Procedural animation for glove puppet show

Abstract

Traditional Taiwanese glove puppet show is a unique form of performing art. We aim to use the aid of computer animation technologies to preserve this cultural heritage and create innovative ways of performance. By observing the demonstration of a puppet master, we analyse the characteristics of how a hand puppet is manipulated and design animation procedures mimicking the motion of a glove puppet. These procedures are implemented on a real-time animation platform for procedural animation. Through the system, we allow a user to perform glove puppet animation with high-level inputs. We hope that, with the help of this system, not only the art of manipulating a glove puppet can be systematically documented, but also the entry barrier for learning it can also be greatly reduced. Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.