puppet was created using hand drawn frames of animation that were puppeteered by Bruce Lanoil and David Barclay. The Bugs Live puppet was used to create nearly 900 minutes of live, fully interactive interviews of 2D animated Bugs character about his role in the movie
Looney Tunes: Back in ActionLooney Tunes: Back in Action is a 2003 live-action/animated hybrid film that tells the story of a hapless stuntman, DJ Drake , who stumbles his way into a plot to possess a mysterious blue diamond in the course of rescuing his famous actor father...
in English and Spanish. Bugs Live also appeared at the 2004 SIGGRAPH Digital Puppetry Special Session with the Muppet puppet
GonzoGonzo is a puppet character, one of Jim Henson's Muppets. He was developed and performed by Dave Goelz. The character made his first appearance in a 1970 Christmas special entitled "The Great Santa Claus Switch". Known as a "Whatever" , he is considered one of The Frackles...
.
Disney theme parks
Walt Disney ImagineeringWalt Disney Imagineering was formed by entertainment mogul Walt Disney on December 16, 1952 as WED Enterprises to develop plans for a theme park and to manage Disney's personal assets. It was an independent, private company, owned by Walt Disney himself, but on February 3, 1965, was merged into...
has also been an important innovator in the field of digital puppetry, developing new technologies as part of its "Living Character Initiative" in Disney theme parks. In 2004 they used digital puppetry techniques to create the
Turtle Talk with CrushTurtle Talk with Crush is an interactive attraction that has appeared at several of the Disney theme parks. It first opened on November 16, 2004 at "The Seas with Nemo & Friends" pavilion at Epcot, and was duplicated at Disney's California Adventure in July 2005...
attractions at
EpcotEpcot is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. The park is dedicated to international culture and technological innovation. The second park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1982 and was named EPCOT Center until 1994....
and
Disney's California AdventureDisney's California Adventure Park is a theme park in Anaheim, California, adjacent to Disneyland Park and part of the larger Disneyland Resort. It opened on February 8, 2001...
. In the attraction, a hidden puppeteer performs and voices a digital puppet of Crush, the laid-back sea turtle from
Finding NemoFinding Nemo is a American CGI animated film. It was written by Andrew Stanton, directed by Stanton and Lee Unkrich and produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios...
, on a large rear-projection screen. To the audience Crush appears to be swimming inside an aquarium and engages in unscripted, real-time conversations with theme park guests.
Disney Imagineering continued its use of digital puppetry with the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, a new attraction in
TomorrowlandTomorrowland is one of the many themed lands at the five "Magic Kingdom-style" theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions that depict views of the future...
at Walt Disney World's
Magic KingdomThe Magic Kingdom is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort. The first park built at the resort, it opened on October 1, 1971. The park saw an estimated 17 million visitors in 2008, making it the most visited theme park in the world....
, which opened in the spring of 2007. Guests temporarily enter the "monster world" introduced in Disney and
Pixar'sPixar Animation Studios is a CGI animation production company based in Emeryville, California, United States. To date, the studio has earned twenty-two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, and three Grammys, among many other awards, acknowledgments and achievements. It is one of the most critically...
2001 film,
Monsters, Inc.Monsters, Inc. is a 2001 computer animated comedy film and the fourth feature-length film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It was directed by Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, and David Silverman; and was written by Jack W...
, where they are entertained by Mike Wazowski and other monster comedians who are attempting to capture laughter, which they convert to energy. Much like Turtle Talk, the puppeteers interact with guests in real-time, just as a real-life comedian would interact with his/her audience.
Disney also uses digital puppetry techniques in
Stitch EncounterStitch Encounter is an interactive show located in Tomorrowland at Hong Kong Disneyland. A similar attraction, under the name "Stitch Live!", is located inside Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Resort Paris....
, which opened in 2006 at the
Hong Kong DisneylandHong Kong Disneyland is the first theme park inside the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort and is owned and managed by the Hong Kong International Theme Parks, an incorporated company jointly owned by The Walt Disney Company and the Government of Hong Kong....
park. Disney has another version of the same attraction in
Disneyland Resort ParisDisneyland Paris is a holiday and recreation resort in Marne-la-Vallée, a new town in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. The complex is located from the centre of Paris and lies for the most part on the territory of the commune of Chessy....
called Stitch Live!
Hilda The Goat
In 2008, Hilda The Goat debuted at the
BookExpo AmericaBookExpo America is the largest annual book trade fair in the United States. BEA is almost always held in a major city over four days in late May and/or early June...
to support the children’s book -
Cole Family Christmasand the charity
ReadAloud.org. Created by Daniele Colajacomo and
3Dsite presents Living Pictures Inc., Hilda was powered by a flexible graphics computer which rendered HD quality animation in real time. Utilizing Waldo puppetry, the puppeteer/voice actor was able to control live movement across 3 dimensions and manipulate facial emotions while real time lip-synching automatically matched the words of Hilda to the puppeteer. In 2008, Hilda spent the year on tour promoting reading at book fares and schools before finding a home at the Black Bear Jamboree in
Pigeon Forge, TennesseePigeon Forge is a city in Sevier County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 5,083....
Types of digital puppetry
Waldo puppetry - A digital puppet is controlled onscreen by a puppeteer who uses a telemetric input device connected to the computer. The X-Y-Z axis movement of the input device causes the digital puppet to move correspondingly. A keyboard, mouse or joystick-like device is sometimes used in place of a telemetric control.
Motion capture puppetry (mocap puppetry) or Performance Animation - An object (puppet) or human body is used as a physical representation of a digital puppet and manipulated by a puppeteer. The movements of the object or body are matched correspondingly by the digital puppet in real-time.
Machinima - A production technique that can be used to perform digital puppets. Machinima involves creating
computer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
(CGI) using the low-end 3D engines in video games. Players act out scenes in real-time using characters and settings within a game and the resulting footage is recorded and later edited in to a finished film.
External links
- The Henson Digital Puppetry Wiki - Wiki for Henson Digital Puppetry projects, people, characters, and technology.
- Machin-X: Digital Puppetry - Discussion of theories, tools and applications of digital puppetry as well as news from the digital puppetry community.
- Mike the talking head - Web page about Mike Normal, one of the earliest examples of digital puppetry.
- http://www.digipuppet.tw - Interactive technology into Taiwanese puppet.
- The Digital Puppeteer - CHOPS & Assoc. Live Animation, Gary Jesch - Provider of Live animation shows and custom characters for tradeshow, corporate meetings, special events, theme parks and TV shows