Virtual body control device

A method for user-directed animation of a computer-generated representation of a body in a virtual environment, comprising the steps of:

• determining an initial position for the virtual body within the environment, rendering an image of the body within the environment, and presenting the image to a user;
• monitoring movement of the user in a physical environment and translating said movement into movement of the virtual body relative to the virtual environment;
• and
• periodically updating the rendered and presented image,
• at least one pre-stored sequence of virtual body motions being provided, and
• the generated body representation being modified using the pre-stored sequence of virtual body motions wherein motion of a particular user body portion results in motion of a corresponding virtual body portion.

A virtual body modeling apparatus for generating and animating in response to user movement a representation of a body in a virtual environment, said apparatus comprising:

• a first data store configured to hold data defining the virtual environment;
• a second data store configured to hold sequence data defining at least one sequence of virtual body motions;
• a user motion detector configured to detect user body motion corresponding to movement of a particular user body portion;
• and
• a processor configured to generate a representation of the virtual environment based on data from the first data store, to generate the virtual body representation within the virtual environment based on data from the second data store, and to call said sequence data and translate the detected user body motion using said sequence data, wherein the movement of the particular user body portion produces movement of a corresponding body portion of the generated virtual body representation.