Autonomous animation in embodied agents

A system for animating a virtual character or digital entity, the system including:

• an input-module, the input-module receiving Input Text;
• a determination module, the determination module determining:
• a Pose for one or more body parts of the virtual character or digital entity to be applied to Input Text;
• and
• an Action of the body parts to be applied from the Pose;
• and
• an output module, the output module generating at least one motion of the virtual character or digital entity based on the Pose and the Action.

A method of animating a virtual character or digital entity, including the steps of:

• determining an Input Pose of one or more body parts to be animated;
• determining a Variation Pose of the one or more body parts, the Variation Pose configured to blend with the Input Pose;
• determining a Blended Pose comprising a weighted interpolation between the Input Pose and the Variation Pose;
• and
• animating the virtual character or digital entity using the Blended Pose.

A system for animating a virtual character or digital entity, the system including:

• a determination module, the determination module determining:
• an Input Pose to be animated;
• a Variation Pose representative of a Gesture, the Variation Pose configured to blend with the Input Pose;
• a Blended Pose comprising a weighted interpolation between the Input Pose and the Variation Pose;
• and
• an animating module animating the virtual character or digital entity using the Blended Pose.

A method of animating a virtual character or digital entity, including the steps of:

• receiving Input Text specifying words to be spoken by the virtual character or digital entity;
• determining an emphasis score of each word in the Input Text;
• determining a set of words with relatively higher emphasis score compared to remaining words in the Input Text;
• and
• animating a virtual character or digital entity to speak the Input Text and applying a gesture to each word from the set of words with relatively higher emphasis score.

A system for animating a virtual character or digital entity, the system including:

• input-receiving means for receiving Input Text;
• a plurality of gestures, wherein each gesture is associated with:
• an animation;
• at least one configurable parameter for varying the animation;
• and
• a configuration range of the configurable parameter;
• an animation generator, wherein the animation generator is configured to:
• analyse Input Text to determine at least one gesture;
• determine a configuration of the configurable parameter from the configuration range;
• and
• animate the virtual character or digital entity with the animation as varied by the configurable parameter,
• wherein each gesture is associated with at least one modulatory variable for modulating the configuration range of the configuration parameter, and wherein the animation generator is configured to determine a configuration of the configurable parameter as modified by the modulatory variable.