Introduction
Welcome back, everyone! This week's updates have a common thread that’s been sitting at the forefront of my mind: progress isn’t always linear. Sometimes, we encounter roadblocks that force us to change plans or approach problems from new angles—but those moments also bring opportunities to learn and adapt. Let me take you along on the ups and downs of this week.
Small Person in a Big World
This week, I cleaned up some motion capture data from our previous session—specifically, the part where our actor is falling through the air. It was interesting to see just how much you can change an actor's performance in post-production. Our actor was being held up by two assistants, which meant his arms were in awkward positions during the capture. Thankfully, with the help of control rigs, I adjusted his arms to make it look like he was holding a leaf parachute, gliding gracefully to the ground. It honestly turned out way better than I expected.
I also got deeper into learning constraints in MotionBuilder. Constraints are pretty cool—they let you impose limits from one object onto another, like locking positions together or ensuring one object doesn’t move past another. This turned out to be super useful, especially for speeding up the workflow: I did the motions on one side of the actor’s body and then used constraints to mirror them on the other side. Talk about efficient problem-solving!
VR Ballroom App
If you had told me at the start of this semester that I’d be doing a ton of motion capture, I would’ve been pumped for my motion capture class—but then, if you’d added that most of it would be for my VR class, I would’ve stared at you in confusion. Yet, here we are! Continuing to develop ballroom mixed-reality content has meant... well, a lot of motion capture.
This week, I was back in my comfort zone: coding. I worked on the architecture of the app to dynamically shift between different dance moves, which will allow users to create their own combinations rather than following a set choreography. Unity's
Blending system made this possible, along with some clever use of integer-based parameters. I also streamlined a way to create lessons directly in-editor. The current lesson format looks like this: instructor introduction → individual practice with the instructor → practicing with a partner at half speed, then full speed → and ending with closing remarks from the instructor. I think this format is really promising for people wanting to learn ballroom dancing step-by-step.
Algorithmic Rhythm
"Try, try again" pretty much sums up this week for the Algorithmic Rhythm project. After the early stages of research went smoothly, I hit a series of unexpected roadblocks that forced me to pivot—a lot.
Initially, I planned to do a comparative analysis of prototypes using both the AR51 real-time motion capture system and the Quest Pro's full-body tracking. Things went sideways when I discovered (thanks to Jeremy and some trial and error) that AR51 can't run in-editor with the Quest headset and has to be deployed to the headset instead—which doesn’t work with our current network setup. So, I had to scrap the comparative analysis since I can't run AR51's full-body tracking on VR right now.
With that setback, I switched to exploring the Quest Pro's API for full-body tracking. After several tutorials and attempts, I got it working… only to find out that Meta's "full-body tracking" doesn’t actually track the legs, just the hands, arms, and torso. It uses inverse kinematics to estimate leg positions, which means things like lifting your leg aren’t accurately tracked. So, another pivot—I had to abandon my original plan for full-body prototypes on the Quest Pro.
Right now, I’m brainstorming new ideas. I might explore the different real-time tracking options available (full-body, hand, eye, facial) since all of these are covered by at least one of our devices. Or I could try to find an alternative method for full-body tracking with the Quest Pro. One thing I’ve learned this week: progress might be a winding path, but it’s still progress. When one plan fails, you adjust and keep moving forward.
Lessons in History
This week in our history class, we had David Staley give a talk about being a historian. Honestly, I went in pretty skeptical. I usually only dig into history that’s related to games or dance, so I wasn’t sure how interesting the research side of history would be. But I have to say—he was one of the best speakers I’ve heard in a long time.
One of the things that stuck with me was his point about how historians don’t really study "the past." Instead, they study what remains of it. It’s not like there’s a perfect record of events—instead, historians have to piece things together from what’s left: sometimes helpful, sometimes contradictory, sometimes downright confusing. It really highlighted the detective aspect of history for me. I also learned that historians make contributions in three ways: enhancing understanding of existing work, offering alternative viewpoints, or uncovering entirely new information. There’s no point in just validating what’s already known—it’s all about new perspectives or discoveries.
Closing Remarks
If there's one theme to take away from this week, it's that progress isn't always straightforward. Sometimes you have to pivot, rework your approach, or even start over from scratch—and that’s completely okay. As long as you keep moving, you're still progressing. Thanks for coming along with me on this journey—I’ll see you all next week!
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