• "For someone who can perceive interconnecting patterns, it is easy to be a systemic thinker" - Fritjof Capra paraphrasing Leonardo da Vinci's famous quote "For a man who knows how, it is easy to become universal...", from The Science of Leonardo.
  
 

Topher's Links:

UCSC-DANM Wiki

Swango Blues Dance Alchemy

Rhythm Fist Martial Arts

  

Topher's Bio:

My full name is Christopher Maraffi, but I go by Topher. I’m a performance artist, technical animator, educator, and author. For many years I lectured on the topic of 3D character creation and have written three popular books on the subject that are on Disney's suggested reading list. I’m also a social dance instructor, and one of the principal developers and promoters of the Swango fusion partner dance style.

In June 2010 I completed a Digital Arts & New Media (DANM) MFA at UCSC. My thesis was Mimesis & Mocap, a multi-disciplinary (Theater Arts and Computer Science) performance study in creating believable real-time acting between live and virtual performers within a theatrical show. My two performances, The Avatar Dance and The Magic Mirror Game, envision methods of re-creating classic dance and pantomime movements with a digital double, or avatar.

In the fall 2010 I will start a PhD in Computer Science at UCSC, continuing my collaboration with Theater Arts, to develop expressive and improvisational real-time synthespians. I will be a member of Arnav Jalah's Computational Cinematics group, which is part of the Expressive Intelligence Studio (EIS), that is run by Michael Mateas and Noah Wardrip-Fruin.

My artistic intent is to fuse theatrical, cinematic, and gaming techniques (such as live dance-acting, digital puppetry, performance capture, and expressive processing) into a new medium of performative entertainment, which I call The Theatre of the Avatar.

  

Click here for a PDF of the... Show Program

New! Director's Cut of The Magic Mirror Game:

The Magic Mirror Game (Director’s Cut), video of a one-man two-actor live show, is part of my UCSC Digital Arts MFA thesis (Mocap & Mimesis), which is a cross-disciplinary performance study in expressive and improvisational 3D synthespians using motion capture (mocap). The two performances in the study, The Avatar Dance and The Magic Mirror Game, envision future methods of re-creating classic dance and pantomime gestures with a digital double, or Avatar. This technique uses mocap in a new way to allow a performer to act or dance with a virtual version of themselves in a live show.

The Magic Mirror Game performance explores a virtual rendition of the classic Marx Brothers Mirror Gag in a backstage dressing room between performances of our group production, Stop the Press! This is intended to show a vision or proof-of-concept for further PhD research in Computer Science I will be starting in fall 2010 in UCSC’s Expressive Intelligence Studio. My intent is to develop a new medium of live interactive entertainment I call the Theatre of the Avatar.

Concept, design, animation, and performance by Chris(Topher) Maraffi. Background music excerpts: The Avatar Dance Theme by Chris Molla, Sweet Geargia Brown by Harry Connick Jr, and Videotape by Radiohead. The artist wishes to warmly thank his thesis committee members from UCSC’s Theater Arts and Computer Science departments for their inspiring guidance: Kathy Foley, Ted Warburton, and Michael Mateas. Special thanks to Ricardo Tobon for his mocap expertise. Additional thnks to John Lingemann, Jim Bierman, David Cuthbert, Kimberly Jannarone, Eric Mack, and Joe Weiss. Also thanks to UCSC DANM faculty, staff, and students, including Soraya Murray, Lyle Troxell, Felicia Rice, Christine Imai, and fellow DANMites.

 

Mimesis & Mocap MFA Performance Study:

Over a hundred years ago Edward Gordon Craig predicted the future invention of a theatrical medium that would create more believable stage characters, which he termed the Ubermarionette. Since then animated 3D characters have been designed in digital media, but have yet to be fully realized in live theatrical performances.

My Mimesis & Mocap MFA thesis is a cross-disciplinary performance study in creating expressive and improvisational interaction between human performers and 3D characters, using motion capture technology, on a live theatrical or movie set.

Here is a short Vimeo video that shows excerpts from both my performances:

 

Avatar Theatre Manifesto v1.2:

In The Theatre of the Avatar, the synthespian is employed as…

…an actor that has no personal ego to conflict with the intended characterization. The avatar is the fusion of several traditional entertainment techniques: the design of animation, the 3D form of puppetry, and through motion capture, the gesture of pantomime. Add digital memory and emergent processes, and the avatar has the potential to realize Craig’s vision of the Ubermarionette as the acting medium of the future.

…the ideal buddy, sidekick, or helper character for embodied human actors. Rather than replace human actors ala Craig, the avatar, like the puppet, is best suited to play with human actors, who by interacting and improvising directly together on a stage or movie set, makes for more believable characters.

…perfect for uncanny, nonhuman, or superhuman roles, especially in symbolic, fantastic, or mythic scenes. The avatar has the capacity to go beyond realism, away from imitation and impersonation, to more designed representations of form and gesture, and finally to creative artistic expression through improvisation and interaction with human actors.

…part of the technological organism that is fundamental to all theatrical magic. In the acting medium of the future, digital media is not relegated as support for human actors, but instead is an equal part of an integrated dramatic system, that includes both embodied and disembodied actors through projections, cameras, lights, speakers, and even the proscenium itself.

 

Awarded Honors at UCSC Graduate Research Symposium:

On May 14th I was awarded the Graduate Dean's Award for the presentation of my Mimesis & Mocap performance study. Here I am receiving the award from UCSC's Chancellor Blumenthal:

2010 Graduate Symposium results...

 

Interviewed on Artists On Art KZSC Radio Show:

I was recently interviewed by Nada Miljkovic on her radio show Artists on Art, where we talked about my work in the DANM MFA show Things That Are Possible. Here is a link to the interview: Artists On Art

She also shot a Twittervid of me dancing to her show theme song before the interview:

 

Stop the Press! Performances and Video of The Avatar Dance:

My Avatar Dance live performance draws inspiration from and gives homage to classic pantomime, vaudeville, and dance movements of the past, while updating their interactivity for the future. The routine includes variations of the Mirror Gag, Rope Pull and Ladder Climb Mime, Breakdancing Battle, and a Juggling Toss. To my knowledge, this is one of the first times, if not the first time, that these gestural classics have been done on stage between a human performer and a virtual 3D character in front of a live audience.

The dance features the Organic Originator (Topher 1.8) dancing with his Digital Doppelganger (Topher 2.0), and is part of a performance study on creating believable real-time character interaction between live performers and digital synthespians on a theatrical set. This interdisciplinary MFA project, called Mimesis & Mocap, applies techniques from pantomime and puppetry to 3D computer animation, while using motion capture technology and projections, to create a hybrid performance medium that seeks to embody and update Craig’s theatrical concept of The Ubermarionette. This piece is my first step in creating a new Theatre of the Avatar.



Concept, design, choreography, realtime animation, and performance by Chris (Topher) Maraffi. The Avatar Dance was part of UCSC Theater Arts-DANM Performative Technologies Group co-production of "Stop the Press!", an experimental play about technological change and progress, which was performed at UCSC XSpace Theater on Feb 26-March 7, 2010. Production directed by Kimberly Jannarone, music by Chris Molla, lighting by Erik Ladue, set by Matt Kedzie, and costume by Olivia Warner. Ray Kurzweil played by Petey Donatello, MC played by Alexander Henriquez, and Bill Joy played by Patrick Young. Special thanks to Ricardo Tobon for his motion capture expertise and to Kathy Foley for her Ubermarionette knowledge. Additional thanks to Jim Bierman, David Cuthbert, performative DANMites, and all the Theater Arts STP crew and cast. Handheld camera by Leland Moriarty. Video edited from multiple live camera documentation footage. Learn more about Topher's MFA work at UCSC-DANM Wiki

 

Latest Autodesk Maya 3D MEL Coding Book:

My latest technical rigging book, MEL Scripting a Character Rig in Maya began shipping from New Riders in December 2008. Update: All the book scripts at the publisher download site, www.peachpit.com/melscripting , work in Maya versions 2008-2010 (must register to download files). Use the 2009 files for both Maya 2009 and 2010.

  

 

 

Preview video of the rig and scripts taught in the book:

  

 

 

  

 

  

 

Book Cover:

 

 

 

 
Book Info:
 

 

  • Book Summary (from back cover):
    Whether for big budget film and game productions or lower budget TV and Internet content, creating flexible and believable character rigs is one of the essential skills needed to bring any 3D animation to life. Maya is the leading software program used in such cutting-edge animation, and has an established rigging toolset for creating realistic character controls. Rigging has traditionally been very expensive due to the time consuming process of manually building custom rigs in the software interface. This book by the author of the best-seller Maya Character Creation shows you how the pros are using MEL (Maya Embedded Language) scripting to streamline and automate the rigging process to build custom character rigs in a matter of seconds, as apposed to days or weeks. The concepts, techniques, and Maya tools used to build a complex character rig in the software interface are presented in each chapter, followed by how to write the equivalent MEL code to script the entire process. In addition to standard MEL commands, important coding techniques such as using conditional statements, loops, variables, and procedures, are covered in detail. Once the character is fully rigged, MEL is also used to create a character animation GUI that makes animating the character easy and fast.  
  • Author Bio (from back cover):
    Chris Maraffi has been teaching 3D computer graphics for over 10 years, most recently as the Course Director of the scripting and character rigging classes at Full Sail University in Orlando. He has also authored two popular books*; Maya Character Creation published by New Riders, and Softimage XSI Character Animation FX and Design published by Coriolis. In addition, he has lectured internationally at numerous conferences and universities, including SIGGRAPH, Animex, Red Stick, UNM Arts Lab, NYU CADA, Parsons School of Design, School of Visual Arts, NYIT, Academy of Art, Mesmer Animation Labs, and The Master's Institute.

 

  
     
 
 

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*Previous 3D Animation Books:

Maya Character Creation Book Review:

Note! Both of my previous books were placed on Walt Disney Animation Studios suggested reading list...