Understanding, Transforming, and Preserving Movement in Digital Spaces

EYEBEAM EXCHANGE
Understanding, Transforming, and Preserving Movement in Digital Spaces with LaJuné McMillian
Saturday, May 18, 2019
11:00AM-4:00PM

This event is sold out.

In the past few years, access to motion capture data, 3D base models, and software to “make an animation of yourself” has skyrocketed. From MakeHuman to Mixamo to CMU’s motion capture database, the ability to make and finish polished projects has become easier for many. While these resources are extremely helpful to create a range of projects, they lack tools to create diverse characters and movements unexplored by systems that center assumptions of neutrality.

The Black Movement Project (BMP) is an online database of Black motion capture data and Black character base models. BMP is a tool for activists, performers & artists to create diverse XR projects, a space to research how and why we move, and an archive of Black existence. We live in a world where Black existence is hypervisible, exploited, surveilled, and dehumanized. The Black Movement Project seeks to help Black performers connect to their bodies in a mental, physical, and spiritual way through use of digital media.

This workshop will introduce participants to the DIY 3D community. We will go over questions including “Who’s making in this space? How are they making?” and “Who is left out of the community due to a lack of resources?” Attendees will learn and create using current “accessible” motion capture and modeling technology, and will brainstorm ways to make the technology serve diverse communities/bodies in their needs and differences.

In this full-day workshop students will:
• Receive an introduction to motion capture, rigging, and modeling tools.
• Learn how to import characters with animation to enhance virtual environments.
• Discuss and brainstorm ways to make motion-capture technology more inclusive.

VR-ready laptops will be provided for working in pairs, but if you would like to bring your own, please let us know by emailing [email protected] with the subject line: Motion Capture Workshop.

Refreshments and light snacks will be available throughout the day.

About the facilitator:
LaJuné McMillian is a new media artist, and creative technologist creating art that integrates performance, virtual reality, and physical computing to question our current forms of communication. They are the creator of The Black Movement Project (BMP) and are a current Eyebeam resident. LaJuné has had the opportunity to show and speak about their work at Pioneer Works, National Sawdust, Leaders in Software and Art, Creative Tech Week, and Weird Reality. They were the Character Animator for NeuroSpeculative Afrofeminism which premiered at Sundance in 2017. LaJuné was previously the Director of Skating at Figure Skating in Harlem, where they integrated STEAM and Figure Skating to teach girls of color about movement and technology.