ARray - An augmented reality and pre-visualisation tool for the costume industry

ARray - 服装行业的增强现实和预可视化工具

• 批准号: AH/Y005813/1
• 负责人: Andrew Lavender
• 金额: $ 5.22万
• 依托单位: Guildhall School of Music and Drama
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FY005813%2F1
• 关键词: ARray; augmented; reality; pre; visualisation

In 2022, the Production Arts Department at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama successfully applied to the AHRC's Creative Capabilities & Research Fund (CResCa), securing over £900,000 to purchase cutting-edge digital equipment, namely SmartStage Pro XR Stage, Holosys Volumetric Capture Suite, and BlackTrax Realtime tracking. This equipment has enabled the Department to develop a credible XR (Extended Reality) studio that includes a high-quality volumetric capture system with fully integrated hardware and software necessary to allow for motion capture of people and objects in 'six degrees of freedom' (6DoF) ready for use in augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) and virtual production. As a result, the Department has become increasingly active in technology-driven and collaborative practice-based work across the commercial and research sectors. Ongoing work facilitated by CResCa includes 'A Mid-journey Night's Dream', a project that investigates the potential for AI scenography in the Shakespearian canon, using existing mainstream platforms and bespoke machine learning systems to design stages and costumes that are built in both physical and digital processes to create an immersive XR production. Whilst the benefits of digital technologies that allow broad and rapid ideation, sharing of ideas and the ability to prepare and visualise work for those of us working at the mise en scène end of production arts is clear, the use of digital tools for costume design is, at present, limited. During our work on 'A Mid-journey Night's Dream', for example, the School's costume lecturers have struggled to adapt to digital workflows due to a paucity of digital tools that can adequately reflect the physical demands of costume design e.g. the tactile nature of fabric, the importance of working with human bodies, the influence of lighting, and so on. Where online cataloguing of stage costumes or traditional physical costume archives exist, they tend to be basic and photographic, not capturing the 3D nature of the originals or their dynamic quality when they move. Moreover, whilst there are some similar tools on the market that provide digital solutions for costume design, such as 'Virtual Wardrobe' by Weta Digital (a software tool used to create digital costumes for films) and 'ClosetSpace' by Stylitics (a digital wardrobe organiser for personal use), there is it seems no tool that specifically addresses the needs of costume houses in streamlining the costume selection process and providing a digital platform for collaboration and experimentation. There is, therefore, a commercial need for a digital tool that can successfully integrate established working practices of costume designers with the digital workflows increasingly found elsewhere in the performing arts sector, not to mention other digital spectacle-based entertainments. This project has been conceived to support activities enhancing self-sustaining commercial impact on the UK's costume design industry arising from work funded by the Guildhall School of Music & Drama's successful application to the AHRC's Creative Research Capabilities Strand 1 (CResCa). Using cutting-edge technologies that enable motion capture of people and objects in 6DoF ready for use in AR and VR, Guildhall School researchers will collaborate with Angels Costumes (a leading UK-based costume design house that boasts the largest collection of theatre, television and film costumes in the world) to develop a prototype subscription-based digital costume library, initially of 100 items. This digital library will enable costume designers to view manipulate costumes virtually , without the need for the physical prototypes on which the costume design industry currently relies. The development of this digital library will address a significant gap in the commercial market - no equivalent resource currently exists - and will enhance the competitiveness of the UK's costume design industry.

2022年，Guildhall音乐与戏剧学院的生产艺术系成功地应用于AHRC的创意能力与研究基金会（CRESCA），获得了超过90万英镑的价格来购买尖端的数字设备，即Holosys Pro XR Stage，Holosys holosys bolumetric capentric Capentric Capture Suite和BlackTrax实时跟踪。该设备使该部门能够开发一个可靠的XR（扩展现实）工作室，其中包括一个具有完全集成的硬件和软件的高质量体积捕获系统，以允许在“六个自由度”（6DOF）（6DOF）（准备在增强和虚拟现实（AR和VR）和虚拟生产中进行运动捕获（6DOF）和虚拟生产。结果，该部门在整个商业和研究领域的基于技术驱动和协作的实践工作中变得越来越活跃。 Cresca准备的正在进行的工作包括“朱尼之夜中期的梦想”，该项目调查了莎士比亚佳能中AI场景的潜力，使用现有的主流平台和定制的机器学习系统来设计阶段和服装，这些阶段和服装都建立在物理和数字流程中，以创建沉浸式XR生产。尽管数字技术的好处允许广泛而快速的构想，共享思想以及为在Mise enscène生产端工作的人们准备和可视化工作的能力很明显，但目前使用数字工具来实现数字工具进行服装设计。例如，在我们在“朱尼晚上的梦想中”的工作中，由于缺乏数字工具的匮乏，学校的服装讲师一直在努力适应数字工作流，这些工具可以充分反映服装设计的物理需求，例如。面料的触觉性质，与人体合作的重要性，照明的影响等。如果存在舞台服装或传统物理服装档案的在线编目，则它们往往是基本的和摄影的，而不是捕获原件的3D性质或当它们移动时的动态质量。 Moreover, whilst there are some similar tools on the market that provide digital solutions for costume design, such as 'Virtual Wardrobe' by Weta Digital (a software tool used to create digital costumes for films) and 'ClosetSpace' by Stylitics (a digital wardrobe organiser for personal use), there is it seems no tool that specifically addresses the needs of costume houses in streamlining the costume selection process and providing a digital platform for collaboration and实验。因此，商业上需要一种数字工具，该工具可以成功地将既定的服装设计师的工作实践与表演艺术领域其他地方越来越多的数字工作流程相结合，更不用说其他基于数字奇观的娱乐。该项目已被构想为支持活动增强对英国服装设计行业的自我维持的商业影响，这是由Guildhall Music＆Drama学院成功应用于AHRC的AHRC创意研究能力Strand 1（Cresca）的工作。 Guildhall学校的研究人员使用尖端的技术可以在6DOF中进行运动捕获6DOF的动作捕获，将与Angels Costumes（一家英国领先的服装公司合作）（这是一家位于英国领先的服装设计室，拥有最大的剧院，电视和电影服装集合），以开发基于原型的数字化装库，最初是100件商品。该数字图书馆将使服装设计师能够虚拟地查看操纵服装，而无需使用现有服装设计行业的物理原型。该数字图书馆的开发将解决商业市场的重大差距 - 目前没有同等资源 - 将提高英国服装设计行业的竞争力。