Emotes for non-verbal communication in a videoconferencing system

A non-transitory computer-readable device having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computing device, cause the at least one computing device to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a video stream captured from a camera on a device of a first user;
• receiving a specification of an emote, the specification being input by the first user;
• mapping the video stream onto a three-dimensional model of an avatar;
• and
• from a perspective of a virtual camera of a second user, rendering for display to the second user the three-dimensional virtual environment including:
• (i) the mapped three-dimensional model of the avatar, and (ii) the emote attached to the three-dimensional model of the avatar such that the emote is adjacent to the three-dimensional model of the avatar and is located within the three-dimensional virtual environment in accordance with a position input by the first user.

A device for videoconferencing in a three-dimensional virtual environment, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• a network interface configured to (i) receive a video stream captured from a camera on a device of a first user, and (ii) receive a specification of an emote, the specification being input by the first user;
• a texture mapper configured to map the video stream onto a three-dimensional model of an avatar;
• and
• a renderer configured to, from a perspective of a virtual camera of a second user, render for display to the second user the three-dimensional virtual environment including the mapped three-dimensional model of the avatar;
• an emote renderer configured to, from the perspective of the virtual camera of the second user, render for display to the second user the emote attached to the three-dimensional model of the avatar such that the emote is adjacent to the three-dimensional model of the avatar and is located within the three-dimensional virtual environment in accordance with a position input by the first user.

A system for videoconferencing between a first and second user in a three-dimensional virtual environment, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• a stream forwarder configured to forward to a device of the second user:
• a video stream captured from a camera on a device of the first user;
• and
• an emote forwarder configured to forward to the device of the second user a specification of an emote, the specification being input by the first user,
• wherein from a perspective of a virtual camera of the second user, the emote is attached to a three-dimensional model of an avatar such that the emote is adjacent to the three-dimensional model of the avatar and is located within the three-dimensional virtual environment in accordance with a position input by the first user, and
• wherein the device of the first user is a first computing device and wherein the three-dimensional virtual environment is rendered for display to the second user on a second computing device, wherein the rendering of the three-dimensional virtual environment is executed by a web application running within a web browser.