How can we animate and visualize an avatar in VR so that athletes are supported in acquiring new motor and cognitive skills in trick-based snow sports?

Overview

I chose the project because I have a background in 3D animation and engineering and I thought it would be a good way of connecting those two fields.

During the learning process, it can be tricky to visualize a snow sports trick that you cannot yet perform. This project will try to reduce this issue by providing a VR system to allow athletes to see themselves perform a new maneuver.

How can we animate and visualize an avatar in VR so that athletes are supported in acquiring new motor and cognitive skills in trick-based snow sports?

People

Sylvain Moisset

Sylvain profile picture
Partners

Snow Sports New Zealand

Aims
  1. To produce a database of snow sport trick animations.
  2. To design a system that allows coaches and athletes to select a trick from the database, adjust it and display it in VR.
  3. To evaluate if people understand a movement better if it is animated on an avatar that looks more like them and if it helps them acquire a skill.

Audience

Professional and emerging snow sport athletes and their coaching team.

Project execution

Several motion capture technologies will be investigated and compared against key-frame animation to record movement from professional athletes and create the animation database. The main issue is to find a way of producing the trick animations that would work in a high-performance sport environment without interfering with the athletes’ performance.

The VR visualization system will be designed and will provide the ability to select tricks from the database, adjust them and combine them together to form a more complex trick. The system will also allow the user to tweak the appearance of the avatar to make it look like the learning athlete. Finally, the trick will be visualized in a VR environment with control over the playback speed and the perspective.

The project is funded by Snow Sports New Zealand and interviews with coaches and support staff will be used for feedback and for expert evaluation.

Challenges

It can be complicated to find a motion capture system that would be suitable for a high-performance sport application, let alone in a winter sport environment.

Outcomes

The project is still at an early stage. The expected outcome will be to design a snow sports maneuver visualization system that would improve the skill learning process for athletes.

Comments

Snow Sports New Zealand is located in Wanaka. This project will allow me to travel there.