Avatars in LivingSpace

Mike Wray, Vincent BelroseExtended Enterprise LaboratoryHP Laboratories BristolHPL-98-182October, 1998

E-mail: [mjw,vinbel]@hplb.hpl.hp.com

virtual humans,avatars,distributed virtualenvironments,dead reckoning,VRML

We describe how we implemented the avatars we useto represent users in LivingSpace, ourimplementation of the Living Worlds standard formulti-user distributed VRML worlds. LivingSpaceallows multiple users to interact in a shared VRMLworld and communicate using spatialised audio.Avatars execute walking animations when the usermoves and are capable of sitting, waving, and noddingas well as tracking a surface with a hand. Avatarposition and orientation is predicted using deadreckoning based on velocity, curvature and angularvelocity. We describe the problems we found, anddraw some conclusions such as the need for an Inlinethat preserves the fields of an imported node andmore control of VRML worlds over user interaction.We also discuss the use of avatars in multi-userinterfaces, such as our VRML conferencing world.

Copyright Hewlett-Packard Company 1998

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