With the technological boom brought by motion capture systems for the development of live animation, new forms of application are appearing and of course, new forms of entertainment. The company ITE – Interactive Television Entertainment, has been developing for some time, its AMS system (Animation Mask System). It is a technology that has its origin in the production of video games, which has the ability, for example, to record the movements of the face through sensors and store the images in a graphics processing station. All this happens in real time.
These systems, added with software applications for modeling 2D and 3D images, fulfill the specific task of providing a series of data in coherence that give the possibility of accurately moving the models that represent the human body or any of its parts and the movements that they can perform.
The ITE system is a system composed of a plastic helmet, a remote control box and a hardware module. The helmet is suitable with a complex system of sensors that allow it to "read" the facial expressions of the wearer.
The sensors are responsible for transporting the expressions of the person's face directly to the animated character. At the same time the person can make use of an operating lever (joystick) on the remote control to manage eye and head movements. These different motion controls mean that the animated character actually comes to life.
In Colombia, a local channel in the city of Santafé de Bogotá, CANAL CAPITAL, brought this system to make HUGO the central character of the program. The program is carried out by the Cigala Consortium, programmer of the children's space FRANJA METRO, in which HUGO is the protagonist.
HUGO is a young Troll, one of the most recognized characters in the world of children's TV created by this company. Using technology offered by ITE that involves live motion capture, HUGO communicates with viewers and allows for an interactive play space in which children help him in his purpose of freeing his girlfriend Hugolina and his little nephews Rat, Rit and Ruth.
The director of the air broadcast of the METRO STRIP, Juan Germán de la Concha, says that "the secret to the success that HUGO has achieved among children is the possibility they have to talk and play with him during the live broadcast. It is a character that exists in the reality of children with whom they can communicate and share a game of prizes and obstacles that can also be enjoyed by viewers."
Now the technology allows these new possibilities of interactivity in which different techniques are mixed such as motion capture through personal computers, the design and production of video games, telephone networks and television transmissions.
Children's participation is achieved through telephone communications. For each of the games, there are different operating options to which numbers are assigned that correspond to the numerical options of the telephone device.
The real possibility of interactivity happens in this way. It is not a very viable project for a channel of greater coverage. This would imply the availability of a toll-free telephone line and the high costs of operating an interactive video game through long-distance telephone service. However, it is worth considering the possibility offered by the new Internet video transmission (streaming) technology for this purpose.
Meanwhile, HUGO will continue to try by all means interactive and the help of children, to save his beloved and his little nephews. "It is a good example that combines the use of technology, the resource of the television medium and a creative concept with clear pedagogical approaches, and that, in addition, does not forget at any time the fun," added Creative Director Alejandro Gómez.
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