Interactive emotional response computation for scriptable multimedia actors

Although modern computer graphics and animation are cable of producing near-realistic 3D images of virtual characters, the component of work that needs to be done by animators and artists is quite significant. A virtual actor framework developed by us aids animators in automating the modelling and animation of emotive virtual human heads with visual speech and gestures. We present the 'situation processor' component of this system that uses the OCC (Ortony, Clore and Collins) cognitive-emotional theory to intelligently query a user to determine the emotional response of a synthetic character in a movie scene. The use of our system significantly reduces the workload of animators.