Architecture of an animation system for human characters

Virtual human characters are found in a broad range of applications, from movies, games and networked virtual environments to teleconferencing and tutoring applications. Such applications are available on a variety of platforms, from desktop and web to mobile devices. High-quality animation is an essential prerequisite for realistic and believable virtual characters. Though researchers and application developers have ample animation techniques for virtual characters at their disposal, implementation of these techniques into an existing application tends to be a daunting and time-consuming task. In this paper we present visage|SDK, a versatile framework for real-time character animation based on MPEG-4 FBA standard that offers a wide spectrum of features that includes animation playback, lip synchronization and facial motion tracking, while facilitating rapid production of art assets and easy integration with existing graphics engines.