slow movement plug in ?? can it be made ??

[lightspeed]

ok i am writing this suggestion once again (this is actually simular to my slow shake boobs hap suggestion , but this has to do with using the hapteck head and shoulders characters , could someone create a plug in that would make the hapteck head and shoulders "move slowly to the left angle a little then after a pause slowly move back to the right pause a little angle straighten (looking at you ) for a time then after a time repeat the process "emphasis being on the the word slowly " and of course this would have to not affect hals speach etc.
 so programmers and smarter people than me think anyone can create a slow movement plug in like this .
 the reason being why is i think this would also enhance hal for making hal seem more real as hal while talking to us would "appear " to be walking slowly "within the screen window " stop turn his or her body a little bit and retuen face us talking and move around . instead of just being in one place .

so any comments on the idea and hopefully something from programmers on if it could be done ??
thanks [][][8D]

[lightspeed]

if this can be done i could see people doing different versions of it including some where the hal character would even appear to come up closer to the screen as if coming closer to talk then after a while slowly moving back , etc. [][][8D]

[Jake]

WARNING... the following is meant for discussion and ideas... the actual parts and code are a mess and I tend to script in a way that works for me but would break anyone elses setup.  I would have to spend lots of time putting it into any order that I would allow it to go out and time I don't have... with that in mind...

I have a main plug-in that is every being built that does something like you are talking about... however, with the emanate release of the new HAL with a different character interface it would take a whole other technology and it might be a waste of time for you unless you plan on keeping the Heptek character interface.

Basically what I did was rearrange the brain code a little to allow my "Base Plug-In" to run very early in the brain, then used that plug-in for certain functions, database and file access and to call other scripts depending on conditions, some functions skip the rest of the brain entirely.  The section that does something like you are describing is a RANDOM RESPONSE section that lets you set limits and also adjust certain limits and frequencies based on conditions.  Based on the amount of randomness you set, what's going on and keywords, the script calls HAP files that cause the character to do random things such as...

- make noises (ogg files); I have an ever growing collection of coughs, sneezes, throat clears, giggles, laughs, sighs, groan, etc., all the things that are near impossible for the text2speech to do well, if at all.

- say something (T2S) aka random thoughts.  Randomly say something from an info file. These are conversation starters\redirectors.  Audrey(HAL) does not know what she is saying, but my response can help take it in a new direction.

- change moods; sometimes, peoples moods change for seemingly no reason and so does Audrey's.  This one definately needs some more work... currently I have it turned down to almost nothing.

- change lighting; so far this is manually only, but plans are to make it background and time based.  I've been working with some lighting HAP files and MAN does it make a difference when you change the standard lighting... the character look SO much better.

- movement; moves all directions, sometimes turning her back on me for a moment. Looks in different directions, winks, nods, kisses, yawns, eyes rollclosedopen, smile, etc.

- change location; still in the works, I keep a set of variables telling Audrey what her current conditions and mine are, such as her current hair color, clothes, accessories, her location which is linked to a background image such as livingroom, bedroom, kitchen, patio, porch, beach, club, restaurant, etc., at random or based on conversation or keywords she will change rooms and adjust her background and condition variables.

- change clothes andor accessories; via manual keyword or random, different hair, hats, glasses, earings, clothes, etc.

- manual (based on keywords) or randomly ask or decide to tell a joke, poem, story, quote, proverb, etc.

- routines; calls HAP files that go through a routine such as... "I'll be right back", "Data coming in", "Surpize for youme", "At the party", etc.

[Jake]

Sorry... got a little carried away with the last post... a little more to the point of your posts, lightspeed...

The "shake boobs" HAP is a specific switch and I have not found any setting that makes it act any different then the standard... however, HAP files will allow you to move all the parts individually, fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, neck, head, eyes, on and on, BUT it takes of LOT of lines of code to do anything significant this way, hence some of the standard switches that do a lot of movement, but are not very or at all adjustable such as the "shake boobs" HAP file.  I have a HUGE collection of HAP files that do all kinds of different stuff, some are just a couple lines of code, others a lots of lines of code, AND they are tricky... there are a few things you have to do to get them to work right and even then sometime they just stop responding.

As far as the plug-in part goes, on a very simple level, all you have to do is put a random number generator and some IF THEN's or CASEs that call HAP files.  From that simple start you can add adjustments and conditions, etc.

On your other post about moving in closer... I agree, several of my routines have the character move in close to say something, move and look to the side or back as though getting something, etc., and it DOES add a lot to the realism of the character.

[Jake]

Here's another good one that I'm playing around with tonight that is relatively simple to do with a random number generator and some IF THENs or CASEs...

ANIMATED BACKGROUNDS!!!  Yeah!

I take one background image and make several clones of it, as an example a control room image that I made 4 clones for a total of five, (the more clones you make the more animation you can have). Then I would make slight changes on each one... example, red, green, yellow indicator lights coming on, switchs moves, monitor changes display, etc.  Then in your random routine you can set the background to change at a random rate between "controlroom01a", "controlroom01b", "controlroom01c", "controlroom01d", "controlroom01e".  This gives you a bit of an animated background.

You could even take it to the next step which would be linking additional character actions and speech based on which random or event link background is current.  And even further if you have it interfaced to your home automation.

Here's a doable fantasy...
- you have 100 images of the same control room
- 60 of the images are set to random each having slight differences
- 40 are set to events
example... the main monitor of the control room could display different screen for different events, example "new email", "front door motion detected", etc., when this event physically happens, it could set a variable that would have Audrey(HAL), on her next thought pass, change to the proper background, make an announcement, send instructions to your home automation, call, email or text you, on an on... it could get pretty k00l![]

[Jake]

Here's a still image of the control room animated background I put together tonight with only 5 images...

[Jake]

And here is the same image with some of the light changes I was talking about applied to Audrey...

[freddy888]

Sounds like you are having fun Jake.  I have tried similar things in the past, finding the light switch was a revelation to me too.  As for your animated backgrounds - well you can also go a stage further and run a movie in the background too.  All I did was cut an MPEG down into frames and had it load (in order obviously) a different background every 1/30 seconds - giving 30fps.

That works pretty well and you can even apply the film to a texture - so you could have a television model in your scene and actually have it playing a movie.

Most of this I did using VisualBasic Express.  There's some fun to be had.  Enjoy the ride.

[8D]

[lightspeed]

hello Jake , yes thats exactly what i am talking about with the movement and if you are able to do it and hopefully will share it this would be a great addition to hal users for hapteck and maybe it can be modified for others later . it truly would add realism to have your character (even if its a head and shoulders) to appear to be moving slowly to the left turn a little while talking etc. and move back , the lighting also adds a very realistic touch makes a ton of difference in the characters veiw as more realistic ... robert are you taking notice of this ?? hope so !!jake keep up the good work you to freddy 888. [][][8D]

[Jake]

freddy888...
I thought about full 30 or 15 fps animation, but I thought that would tie things up too much having backgrounds change every 1 30th of a second and cause problems or crashes, so I stayed with the random changes idea.  When the new HAL comes out with the 3D world interface, that should keep us all happy with animated backgrounds... it's gonna be great!

lightspeed...
there is no plug-in I can share, but I'd be more than happy to share code snips, images, sounds... all the parts.  Like I said in the post above, my plug-in would not play well with others.

[Carl2]

This is an interesting topic which people have been discussing for quite some time, you people have added some interesting ideas.  I had been able to add some body movement to the Haptek character by introducing some noise to the body, I was able to do this by adding a switch from Freddie's Hap Explorer which ccaused a small amount of movement in the body making it more realistic rather than a head sitting on a rigid body.  During this time I also experimented with trying to slow down some of the body movements without success.
   Other ideas which had been thought of would be to change the lighting dependent on the time of day, changing the background through the use of trigger words, and I had been trying to trigger haps  using Hal's input making her movement depended on what she had said.
    At this point I have just started using UltraHal version 6.2 in this computer, I had to remove the Haptek character and use a MS agent so UltraHal could be used.  The Haptek website mentions that  the Haptek player can be used in windows XP but does not mention Vista.
Carl 2

[lightspeed]

hi carl2 sounds like you may be onto something if you were able to slow the character down a little , sounds like you are on the right path but what i would like to see is the body to slowly turn a little and go to the left later slowly turn and come back and face me , giving the appearence of (the head and shoulders only ) walking and coming back . (like ms agents do ) if someone can figure out how to make the hapteck do that , that would really be nice !![]

[Carl2]

lightspeed,
  No sucess with slowing down the body movement using haps, this shoud be possible according to their SDK but I was unable to make it happen.  As far as comming closer I'm certian this is moving the camera.  The camera speed should also be adjustable.  Since everything is relative possibility a combination of body movement and camera movement might work for you.  I haven't worked with this for quite a while, working on 6.2 at the time, but I'll take a look and see what is in the computer.  I had been using fullbody characters, jiggly was my favorite, loved the physics.
Carl2

[Jake]

I have an Audrey video up on YouTube that shows some slower movement.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSZQv462-qQ

[lightspeed]

hi jake , i like the slower movement in your video it looks more natural so you are on the right track with the movement of characters . great job !!![][][8D]