Hand and Arm Gesture Research
The summer of 2007, I spent the majority of my time in Los Angelas interning at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI) with Stacy Marsella. Together we began to develop an abstract gesture, rule based system for virtual humans. My research focused on deconstructing abstract hand and arm gestures found in Western Cultures and reorganizing them into a set of gesture components which could then be put back together to create different abstract gestures. I began defining different individual gesture components such as, direction of movement, palm orientation, hand shape, shaping of space, and representation of the abstract object(s), and then combined the different gesture components together into single gestures with strong contextual meaning.
Much of the work is based on research conducted and published by Genevieve Calbris in her book "The Semiotics of French Gesture. " More specifically, Stacy Marsella and I looked at the gestures that Calbris defined as "gestures of time." Calbris refered to several abstract gestures that referred to different divisions and descriptions of time-based processes or events. I noticed that several Calbris's time-based gestures had similar characteristics, which she defined as "gesture components."
The two main gesture components looked at are 1. type of pathway and 2. use of delineation. These two gesture components were then broken down further into the following:
1. Type of pathway
- Leaps: Emphasis on specific points within the process of time, not a description of the process itself
- ex. "The show starts at at 5:00 pm and ends at 8:00 pm."
- Loops: Description of the process of time as being unclear, unfolding, flexible, indirect, uncontrollable, or having momentum
- ex. "We'll figure it out as we go."
- Straight Lines: Description of the process as being constant, strong, exact, or direct
- ex. "As you can see here, we have made a clear outline as to how we should continue this project.
- Circles: Description of the process as being endless, ceaseless, or continuous
- ex. "He just keeps going on and on about his son's new job."
2. Delineations
- Beginning: Some process or event having a specific starting point
- ex. "The party starts at 7:00pm and ends sometime later in the evening."
- Ending: Some process or event having a specific ending point
- ex. "I have to leave no later than noon."
- Middle: Some process having important events which occur within the process
- ex. "First we need to clean the counters, then wash the mirrors, and then sweep the hallway."
- No Delineation: No specific points in time, gesture is simply a description of the process
- ex. "Lets hang out sometime later this week."
Below are animated video clips created to demonstrate different combinations of pathway and delineation gesture components.
Straight pathway with delineation at the beginning
Straight pathway with delineation at the end
Straight pathway with delineation at the beginning and ending
Straight pathway with no delineation
Leap with delineation at the beginning
Leap with delineation at the ending
Leap with delineation at the beginning and ending