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INTERACTIVE GLOVE PUPPET

Sample
PART 1-1

Sample
PART 1.1.1

Sample


PART 1.3

Sample


Puppet design

Important design elements

Modeling the head

This project is entirely based on an existing physical glove
puppet. Monkey King (Sun Wukong), is the main character
in the classical Chinese epic novel Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng'en. The puppet is used in the famous traditional Taiwanese puppetry called Budaisi. The elements of
the design with their limitations perfectly translate into the
three dimensional virtual stage.
The key difference between an animated character and a
real-time puppet is the way how they become alive. Animation is a background process and the animator “educates”
the character through various stages from the design to the
rigging. An animated character will accept all input and submit to the willpower of the creative spirit of the animator. The
physical puppet on the other hand develops an organic unity
with the puppeteer who grants humanity to it using his or
her hands. While the puppet completely depends on the
human body, it’s crafted identity only participates in a performance creating dual existence with the puppeteer and unlike in animation the puppet will educate the human.
While designing a virtual puppet we need to keep in mind
that the anatomical limitations are very important. Although
we have the power to transform seemingly lifeless materials
into virtual biological machines in 3D, we must be very careful not to break the mystery of the puppet that is only an object waiting for it’s metamorphosis.

- Texture
It is closely related to the material the puppet was made of.
The feel of the pattern in fabric, the lines in wood but even
things like scratches in plastic feel familiar to us and tell us if
the object is gigantic or miniature.

The modeling of the head in this case is done by focusing on
individual elements and breaking them down into components that are merged at the end of the process. The main
elements are: face, skull and the neck. The ears are never
visible therefore we skip them.

- Form
In the case of a glove puppet the form surrounds the human
hand similary how the clay wraps the wire armature in a
sculpture. The highest level of details should be developed
around the head and chest area where the puppeteer’s
hand is most active.

- Face
The face has three components which are the mouth, the
nose and the eye socket. Using the CV curve tool we trace
one side of the mouth starting from the inner line of the lips
and creating as many splines as necessary while progressively following the form towards the nose, cheeks and chin.
This process needs to be done simultaneously in front and
side views using a side by side layout in Maya.
Once the splines are ready we rebuild them all to equal number of spans.
Exactly same approach is used for the eye socket. The nose
needs to be traced with 4 simple splines starting from the
bridge of the nose on one side of the face.
Finally using the loft tool we build polygon geometry between
the splines. The nose contains four splines surrounding a
form therefore we use the boundary tool instead of loft.
The nostril is extruded from a single face.

- Shape
At the end of the day the virtual puppet even on a 3D stage
- is projected on a flat screen. The powerful and readable silhouette is a key element.

During the combining and merging process we use the softselection tool to move around parts that need subtle adjustments. There is a tricky part at the bridge of the nose where
the spin-edge tool can perfectly rearrange the edge-flow to
a desired direction.
- Neck
The neck is a simple cylinder primitive with the correct
amount of divisions to match the face. Using the soft-selection tool we adjust the vertices snap and merge them to the
chin.

PART 1.2

Extrude

Spin Edge

- Skull
To create the skull we can use a little trick by creating a
cube, deleting it’s bottom face and applying a smooth too increase the divisions. After this we can use the sculpt deformer to stretch the geometry on a sphere. With this method
we not only create quads but the distribution of the faces is
also very even and uniform from the start.

Cube

Mirrored and merged face

Cylinder

4

Copryright by Emil Polyak 2012

Sample
PART 1.4

5



Modeling parts, props

Simple breakdown
of a triangle into quads

After smoothing and
extruding the edge

Modeled with n-Cloth

Curves defining
four sided areas.

After combining
and merging
the pieces,
extrude the neck
and sculpt.

9

Emil Polyak

The puppet is a real-time character, it needs to perform in the
Maya’s Viewport 2.0 smoothly with an acceptable frame
rate. The mesh needs to be at optimal level which means
that round forms give the impression of smooth curvature
from a camera distance we plan to use. All models are done
without triangular or n-sided (more than 4 sided) faces.
Planning the texturing and UVs in this phase is essential to
avoid modeling parts that can simply exist as textures.
Without trying to cover modeling of each and every part of
the puppet the following subjects are discussed:
-

7


Sample
PART 1.2

Sample
PART 3.1




Designing a usable prototype

- Enclosures
The biggest challenge with choosing boxes is finding the right
size. We don’t want to make anything too big but we still
need to fit in lots of connector sockets and cables.
There are aluminum and plastic boxes available but
we need to keep in mind that for example a magnetometer sensor will not function correctly in a
metal box (Faraday cage).


- Cables
For the internal connections avoid using single strand wire
because it breaks very easily. The best choice is copper
wire.

Working prototype

Elements are slightly offseted and given a feeling of
dimension by lifting the centre edge loop by a very
small amount.

PART 3.1

The working prototype needs enclosures, standard cables
with connectors for basic modularity to be able to pull everything apart.

When the working prototype is optimized, the hardware is
hidden from the user and protected from accidental disconnections and damage. We consider the prototype usable
when others than the creator are able to test.

Extruding the border edge is a quick way to create
new geometry that flows around the original centre
piece.

Sample

Common materials used for a working prototypes are ducttape, velcro ties and straps, plastic cable ties, rainbow-colorcoded cable.

The purpose of a working prototype is to test concepts and
solutions. There is minimal amount of work dedicated to safe
connections, intuitive use and none to aesthetics or comfort.
The goal of the working prototype is to “prove”, no time
should be wasted on anything else.

- Models that receive transparency maps
Maya 2013 supports “depth peeling” in viewport 2.0. This
feature enables the use of transparency maps in realtime
without display problems such as flickering when objects
move. Transparency maps are used to “fake” details around
the edge of the model that would need substantial amount
of faces.

General tips for modeling
Models that receive transparency maps
Modeling from Illustrator curves
Using nCloth for modeling

- General tips for modeling
Modeling can be approached by many ways and there are
well established workflows in the 3D industry. Everyone can
choose a favorite direction that leads to a desired result. Although there are no rules of “doing it”, the finished product
must meet the given criteria.
In this case we model only from quads which means that
even a triangular shaped object like the flags behind the puppet’s head will be broken down into four sided elements
(faces). This process many times feels like a puzzle game,
and it is a great way for beginners to practice developing
edge flows and topology. The quad method is sometimes
challenging but it gives completely predictable result when
smoothed and it is easier to UV map these geometries. The
second criteria in this case is a uniform and even distribution
of faces avoiding long rectangulars.
The example of the shirt uses curves which were cut at the
intersections and then rebuilt for using the boundary tool.

8


The connection from the gloves use serial cables also called
DB-09 (RS422). These cables have 9 wires inside them
which is perfect for this project.

The elements with the transparency maps applied.


10

Usable prototype

9


The flex sensors inside the gloves connect using the same
types of cables that are internally used in the enclosures but
these are shrink-wrapped and protected with additional plastic pipes from a craft store. The connectors on these cables
are mono audio jacks of 3.5 mm size.


10

Wave in Motion
interactive installation (mechatronics)
Animates a wave segment inspired by multiplied sine waves of the ocean.
The interconnected mesh has a loose network, creating a textile that “floats’.
It represents human-nature-interaction.
The audience can interact using the black rocks.
By removing any of them the balance is interrupted and the wave becomes active.
The process was based on research and virtual prototyping of waves and ripples.

Emil Polyak - Creative work II

Commercial Demo Reel (video)

Emil Polyak - Creative work III

Client: Sorted

Client: Paramount Pictures

Producer: Yukfoo

Producer: Dsire

Director: Alan Dickson

Director: Dickon Sire

Character Technical Director: Emil Polyak

Animation: Emil Polyak

Client: SkySport

Client: La Luna

Producer: BrandSpank

Modelling, texturing: Emil Polyak

Director: Steve Thomson
Animation, modelling, texture, lighting,

Frogleone and the Fly

vfx, compositing: Emil Polyak

Personal Project.

Client: NZ Lottery

Client: Arnotts

Producer: Yukfoo

Producer: Yukfoo



Character Technical Director: Emil Polyak

Technical director: Emil Polyak

Client: NZ FireService

Client: Tainui Stevens

Producer: Yukfoo




Animation, modelling, lighting, vfx, compositing: Emil Polyak

Modelling, lighting, texture, set design: Emil Polyak

Client: Sea World Whale Watch

Client: Maori Television





Technical Director: Emil Polyak

Modelling, lighting, texture, animation: Emil Polyak

Client: Arkles

Client: BubbleDome


Director: Rebecca Merle


Modelling, texture, lighting, design: Emil Polyak

Technical Director: Emil Polyak
Client: Tahiti Lottery
Client: Subaru

Producer: Yukfoo

Producer: Yukfoo



Modelling, lighting, texture, animation: Emil Polyak

Modelling, lighting: Emil Polyak
Client: Positive Thinker Productions
Client: Mat Blamires

Director: Mitchell Wade

Lighting, compositing: Emil Polyak

Modelling, texture: Emil Polyak

Course Descriptions
New York University, Tisch School of the Arts Asia
prof Emil Polyak

2D/3D Character Production (4 CREDITS)

Digital Fabrication Studio (2 CREDITS)

The course focuses on developing an animated character with personality. Students will explore

This class explores advanced topics in digital fabrication. The topics include kinetic sculptures,

several examples of living creatures and discover how to recreate believable motions and emo-

installations using mechatronics, robotics and creating dynamic physical spaces for projections

tions. In addition to creating 3D and 2D characters using rigs, dynamics and muscle simulations,

and interactivity. Digital and animation tools will be used to design projects that move beyond

students will also build physical models.The course covers also the modeling of a high resolution

closed systems. Students interested in working with materials such as wood, metals, plastics

character using ZBrush, texturing and rigging for facial and motion capture.

and paper are welcome. Students taking the Interactive 3D class and the Digital Fabrication
Studio will have the opportunity to take their interactive projects to the next level.

Compositing (4 CREDITS)

Games of Yesterday (2 CREDITS)


This course is a study of ancient board-games of different cultures through the times of the


human history. Focusing on the element of play, chance and instinct, students will learn the


global concepts of interaction through games. Games such as mancala, go, backgammon, senet,


mah jongg and others are played in this class.Students will be introduced to games as an artform that uses mechanics, interaction and design. They will learn how this unique synergy of

Interactive Art (4 CREDITS)

components can actively communicate through “play”. We will investigate the origin of board-


games, the spirit of the era, the aesthetic impact and potential transformations in the modern


world for example for games on phones applications.


Visual Effects (2 CREDITS)
The course shows how to create digital visual effects for animation and film. The course surveys

Introduction to 3D (4 CREDITS)

examples from the history of production of visual and special effects. Students learn how to pro-

Students are introduced to 3D production tools used for computer graphics and 3D animation

duce realistic 2D and 3D digital effects and how to seamlessly integrate these elements into

using Maya. The class addresses the evolution of software and tools in the context of production
pipelines for a digital animation studio. Topics include basics of 3D modeling techniques, texturing, rigging, and character animation.The main goal is to develop a thinking process while
transiting from the real world to the 2D space on paper and back to 3D inside the software.
This process involves the identifying and analyzing of the aspects that impact on the materials,
light, textures, physical objects, atmosphere, motion and bio-mechanics. When employing the
software, production techniques are used to ensure efficiency with a pipeline.

Emil Polyak

footage. An emphasis on realism and learning how to see in order to create a suspension of
disbelief for the viewer will be stressed.

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