Portfolio - Gerard Morris
Below are the abstracts for two papers which I wrote while taking part in the Professional Masters in Games Development. Should you want to see the full paper to read then please feel free to contact me and I shall forward it on.
Title: Using the Kinect as a cheaper alternative to performing Facial Motion Capture.
Abstract: To this day many CGI characters that are created when not moving look fine but in motion are not quiet right. This is known as the Uncanny Valley. This is why Motion Capture is used, to give something that isn’t human, lifelike human qualities. The quality of what can be done with Motion Capture can be seen in many different examples such as Gollum in Lord of the Rings, the Navi in Avatar, all the Facial Animations of LA Noire and many other examples. When it is done right the quality of what is being made is much more life like and appealing to an audience in general. But the toughest body part in particular to generate is the face. One of the key ways that both the movie and games industry get past this problem is Facial Motion Capture. But this is usually only an option to the bigger companies due to expense. This paper explores the reasons why Facial Motion Capture is used, the different approaches to do it and this leads to the paper proposing a cheap alternative way for smaller companies to perform basic Facial Motion Capture using only the Kinect and open source computer vision software. Sample software was created using these pieces of technology and algorithms were explored for performing the set tasks, these are all discussed and as the paper shows the Kinect is a viable option for basic Facial Motion Capture and it is an option that many smaller companies should explore.
Abstract: To this day many CGI characters that are created when not moving look fine but in motion are not quiet right. This is known as the Uncanny Valley. This is why Motion Capture is used, to give something that isn’t human, lifelike human qualities. The quality of what can be done with Motion Capture can be seen in many different examples such as Gollum in Lord of the Rings, the Navi in Avatar, all the Facial Animations of LA Noire and many other examples. When it is done right the quality of what is being made is much more life like and appealing to an audience in general. But the toughest body part in particular to generate is the face. One of the key ways that both the movie and games industry get past this problem is Facial Motion Capture. But this is usually only an option to the bigger companies due to expense. This paper explores the reasons why Facial Motion Capture is used, the different approaches to do it and this leads to the paper proposing a cheap alternative way for smaller companies to perform basic Facial Motion Capture using only the Kinect and open source computer vision software. Sample software was created using these pieces of technology and algorithms were explored for performing the set tasks, these are all discussed and as the paper shows the Kinect is a viable option for basic Facial Motion Capture and it is an option that many smaller companies should explore.
Title: Videogame Narratives, a platform for games designers to express their own personal experiences.
Abstract: The games industry strives for innovation but as can be seen, the video game industry continued its dismal run for the second straight year, with software sales down 6% year over year in 2010 to $18.58 billion. People want something new and unique. This paper shall discuss how a games designer can use what is happening in their own lives to help create something truly unique in a video game. After all what is more unique than a person’s life. Topics ranging from changing gamer demographics, life experiences and the maturity of the games industry shall all be discussed with examples throughout. This paper aims to show that the type of games people want is changing and the way to meet what these people want has to change too.
Abstract: The games industry strives for innovation but as can be seen, the video game industry continued its dismal run for the second straight year, with software sales down 6% year over year in 2010 to $18.58 billion. People want something new and unique. This paper shall discuss how a games designer can use what is happening in their own lives to help create something truly unique in a video game. After all what is more unique than a person’s life. Topics ranging from changing gamer demographics, life experiences and the maturity of the games industry shall all be discussed with examples throughout. This paper aims to show that the type of games people want is changing and the way to meet what these people want has to change too.
