research-article

Puppet Master: designing reactive character behavior by demonstration

Authors:

James E. Young,

Takeo Igarashi,

Ehud SharlinAuthors Info & Claims

SCA '08: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation

Pages 183 - 191

Published: 07 July 2008 Publication History

Abstract

Puppet Master is a system that enables designers to rapidly create interactive and autonomous animated character behaviors that react to a main character controlled by an end-user. The behavior is designed by demonstration, allowing non-technical artists to intuitively design the style, personality, and emotion of the character, traits which are very difficult to design using conventional programming. During training, designers demonstrate paired behavior between the main and reacting characters. During run time, the end user controls the main character and the system synthesizes the motion of the reacting character using the given training data. The algorithm is an extension of Image Analogies [HJO*01], modified to synthesize dynamic character behavior instead of an image. We introduce non-trivial extensions to the algorithm such as our selection of features, dynamic balancing between similarity metrics, and separate treatment of path trajectory and high-frequency motion texture. We implemented a prototype system using physical pucks tracked by a motion-capture system and conducted a user study demonstrating that novice users can easily and successfully design character personality and emotion using our system and that the resulting behaviors are meaningful and engaging.

References

[1]

{ABC} Amaya K., Bruderlin A., Calvert T.: Emotion from motion. In Proc GI '96, pp. 222--229.

Digital Library

[2]

{Bat94} Bates J.: The role of emotion in believable agents. Comm. ACM 37, 7 (July 1994), 122--125.

Digital Library

[3]

{BG95} Blumberg B. M., Galyean T. A.: Multi-level direction of autonomous creatures for real-time virtual environments. In Proc. SIGGRAPH '95 (1995), pp. 47--54.

Digital Library

[4]

{Bre02} Breazeal C.: Designing Sociable Robots. MIT Press, 2002.

Digital Library

[5]

{Cyp} Cypher A.: Eager: programming repetitive tasks by example. In Proc. CHI '91 (NY), pp. 33--39.

Digital Library

[6]

{DE05} Dinerstein J., Egbert P. K.: Fast multi-level adaptation for interactive autonomous characters. ACM Transactions on Graphics 24, 2 (2005), 262--288.

Digital Library

[7]

{DEV} Dinerstein J., Egbert P. K., Ventura D.: Learning policies for embodied virtual agents through demonstration. In Proc. IJCAI '07, pp. 1257--1262.

Digital Library

[8]

{DYP03} Dontcheva M., Yngve G., Popović Z.: Layered acting for character animation. ACM Trans. Graph. 22, 3 (2003), 409--416.

Digital Library

[9]

{FBR86} Fjeld M., Bichsel M., Rauterberg M.: Build-it: a brick-based tool for direct interaction, 1986.

[10]

{FSMI00} Frei P., Su V., Mikhak B., Ishii H.: curly-bot: designing a new class of computational toys. In Proc. CHI '00 (NY, USA, 2000), ACM, pp. 129--136.

Digital Library

[11]

{HGP04} Hsu E., Gentry S., Popović J.: Example-based control of human motion. In SCA '04 (Switzerland, 2004), EG, pp. 69--77.

Digital Library

[12]

{HJO*01} Hertzmann A., Jacobs C. E., Oliver N., Curless B., Salesin D. H.: Image analogies. In Proc. SIGGRAPH '01 (2001), pp. 327--340.

Digital Library

[13]

{HOCS02} Hertzmann A., Oliver N., Curless B., Seitz S. M.: Curve analogies. In Proc. EGRW '02 (2002), pp. 233--246.

Digital Library

[14]

{IMH05a} Igarashi T., Moscovich T., Hughes J.: Spatial keyframing for performance-driven animation. In Proc. SIGGRAPH '05 (July 2005), pp. 107--116.

Digital Library

[15]

{IMH05b} Igarashi T., Moscovich T., Hughes J. F.: As-rigid-as-possible shape manipulation. ACM Trans. Graph. 24, 3 (2005), 1134--1141.

Digital Library

[16]

{IU97} Ishii H., Ullmer B.: Tangible bits: towards seamless interfaces between people, bits and atoms. In Proc. CHI '97 (NY, 1997), ACM, pp. 234--241.

Digital Library

[17]

{Kas82} Kassin K.: Heider and simmel revisited: causal attribution and the animated film technique. Rev. Pers. Soc. Pschol. 3 (1982), 145--169.

[18]

{KFCO*07} Kopf J., Fu C.-W., Cohen-Or D., Deussen O., Lischinski D., Wong T.-T.: Solid texture synthesis from 2d exemplars. ACM Tran. Graph. 26, 3 (2007), 2:1--2:9.

Digital Library

[19]

{LCHL07} Lee K. H., Choi M. G., Hong Q., Lee J.: Group behavior from video: a data-driven approach to crowd simulation. In SCA '07 (Switzerland, 2007), EG, pp. 109--118.

Digital Library

[20]

{LCL07} Lerner A., Chrysanthou Y., Lischinski D.: Crowds by example. Comp. Graphics Forum 26, 3 (2007), 655--664.

[21]

{LL04} Lee J., Lee K. H.: Precomputing avatar behavior from human motion data. In Proc. SCA '04 (Aire-la-Ville, Switzerland, Switzerland, 2004), Eurographics Association, pp. 79--87.

Digital Library

[22]

{Mae95} Maes P.: Artificial life meets entertainment: lifelike autonomous agents. Comm. ACM 38, 11 (1995), 108--114.

Digital Library

[23]

{MMMI05} Matsui D., Minato T., MacDorman K. F., Ishiguro H.: Generating Natural Motion in an Android by Mapping Human Motion. In Proc. IROS '05 (USA, 2005), IEEE, pp. 1089--1096.

[24]

{MWK89} Maulsby D. L., Witten I. H., Kittlitz K. A.: Metamouse: specifying graphical procedures by example. In Proc. SIGGRAPH '89 (NY, USA, 1989), ACM, pp. 127--136.

Digital Library

[25]

{Nor04} Norman D. A.: Emotional Design. Basic Books, NY, 2004.

[26]

{PG96} Perlin K., Goldberg A.: Improv: a system for scripting interactive actors in virtual worlds. In SIGGRAPH '96 (NY, 1996), ACM, pp. 205--216.

Digital Library

[27]

{Rey87} Reynolds C. W.: Flocks, herds and schools: A distributed behavioral model. In Proc. SIGGRAPH '87 (NY, 1987), ACM, pp. 25--34.

Digital Library

[28]

{RN96} Reeves B., Nass C.: The Media Equation. CSLI Publ., UK, 1996.

[29]

{RPI04} Raffle H. S., Parkes A. J., Ishii H.: Topobo: a constructive assembly system with kinetic memory. In Proc. CHI '04 (NY, USA, 2004), ACM, pp. 647--654.

Digital Library

[30]

{SWK*04} Sharlin E., Watson B., Kitamura Y., Kishino F., Itoh Y.: On tangible user interfaces, humans and spatiality. Personal Ubiquitous Comput. 8, 5 (2004), 338--346.

Digital Library

[31]

{TBvdP04} Thorne M., Burke D., van de Panne M.: Motion doodles: an interface for sketching character motion. In Proc. SIGGRAPH '04 (New York, NY, USA, 2004), ACM, pp. 424--431.

Digital Library

[32]

{UAT95} Unuma M., Anjyo K., Takeuchi R.: Fourier principles for emotion-based human figure animation. In SIGGRAPH '95 (1995), pp. 91--96.

Digital Library

[33]

{WH97} Wiley D. J., Hahn J. K.: Interpolation synthesis of articulated figure motion. IEEE Comp. Graph. and App. 17, 6 (/1997), 39--45.

Digital Library

[34]

{Wol97} Wolber D.: Pavlov: an interface builder for designing animated interfaces. ACM TOCHI 4, 4 (1997), 347--386.

Digital Library

Cited By

Roemmele MArcher-McClellan HGordon AKuflik TStock OChai JKrüger A(2014)Triangle charadesProceedings of the 19th international conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/2557500.2557510(209-214)Online publication date: 24-Feb-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2557500.2557510
Young JIgarashi TSharlin ESakamoto DAllen J(2014)Design and evaluation techniques for authoring interactive and stylistic behaviorsACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems10.1145/24996713:4(1-36)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2499671
Allen JYoung JSakamoto DIgarashi T(2012)Style by demonstration for interactive robot motionProceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/2317956.2318045(592-601)Online publication date: 11-Jun-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2317956.2318045
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Puppet Master: designing reactive character behavior by demonstration
1. Computing methodologies
  1. Computer graphics
    1. Graphics systems and interfaces
2. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction devices
      1. Graphics input devices

Recommendations

Puppet playing: an interactive character animation system with hand motion control
Transactions on computational science XII

Puppetry is a popular art form involving the process of animating the inanimate performing puppets. Puppet playing not only is controlled by artist's hand motions but also follows physical laws and engineering principles. To implement a puppet playing ...
You as a Puppet: Evaluation of Telepresence User Interface for Puppetry
UIST '17: Proceedings of the 30th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology

We propose an immersive telepresence system for puppetry that transmits a human performer's body and facial movements into a puppet with audiovisual feedback to the performer. The cameras carried in place of puppet's eyes stream live video to the HMD ...
Pro Puppet

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

SCA '08: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM SIGGRAPH/Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation

July 2008

230 pages

ISBN:9783905674101

Conference Chairs:
Eugene Fiume,
Jerry Tessendorf,
Program Chairs:
Markus Gross,
Doug James

Sponsors

SIGGRAPH: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques
EUROGRAPHICS: The European Association for Computer Graphics

Publisher

Eurographics Association

Goslar, Germany

Publication History

Published: 07 July 2008

Check for updates

Qualifiers

Research-article

Conference

SCA08

Sponsor:

SIGGRAPH
EUROGRAPHICS

SCA08: The ACM SIGGRAPH / Eurographics Symposium on Computer Animation

July 7 - 9, 2008

Dublin, Ireland

Acceptance Rates

SCA '08 Paper Acceptance Rate 24 of 60 submissions, 40%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 183 of 487 submissions, 38%

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

10
Total Citations
View Citations
356
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)1
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 05 Mar 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Roemmele MArcher-McClellan HGordon AKuflik TStock OChai JKrüger A(2014)Triangle charadesProceedings of the 19th international conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/2557500.2557510(209-214)Online publication date: 24-Feb-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2557500.2557510
Young JIgarashi TSharlin ESakamoto DAllen J(2014)Design and evaluation techniques for authoring interactive and stylistic behaviorsACM Transactions on Interactive Intelligent Systems10.1145/24996713:4(1-36)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2499671
Allen JYoung JSakamoto DIgarashi T(2012)Style by demonstration for interactive robot motionProceedings of the Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/2317956.2318045(592-601)Online publication date: 11-Jun-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2317956.2318045
Young JIshii KIgarashi TSharlin EDuarte CCarriço LJorge JOviatt SGonçalves D(2012)Style by demonstrationProceedings of the 2012 ACM international conference on Intelligent User Interfaces10.1145/2166966.2166976(41-50)Online publication date: 14-Feb-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2166966.2166976
Förger KTakala TPugliese R(2012)Authoring rules for bodily interactionProceedings of the 12th international conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents10.1007/978-3-642-33197-8_35(341-354)Online publication date: 12-Sep-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-642-33197-8_35
Sugimoto MFujita TMi HKrzywinski ARomão TCorreia NInami MDias EChambel TKato HPrada RTerada T(2011)RoboTable2Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology10.1145/2071423.2071436(1-8)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2011
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2071423.2071436
Hirokawa MSuzuki K(2010)Coaching to enhance the online behavior learning of a robotic agentProceedings of the 14th international conference on Knowledge-based and intelligent information and engineering systems: Part I10.5555/1893893.1893915(148-157)Online publication date: 8-Sep-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1893893.1893915
Young JIshii KIgarashi TSharlin EHinds PIshiguro HKanda TKahn P(2010)Showing robots how to follow people using a broomstick interfaceProceedings of the 5th ACM/IEEE international conference on Human-robot interaction10.5555/1734454.1734508(133-134)Online publication date: 2-Mar-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1734454.1734508
Igarashi T(2010)Computer graphics for allCommunications of the ACM10.1145/1785414.178543653:7(71-77)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1785414.1785436
Guo CYoung JSharlin EOlsen DArthur RHinckley KMorris MHudson SGreenberg S(2009)Touch and toysProceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/1518701.1518780(491-500)Online publication date: 4-Apr-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1518701.1518780

View Options

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Figures

Tables

Media

View Table of Conten