Living ink: implementation of a prototype sketching language for real time authoring of animated line drawings

Sketching with pen on paper is often used as a way of augmenting spoken descriptions: to help explain how some mechanical device works; to show the flow of information in an organisation, to show the action in a story, and so on. Sketches serve as a focus for the attention of viewers and help make abstract concepts more concrete. But images on paper don't move. Where the time and resources are available, as in preparing a lecture in advance, or producing a television program, authors recognize that moving images are often superior at conveying concepts and holding people's attention. An electronic display is capable of generating moving images in real time. We argue that such a display need not be used just to mimic pen and paper. After all paper is cheap, plentiful, has a wide viewing angle, and doesn't have batteries to run flat. Our 'Living Ink' system is a prototype implementation of a user interface for generating animated line drawings (animated sketches). Our goal was to provide a user interface which can be used in real-time, making interesting animations while an audience watches. This paper describes progress to date towards that objective and discusses proposals for further development.