Matt Gough Blog [closed]: pitch, roll, yaw, angle of axis

Thursday, Apr 1 2004, 03:15

i've been thinking about impulse (movement conception / motor imaging), laban and kandinsky both published texts on impulse based notation in 1926 yet their work receives little attention today. the problem with impulse based notation is that you are unable to identify body positions, which means that it's easy to get lost when reconstructing.

why? because recording the sense of moving does not record where or how the movement occurred. but that's what attracts me to impulse based notations, the openness in which the work can be interpreted.

over the past few day I have been trying to work this approach into a new form of notation. rather than using drawn symbols I am trying to implement an impulse based notation numerically, this should allow the detailed recording of movement concepts and facilitate future computer integration.

I have a solution which although a little technical seems to work. the impulse is defined as an attribute of a body part. lets use the right wrist as an example. the tag for the right wrist is and the impulse attribute is 'i', they fit together thus: . the "" will hold the value or directions of the impulse attribute.

the values are pitch(y axis), yaw(z axis), roll (x axis) and axis-rotation (around the z-axis) and are set out as four sets of three digit numbers from 000 to 359 (a full circle being 360 degrees) if we place the empty values in their place we get the angles a calculated clockwise and upward for positive numbers and the reverse with negative numbers.

stand up with you palm facing your thigh this is the start position for each tag

the wrist impulse is 90 degrees pitch, the arm rises to shoulder level in from of you. you palm is facing the left.

90' pitch 90' yaw, the arm comes to shoulder level and out to the side in one continuous motion. you palm is facing the front

90' pitch 90' yaw 90' rotation. same as above except now the palm is facing the ceiling.

90' pitch 45' yaw 90' rotation, 45' angle of axis. same as above, the angle of axis means that this impulse starts at 45' angle from the start point

still with me?

lastly you can discribe the path as well using a path attribute so we have paths attributes can be anything inculding curve, angle, line, spiral, twist, zigzag, release, random i think you get the idea.

it doesn't take long to get hold of the concept. each time you start over from where ever the limb is. so followed by would bring the arm above the head. to save time you can write it down as

the idea is that you can note down your impulses and input them into a computer that will dance them out, or allow another dancer to perform you dance, and as a development tool to help choreographers working on new dances.

thanks for your time.

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