Identification of Motion Features Affecting Perceived Rhythmic Sense of Virtual Characters through Comparison of Latin American and Japanese Dances

Abstract

Physical motion features that cause a difference in the perceived rhythmic sense of a dancer were identified. We compared the rhythmical movements of Latin American and Japanese people to find such features. A 2-D motion capture system was used to measure rhythmical movement, and two motion features were identified. The first was the phase shift of the rotational angles between the hips and chest, and the second was the phase shift between the hips' rotational angle and horizontal position. A psychophysical study demonstrated whether these features affected the perceived rhythmic sense of a dancer. The results showed that both motion features significantly affected perceived sense, and one of them also affected how a viewer guessed the home country or area of a dancer. Consequently, the rhythmic sense of a virtual character can be controlled easily by adding and removing features to and from the character's synthesized motion.