Myriad uses swarm techniques that follow the shapes produced by human motion. Applying steering agents and swarming behaviors, but confining them to the jointed of a motion-tracked human body, I looked at the ways we perceive the motion of a person instead of focusing of static detail. I ended up creating both a short introductory animation along with a playable space. Both had their challenges and advantages of showing the potential of this process.

The techniques in Myriad allowed me to visualize the human body in realtime using a Kinect system while running a head mounted display. The abstracted nature of the body mitigated or sidestepped many of the classical problems usually associated with similar systems, such as lag and “uncanny valley” of rendering a realistic body.

The system worked well enough to sense arm and hand motion, and being able to look down and see your feet added considerable context to a scene. The hand is not just a manipulator; we also use it as a de facto scale guide when interacting with our immediate space. The system is very lightweight and portable, given the alternative of a full motion-capture space.