Physical World to Virtual Reality – Motion Capture Technology in Dance Creation

Abstract

After more than 100 years of development, motion capture technology has been advanced greatly. In the initial stage, the motion capture technology was only capable of capturing a rough range of body movements. But now it is sensitive enough to capture the movement of the whole body. Motion capture technology has also been developed into different types: optical and non-optical systems including inertial, magnetic, and mechanical. There are also hybrid and depth sensing camera-based systems. Nowadays, with the combination of the technology and arts, computer software and internet technology have become a new territory for dance performance. Motion capture plays an increasingly important role in dance creation. Meanwhile, the combination of motion capture and virtual reality technology enables the audience to freely choose different viewing angles and moving positions in a totally virtual space, which can present stronger sense of tension and cultivate more immersive experience than live dance performances do. On the Internet, virtual reality dance theaters connect dance performers and audiences from different geographical spaces. The virtual reality dance heaters build up virtual performance venues, paralleling with the real theater performance in the physical world.