• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.1-8
• /
• 2014

The virtual avatar is a principal way as media for communicating language and affective feelings in virtual environment. As similar purpose, this study evaluates user's visual feeling according to the changes of iris color and pupil size of virtual avatar which is considered as new factors for representing realistic avatar. Virtual avatars were configured by pupil accommodation and iris color(green, brown). After presenting above image to 32 participants, a questionnaire(18 items) based on previous studies was created, and reported as a 5-point scale. Experimental result showed that the case of adopting pupil accommodation induced more realistic visual feeling of subjects. This result can be regarded as a basis for designing realistic virtual avatar by confirming the effectiveness of pupil accommodation of avatar in terms of representing visual presence.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.5 no.4
• /
• pp.122-132
• /
• 2005

CVE(Collaborative Virtual Environment) is the virtually shared area where people cannot come together physically, but wish to discuss, collaborate on, or even dispute certain matters. In CVEs, in habitants are usually represented by humanoid embodiments, generally referred to as avatars. But most current graphical CVE systems fail to reflect the natural relationship between the avatar's gesture and the conversation that is taking place. More than 65% of the information exchanged during a person to person conversation is carried on the nonverbal band. Therefore, it is expected to be beneficial to provide such communication channels in CVEs in some way. To address this issue, this study proposes a scheme to represent avatar's gestures that can support the CVE users' communication. In the first level, this study classifies the non-verbal communication forms that can be applicable to avatar gesture design. In the second level, this study categorizes the body language according to the types of interaction with verbal language. And in the third level, this study examines gestures with relevant verbal expressions according to the body parts-from head to feet. One bodily gesture can be analyzed in the description of gesture representation, the meaning of gesture and the possible expressions, which can be used in gestural situation.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2008.02a
• /
• pp.461-468
• /
• 2008

The needs for visualizing interactive multimedia contents on portable devices with realistic three dimensional shapes are increasing as new ubiquitous services are coming into reality. Especially in digital fashion applications with virtual reality technologies for clothes of various forms on different avatars, it is required to provide very high quality visual models over mobile networks. Due to limited network bandwidths and memory spaces of portable devices, it is very difficult to transmit visual data effectively and render realistic appearance of three dimensional images. In this thesis, we propose a compression method to reduce three dimensional data for digital fashion applications. The three dimensional model includes animation of avatar which require very large amounts of data over time. Our proposed method utilizes temporal and spatial coherence of animation data, to reduce the amount. By grouping vertices from three dimensional models, the entire animation is represented by a movement path of a few representative vertices. The existing three dimensional model compression approaches can get benefits from the proposed method by reducing the compression sources through grouping. We expect that the proposed method to be applied not only to three dimensional garment animations but also to generic deformable objects.

• 한국HCI학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2008.02a
• /
• pp.688-692
• /
• 2008

All items from the 3d avatar system should be made to fit the avatar's physical form. However this method is not only a disadvantage in an economical perspective, but also it is difficult to satisfy the client's needs of avatar's variety form. To provide various forms of the avatars, the work load naturally increases. This research is about changing the 3d avatar's body shape based on 3d mesh morphing which allows the 3d avatar with smallest data possible. The result mesh could be generated from source and target mesh with the deformation ratio and all 3d items like hair style, pants, shoes and etc, which was made to fit to basic mesh also could be deformed automatically, to fit them to the result mesh as is. Even if the different physical avatar mesh body such as children style is added to 3d avatar system, it is not necessary to make the 3d avatar items which is fit to the new physical body, New avatar mesh body will be adopted to the 3d avatar system in real time.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.191-203
• /
• 2016

The 3D virtual fitting system is a new and very efficient system replacing real fitting in apparel industry and on-line shopping. It is a win-win system for both of consumer and manufacturer which not only reduces design and production time but also resolves consumer's complaints by checking the wearing image beforehand. It is a must-have item in the future. The purpose of this study is to analyze sizing menu, terms, and current status and to figure out problems of avatar sizing programs which substitute human bodies in virtual fitting. We chose three existing outstanding programs in domestic and global market, compared and analyzed the program, manual, and terms that are used in avatar sizing, and investigated the strengths, weaknesses, problems of options and terms and finally suggested an alternative terms. The revealed problems are as follows: each program supports various avatars ranging from male to female, from child to adult, and from oriental style to western style. The image of the avatar could be changed through the options for hair style, shoes and accessories. But we found out some problems. The avatar body types are far from actual human body types, avatar sizing menus and item terms are different from program to program, and terms not yet standardized. Cooperative efforts of industry and academy on standardization of sizing menus and terms should be emphasized for the virtual fitting system to be widely used like the other computer graphic programs or word editors.

• Archives of design research
• /
• v.18 no.2 s.60
• /
• pp.133-142
• /
• 2005

Recently, on-line users prefer image and sense that are deviated from standardization pattern. Also, they need instant and mutual exchangeable communication forms. Developing the various Avatars is required to apply it to various situations. It is due to that the Avatar is used as a card in the on-line communication to represent the user's character visually. The Avatar in the on-line game, such as poker or go-stop which are the most popular nowadays, does not have different character from general community site. Therefore, it dose not satisfy owner who needs sensitive and various character of the Avatar. In this paper, we will be analysis the card game Avatar service, character and desire of the user in existing game petal sites. Also, we'll provide service method which can satisfy the user's requirements. For this, we survey recognition and design preference of users on the card game Avatar.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
• /
• v.6 no.4
• /
• pp.93-102
• /
• 2005

In Recent times, Netizens have frequently use virtual character 'Avatar' schemes in order to present their own identity, there is a strong need for avatars to resemble the user. This paper proposes an extraction technique for facial region and features that are used in generating the avatar automatically. For extraction of facial feature component, the method uses ACM and edge information. Also, in the extraction process of facial region, the proposed method reduces the effect of lights and poor image quality on low resolution pictures. this is achieved by using the variation of facial area size which is employed for external energy of ACM. Our experiments show that the success rate of extracting facial regions is $92{\%}$ and accuracy rate of extracting facial feature components is $83.4{\%}$, our results provide good evidence that the suggested method can extract the facial regions and features accurately, moreover this technique can be used in the process of handling features according to the pattern parts of automatic avatar generation system in the near future.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.439-448
• /
• 2017

Facial expression is important factor on social interaction. Facial muscle movement provides emotion information to develop social network. However, facial movement has less determined to recognize social emotion. This study is to analyze facial micro-movements and to recognize the social emotion such as intimacy, empathy, and valence. 76 university students were presented to the stimuli for social emotions and was measure their facial expression using camera. As a results, facial micro-movement. showed significant difference of social emotion. After extracting the movement amount of 3 unconscious muscles and 18 conscious muscles, Dominant Frequency band was confirmed. While muscle around the nose and cheek showed significant difference in the intimacy, one around mouth did in the empathy and one around jaw in the valence. The results proposed new facial movement to express social emotion in virtual avatars and to recognize social emotion.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.388-398
• /
• 2004

This paper focuses on the reduction method of message traffic occurred when multiple participants collaborate in the distributed virtual environment. It is referred to as filtering method of update message to minimize data traffic exchanged in the virtual environment, and it is the essential process to improve the scalability of the virtual environment. Spatial partitioning method, a popular filtering technique, divides the whole environment into smaller sub-parts in order to make it small the regions to be maintained consistently. However, it is less flexible and adaptable because the information of area of interest must be configured before simulation. In this paper, the concept of dynamic area of interest is proposed, which is highly adaptable by applying dynamic environmental elements to AOI management. It uses multiple layering and multiple consistency algorithms for dynamic management, and makes it possible to consume system resource efficiently. For performance evaluation, experiments are performed with virtual avatars, measuring message traffic. Finally, the proposed model could be applied to the AOI management systems which accommodate massive users like MMORPG, or virtual communities.

• Journal of the Korean housing association
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.41-50
• /
• 2014

Architectural & Interior design communication is a process of exchanging information between architects and other professionals, clients, and prospectus users, and a design medium is a means of communication. Using non-immersive, conventional media, it is challenging for architects communicate physical details and users' activities in not yet built three-dimensional buildings to others. Recent advances online, Multi-User Virtual Environments (MUVEs) allow architects and other professionals to experience a virtually constructed building together using anthropomorphic avatars. In addition, MUVEs also enable them to be aware of the presence and activity of each other. Previous studies suggest that the aforementioned characteristics of MUVEs may facilitate communication between architects and others. But these are focused on communication in controlled experimental conditions. This paper discusses the ways in which MUVEs are applied for authentic and long-term collaboration, design studio, and cultural heritage reconstruction projects, produced by digital design group at the UC Berkeley and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and analyzes the influences of MUVEs on those projects. MUVEs helped more precise communication between architects, electronic engineers, and medical staffs, who are collaborating for developing pioneering technology for hospitals. In design studios, MUVEs allowed students to experience other students' design outputs, and thus helped them share ideas mutually. In addition, in cultural heritage reconstruction projects, MUVEs were used for communicating with historians and residents in order to collect evidence. Based on this study, we propose that MUVEs have strong potential for enhancing the communication between architects and other professionals.