Dancing baby

The shipped cha-cha dancing motion file assigned to the Baby model data

The "Dancing Baby," also called "Baby Cha-Cha," is a 3D-rendered animation of a baby dancing. It quickly became a media phenomenon and one of the first viral videos in the second half of the 1990s.

History of the Dancing Baby Animation

The "Dancing Baby" phenomenon refers to a rendered animation of a baby performing a cha-cha type dance. It originated as a collection of experimental testing data and files, ultimately released in Autumn of 1996 as a product sample source file (sk_baby.max) with the 3D character animation software product "Character Studio", used with 3D Studio Max (both products from Kinetix/Autodesk). The original sample source file was produced and prepared by the original Character Studio development team (Michael Girard, Susan Amkraut, John Chadwick, Paul Bloemink, John Hutchinson, Adam Felt) at Unreal Pictures and Kinetix/Autodesk, amongst several other sample files. The cha-cha animation was created using the "Biped" animation system of Character Studio by Robert Lurye and Michael Girard. The 3D model of a human baby was added later by the development team as one of the character "skins" for the rendered animation. The original "Toddler with Diaper" model #VP5653 was built by, and courtesy of, Viewpoint Datalabs, with the bulk of the skinning and rigging performed by John Chadwick using the "Physique" skin/deformation system in Character Studio, and final edits by John and members of the Autodesk development team. After the first pre-release application of the 3D baby model to the cha-cha animation (and from pre-release showings), Kinetix/Autodesk employees realized it was amusing to see a baby dance a cha-cha rather than just walk; this helped ensure the selection of the 'dancing baby' as a sample file for debut release of Character Studio and for demonstration videos in product promotion.

The animation of the original dancing baby data consists of heavily researched and adapted physics models to automate animation along with interpolated manually animated keyframes that are generated and synthesized by the "Biped" system of the Character Studio product. Contrary to popular misconceptions, none of the original Dancing Baby animation data were created using motion capture.

After the 3D source file was released to public with the Character Studio product (Autumn 1996) users and animators were able to render their own video clips of the 'original' animated dancing baby (sk_baby.max) and circulate these via the Compuserve (internet) forums, World Wide Web (commercial and private web sites), and in print ads and unrestricted e-mail. Such activity proliferated most significantly from mainstream (Windows users) royalty-free access to and user renderings of the 3D dancing baby source file for use on internet and in broadcast television via several news editorials, advertisements, and even comic programming in local, national (U.S), and various international markets.

In late 1996, web developer John Woodell created a highly compressed animated gif from the source movie, as part of a demo of the movie-to-gif process. Woodell later published the gif to his employee web page of the Internet startup where he worked. The animated gif then proliferated to numerous other web sites, and later proceeded to show up in a broad array of mainstream media, including television dramas (e.g. Ally McBeal), commercial advertisements, and music videos between 1997–1998.

Modifications

Variations to the original animation were later produced by numerous animators, by modifying the sk_baby.max sample file's animation or the baby model itself, including a "drunken baby", a "rasta baby", a "samurai baby", and others. However, none of these became as popular on the Internet as the original file, and most popular uses of Dancing Baby are virtually unchanged from the original character mesh and animation.

Appearances in mainstream media

The Dancing Baby animation spread quickly on popular web forums, individual web sites, international e-mail, demo videos, commercials, and eventually mainstream television. Awareness of the baby most significantly increased when featured on CBS, CNN, and on Fox's Ally McBeal comic drama series. The same animation was shown on several episodes of Ally McBeal as a recurring hallucination, suggesting a metaphor for the ticking of Ally's biological clock. On that show, it was curiously accompanied by Blue Swede's cover of the B. J. Thomas song "Hooked on a Feeling." Various commercial advertisements presented the Dancing Baby animation to international markets continuing the mainstream media attention. This particular manifestation of the video, bound to the song, is widely distributed and referred to as the "Ugachaka (or Oogachaka) Baby."

More examples of the Dancing Baby used in mainstream media are below.

Television, media, music and film

The Dancing Baby made constant appearances in trade shows, worldwide marketing media, and of course in mainstream media such as television, music videos, and later in film too:

Video games

Several video games have included references to the Dancing Baby.

More recent appearances

The Dancing Baby is still occasionally referenced as a symbol of 1990s culture, or as part of a tradition dating back to the time of its popularity. Recent appearances include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Dancing Baby Merchandise Sold Here". 5 December 1998. Archived from the original on December 5, 1998.
  2. ↑ Dancing Baby's first appearance on Ally McBeal was in an episode that aired on January 5, 1998)
  3. ↑ Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me
  4. ↑ Official trailer on YouTube
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