Skip to main content

Exploring Non-verbal Behavior Models for Believable Characters

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Interactive Storytelling (ICIDS 2008)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 5334))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

Believable characters constitute an important component of interactive stories. It is, therefore, not surprising to see much research focusing on developing algorithms that enhance character believability within interactive experiences, such as games, interactive narrative, and training environments. These efforts target a variety of problems, including portraying and synchronizing gestures with speech, developing animation tools that allow artists to manipulate and blend motions, or embed emotions within virtual character models. There has been very little research, however, devoted to the study of non-verbal behaviors, specifically mannerisms, patterns of movement including postures, gaze, and timing, and how they vary as a function of character attributes. This paper presents a work in progress of a study conducted to (1) identify key character characteristics recognized by animators using an acting model, and (2) formalize non-verbal behaviors patterns that animators use to express these character characteristics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Rickel, J., Marsella, S., Gratch, J., Hill, R., Traum, D., Swartout, W.: Toward a New Generation of Virtual Humans for Interactive Experiences. IEEE Intelligent Systems 17 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Swartout, W., Hill, R.W.J., Gratch, J., Johnson, L.W., Kyriakakis, C., LaBore, C., Lindheim, R., Marsella, S., Miraglia, D., Moore, B., Morie, J.F., Rickel, J., Thiébaux, M., Tuch, L., Whitney, R.: Toward Holodeck: Integrating Graphics, Sounds, Character, and Story. In: Proceedings of 5th International Conference on Autonomous Agents (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Seif El-Nasr, M., Saati, M., Milam, D., Neidenthal, S.: Assassin’s Creed - A multi-cultural Read. Loading (forthcoming)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Cassell, J.: Embodied Converstational Agents: Representation and Intelligence in User Interfaces. AI Magazine 22 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Perlin, K.: Real-time Responsive Animation with Personality. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 1 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Perlin, K., Goldberg, A.: Improv: A system for Scripting Interactive Actors in Virtual Worlds. Computer Graphics 29 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Allbeck, J., Badler, N.: Representing and Paramaterizing Behaviors. In: Prendinger, H., Ishizuka, M. (eds.) Life-Like Characters: Tools, Affective Functions and Applications. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Cassell, J.: A Framework for Gesture Generation and Interpretation. In: Cipolla, R., Pentland, A. (eds.) Computer Vision in Human-Machine Interaction, pp. 191–215. Cambridge University Press, New York (1998)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Aylett, R.S., Louchart, S., Dias, J., Paiva, A., Vala, M.: FearNot! - an experiment in emergent narrative. In: Panayiotopoulos, T., Gratch, J., Aylett, R.S., Ballin, D., Olivier, P., Rist, T. (eds.) IVA 2005. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 3661, pp. 305–316. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Marsella, S., Gratch, J.: EMA: A Computational Model of Appraisal Dynamics. In: Agent Construction and Emotions, Vienna, Austria (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Seif El-Nasr, M., Ioerger, T., Yen, J.: FLAME - Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotions. In: Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, vol. 3, pp. 219–257 (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Ekman, P.: Darwin and Facial expression: a Centry of Research in Review. New York Academic Press, New York City (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Wallbott, H.G., Scherer, K.R.: Cues and Channels in emotion recognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51, 690–699 (1986)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Amaya, K., Bruderlin, A., Calvert, T.: Emotion From Motion. In: Proceedings of the conference on Graphics interface (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Loyall, B., Bates, J.: Personality Rich Believable Agents that Use Language. In: International Conference on Autonomous Agents (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Loyall, B.: Believable Agents. Computer Science Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Mateas, M., Stern, A.: A Behavior Language: Joint Action and Behavioral Idioms. In: Prendinger, H., Ishizuka, M. (eds.) Life-like Characters. Tools, Affective Functions and Applications. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Elliot, C., Rickel, J., Lester, J.: Lifelike Pedagogical Agents and Affective Computing: An Exploratory Synthesis. Artificial Intelligence Today, 195–211 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Andre, E., Martin, K., Gebhard, P., Allen, S., Rist, T.: Exploiting Models of Personality and Emotions to Control the Behavior of Animated Interactive Agents. In: Agents 2000 Workshop (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Perlin, K.: Building Virtual Actors Who Can Really Act. In: Balet, O., Subsol, G., Torguet, P. (eds.) ICVS 2003. LNCS, vol. 2897, pp. 127–134. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. Perlin, K.: Better acting in computer games: the use of procedural methods. Computers and Graphics 26 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Davies, E.: Beyond Dance: Laban’s Legacy of Movement Analysis. Routledge (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Marsella, S., Carnicke, S., Gratch, J., Okhmatovskaia, A., Rizzo, A.: An exploration of Delsarte’s structural acting system. In: 6th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Zorn, J.W.: The Essential Delsarte. Scarecrow press, Metuchen (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Harger, B.: Entertaining AI: Using Rules from Improvisational Acting to Create Unscripted Emotional Impact. In: Game Developers Conference (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Harger, B.: Workshop on Improvisational Acting. In: AAAI Symposium on Intelligent Narrative Technologies (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Johnstone, K.: Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre. Theatre Art Books (1987)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Johnstone, K.: Impro for Storytellers. Theatre Arts Books (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Stanislavski: An Actor Prepares. Theatre Arts Books, New York (1936)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Stanislavski: Building a Character. Theatre Arts Books, New York (1949)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Seif El-Nasr, M., Wei, H. (2008). Exploring Non-verbal Behavior Models for Believable Characters. In: Spierling, U., Szilas, N. (eds) Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5334. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89454-4_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-89454-4_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-89424-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-89454-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics