Physically-based virtual glove puppet

Abstract

Glove puppetry in Taiwan is a popular performing art. In this paper, we present a physically-based virtual glove puppet system which simulates the dynamics of glove puppet and allows user to interactively observe and manipulate the motion of the virtual puppet. With physics simulation techniques, we can generate realistic motion of the virtual puppet with high-level inputs. In our system, the puppet is modeled as a multi-body object with many degrees of freedom among parts. The physical simulation of the puppet clothes is controlled by a mesh, which is used to define a set of particles and limitations among them. Furthermore, we apply texture and normal maps to clothes to enrich the appearance. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our system by showing a plausible running motion of the virtual glove puppet and various styles of puppet costume in our system. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.