Another Shadow

The shadow of a guest on the wall starts moving on its own as if it is alive.

The goal of this project is to create an innovative interactive experience by blurring the boundary between real and virtual. The technical innovation is silhouette extraction using an infrared camera and a shape-deformation technique that does not include an explicit skeleton. Many silhouette-extraction techniques use background subtraction with a blue screen. Another Shadow combines a motion-capture camera with retro-reflective cloth for this purpose. This makes the vision process much easier and works very reliably without much calibration. Standard shape-deformation methods embed a skeleton in a shape and move the skeleton. Another Shadow does not use a skeleton and directly deforms the shape as if it is a rubber sheet. The system applies several control points to the shape and applies predefined movements to them.

A modified shadow is projected on the wall, where it moves on its own - swinging its hands and nodding its head.  Eventually, the silhouette disappears, and another shadow appears.  The result is an entertaining experience that provokes reflection on the relationship between the real and virtual worlds.

Takeo Igarashi 
The University of Tokyo/JST ERATO

Hisato Ogata 
Leading Edge Design