Computer animation

Abstract: Students viewed a computer animation depicting the process of lightning. In Experiment 1, they concurrently viewed on-screen text presented near the animation or far from the animation, or concurrently listened to a narration. In Experiment 2, they concurrently viewed on-screen text or listened to a narration, viewed on-screen text following or preceding the animation, or listened to a narration following or preceding the animation. Learning was measured by retention, transfer, and matching tests. Experiment 1 revealed a spatial-contiguity effect in which students learned better when visual and verbal materials were physically close. Both experiments revealed a modality effect in which students learned better when verbal input was presented auditorily as speech rather than visually as text. The results support 2 cognitive principles of multimedia learning. Technological advances have made possible the combination and coordination of verbal presentation modes (such as narration and on-screen text) with nonverbal presentation modes (such as graphics, video, animations, and environmental sounds) in just one device (the computer). These advances include multimedia environments, where students can be introduced to causal models of complex systems by the use of computer-generated animations (Park & Hopkins, 1993). However, despite its power to facilitate learning, multimedia has been developed on the basis of its technological capacity, and rarely is it used according to research-based principles (Kozma, 1991; Mayer, in press; Moore, Burton, & Myers, 1996). Instructional design of multimedia is still mostly based on the intuitive beliefs of designers rather than on empirical evidence (Park & Hannafin, 1994). The purpose of the present study is to contribute to multimedia learning theory by clarifying and testing two cognitive principles: the contiguity principle and the modality principle.

Abstract: We present FaceWarehouse, a database of 3D facial expressions for visual computing applications. We use Kinect, an off-the-shelf RGBD camera, to capture 150 individuals aged 7-80 from various ethnic backgrounds. For each person, we captured the RGBD data of her different expressions, including the neutral expression and 19 other expressions such as mouth-opening, smile, kiss, etc. For every RGBD raw data record, a set of facial feature points on the color image such as eye corners, mouth contour, and the nose tip are automatically localized, and manually adjusted if better accuracy is required. We then deform a template facial mesh to fit the depth data as closely as possible while matching the feature points on the color image to their corresponding points on the mesh. Starting from these fitted face meshes, we construct a set of individual-specific expression blendshapes for each person. These meshes with consistent topology are assembled as a rank-3 tensor to build a bilinear face model with two attributes: identity and expression. Compared with previous 3D facial databases, for every person in our database, there is a much richer matching collection of expressions, enabling depiction of most human facial actions. We demonstrate the potential of FaceWarehouse for visual computing with four applications: facial image manipulation, face component transfer, real-time performance-based facial image animation, and facial animation retargeting from video to image.

Abstract: How can animation be used to promote learner understanding of scientific and mathematical explanations? In this review, we examine the role of animation in multimedia learning (including multimedia instructional messages and microworld games), present a cognitive theory of multimedia learning, and summarize our program of research, which has yielded seven principles for the use of animation in multimedia instruction. These include the multimedia principle (present animation and narration rather than narration alone), spatial contiguity principle (present on-screen text near rather than far from corresponding animation), temporal contiguity principle (present corresponding animation and narration simultaneously rather than successively), coherence principle (exclude extraneous words, sounds, and video), modality principle (present animation and narration rather than animation and onscreen text), redundancy principle (present animation and narration rather than animation, narration, and on-screen text), and personalization principle (present words in conversational rather than formal style). Animation can promote learner understanding when used in ways that are consistent with the cognitive theory of multimedia learning.

Abstract: The Behavior Expression Animation Toolkit (BEAT) allows animators to input typed text that they wish to be spoken by an animated human figure, and to obtain as output appropriate and synchronized nonverbal behaviors and synthesized speech in a form that can be sent to a number of different animation systems. The nonverbal behaviors are assigned on the basis of actual linguistic and contextual analysis of the typed text, relying on rules derived from extensive research into human conversational behavior. The toolkit is extensible, so that new rules can be quickly added. It is designed to plug into larger systems that may also assign personality profiles, motion characteristics, scene constraints, or the animation styles of particular animators.