Peter Roy Wavish

Virtual actors that can perform scripts and improvise roles

This paper describes work in progress on the Humanoid 2 ESPRIT project, in which we are integrating the human figure animation software described in (Magnenat Thalmann & Thalmann 1995) with the agent technology described in (Wavish & Graham 1996) in order to produce virtual actors for films, games and virtual reality worlds. In this paper we focus on how the actors perform scripts and improvise role-related behaviour. Our approach to creating believable characters is modelled on how characters are portrayed by human actors during a theatrical performance. The character played by the actor is originally specified in the script. The actors purpose is to perform the script as skilfully as it can in order to portray the character. Our actors are constructed internally as societies of simple situated agents, where each agent corresponds to a skill or to a role. Skills are task oriented behaviours of an individual actor, whereas roles provide a means for the actor to engage in routine social interactions.

Roles, skills and behaviour: a situated action approach to organising systems of interacting agents

This paper describes a three-layer model for organising systems of interacting agents based on situated action. The top layer of the model consists of agents performing roles, the middle layer provides the skills which agents need to perform their roles, and the bottom layer consists of the behaviours which are needed to realise these skills. The model is realised computationally by means of a production rule language called RTA which is compiled to an efficient asynchronous digital logic circuit representation so allowing multiagent simulations to operate in real time.