Handbook of Virtual Humans - Hardcover

Magnenat-Thalmann, Nadia; Thalmann, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470023163 ISBN 13: 9780470023167

Publisher: Wiley, 2004

Synopsis

Virtual Humans are becoming more and more popular and used in many applications such as the entertainment industry (in both film and games) and medical applications. This comprehensive book covers all areas of this growing industry including face and body motion, body modelling, hair simulation, expressive speech simulation and facial communication, interaction with 3D objects, rendering skin and clothes and the standards for Virtual Humans. 

Written by a team of current and former researchers at MIRALab, University of Geneva or VRlab, EPFL, this book is the definitive guide to the area.

• Explains the concept of avatars and autonomous virtual actors and the main techniques to create and animate them (body and face).
• Presents the concepts of behavioural animation, crowd simulation, intercommunication between virtual humans, and interaction between real humans and autonomous virtual humans
• Addresses the advanced topics of hair representation and cloth animation with applications in fashion design
• Discusses the standards for Virtual Humans, such as MPEG-4 Face Animation and MPEG-4 Body Animation.

About this title

About the Author

Professor Nadia Magnenat Thalmann is an eminent computer graphics scientist who is the founder and head of MIRALab at the University of Geneva. She presently serves as the Director of the Institute for Media Innovation in Singapore at Nanyang Technological University. Prof. Daniel Thalmann is a Swiss and Canadian Computer Scientist and a pioneer in Virtual Humans. He is currently Honorary Professor at EPFL, Switzerland, and Director of Research Development at MIRALab Sarl.

From the Back Cover

Virtual Humans simulations are becoming increasingly popular and many systems are now available to animate Virtual Humans. Such systems encompass several different domains including autonomous agents in virtual environments, human factors analysis, training, education, virtual prototyping, simulation-based design and entertainment.

At the moment Virtual Humans are most commonly used in the entertainment industry and specifically in movies and video games. However, there are many current and potential applications of human activities that may be part of a system involving Virtual Humans in a wide range of areas including simulation, emergency situations, medical applications and engineering.

• Covers all aspects of Virtual Humans
• Explains the concept of avatars and autonomous virtual actors and the main techniques to create and animate their bodies and faces
• Presents the concepts of behavioral animation, crowd simulation, intercommunication between Virtual Humans and interaction between real humans and autonomous Virtual Humans
• Addresses the advanced topics of hair representation and cloth animation with applications in fashion design
• Discusses the standards for Virtual Humans and a platform for real-time simulation

Written by leading experts in the area, the Handbook of Virtual Humans covers the basic principles through to state-of-the-art and advanced concepts in this exciting field. Engineers, researchers and developers in computer graphics, computer animation, virtual reality and game development will all find this reference indispensable.

At the moment Virtual Humans are most commonly used in the entertainment industry and specifically in movies and video games. However, there are many current and potential applications of human activities that may be part of a system involving Virtual Humans in a wide range of areas including simulation, emergency situations, medical applications and engineering.

• Covers all aspects of Virtual Humans
• Explains the concept of avatars and autonomous virtual actors and the main techniques to create and animate their bodies and faces
• Presents the concepts of behavioral animation, crowd simulation, intercommunication between Virtual Humans and interaction between real humans and autonomous Virtual Humans
• Addresses the advanced topics of hair representation and cloth animation with applications in fashion design
• Discusses the standards for Virtual Humans and a platform for real-time simulation

Written by leading experts in the area, the Handbook of Virtual Humans covers the basic principles through to state-of-the-art and advanced concepts in this exciting field. Engineers, researchers and developers in computer graphics, computer animation, virtual reality and game development will all find this reference indispensable.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470023163
• ISBN 13: 9780470023167
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 480