Communicating withAvatar Bodies

Francesca BarrientosComputer Science

UC Berkeley

8 July 1999HCC Research Retreat

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Avatar worlds

ComicChatOz

blaxxun

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Nonverbal behaviorsGestureProxemicsPosture Facial

expressionGazeContextAppearance...

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Previous approaches

Expression selection

Automaticanimation

NaturalLanguageInference

(Nivi waves to Harry.)

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Beyond chat

Interfaces for controlling animation of nonverbal behaviors• verbal communication

through audio• continuous control

Understand how user movements translate onto avatar bodies

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Importance of synchrony

Part of meaning of gesture comes from its co-ocurrence with speech

Rhythm, flow, stroke, force, shape…

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Kinematic mapping

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Evaluation

Depends on taskEase of use Expressive satisfactionLevel of interaction engagementEmergent communicative

behaviors

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Explore design space

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Network issues

Synchronizing control and audio data

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Summary

Avatars allow communication using surrogate bodies

Gesture and speech are coexpressive

Design tool: virtual prototypes for PRoP design