photo by: Joselyn King

Wheeling Park High School student Eris Moore wears the black suit needed when learning computer-generated imagery (CGI) animation in the school’s new animation lab.

WHEELING — A new offering at Wheeling Park High School has students getting animated — and their motions and emotions are being recorded.

The school now has equipment to conduct computer-generated imagery (CGI) animation. Classes are taking place in the SMALLab within the Innovative Learning Center at WPHS.

“We are one of only four schools in the country that have this technology,” explained Julie Schultz, ILC coordinator and innovation coach. “We can do so many things with this.

“Right now we’re using it for a theater class, and we’re looking at expressions, gestures and characterization. It could be used in science classrooms to measure trajectory. It could be used in many ways — for robotics, or lessons in social studies.”

CGI animation has been used in such movies as “Jurassic Park,” “Avatar” and “Lord of the Rings.”

“The skills these students are learning with this technology they could use to go into CGI animation such as what they do at Dreamworks and Pixar,” Schultz said.

Schultz and other teachers recently went through training on how to use the technology, and they began using it this week.

The animation process begins when a student wears an all black motion capture (MoCap) suit made of a velcro material, and then a total of 50 plastic trackers are placed on designated areas throughout the suit.

A specialized wand is next waved about the room to calibrate five cameras that have been installed within the lab to capture motion.

Once the calibrated computer cameras connect with the suit, an image of the wearer’s motion can be recorded. The cameras are programmed to pick up about 15,000 points of movement, Schultz explained.

That motion is then overlaid over a created computer animation character to give it realistic movement.

Student Khloe Petitt was the first to wear the suit.

“It was really fun,” she said. “I danced around on the floor to ‘Soda Pop’ by the Saja Boys. I fell on the floor and lost a few of the trackers.”

The early days of the CGI animation is an overall learning experience for all.

On day two, student Eris Moore donned the suit and danced a routine to the song “Fishing In the Dark” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

But there was a struggle as the cameras were only picking up 49 of the trackers on the suit, and motion capture can’t happen without all 50 in use.

Teachers and students began looking at the placement of the trackers.

In the end, it was determined that Moore had the suit cap on backward, and this caused issues with the calibration and picking up the sensors.

Katie Redd. head of the theater department at WPHS, discussed the day’s process with the students on the floor in a circle, and called it “a learning experience.”