AR-based self-learning system of Japanese calligraphy skills

While Japanese calligraphy has been contained by Japanese elementary and secondary education curriculum, teachers in charge of the calligraphy education are not always proficient, since skill of the calligraphy is unnecessary for teachers’ license. To overcome the problematic situation, not only training of teachers but also an ICT-based support system for the students to learn the skill by themselves. Therefore, this paper proposes a system that combines a self-study support system for inexperienced people to learn Japanese calligraphy skills, and a virtual writing system for practicing calligraphy without using ink in a virtual environment. The proposed system is a kind of the augmented reality (AR) system, which consists of a computer, a head-mounted-display (HMD) and a non-contact motion sensor. Firstly, the system introduces AR technology into visualization of expert’s motion data, which is previously recorded from an expert’s action. Secondly, on the system users practice calligraphy by imitating expert’s brush motion on virtual paper. To obtain user's motion, the motion sensor obtains the position and tilt of the brush at each frame. Simultaneously, the system simulates the handwriting from these data and superimposes it on the tip of the brush using AR technology. After user’s practice, the system calculates the differences in brush position, tilt and speed between expert’s brush motion and user’s brush motion by using DP matching and encourages user to improve his/her motion, finally. This system is expected to overcome problematic situations in calligraphy practice.