Remote Collaborative Networking Tools for Virtual Dance Creation: AWDC’s Otmo and Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer

Project partners: Goldsmiths University of London, Alexander Whitley Dance Company

XR Network+ is supporting a collaboration between Dr Daniel Strutt at Goldsmiths, University of London, and  Alexander Whitley Dance Company (AWDC) that aims to deliver the prototype developed during an earlier phase of the project as a market-ready feature. 

In 2023-24, Dr Daniel Strutt and AWDC received Prototyping, Impact and Acceleration (PIA) funding from XR Network+ to integrate Goldsmiths Mocap Streamer (GMS) with AWDC’s ‘Otmo’ software – an application that allows users to position, modify, sequence, and share 3D human movement in a virtual space.

This integration created a virtual dance studio capable of receiving live dance inputs from anywhere in the world, enabling remote responsive collaboration between dancer-choreographers. The successful prototype was showcased in March 2024.

Otmo was released for user testing in 2024 but does not yet include the collaborative GMS/Otmo R&D integration, focusing initially on enabling users to work with pre-recorded mocap content. 

Funding from XR Network+ will enable the project team to develop Otmo so that it can support live mocap user-input. The collaboration will also continue research and development on areas extending from the previous research project. 

Otmo will feature at Beyond 2024 where attendees can experience the outputs of the prototype as a live performance.

The collaboration is one of seven projects supported by the XR Network+ round two Embedded R&D funding call, with grants of up to £60,000 awarded to researchers at UK universities to explore the transfer of knowledge between academia and industry in areas aligned with Virtual Production. 

Image credit to Alexander Whitey Dance Company.

Categories: Performance, Research, Technology