The concept of “virtual theater” (VT) is used in different contexts, with several connotations, and there seems to be no commonly accepted definition of the term [1]. Some studies use it to refer to an environment present only in the memory of a personal computer or an immersive location in which simulations of reality are offered to users. In the latter case, stereoscopic real-time realization of virtual reality models is possible thanks to the employment of glasses with polarized lenses, which allow the perception of depth in what is really a flat scene [2]. Other meanings depend on the field of inter-est; for example, in cultural heritage, some studies use the expression to designate an immersive tour of reconstructed archaeological areas or historical locations [3].

Other VTs are virtual reconstructions of physical theaters, where on-line ticket sales related to real performances take place, as in the Twente Virtual Theater [4]. Moreover, the

Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) real-ized a virtual stage that allows the user not only to enter and explore the environment but also to inter-act with its content by controlling lighting, movement and design el-ements built into it [5]. However, the most famous environ-ments called VTs are those offered by virtual storytelling, in which the user can be a scriptwriter, actor, director or specta-tor [6,7]. In addition, some applications in surgery, military simulations and collaborative virtual environments have also been designated VTs by some authors [8,9].

In its only artistic meaning, the term VT identifies a particu-lar digital performance in which “live” performers and digital media coexist in the presence of an audience [10,11]. In par-

©2010 ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 442–448, 2010 443

g e n e r a l a r t i c l e

Connecting Art and Science for Education: Learning through an Advanced Virtual Theater with “Talking Heads”

AdolfoAdamo,PierAugustoBertacchini,EleonoraBilotta,PietroPantano,AssuntaTavernise

Adolfo Adamo (actor, scriptwriter), Department of Linguistics, University of Calabria, via P. Bucci, cubo 17/B, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy. E-mail: <adolfoadamo@yahoo.it>.

Pier Augusto Bertacchini (researcher), Department of Linguistics, University of Calabria, via P. Bucci, cubo 17/B, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy. E-mail: <pa.bertacchini@unical.it>.

Eleonora Bilotta (researcher), Department of Linguistics, University of Calabria, via P. Bucci, cubo 17/B, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy. E-mail: <bilotta@unical.it>.

Pietro Pantano (researcher), Department of Mathemat-ics, University of Calabria, via P. Bucci, cubo 17/B, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy. E-mail: <piepa@unical.it>.

Assunta Tavernise (researcher), Department of Linguis-tics, University of Calabria, via P. Bucci, cubo 17/B, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy. E-mail: <tavernise@unical.it>.

See <www.mitpressjournals.org/toc/leon/43/5> for supplemental files related to this article.

a b s t r a c t

The authors present an innova-tive virtual theater in which the language of performance joins advanced technologies for educational goals. On the stage of this pioneering theatrical envi-ronment human actors interact with 3D faces (“talking heads”) on a wide screen. These syn-thetic characters are endowed with emotional expressions and voices and resemble famous personalities such as Pythago-ras and Einstein. The perfor-mance aims at the exposition of difficult subjects in various fields and making learning enjoyable and entertaining.

article Frontispiece. Different facial expressions created by Face3D software. (© evolutionary systems group)

Fig. 1. the main window of Face3Deditor. (© evolutionary systems group)

444 Adamoetal., Connecting Art and Science for Education

bined these inputs into a single data file.

c. The actor improvised different se-quences of movement according to previously designed behaviors.

d. Simple dots in the 3D space rep-resented the motion-capture data. These dots showed the correspond-ing points in the performer’s body as interpolated by the motion cap-ture software.

e. An alternate body, a kind of wire sculpture made of mathematical curves (splines), was modeled in 3D and was also specially coated with texture and characterized as the Marilyn virtual actor.

f. The sequences of movements of the actor were then mapped on the alternate virtual body.

g. At this point, the virtual actor moved according to data collected by the cameras and stored in the workstation [22].

Literature about the use of talking heads, for both artistic purposes and didactic aims, is not so common, how-ever. Researchers have been investigat-ing the potential of pedagogical agents to promote learning for several years [23]. Pedagogical benefits that have been identified in the literature include increased motivation, stimulation of par-ticular learning activities, enhanced flow of communication, and fulfillment of the need for deeper personal relationships in learning [24]. In fact, subjects expe-rience VT learning as more entertaining[25] or as more likeable[26], and the pres-ence of a specific kind of characters “can have a strong positive effect on students’ perception of their learning experience” [27]. Furthermore, several researchers point to the ability of agents to show and elicit emotion as a central factor behind the hypothesized increased motivation [28,29]. Moreover, the advantages of integrating technologies in educational environments have also been widely dis-cussed [30,31]. In fact, the realization of content for virtual theater allows the creation of an educational environment in which the user can have an active role, exploring the content and learning by doing or playing. In this way, the virtual space becomes not only a tool for rep-resentation but also a tool of action and interaction, thus integrating constructiv-ist theories as well [32,33].

In this paper we present the realiza-tion of a new kind of VT for education, in which talking heads interact with human actors and difficult subjects are

cial expressions. In another movie [19], animated models of Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart displayed a large range of expressions through the use of phoneme/emotion modifiers and an abstract muscle action procedure, which simulated the specific action of facial muscles. In particular, the abstract muscles worked on certain parts of the “skin” of the model (i.e. one set of ab-stract muscles controlled the eyebrow position and another the eyebrow arch), and these primitive abstract actions were combined into higher-level macro mus-cles used to show emotions or for speech [20]. Regarding the use of virtual actors in live shows, we can quote MIRAlab performances, and in particular VirtualSelf [21], in which an actor wearing a mask interacts with a digital version of him/herself. Another example is Marilyntalkstothejournalists,in which a system for body tracking and interpretation of movement re-created the movements of a performer in a synthetic Marilyn Mon-roe body. The performer’s movements were mapped onto the virtual Marilyn by a motion-capture system that worked as follows:

a. The actor wore reflective markers at key points on his body.

b. These were the only points that the infrared cameras surround-ing the area of motion capture recorded. Each camera fed into a central workstation, which com-

ticular, it indicates a theatrical setting in which technology is linked to a narrative element or to a nontraditional set [12]. This link between technology and enter-tainment has its roots in the theatrical works of the early 20th century, in par-ticular in the Futurist movement, even if its history can be traced back to the mechanical tools of ancient Greek the-ater. This connection can be also found in some electronic set designs as well as in cyber-performances, in which a digital simulacrum of the actor’s body can be moved by the audience. However, recent works have proposed a new kind of VT, wherein the characters’ mental world is transposed on a screen through multi-media materials handled by the actors [13]. In particular, psychological con-flict is represented by the splitting and multiplication of characters as well as the images of “strange attractors,” represent-ing chaos. These particular images have been chosen because strange attractors are mathematical solutions generated by a chaotic dynamical system [14]. This kind of VT has been called “realtificial” [15].

Virtual actors are mainly represented by computer graphics synthetic agents [16,17], as in the movie TonydePeltrie, produced by the University of Montreal [18]. In this movie, for the movements of the “talking head” Tony, 20 basic fa-cial expressions were digitized, and new ones were obtained by interpolating or combining two or more of the basic fa-

Fig. 2. the timeline panel in Face3Drecorder. (© evolutionary systems group)

Adamoetal., Connecting Art and Science for Education 445

tions in these expressions. For the cre-ation of the standard facial movements we used the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) designed by Ekman, Friesen and Hager [36]. The facial expressions of the 3D head can be chosen on the basis of speech (a recording of the theatrical text performed by an actor). Then it is possible to synchronize the speech with the facial expressions through a time-line, and the result is very different from the text-to-speech technique, thanks to the richness of characterization and intonation.

The FaceVT interface (Fig. 3) allows the importing of the animation of the talking heads, as well as the managing of the performance and the creation of a video.

The CharaCTers and The PerformanCeThe modeling of the talking heads is strictly linked to the script and, thanks to the flexibility and ease of use of Face3D, there are no restrictions on the choice of characters. For example, we have mod-eled and animated Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein (Fig. 4) for the re-alization of an enjoyable science lecture.

We have also created characters for Confucius, Buddha and Pythagoras for a conversation on some critical topics (Color Plate B No. 2). A video on an adapted version of this conversation was shown at the LXV Venice Film Festival, in the “Pythagoras Prize” section.

Talking heads can also be characters of novels or theatrical works. In order to cre-ate the characters of Greek comedies, we have modeled the ancient masks created by Menander (342–290 BC); in particular, we have selected six masks from the terra-cotta miniatures found in Magna Graecia [37]. Moreover, we have chosen Plautus’s MilesGloriosus,a comedy derived from

3. more realistic blinking thanks to Perlin’s “noise” function, that is, a random action of the head and eyelids.

Face3D consists of three components: Face3DEditor for modeling, Face3D Recorder for animation and FaceVT for performing. In Face3DEditor a ge-neric basic model, created in another computer graphics application and im-ported, is adopted for the generation of each talking head (Fig. 1). In this inter-face it is possible to insert a drawing or picture under the basic talking head and move the vertices to model the character.

In Face3DRecorder (Fig. 2), it is pos-sible to animate the virtual models, se-lecting a facial expression from eight standard ones (neutral, anger, surprise, sadness, fear, joy, disgust, attention), as well as creating and saving small altera-

presented to the audience. In particu-lar, in the first section we introduce the software Face3D, used for the modeling and animation of the virtual actors [34]; in the other sections we describe the characters of the new advanced theatri-cal setting as well as the process for the realization of the performance, the ap-plications of VT in a scholastic context, further developments of the research and the conclusions.

faCe3d: sofTware for modeling and animaTing VirTual aCTorsIn order to create an easy tool for real-izing a large number of virtual actors, we have used an authoring system called Face3D, realized by the Evolutionary Sys-tems Group (ESG) at the University of Calabria (Italy) in collaboration with the Department of Mathematics and Compu-ter Science of the University of Catania (Italy).

This system is related to a parameter-ized head model with a low number of vertices (131) and to Perlin’s “responsive face” [35]. In particular, the software guarantees:

1. that a small number of parameters are needed to animate the facial expressions

2. slight alterations in a facial expres-sion and the rapid passage from one emotion to another without us-ing repetitive pre-built animations (see Article Frontispiece)

Fig. 3. the performance in FaceVt [34]. (© evolutionary systems group)

Fig. 4. leonardo and einstein talking Heads. (© evolutionary systems group)

446 Adamoetal., Connecting Art and Science for Education

• direct the play• rehearse the play• show the play and interact in the final

representation with the characters.

We have realized various VT perfor-mances designed to be tested in many educational settings, especially in sci-ence workshops and in classroom situa-tions. In particular, some performances have been staged in scientific confer-ences, among which we can cite the lec-ture “Leonardo’s Time Machines,” held at the Museo del Presente, Cosenza, Italy (4 February 2006). Moreover, in a science course at a high school, we administered a questionnaire to deter-mine learners’ motivation in using VT with talking heads. The sample included 20 teachers, school staff and 30 high school students between 15 and 18 years

physical construction of knowledge us-ing the hands in coordination with the eyes) can remarkably enhance students’ learning efficiency. Hence, rich interac-tion can provide feelings of participation and benefit students’ active learning in a process in which both teachers and students acquire knowledge. The ten-dency to simply attend the performance will thus be overcome, as students will have to:

• choose the topics to be represented• organize the script of the story• organize the dialogues• create the faces of the characters• use the software to animate the talk-

ing heads• create interaction that is particularly

significant for the acquisition of dif-ferent school topics

one of the most famous of Menander’s fragmented works,as a script. Finally, we have realized and animated the virtual characters (Fig. 5).

The Face3D software allows us to model virtual characters derived from real people’s pictures, insert photos of those chosen in the authoring system and model the basic talking heads. For example, we have realized a character that is the reconstruction of a real actor’s head (Fig. 6).

To summarize the complex process for the realization of the VT performance, we can enumerate the following steps:

a. a script is selected or writtenb. the audio files for virtual actors’

speech are recordedc. the talking heads are modeledd. facial expressions are synchronized

with audio files, creating a video of the virtual actors’ performance

e. the performance is performed on the stage of the VT.

We have elaborated the scripts in a cre-ative writing laboratory. For example, for the abovementioned MilesGloriosus the script has been simplified and adapted for better comprehension by the public at large. However, in other cases, scripts can be written ad hoc by experts on the top-ics and can concern all kinds of subjects, which can then be taught in a simple and enjoyable way. However, particular care must be given to the recording of the au-dio files, because the speech of the talk-ing heads has to be well characterized and entertaining.

aPPliCaTions of VT in a sCholasTiC ConTexTVirtual theater can be used to present and disseminate many difficult topics. In fact, with the lessons arranged in didac-tic packages, performances could easily be presented onstage in schools using a simple TV projector, given a resourceful teacher (e.g. for the teaching of foreign languages). However, users can learn us-ing VT not only by being a part of the audience but also by being involved in the construction of content. In fact, by the writing of texts and the construc-tion/manipulation of talking heads, stu-dents can be engaged in an immersive learning process in which topics can be taught more interestingly and efficiently. Many studies have already shown that nontraditional teaching methods can be successful and that active learning (the

Fig. 5. the 3D reconstructions of six greek masks. (© evolutionary systems group)

Adamoetal., Connecting Art and Science for Education 447

TrendsinInteractiveVisualization,State-of-the-ArtSurvey (London: Springer, 2009).

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12. <http://emotion-research.net/publicnews/virtual-actors-take-to-the-stage>.

13. A. Adamo, A. Tavernise, “Dalla scienza alla co-scienza: alcune riflessioni sulla creazione dell’atto unico L’attrATTORE strano.” Proceedings of “Math-ematics, Art and Cultural Industry” Conference, Ce-traro, Italy (2005).

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senting famous personalities in a variety of fields (history, philosophy, science and so on). Our aim has been to make pos-sible the enjoyable learning of difficult content while reaching a wide audience. At this advanced stage we have already realized and used the following charac-ters: Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Buddha, Confucius, Pythagoras, six masks by Menander and the reconstruc-tion of a real actor’s head. For model-ing and animating these virtual actors, we have created a very simple authoring system called Face3D, which allows the synchronization of facial movements with pre-recorded speech files (the char-acterization and intonation of human voice has the goal of providing a much more human aspect to virtual objects). An example is the first act of MilesGlo-riosus by Plautus, which we have realized to promote a better understanding of Latin literature.

Moreover, the synthesis of the live ac-tor and the artificial virtual character produces an effective sense of presence that might otherwise be lost without the use of human actors. Since the response from the conference audiences has been overwhelmingly positive, further studies will be carried out on the educational side. We will also add new functionalities to our virtual characters, exploring meth-ods of enhancing their onstage presence.

references

Uneditedreferencesasprovidedbytheauthors.

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of age. The performance was a conver-sation between Leonardo, Einstein and the actor (and article author) Adolfo Adamo.

Data derived from questionnaires have been analyzed by a content analy-sis software (MAXQDA, <www.maxqda.com>), and the results have been very positive. In fact, students have been en-thusiastic about being part of the audi-ence and also about the possibility of further participation in the educational path of a future performance (character modeling, creative writing and so on). For this reason, new experiments have been planned, in particular regarding the modeling of the talking heads and the management of the dialogues by students (after seminars on the use of Face3Dsoftware). Thus, the limits of a complex arrangement in a virtual reality theater have been surmounted. However, experimentation regarding concepts that students find easier (or do not) with VT versus traditional means will also be carried out.

furTher deVeloPmenTsExperimental educational paths will be implemented. Regarding the interac-tion of students and VT characters, we are developing an environment in which the user can simply realize him/herself as a 3D face and connect with the virtual theater via a video capturing system, dis-rupting the story in which the characters appear. In this way, the user will also be able to ask questions about the charac-ters’ lives and works.

At the moment the only available ver-sion of the Face3D software is in Italian, but we will certainly realize a multilingual version. It will be distributed to accom-pany a publication for schools.

ConClusionsWe have described a new theatrical envi-ronment in which one or more human actors interact with talking heads repre-

Fig. 6. the actor and the 3D model for the creation of a talking Head. (© evolutionary systems group)

448 Adamoetal., Connecting Art and Science for Education

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glossary

Face3D—an authoring system realized by Evolution-ary Systems Group at the University of Calabria (It-aly), consisting of three components: Face3DEditor for modeling, Face3DRecorder for animation and FaceVT for performing. It can be used for the model-ing and animation of talking heads.

Facial action coding system (Facs)—the coding sys-tem most used for facial expressions; it categorizes all possible movements of the facial musculature that produce a visible change. Each discrete movement is called an Action Unit (AU), and the activation of different AUs results in a combination that makes up a facial expression.

strange attractors—complex mathematical patterns produced by a chaotic nonlinear dynamic system; Chua’s Oscillator is one such system.

talking heads—computer-graphic synthetic agents represented by faces and endowed with emotional expressions and voices.

virtual theater—this term is used in various contexts with several connotations; its artistic meaning identi-fies a particular digital performance, in which “live” performers and digital media coexist in the presence of an audience. In particular, it indicates a theatrical setting in which technology is linked to a narrative element or to a non-traditional set.

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Manuscript received 8 September 2009.

AdolfoAdamoisanactorandPh.D.inPsy-chology of Programming and Artificial In-telligenceat theDepartmentofLinguistics,UniversityofCalabria.AmonghistheatricalperformancesareThe Strange AttrACTOR andSerendipity.

PierAugustoBertacchiniisaprofessorofgen-eralpsychologyandhasbeenDirectoroftheEducationalScienceDepartmentoftheUni-versityofCalabria.HehasalsobeentheDirec-toroftheInterdepartmentalCommunicationCentreandthepresidentofDAMS(theArtandHumanitiesDegreeCourse).

EleonoraBilottaisaprofessorofcognitivepsy-chologyandcoordinatorofthePh.D.CourseinPsychologyofProgrammingandArtificialIntelligence at the University of Calabria.SheisoneofthedirectorsoftheEvolutionarySystemsGroup<http://galileo.cincom.unical.it/>andisamemberofseveralnationalandinternationalscientificcommunities.

PietroPantanoisaprofessorofphysicsandmathematics at theUniversity ofCalabria.HeisoneofthedirectorsoftheEvolutionarySystemsGroup,hasparticipatedinvariousnationalandinternationalprojectsandisthecoordinatorofSCIENAR(ScientificScenariosand Art), a project promoted by EACEA-Culture programme <www.scienar.eu/main/>.

AssuntaTaverniseisacontractprofessorattheUniversityofCalabria(Italy)andaPh.D.inPsychologyofProgrammingandArtificialIntelligence.Herinterdisciplinaryscientificre-searchinterestscomprisethefollowingareas:educational technology, talking heads andedutainment. She has worked in nationaland international projects, among them“ConnectingEuropeanCulturethroughNewTechnology—NETConnect” <http://www.netconnect-project.eu/>,promotedbyCulture2000EuropeanProgramme.