A Method of Touching and Moving Virtual Shadows with Real Shadows

In this research, we propose a system to touch and move virtual shadows with real shadows. Shadows are easily generated with physical objects and a light source, and they are also used for entertainment such as shadow play and shadow art. In our method, the system scans physical objects in front of a light source, generates virtual shadows according to the scan data, and superimposes the virtual shadows to real shadows of the physical objects. The virtual shadows can be changed interactively according to the change of the real shadows, and it would realize a new type of entertainment that uses shadows. Our system scans the 3D shapes and the 3D positions of physical objects, and simulates shadows of the physical objects projected on the screen. Thus the positions and the sizes of physical objects for shadows are not limited. Virtual shadows are synthesized and moved based on the simulated shadows, and they are superimposed to real shadows of the physical objects. The user can feel as if interacting with virtual shadows by real shadows.