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Topher Maraffi posted a video

Avatar Theatre: The Magic Mirror Game (Director's Cut) from Topher Maraffi on Vimeo.

Jul 12, 2010

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Topher Maraffi posted a video

Avatar Theatre Live! (Mimesis & Mocap Performance Study) from Topher Maraffi on Vimeo.

May 10, 2010

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Topher Maraffi posted a photo

The Magic Mirror Game

Promo pic for upcoming Mimesis & Mocap MFA thesis performance...

Apr 10, 2010

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Topher Maraffi posted a video

Apr 10, 2010

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Topher Maraffi is now a member of dance-tech.net dance-tech.tv

Apr 10, 2010

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Profile Information

Do you want this account to represent:: individual human (me)

First Name (Required: even if you are reprenting an organization you must use your name): Chris(Topher)

Last Name (Family Name): Maraffi

About Me (human/individual)/interests, work..short bio/ THis is the most important. It is the only way to know that you are not a SPAMBOT!Be generous!: My full name is Christopher Maraffi, but I go by Topher. I’m a performance artist, technical animator, educator, and author. For many years I lectured on the topic of 3D character creation and have written three popular books on the subject that are on Disney's suggested reading list. I’m also a social dance instructor, and one of the principal developers of Swango (Swing + Tango @ www.swangoblues.com ) fusion style of social dance.

My UCSC Digital Arts & New Media MFA research, Mimesis & Mocap, is a cross-disciplinary performance study in creating believable real-time interaction between human performers and 3D characters within a theatrical environment. My two performances, The Avatar Dance and The Magic Mirror Game, envision future methods of re-creating classic dance and pantomime movements with a digital double.

In the fall 2010 I will start as a PhD student in the UCSC Computer Science program, continuing my collaboration with Theater Arts, to develop expressive and improvisational real-time synthespians. I will be a member of the Computational Cinematics group, which is part of the Expressive Intelligence Studio (EIS).

My artistic intent is to fuse theatrical, cinematic, and gaming techniques (such as live dance-acting, digital puppetry, performance capture, and expressive processing) into a new medium of performative entertainment, which I call The Theatre of the Avatar.