Avatar Gestures

Thomas Rieger

Technische Universität Darmstadt,

Interactive Graphics Systems Group, 3D Graphics Computing

Fraunhoferstr 5, 64283 Darmstadt, Germany

Email: rieger@gris.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de

Internet: http://www.gris.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/~rieger

Keywords

Sign language, Lip Reading, Gesture, Morphing, Conversational Interfaces

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the concept and control of a 3d Avatar system with mimic and gestures as a conversational user interface. The Avatar system including gestures and mimic is based on morphing techniques. It allows generating sign language and mouth motion at lip reading quality in real time. The concept of a Speech Act is introduced and a table is defined to classify conversation fragments. Furthermore, two rule-based systems have been implemented to control the Avatar’s behavior and gestures. The system is shown to be useful in several application areas.