Abstract

In the Virtual Theater project, we provide synthetic actors that portray fictive characters by improvising their behavior in a multimedia environment. Actors are either autonomous or avatars directed by users. Their improvisation is based on the directions they receive and the context. Directions can take different forms: high-level scenarios, user commands, and personality changes in the character portrayed. In this paper, we look at this last form of direction. We propose a social-psychological model, in which we can define personality traits that depend on the values of moods and attitudes. We show how such a model can be exploited by synthetic actors to produce performances that are theatrically interesting, believable, and diverse. An application, the Cybercafé, is used to test those features. Content Areas: synthetic actors, improvisation, believability. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 1. Introduction In the Virt...

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