Virtual Humans

A Build-It-Yourself Kit, Complete with Software and Step-by-Step Instructions

Peter Plantec

280 pages, parution le 29/01/2004

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Résumé

Creating the illusion of personality: This first-of-its-kind book-and-CD package makes it possible.

Foreword by Ray Kurzweil, author, The Age of Spiritual Machines

Virtual humans may seem like something out of science fiction, but they are already here. Companies use them as website hosts, individuals use them as personal assistants, and people interact with them in computer games, educational applications, and many other arenas. The possibilities are limitless, but the most amazing thing is that anyone can create a "V-human" from scratch. Virtual Humans gives not just start-to-finish instructions for designing a charming synthetic person, but also a CD-ROM containing the tools and techniques to make it real. Readers will learn how to:

create their own authentic and engaging personalities
apply VH technology to business and individual projects
add synthetic voices and realistic faces to virtual humans
use personality psychology and humor in character design
design advanced emotion expression engines

This book-and-CD package is the first of its kind and a landmark on a par with the first build-your-own-Web-site products. Readers will be among the first to create ultra-realistic, versatile V-human personalities, and will start well ahead of what is soon to be a tidal wave of worldwide interest.

L'auteur - Peter Plantec

(Aspen, CO) is the creator of Sylvie, the first commercially available virtual human interface, and cofounder of Virtual Personalities, Inc. A psychologist, animator, and software designer, he heads both OrdinaryMagic.com and V-people.com. He is contributing editor and columnist at AVVideo/Multimedia Producer Magazine, and is the author of Caligari trueSpace 2 Bible, a number one best-seller in its genre

Sommaire

Part I. Creating Authentic Personality
- What is a Virtual Human Anyway?
- On Consciousness
- Synthetic Thinking—Engines of the Mind
- Meet Mr. Lincoln
- Personality—The Art of Subtext
- Quirks, Habits, and Idiosyncrasies
- We All Have a History; Right?
- Entity Identity—Writing Your Character Bible
- If I can Make You Laugh—The Art of Natural Humor
- Brain Construction 101
Part II. Advanced Virtual Human Design
- Talk With Me Baby—Two-Way Voice Interaction
- Creating Faces
- Synthespians—Virtual Acting (With Ed Hooks)
- Do You Recognize Me?—Biometrics forHome Business
- Turn on the light, will you, please?
- Getting to know you—Unobtrusive psychological Probing
- Following A.L.I.C.E. down the Rabbit Hole.
Part III. Oh, the Possibilities
- The Art of Trust—Ethics for a Virtual World
- Endless Possibilities—Speculation of where this is going

Appendix A: What’s on the CD
Appendix B Recommended Reading

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Amacom
Auteur(s)	Peter Plantec
Parution	29/01/2004
Nb. de pages	280
Format	18,5 x 23
Couverture	Broché
Poids	600g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780814472217
ISBN13	978-0-8144-7221-7