Xiaofan Xue, Zeyu Liu
This protocol describes a reproducible workflow for translating embodied Tai Chi movements into dynamic visual designs to support the communication of movement-based intangible cultural heritage. As a movement-based cultural practice, Tai Chi conveys knowledge through bodily rhythm, trajectory, weight transfer, and balance, aspects that are often difficult to communicate using conventional static or video-based media. The protocol integrates markerless motion capture, motion-feature extraction, and rule-based visual mapping to transform movement characteristics into dynamic visual representations. Eight representative Tai Chi forms were recorded using markerless motion capture. Body keypoints were extracted with MediaPipe Pose and analyzed to derive motion features, including trajectory curvature, movement smoothness, and rhythm stability. These features were systematically mapped to dynamic visual variables through a motion-feature-informed visual translation framework. To evaluate the effectiveness of the approach, a controlled experiment involving 180 participants compared three communication conditions: static graphics, conventional videos, and motion-data-driven dynamic visual designs. Outcome measures included knowledge gain, movement recognition, embodied understanding, and behavioral intentions related to cultural preservation and sharing. Analysis of 264 valid movement sequences revealed substantial variation in motion-feature profiles across Tai Chi forms. The dynamic visual design condition significantly outperformed the static graphic and conventional video conditions in knowledge gain, movement-meaning recognition, and embodied understanding (all p < 0.001). Structural modeling further indicated that perceived design quality influences preservation and sharing intentions primarily through embodied understanding, aesthetic engagement, and emotional resonance. This protocol provides a systematic method for converting embodied movement knowledge into dynamic visual forms for the communication and interpretation of movement-based intangible cultural heritage.