Jaycee Holmes | Department of Art & Visual Culture and
T. Lang | Department of Dance Performance & Choreography
"Black Sentiment"
Medium: Digital Assets
"Black Sentiment" is the first phase of the large project, "Black in Motion," a digital library for animated movement sequences and assets in virtual 3D work. Collaborators Jaycee Holmes and T.Lang mapped "Black Sentiment" to choreographed movement using the Emotion Wheels developed by psychologist Robert Plutchik and then expanded upon by the professional development firm, The Junto Institute.
The library will host 3D character models and programmed animation sequences depicting movement, dance, mannerisms, facial expressions and choreography performed and digitally recorded using motion capture technology.
What is Motion Capture?
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Motion capture is the process of recording patterns of movement digitally for use in virtual and mixed reality work. The "Black In Motion" library will be a GitHub repository as an open-source tool for creating diverse projects in mixed reality and digital 3D efforts to bring much-needed diversity to the world of mixed reality and 3D development.
The motion capture process and community established in the development of the "Black in Motion" library will make possible endless opportunities to archive and capture any forms of movement from all communities.
During the project's first phase, the team created custom avatars known as 'spirits.' The spirits are a blend of Black ancestry and Black futures working together to create a new virtual dimension -- a new space for Black play and creative exploration. The movement animations were recorded using Rokoko motion capturing technologies, and the team is archiving the digital animations for future work. 
