Teaching:TUW - UE InfoVis WS 2008/09 - Gruppe 07 - Aufgabe 1 - Stick Figure

Stick Figure

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Definition

A simple drawing, typically of a human body with a circle representing the head and straight lines representing the torso and limbs.

[Cynewulf, 2007]

In addition to the quoted definition of stick figures it is in fact also possible to represent other living creatures, using the above mentioned method, drawing a circle for the head and straight lines for the rest of the body.

xkcd.com

Recognizable representation

Due to the fact, how easy it is to draw and understand stick figures, they are used in various surroundings. Stick figures provide a way to easily represent various situations, forms and proportions of living creatures. They are therefore used in the fields of entertainment, architecture and motion analysis. In architecture stick figures are usually drawn on drafts and sketches to show how the drawn buildings and objects are meant to be used. This may change the view on the objects and buildings and increases the understanding of the architectual plans, especially for non-architects. Motion analysis on the other hand is simplified by the use of stick figures. It is not necessary to understand the whole process of how motion works to roughly analyse the motion itself, which is easily done by using stick figures. Also, to animate 3D characters, it is nowadays praxis to animate their "skeletons", which is an extended stick figure representing the 3D objects, to make the process easier.

[Stick figures for motion analysis [Mao, Qin, Wright, 2006]]

stick figure sample

Human motion patterns

Stick figures can be used for the visual analysis and creation of human movement. This relation is used in the work of Mao, Qin and Wright, who developed a program using 2D storyboard representations of stick figures to create a 3D character animation [Mao, Qin, Wright, 2006].

[...] users can depict the character actions by drawing simple stick figure key poses, with graphical motion paths and timing, which can be automatically reconstructed as continuous 3D motion.

[Mao,Qin,Wright, 2007]

Comics and Entertainment

Stick figures seem to be popular actors in webcomics and animations. One of the most popular web comics starring mostly stick figures is xkcd. When used in animated graphics or short movies the displayed stick figures often wind up dead.

[xkcd.com]

References / Weblinks

• [Mao, Qin, Wright, 2006] Chen Mao, Sheng Feng Qin, David K. Wright. Sketching-out virtual humans: from 2D storyboarding to immediate 3D character animation. Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK, Retreived at: November 4, 2008, http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1178823.1178913&coll=ACM&dl=ACM&CFID=9441983&CFTOKEN=82864744
• [Cynewulf, 2007] Cynewulf, Wiktionary: a wiki based open content dictionary, Retreived at: November 4, 2008, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stick_figure
• [Netscape, 2008] Retreived at: November 4, 2008, http://www.dmoz.org/Recreation/Humor/Bizarre/Stick_Figure_Deaths/
• [Munroe, 2008] Last Modified at: November 4, 2008, Retreived at: November 4, 2008, http://xkcd.com
• [Wiktionary, 2008] Last Modified at: September 2 2008, Retreived at: November 4, 2008, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stick_figure