Avatar facial expression representation in multidimensional space

A system for transitioning a first expression to a second expression for a virtual character, the system comprising:

• non-transitory storage medium storing vector values for facial expressions of a virtual character in multidimensional vector space;
• wherein an angular difference between vectors in the multidimensional vector space corresponds to a difference in emotion type between facial expressions associated with the vectors;
• and
• wherein a difference in magnitude between the vectors corresponds to a difference in intensity of emotion between the facial expressions associated with the vectors;
• and
• a hardware processor programmed to:
• detect a trigger for an expression change from a first facial expression to a second facial expression;
• determine first values of parameters indicating a starting vector in the multidimensional vector space associated with the first facial expression, an ending vector in the multidimensional vector space associated with the second facial expression, and a sweep direction comprising a direction of propagation of expression change from the first facial expression to the second facial expression on a face of the virtual character;
• and
• animate a transition from the first facial expression to the second facial expression based on the first values of parameters.

A method for transitioning a first expression to a second expression for a virtual character, the method comprising:

• under control of a hardware processor:
• determining a first starting facial expression and a first ending facial expression for a first time period during a transition from the first expression to the second expression;
• updating vector values of a face vector for changing a virtual character's facial expression from the first starting facial expression and the first ending facial expression at the first time period,
• wherein an angular difference between vector values corresponds to a difference in emotion type between facial expressions associated with the vectors;
• and
• wherein a difference in magnitude between vector values corresponds to a difference in intensity of emotion between the facial expressions associated with the vectors;
• and
• determining a second starting facial expression and a second ending facial expression for a second time period to transition to a third expression;
• and
• updating the vector values for changing the virtual character's facial expression from the second starting facial expression to the second ending facial expression at the second time period, wherein the second time period occurs during the transition between the first expression to the second expression.

A method for transitioning expressions for a virtual character, the method comprising:

• under control of a hardware processor:
• determining parameters of a first expression change,
• wherein the parameters comprise a starting vector in a multidimensional vector space associated with a first facial expression, an ending vector in the multidimensional vector space associated with a second facial expression, and a sweep direction comprising a direction of propagation of expression change from the first facial expression to the second facial expression on a face of the virtual character from a starting portion of the face of the virtual character;
• and
• sweeping the second facial expression across the face of the virtual character based at least in part on the parameters of the first expression change.