This is Nicodemus, our first 3D character, developed for a 3D animated sign language test story that is based on the Biblical account in John 3:1-17. Nicodemus was also our test bed for the development of a common structure or “rig” that allows any character’s movements to be driven by the output of motion capture. A primary goal during character development has been the natural motion of skeleton, ‘muscles’, and skin; even the clothing is designed to follow the character with natural fluid motions. We have focused on accomplishing “photo realism” in skin, hair and other external details, at the same time making tradeoffs to keep the complexity of the character reasonable during final production rendering.

This character is the Apostle John, a fisherman who followed Jesus, and the author of the Gospel of John. John is the narrator of our sign language test story from John 3:1-17. The John character has been built using the same techniques as the Nicodemus character, allowing either character to be ‘driven’ by a common motion capture source video.

This courtyard image is just a small part of the temple complex in Jerusalem at the time of Christ. When completed this 3D model will include the entire temple structure and the walled city of Jerusalem. This 3D ‘set’ will provide a historically representative backdrop as context for many of New Testament accounts of Jesus’ ministry.

The motion capture system is the most complex part of the WordSign suite of tools. This image shows the capture editor, displaying a source video and the automatic tracking of ‘markers’ placed on the wrists and shoulders. The workflow starts with recording the signing of a story, followed by the editing and clean up of the results of automatic image tracking, and then the export of the motions file to Autodesk Maya, an industry standard 3D animation production environment. The WordSign project is also developing special editing functions that are tailored to sign language production, as plug-in modules for Maya.