Taijiquan is an internal martial art that is very hard for the uninitiated to conceive. The projected animations will be particle systems that clearly show the energies being manipulated by the player.
To begin to be able to visualise the energies I traced off some of Master Yang Chengfu poses from the Yang Short Form.
The pink arrow shows the movement of the Tantien (or centre of gravity).
The inner blue sphere is the Pung or expansive body energy.
The outer blue sphere is the spread of the Chi.
The pink dot on the foot is full, the blue dot is empty.
The thin dark blue arrow shows the movement of the weight though the posture.
The light blue arrows show the arms as they move in relation to the movement of the Tantien and the shifting of weight.
Below is a motion capture video of a Bugua player
Here I filmed part of the First loosening exercise, the taiji player had points that were used to make a basic tracked skeleton that particles were then added to. This is the force at its most basic, what I hope to do is show the force being flung away from and the reeling back into the player.
I used footage of Roll Back and Push to track the motion and angle of the Tantien (the glowing centre), this drives the Outer spheres. The distortions in the fields are hand animated based on the pushing or pulling force of the player. I have also added points to the front and back of the feet to indicate weight transference.
Tai Chi Juan (Xian Xiang Gong)
Translation : Tai Chi Circle (also known as The Coil Incense Kung)
It is easier to leave a circle than to enter it.
The emphasis is on the hip movement whether front or back.
The difficulty is to maintain the position without shifting the centre.
To analyse and understand the above situation is to do with
movement and not with a stationary posture.
Advancing and retreating by turning sideways in line with the
shoulders, one is capable of turning like a millstone, fast or slow,
as if whirling like a dragon in the clouds or sensing the approach
of a fierce tiger.
From this, one can learn the usage of the movement of
the upper torso.
Through long practise, such movement will become natural.
Here is a video showing realtime skeleton tracking using OpenNI and the Kinect..
From 1:36 in this video it show a performers movements being expanded out from them, this is getting close to what I would like to achieve in terms of force spreading from the taiji player.
I envisage the force as being a similar to a particle animation in After Effects, moving in realtime through amorphous turning sphere shapes like oil suspended in water. The turning of the shapes is dictated by the turning of the players' Tantien, that in turn controls the direction and speed of the force.
2D representation of force moving between spheres
Oil in water
Van Gogh Starry Night
Video of oil in water..
A reference I was reminded of: the Street Fighter 4 original ad has a similar feel to what I imagine the forces may look like..
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