The goal of this project is to determine if tools that are designed to support spontaneity and embodiment can increase user creativity. Spontaneity and embodiment are key components of creative work in the arts, particularly in the ideation and exploration phases, but have been poorly supported in software. There is good evidence that their inclusion in computer tools has the potential to significantly increase creativity. In order to test this hypothesis, novel new computational tools will be developed for interactive sketching and animation. Two applications will be targeted: One, a system for free-form drawing and animation, allows users to interactively sculpt 3D images by moving tracked markers through space. These drawings can then be immediately animated by grabbing handles that are automatically fit to them and dragging these with 3D gestures. The second application will provide a more narrowly defined task: controlling the style of a walking animation. The user will be able to do this by making spatial gestures to define the parameters in a walking model. Both of these applications will be designed and evaluated to support spontaneity and embodiment.
This work benefits society through the discovery of new insights into creativity and by the creation of new computer artifacts that support creative production. Members of the performance community will be included in the research, leading to cross-fertilization with a group not normally involved in technology development. Results will be published broadly and the research will also be demonstrated to the public through a theatre production, along with the press coverage likely to result from that. Both undergraduate and graduate students will participate in the research, including members of underrepresented groups, such as women. The results of the work will also be included in courses in computer science and digital production.
For many years, our interaction with computers was dominated by the mouse and keyboard. This restricted computer use to a situation where people were normally seated and all interaction was performed through their fingers and limited arm movement. With the emergence of new devices like the Kinect and optical tracking systems, it is possible to interact with computers in more embodied ways, but does this provide a benefit? Many creative practices rely on more embodied approaches to explore ideas, so it is reasonable to expect that such interaction patterns might also enhance creativity in computer tool use. Creativity is the driver of problem solving and new idea creation that underlies innovation, so enhancing people’s ability to be creative has the potential for significant economic impact. This grant explored how well more embodied, 3D interfaces can support creativity. For one study, an embodied animation interface was developed and users rated its performance on a set of creativity support factors. Results indicate that it was effective in increasing factors related to creativity. Other work included comparative studies of more embodied, 3D interfaces with desktop interfaces as well as small volume interfaces that required limited movement and large volume interfaces that require more movement and greater embodiment. Tasks included drawing, editing and animation. Results again support that embodied interfaces increase factors related to creativity. Further study is warranted to gain a deeper understanding of the size and impact of this effect. Another project developed a system for obtaining more accurate data from data gloves, which allows high degree of freedom, finger based input to be used in embodied interfaces. In terms of broader impacts, the work questions the current design and deployment of software tools. Understanding how user embodiment and spontaneity can increase effectiveness during ideation will lead to new types of software tools with very different interaction patterns. In turn, these can increase the creativity support provided by computer tools.
